Saturday, September 4, 2010

Taking a break from SB for couple of weeks - going on a cruise!

I'll be doing a live travel blog if anyone wants to follow along with us: Oasis of the Seas 2010 Adventure

Friday, September 3, 2010

NOSOs have moved!

The link for NOSOs is now located under the Quick Links column on the SB homepage:


















Once you click on the link, you will be taken to this page:
















Click on the "Go Now!" button and skip through all the offers (or select "no" when asked if you are interested in something) to receive your 1 daily SB. (Hey - that's 30 SBs a month! It's worth the effort!)

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

CHA-CHING!

Today is my 2-month Swaggin' anniversary. To date, I have deposited $95 in my Amazon account. $20 of that was from my mom generously donating hers to me. Thanks, Mom!

Free money - it's a beautiful thing! This is my current June loot: 





















I will get into the prize redemption process later. But first I'll go over even more ways to accumulate swag - special offers and swag codes.

Avoid "$50,000 Survey Sweeps" Surveys

There has been LOTS of negative feedback on the surveys that have "$50,000 Survey Sweeps" in the name. Complaints are that they incessantly phish for information and then disqualify you after spending a significant amount of time answering questions or don't pay out if you do complete the survey. So my advice would be to avoid these surveys.

Finish up those profiles!

Beginning June 29, the profiles will be worth less swag bucks for completion. Apparently the current amounts are "promotional" values. 

See the Swag Bucks blog: Do Your Profiles ASAP! 

So, if you haven't already done so, get those profiles complete. Also be aware that occasionally new questions are added to profiles and can then be re-completed for additional swag. Keep an eye on your profiles for any that change to "partially complete."

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Trusted Surveys Revisted

Okay, so I broke down and tried a survey yesterday. I had partially completed the beverage profile and a new survey popped up with a 65% chance I'd qualify. It was worth 125 SBs and said it would take about 20 minutes. 

It was about canned/bottled coffee drinks of which I have never tried a single one and had already answered that part of the beverage profile so I have no idea how it even popped up for me. But I decided to take a chance and give it a look.

It did take the estimated amount of time and was fairly painless, as far as surveys go. And I was awarded the SBs immediately.

I tried another one worth 200 SBs and spent 15 minutes on it before being told that the number of participants needed for this survey had been filled.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that the surveys are definitely worth a try as many of the surveys offer decent rewards. Just be aware that you can spend significant time on some and still be disqualified or the quota can be fulfilled before you finish. There are LOTS of complaints about both on the Swag Bucks Facebook wall. 

Oh, and don't let the estimated % of qualification scare you off. There have been plenty of reports of those trying the low % surveys and getting all the way through them.

Also be aware that these surveys are coming from several sources and I've seen that some can take several days to credit and others never credited. So buyer beware.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Multiple Profiles for Trusted Surveys

I discovered over the weekend that there are multiple profiles to fill out and you will be awarded 10-25 SBs per profile completed (according to what is available for me). While profiles aren't nearly as painful as the surveys, at least you can't get disqualified from a profile! :-p~~~

To get to your profiles, go to your survey dashboard (click on Trusted Surveys under the Quick Links on the homepage). Your survey dashboard should look like the screen shot below. Click on the Profiles link.

















There appears to be nearly 200 SBs to be made here. Easy money! Except for the answering-endless-questions part. ;-)

























Click on the Complete Now or Partially Complete link to get started.

Note that completing one survey appears to partially complete others. I've only done the Entertainment and Leisure one and I did it because it was the only one that said partially completed when I found my profiles.

Completing these profiles will increase your odds of "qualifying" for said "trusted" surveys. I think we all know how I feel about surveys. :-)

Next up - Trusted Surveys Revisited

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Daily Routine

There are some quick and simple ways to earn a few swag bucks every day besides searching:

Toolbar - you earn 1 SB each day with the first use of the toolbar (if I don't get it when my browser first opens I refresh the toolbar and will get it then)

Daily Poll - on the SB homepage under Quick Links is the Daily Poll - simply participate each day and earn 1 SB

NOSO - this stands for No Obligation
Special Offers - click on the Special Offers link under Quick Links on the SB homepage - this will bring you to another page (see screen shot below) - click on the red "Go Now" button and simply "skip" through all the offers and you'll earn 1 SB at the end (please note: there is no need to submit to any of these offers - you will not earn any additional SBs by doing so! But with that said, there is one offer in there with printable coupons that I go through about once a week and selectively clip and print - there are some pretty good ones in there - consider it a little bonus!)











