Get paid to search the Web

If you are looking for a way to cut down on costs for birthdays, Christmas gifts or just general merchandise (such as DVDs and books), I’d like to make a suggestion. The next time you decide to type something into Google, go to Swagbucks first (www.Swagbucks.com) and search through them.

Why? Because you can earn points toward an Amazon.com gift card just by searching through them.

Swagbucks is an online search engine that rewards people who search by randomly awarding Swagbucks to people. Once you accumulate enough points you can redeem these points for gift cards and other things. For instance, a $5 Amazon.com e-certificate costs 45 Swagbucks. You do not need to share your address when you register, unless you want to in the event that you exchange your points for actual physical things. All they ask is your name, user name (which is a fake name you choose if you wish) and your ZIP code.

When you redeem your Swagbucks you just pick the item you wish to purchase and they will put the e-certificate code directly into your account. It usually takes about a week to verify your purchase and receive it. If you wish, you can save up your points, redeem them all at once for various e-certificates and use them to purchase items on Amazon.com or other places. I was able to cut about $50 off of my Christmas budget just by saving up my Swagbucks and purchasing items from Amazon.com.

The biggest thing to note about Swagbucks is that as a search engine it isn’t that great. You usually get five pages of possible search match-ups at most, and the match-ups don’t go as in depth as a lot of the searches on Google do. What I usually do is I search Swagbucks through the first two pages of results at most and then just switch to Google. If I win a Swagbuck or two in the time it takes me to get through two pages of searching, great. If not, I don’t worry about it.

Also, don’t go overboard with Swagbucks. I like to randomly click on things as I’m searching that look interesting. Unfortunately, this falls under what Swagbucks calls “unnatural searching” and they will suspend your account if you do it too much. I got a warning and that was enough for me to use Google for any searches that were too in depth. Is it worth using Swagbucks? For me it is. To save money on purchases, especially just for searching the Internet for a few minutes each day, I’d say it is a pretty easy way to make money. But, as usual, use your own judgment.

Erika Buswell runs a blog dedicated to coupons and deals in Alaska (alaskanbargainhunter.blogspot.com) and lives in Palmer with her husband and two children.