Money Making Tip of the Day: Amazon Mechanical Turk

If you haven't heard of Amazon Mechanical Turk, this should give you a decent overview of the service. Mechanical Turk is a marketplace where companies post jobs that can't be done by computers, such as typing information from business cards into databases or transcribing audio files. Most of the tasks are very simple but require a human to fix computer errors. Once you sign up for the service, you will be given a list of "Hits". These are jobs that you can choose to accept or not accept after previewing the task requirements. From there, you follow the task requirements, accept the hits, and make money on a per-hit basis.

Tips for Making More From Mechanical Turk

1. Make sure to accept each hit before you do it, otherwise you will be doing the work for free.
2. If you find a hit you like, check the "Automatically Accept the Next Hit" Box at the top of the page. This will save you time, which in turns makes you more money.
3. If a hit sounds too good to be true, it is. Most of the hits will not make you very much money. The ones that say they will make you a lot of money are either a scam or take a lot more time than the others
4. Don't be afraid to return a hit. If you know a hit is going to take more time than others in a set, return it and go for the easier ones. Again, this saves you time and makes you more money.
5. Sharpen your typing skills. Most of the tasks require you to type something. If you can type faster, you will make money faster.

How Much Will You Make With Mechanical Turk

To be perfectly honest with you, you shouldn't expect to make a lot of money with Mechanical Turk. There are very few people who can make a lot using the system. I personally only make about $5 a day, and that's when I'm on a roll. So don't rely on this as a major source of income. Instead, think of it as something you can do in your down time to make a few extra bucks. If you have any questions, comments, tips, etc., please comment on this post!