Trusted Surveys - also on the SB homepage under Quick Links - this is a brand new feature - you will need to complete a profile to participate - upon completion of your profile, there will be a Satisfaction Survey you can complete for 20 SBs - after this, when you visit your survey dashboard for the first time each day, you will receive 1 SB - you will also see a list of surveys you may qualify for and earn SBs - be forewarned that because this is a new feature, there have been lots of glitches (and complaints) about it (I personally loathe surveys as I'm not in a demographic that surveyors seem to want but, hey, it's your time so, if you like, give some a try!)

***************************************************
After completion of each
of the above, you will receive one of these:







Hey, those single SBs add up. Just with these 4 daily chores you will earn 120 SBs per month!

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Another way to earn daily swag that is typically available is to watch a video or two on the SB homepage Special Offers banner (scroll down a bit on the homepage and you will see the scrolling banner). Videos are indicated by a blue circle with a white arrow in it:






Videos are usually worth 1 to 5 SBs each and all you have to do is click on the offer (if you have a pop-up blocker you may need to disable it to view the videos) and play the video. But before you click on the offer, be sure to read the description (when you hover the cursor over the link) as some require you click on the banner above the video after viewing.

Scroll all the way through the banner as videos can be scattered throughout.

Sometimes (not often) you can watch the same video multiple times. If you refresh the homepage and the video is still available in the SO banner, you can watch it again for additional swag. When I first signed up this was fairly common but it is pretty rare lately. They may be doing away with multiple viewings altogether.

Next up - Multiple Profiles for Trusted Surveys

Friday, June 11, 2010

Search and Win

First thing to do after signing up is to download the Swag Bucks toolbar. The toolbar is compatible with Firefox and Internet Explorer. While it is not necessary to have the toolbar, I do 99% of my searches with it for the convenience and there are other ways to earn swag bucks with the toolbar (to be explained later).

Now simply use Swag
Bucks as your search engine. I no longer use bookmarks. I swag search for all the places I normally go (swagbucks, facebook, gmail, amazon, blogger, kindle boards, etc). I will typically hit a search win within the first 10 or 15 searches in the morning. A win looks like this:











My typical search win amounts range from 6 to 13 but I've also had a 21, 39 and 47. I usually win 3 times a day and I search all throughout the day. I have won as little as once and as many as 5 times in a day.

Be aware that sometimes you will need to enter a "captcha" code with a win to prove you're not a robot. So don't pop over to another browser tab before your search has completed as you may miss out on a win if the captcha code expires.

Also be aware that the Swag Bucks search engine is not the best one around. If I'm truly doing some research, I still swag search, but if I don't like the first page of results I swag search "google" and carry on from there. I love it when I win searching google! hehe.

Be careful not to over-search! You can be put in "time-out" if you search too much/fast. If you receive the Prodege Sweepstakes page (also known as the "rules" page) on a search, you're in a time-out and it can last 1-24 hours. Too many time-outs and your account will be deactivated.
As much as I swag search, I'm surprised this has never happened to me but I do want to make you aware it can happen. Just use a little common sense - leave a minute or two between searches and once you hit a win you can probably give it a rest for a few hours. My typical 3-a-day win is once in the morning, afternoon and evening. But it is all RANDOM. Just this morning I won three 11's within 45 minutes. So you never know! This is why I swag search all throughout the day. And, remember, it's search AND win, not search TO win. :::wink,wink:::

Next up - Daily Routine

Welcome to my Swag Bucks Help Blog!

I joined Swag Bucks in less than 3 months ago and have already redeemed $75 in Amazon gift cards. All that is required is some time and effort. Free money, baby! Gotta love it! There are many other things you can buy with your virtual bucks but the Amazon gift cards seem to be the best deal. For me anyway. You can buy just about EVERYthing at Amazon!

Swag Bucks is basically a search engine where you randomly win virtual money for searches. And there are other ways to earn bucks. This blog is my attempt at helping others maximize their earnings.

First of all you need to sign up! If you haven't done so already, please use the referral banner under the Swidget on the right column of this page. This will make you my referral and I will earn matching search wins up to your first 1,000 swag bucks (which is my motivation for showing you how to earn more swag bucks faster!).

Please note: only one account allowed per household (physical mailing address).

Next up - Search and Win