If you’re looking for a website that pays you to write, and pays very quickly, this could be the one. Once an article has been approved, they typically pay the very next day. Automatically. The website is called Crowdsource. It does take time to get used to it, but the learning curve is small. In no time you will be racking up a nice amount of money on this interesting little site.

Application

This is one of those rare sites that you actually have to do more than sign in and start working, which is great because it weeds out a lot of the writers that would make potential clients stay away. It’s a really simple application and I don’t anticipate any of you having a problem with it.

You sign up for an account and then apply to one of the divisions. There are several, including writing and editing. Each division has an application process and approval or denial in each division has no impact on the others.

The writing test is quick and they let you choose from a handful of topics on each of 3 pages. Read the instructions to learn what they are looking for in answer to each section and you will be fine. Each sample you will create is roughly 100 words so it’s not anything to worry about.

Once you submit your application you can expect to hear from them within 4 days. They are very good about this and they inform you even if you have not been accepted.

Your Dashboard

This is tricky because there really isn’t one. When you first log in to the site you will be at a rather confusing page of pop-ups, a bunch of topics that make no sense and it’s probably one of the worst welcome landings I’ve seen. Thankfully that is one of only two negatives.

You will want to go to your profile, such as it is, at the top right of the screen. It’s in the drop-down by your name. You need to set up your email address to be either your Amazon MTurk or your PayPal address. I recommend using your PayPal address. That is it for your profile. Oh, you can add your gender and your country if you really want but thus far I don’t think anyone really cares.

Finding Work

Once you have set up a way to be paid you will need to start looking for work. The top right of the screen it says “Find Work” so click on it. You can now start looking at jobs. There is a drop down menu that allows you to change how the job listings are ordered and most people use it to find those with the highest dollar amount.

There are several types of writing jobs here and each one has a different format. You need to understand the specified format before you begin. Many of the offerings are lumped into massive groups. Such as more than 1,000 different topics, or tasks, under one heading. You will be paid for each task you complete, not one sum for the whole 1,000. Let me break this down:

Job has 1,000 tasks for $12 per task. You can take one task from this job at a time. You can then go and look at another job and take another task from that one. You can only hold one task at a time from each job. As soon as you finish one you can choose another.

Completing Assignments

The other negative here is the writing platform. It’s almost as bad as the original Textbroker. It’s actually set up largely like an online essay exam. Thankfully you are never writing much at a time so it’s not as bad as it could be.

This is important: You are on a timer. The time varies depending on the task but runs from 5 hours to as low as 10 minutes. Once that timer runs out the task is removed from your queue and put back into circulation.

Once you have selected a task you will immediately be taken to the writing page. You can leave this and save the task for later but in many cases it’s easier to just go ahead and write it.

I’ll assume you have chosen a task and it’s a 100 word answer task. Typically those give you 3 hours. At the top of the writing platform you will see the timer and a goal meter. It tells you how many more tasks you have to complete to reach the next level; more on that in a minute. You can access the style guide from this page as well as the summary of instructions on how to complete the assignment.

Write the assignment, double check the writing for errors, hit the submit button. That is it; you have completed your first writing assignment for CrowdSource!

The CrowdSource Game

Oddly enough this site seems to have certain elements that must have been designed by a gamer. The goal meter for one is akin to playing just one more level of Angry Birds! Once you get used to the formats and the platform, you can quickly complete a writing task. It’s only 100 words after all! Okay, sometimes it’s 200 or maybe 400 words. But it only takes 100 words to move the goal meter. Just one more and you level up! There is no real downside here. It keeps you motivated to write and you get paid for it. That’s even better than Flappy Bird!

Part of this game involves levels and ratings and scores. You have one chance to get your task written correctly. There are no rewrites here. After you submit your completed task you can move on and you should because it can take up to 10 days for the task to be accepted or declined. I’ve found that the time is generally no more than 3 days and that was because of the weekend. The tasks are pass/fail. In either case you will know exactly what the issues were, if any, based on the feedback that is always given.

You will start at level 1. To level up you have to have an 87% approval rate. Each level has a different minimum approval rate to remain at that level and an approval rate needed to level up. Your progress report, found by clicking on the goal meter, will tell you exactly how many more tasks you need to move ahead. The higher your level, the more you get paid. Level 2 and above will net you your base pay plus a bonus. The bonus is 5% at level 2 and tops out at 20% on level 4.

Getting Paid

It really doesn’t get better than this in terms of getting paid. Any tasks approved will be paid the next day. When you are lucky, you write it one day and are paid the next. It’s the fastest turnaround I’ve seen for online writing of this nature. It’s all automatic and you have to do nothing more than you have already done which was to give them your PayPal email address.

Tips for Success

• Double and triple check your writing. You don’t want to be failed because of spelling errors.
• Look for the smallest and easiest tasks to complete to get your level to 2.
• Focus on the highest dollar amounts first and then go for the smaller ones.
• Pay attention to the timer!