On a whim a few months ago I signed up for Swagbucks, which is a “Search and Win” search engine. Each time you do a search you can earn swagbucks which can then be applied towards prizes (you don’t win swagbucks EVERY time you do a search – but it’s often enough to make it worth using). I typically earn anywhere between $7 and $15 swagbucks during a normal week of searching.
The only things for which I’ve redeemed my swagbucks are the $5 Amazon giftcard codes they have available. For 45 swagbucks (which, for me, is about a month’s worth of searching on their search engine), I get a $5 giftcard code for use at Amazon.com. So far I’ve won enough swagbucks to get four giftcard codes. I’ve applied three codes during my Amazon checkouts and they have all worked fine. I haven’t submitted yet for my fourth giftcard code – I have 48 swagbucks, but may wait until I have 90 swagbucks (which I should have in about two weeks if I really search a LOT), and use two $5 Amazon giftcard codes towards CootieBoy’s birthday gift.
In any event, I wanted to go ahead and post here that I encourage you to sign up at Swagbucks if you haven’t already. They have instructions for making their search engine (which is powered by Ask.com (which is powered by Google) your default search engine in your browser. I’ve earned anywhere between $1 and $5 swagbucks for an individual search, and they quickly add up. And giftcard codes aren’t the only thing you can “buy” with your swagbucks – they have sports and music memorabilia, comic books and clothing, even airline miles! I just stick with the Amazon giftcards because my Amazon wishlist is so long that it’s nice to think I can eventually get it all for free if I’m patient enough!
SwagBucks is a neat concept, but like you said, it’s hard to earn more than just a few dollars a week. I only earn $8-12 for my searches. I wonder if the earnings are keyword driven?