Earning Money From Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing

My previous post on this subject discussed the benefits of crowdsourcing for businesses and entrepreneurs.  This post provides information for individuals that want to benefit from crowdsourcing.  Some of the benefits include earning money,  to win business, winning a contest, to get perks, and more.  Below are a few of the best crowdsourcing websites along with a brief description of each.  To learn more, click on the provided link. 

99Designs - currently has over 265, 000 designers ready to design logos, web design, and more.  Other projects include business card design, mobile app design, t-shirt design, banner ad design, book cover design, art & illustration. Signing up as a designer requires no previous experience and is free.  Once you join, you will have access to over 1500 projects worth over $500,000 at any one time.

CastingWords  - provides transcription services.  Can you type quickly and accurately? Maybe transcription work is your thing. To participate, you have to sign up with Mechanical Turk (see description below) where CastingWords posts all of their jobs. You can search for CastingWords to see their specific assignments. You are paid through a bank transfer to a U.S. account or you can opt to receive Amazon.com store credit.

Clickworker - is a German based crowd labor site that boasts to have 450,000 workers in 136 countries speaking 30 languages.  You get paid to provide writing, translation, research, data processing and search engine optimization. You can work for this site if you're in a SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) country or have a valid PayPal account.  Before you start as a Clickworker, you have to qualify for the task you’ve chosen to work on, including a base assessment and a project assessment. Some scoring to assess your skills will happen automatically while others will require manual review from the company.

Cloudcrowd - work includes editing, reviewing and translating documents, data entry, image processing, Internet research, content creation, and merchandising products. You need a Facebook account to work for them and a PayPal account to get paid.

Crowdflower -  is one of the industry leaders in providing crowdsourced solutions. Unlike some of the other crowdsourcing companies, CrowdFlower does not operate it's own platform. Instead, tasks are published on partner websites. Earnings grow and are paid by the partnered websites.  Jobs are designated as Mini-jobs or Mini-tasks or just Tasks.   You may have to become a member of Crowdflower and login (via the partner website) to complete the tasks.  Some of the websites that I belong to that partner with Crowdflower are Neobux, Probux and Clixsense. A list of Crowdflower partners can be found here.

Crowdspring - is definitely the go-to site for companies looking for the largest marketplace for logos, graphics, graphic design, and even naming. Crowdspring.com currently has over 146,000 talented designers and writers which serve the role of active participants in projects. Joining as a "creative" is free and opens the door to many design and writing projects.  Of course you will have to compete with others, but if your work as selected the pay can be substantial. 

Kickstarter - is a crowdsourcing funding website that serves as a platform for professionals like designers, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and inventors alike. Projects are solely created by the people behind each results presented upon deadline. Talents have complete control and responsibility over their projects, thus they are guaranteed offers for jobs well done. A project creator will set the price as well as the deadline. A project that is successful means that adequate funds will be available from all backers. A failed project on the other hand will not be funded by the creator or backers. Talents who are interested in trying their hand at creative projects need to meet general guidelines before staring a project. 

Mechanical Turk - is one of the most popular websites that facilitates crowdsourcing and is one of Crowdflowers partner platforms. The website is owned and run by Amazon.  After signing up, participants click on tasks or projects that they want to work on. The tasks which are featured are simple and very straightforward such as answering surveys, commenting on blogs, rewriting jobs, image labeling, and even simple micro tasks as well. The payment system is straightforward in that payment for work done is directly forwarded to your Amazon payments account. You won't get rich quick, but the tasks and projects can become addicting.

oDesk - may be right for you if you have experience in any of the following: web development, software development, networking & information systems, writing and translation, administrative support, design & multimedia, customer service, sales and marketing, and business services.  After signing up for free, you can interview for freelance jobs in the categories above.  If you get a job and get paid, oDesk charges a fee equivalent to 10% of the total amount charged to your client. For example, if your rate is $18 per hour, oDesk charges an extra $2 so that your client pays a total of $20 per hour.

If you search the Internet, you will find many more inviting  websites.  To help you get started I have included a list below.

blur Group 
Crowdtap
Create My Tatoo
Genius Rocket
NamingForce
Poptent
Squadhelp
Threadless
Tongal
Whinot