myLot

My myLot Profile

What is myLot?

Having previously reviewed the pros and cons of using crowdsource websites, Amazon Mechanical Turkand Microworkers to generate some extra income, I thought I’d turn my attention to how to make money withMyLot, a very different sort of make money online program. MyLot is basically a social network site in the same vein as Facebook, but with myLot you make money online by posting comments, uploading photos, starting discussions etc.

Sounds appealing, doesn't it, but what are the pros and cons?

First Impressions and Signing up to myLot

The MyLot site’s appearance has none of the simple elegance of Facebook and is unnecessarily cluttered, in my opinion. There is also a full page advert that wants to load up on their front page if you go there from Google, which is a little irritating.

The sign-up process for MyLot is pretty simple and straightforward, though.
You fill out a form with your basic info and that’s about it. You don’t have to enter your mailing address or bank details, as when you make money online, it will be paid straight into your PayPal account by myLot. (If you don’t have a PayPal account, they are free to obtain and there is a hub that explains PayPal here.) From your PayPal account, you will then have the option of transferring your earnings to your regular bank account if you wish, or you can just spend it on one of the many PayPal friendly online stores.

Using myLot

MyLot works in a similar way to most other social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook. As I mentioned earlier, you make money online with MyLot by posting comments, uploading photos, starting discussions, adding friends, messaging people etc. My only quibble would be that, as I mentioned earlier, the myLot site feels a bit cluttered and it takes time to get used to. Also, there is a minor difference of emphasis from sites such as Facebook and Twitter in that much of the social interaction on MyLot revolves around starting and participating in discussions, (rather than the Facebook/Twitter system where each user has his or her their own “wall” where they and others post to).

Earnings and Payments

The exact formula that myLot uses to calculate how much you earn is not made public, but it’s based on the amount of activities such as posting comments, uploading photos, and starting discussions that you do to make money. The more active that you are on the site, the more you'll make money.

I can only tell you of my own experience and what other users say regarding earning rates, so the following info may not be an entirely accurate indication of the sort of sums that people earn. I visit the site on a daily basis for about 10-15 minutes each day, start a discussion, post a few comments upload a photo, and I make about 5-10 cents/day. There are site users on there who are more active than me and say that they typically earn a dollar a day or more, however. 

Another factor in the rate that you make money is the myLot points that you gradually build up over time (a bit like a hub score?). The more experienced myLot people who use the site for longer periods and interact more tend to have much bigger scores than myself, a relative rookie who’s only on there for 10 or 15 minutes/day. I would expect to make money at an increased rate over time, however.

The other thing that I should mention is that there is a $10 minimum earnings threshold before they pay you. This can seem a little frustrating when you’re only bringing in 8 cents/day like me! If you enjoy social networking, however, and don’t mind spending a little time on the site, then you are getting paid for doing something that you do anyway, which can’t be bad!

In summary I'd say that you will make money if you join the MyLot site, but i wouldn't expect to buy a new car with your earnings!

The Pros and cons

Pros

They pay you money for social networking!

Social networking is fun!

Cons

Navigating their website takes a little time to get used to

There’s a $10 minimum earnings threshold to achieve before they pay you