Just a quick note here to say I recently published a post over at ChurchMag about Criticue, a site that lets you get free critiques of your website. My post covers how churches might be able to benefit from using Criticue. Read my entire post at churchm.ag/criticue/.
Let me know what you think of this post, and be sure to check out lots of other posts on church websites at my other blog at GoodChurchWebsite.com.
I was disappointed to see today when I logged into my MicroPlace account that as of today (January 14, 2014), they’re no longer accepting new investments. Fortunately, all current investments are continuing, so I don’t lose the $800 I have in my account. Also, the site isn’t going away until all investments through them have matured, so accounts and tax information stay current for at least the next few years. Still, it’s disappointing to see that the MicroPlace wasn’t able to catch on.
Despite MicroPlace’s closing, I continue to think micro-financing has a great deal of potential for economic development and fighting poverty. Other micro-financing efforts, like the much better known Kiva, continue to do well, but their model is different.
Most other organizations are non-profit, and they are really just a different way to make a donation. The advantage of MicroPlace was that it was set up to give actual financial returns to investors. Personally, I used MicroPlace because I wanted to do something positive with my money, but as a seminary student with lots of loans, it’s a lot easier to justify using my money for something that give me a return.
Also, MicroPlace had the unique advantage (or at least what should have been a unique advantage!) of being backed by eBay and PayPal. That both gave them credibility in attracting investments from people like me and provided a way for investors/customers to get money in and out without needing to worry about transaction fees.
At least for me, micro-finance investing was possible because I got a return on my money, but the return was so small (in the neighborhood of 1 or 2%) that the usual PayPal transaction fees would have eaten up the return. I hope someone else is able to come up with a similar system!
Visit MicroPlace’s MicroPlace FAQ page for more information on why exactly they’re closing.
An update on what I've been up to recently: Just in case you missed it, I'm now a Master of Divinity student at Wartburg Theological Seminary, located in beautiful and hilly Dubuque, Iowa. The school is basically a castle, as you can see in this picture. I've finished my fall semester, and I'm now a week into January term. For J-Term, I'm doing an independent study on effective church websites.
Since moving to Dubuque, Christin and I have been looking for a church, and as part of that, we looked at a bunch of different church websites. Disappointingly, although perhaps unsurprisingly, there are a lot of really bad church websites out there. Many churches don't even have a website, and some that do don't have what I think should be basic information on them, like what time the services are, how to contact the church, or even what city the church is located in! Of course, many churches do have good, effective websites, and frequently, those are the ones that are growing. So, with my interest in technology and ministry (remember, my Luther College degree is in computer science and religion), I'm working on a J-Term project to study what makes church websites effective.
So far, I've visited every church website in Dubuque (approximately 72!), read several books on the topic, and started a website about my project with a blog and tips for church websites. We'll see where this goes!
Yes, it is possible to easily make money on the internet! None of these will provide a living, but extra spending money is always nice, and I've personally gotten legitimate money from of them, so I know they're not scams. These aren't work-at-home methods, they're not going to replace your day job, and they won't make you rich, but they do provide something to do in your free time.
So, without further ado, here are my experiences with several different legitimate sites for making easy money online:
1. SurveySavvy
SurveySavvy is exactly what it sounds like, a site for taking surveys. I've taken surveys for a couple months through them. Your experience will vary depending on your demographics, but I tend to get about a survey every day or so, of which I qualify for about one third. The ones I do qualify for take about 10 minutes and are worth $1 or $2, although I've seen ones for as much as $5. For me, the real money through SurveySavvy has come from being linked to other panels. They occasionally send out surveys for "exclusive online advisory communities," and I qualified for one of those. Through that community, I've made $55 in Amazon gift cards in about 10 weeks with about 10 minutes per week of work. Highly recommended. www.surveysavvy.com
2. Ebates
Ebates is a site that pays you to shop online. Sound too good to be true? It actually is true. They work by directing customers (you) to online retailers, who pay them a percentage of your purchases as a commission. Many sites do that. However, ebates then turns around and gives you back part of their commission. I've only used it for a couple of large purchases like computers for my family. I keep forgetting to use for little purchases like on Amazon. I've made about $35 through ebates so far. Payment is via check mailed to your house. The definite advantage of this site is that there's no effort on your part beyond remembering to visit the website before you shop. Highly recommended. www.ebates.com
3. Amazon's Mechanical Turk
Mechanical Turk is sort of a freelance site for jobs that take a few seconds. Called "hits" (human interface tasks), these are a wide-ranging variety of "jobs" for third-parties ranging from performing a Google search, to tagging photos, to proofreading a document, to writing an article, to surveys, to audio transcriptions. Each task completed gives you a small reward ($0.01 - $1.00 in my experience), paid in Amazon Payments credit. The advantage of Mechanical Turk is that there are always many things to do and the payments are faster than other sites. The disadvantage is that you have to be careful because many jobs want you to do things like sign up for newsletters or complete scammy type online offers. These are against the terms of service, but Amazon doesn't seem to very closely police the jobs offered. Again, it doesn't pay particularly well, but it's a great way to kill time and make a little extra money. I've probably only made about $10 from here, but it was all while "wasting" time. www.mturk.com
4. Swagbucks
I don't know much about Swagbucks yet, but I have a friend who's made $20 or so in Amazon gift cards without too much effort. You get points for things like filling out surveys, or for buying products or services through sites through them (similar to ebates). www.swagbucks.com
Good luck! Please post your experiences and reviews of sites!
