The blog and portfolio of Kiersten Timpe

Would you switch from Google or Bing if somebody paid you? Turns out this isn’t a hypothetical question anymore. Swagbucks, an online portal, lets you earn points by searching the web and trade them in for prizes. Sounds too good to be true. Is it?

How do you get Swagbucks?

The main way you earn points is by searching the web. Randomly, while you’re searching, an alert will pop up that you’ve won Swagbucks. When I use it I usually earn 20-25 a day. You can also get Swagbucks for recycling old cell phones, filling out surveys and finding special codes.

Once you collect enough, you can cash them in for prizes like gift cards, iTunes downloads and movie posters. Since June I’ve gotten $40 in Amazon gift cards, $20 for Starbucks and a few song downloads. (Right now I’m about 200 Swagbucks away from another $10 Starbucks card.)

How do they make money?

The search engine ranks pages from their sponsors first, just like Google. By selling their own sponsorships, Swagbucks is able to afford gift cards and gear to give away to their users.

Swagbucks also teams up with partners, like Atlantic Records, to give away merch and sell advertisements.

How can I sign up?

You can click here and make an account. They give you 30 points to start and let you earn the rest. If you sign up through this link I’ll earn points for the first 1,000 you earn. You can test out the search or sign up here:

In general, I will never promote a site or product unless I’ve used it and know that it’s worth your time. Aside from being a cool idea, it’s an interesting web business concept. Have any of you used the site? Would you be willing to switch from Google or Bing for something like this?

Kiersten