Brand new music video that I made for Aaron Rosell's solo song "Speak." Aaron is the drummer for If You Will and will be releasing a solo project this summer. This is a rough cut of the first recording. Enjoy!
PS...Aaron is also my roommate...
YouTube description: Official music video for the original song "Speak" from the upcoming concept project "Left" coming the summer of 2009 from Aaron Rosell. Recorded in the Noble Recital Hall at Luther College. Audio recorded and mixed by Mike Forbess. Video recorded and edited by Daniel Flucke. Visit Aaron online at www.aaronrosell.com for more music. Thanks for viewing, commenting, and rating!
Lyrics: The summer months were not enough To clear the shadows from your eyes But then, a breath from far above Brought the dust away from mine.
I wanted you to make me whole A wish no mortal man can say The degradation of my soul Bid your faith in me away.
Epiphany's in short supply Belated now, but not in vain They rid me of the steady lie That you were all I had to gain.
Completion brings upon my pen A calm that I have never known To hold aloft a clearer lens And show you all that you have sown.
So tell of all that you can see Of every season through and through And when I use my mouth to speak, I will only speak of you. I will only speak of you.
Video and music posted with full permission and consent of all involved. www.aaronrosell.com www.jugglingnebulafilms.com
Here's an interview from newreleasetuesday.com with Michael Tait and Duncan Phillips of the Newsboys discussing Tait being the new lead singer for Newsboys. I think I'm still in shock over the whole thing...but I'm also really excited to hear the new incarnation of the Newsboys. Oh...and I like the name NewsTalk...not that I want them to change their name or anything...but it does have a certain ring to it...
I am in total and complete shock. After a day of intense internet rumors, the rumors are true. Newsboys released a press release a few minutes ago. Lead singer (and the only remaining founding member) Peter Furler is stepping back from the stage and being replaced as lead singer by Michael Tait (formerly of DC Talk and Tait). Quoting from the press release: "Michael Tait will be touring with the band as lead singer with Peter making special appearances throughout the year." Peter supposedly will focus on the band's studio work. Earlier, Inpop Records had reassured fans that Peter does lead vocals on all songs on their upcoming May 5th release, "Hands of God." The press release is at newsboys.com.
I'm pretty much in total shock...newsboys have been my favorite band for several years...I knew something was up, after seeing the newsboys Facebook status announcing an upcoming press release and that they had temporarily taken down their message boards (which are now back up). I really didn't think this rumor was true though...I love DC Talk, and I mostly like Tait's solo cd as well. But, Tait in newsboys? Wow...never would have seen that coming. Who knows, maybe Phil Joel will be back too...or a DC Talk reunion tour...anything seems possible...And...maybe I will buy a newsboys tour bootleg cd, just to hear how Tait does on the songs.
PS: I had Peter's testimony memorized...at least their show will have a bit of variety...
For my Luther College J-Term class, "Crisis Intervention: Interpersonal Violence" I made a music video on domestic violence and rape to Superchic[k]'s "Bowling Ball" and "Stand in the Rain" songs. I think this turned out very well. Filmed at Luther College and Oneota Lanes. Starring Liz Knight and Aaron Rosell, who wish to point out that they do not actually beat each other. Created by Daniel Flucke, with creative consultation from Matt Kalsow. Enjoy!
Very cool video here of Casting Crowns' "Who Am I" shown to me by Katie D. I watched and I have to post it here...well worth watching...very cool idea.
I have a feeling Photosynth got a LOT of views today, because cnn.com featured it on their front page. That's how I found it. cnn.com did a really cool project where people could submit their digital photos of the Presidential Inauguration to cnn and the photos were assembled into an interactive 3D view thing. This really cool technology was powered by Photosynth, a project of Microsoft Live Labs, and is viewable at CNN's The Moment. After I saw and played with this for a while, I tried my own Synth, as Microsoft calls it. Sadly, the program only runs in Windows, but it works great using Parallels. Here's a tour of my dorm room...sorry for not having a more original topic, but it was available. Enjoy. Silverlight is required for viewing it on a Mac, or a PC without the software.
It's really easy to make these. All that's involved is taking a lot of pictures that overlap, then you just select the folder with the pictures, and tell the program to do its magic. Very neat technology. In addition to being very cool, I could easily see it being used to sell homes, etc. My results weren't quite what I was hoping for, with the photos I took of the chair in the middle of the room and some detail shots, especially of the Muse poster, but the basic circling the room worked pretty well.
Doing my part as a Luther College student, and because I think it's pretty cool, I'm sharing this link: http://www.luther.edu/christmascard2008/ It's a Christmas greetings montage of pictures from Luther that they emailed to students...Enjoy!
