How to Make Extra Money With Website Testing [Side Hustle Case Study]

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Here’s the next installment in our side hustle case study series, where real people share how they make extra money in their spare time!

In this week’s interview, Victoria from Lylia Rose tells us about an easy and interesting way to make money online – testing websites. This is one of my occasional side hustles too, so I can attest that it’s a great way to make extra money!

Here are Victoria’s top tips:

Making money with website testing with Victoria

Please tell us a little about yourself and your side hustle.

My name is Victoria. I’m 33 and live in Gloucestershire with my husband Ben and our two young children, Bella and Reuben ages 6 and 3 years old.

I am a full-time blogger with three blogs of my own and I run my husband’s, but I also have some side hustles each month that help to boost our income. Plus, they’re fun to do! One of my favourite side hustles is website testing with a company called WhatUsersDo.

How long have you been doing your side hustle? How did you get into it?

I signed up to the platform in March 2017, but it took me until January 2018 to get started. I think I was really nervous that it would be complicated or really time consuming, but I was really wrong. I should have got started much sooner! I’ve been actively doing it for one year now.

I don’t remember exactly how I came about it, but I’m always looking for ways to make an income from home so I expect I saw another money blogger mention it.

What does the work actually involve? What does a typical day/work session look like for you?

The work is quite varied, but effectively it’s viewing a new website design or function and expressing your thoughts about it.

You will download software to your computer that will record your screen and voice as you test the website. You’ll be given a set of tasks to complete or questions to answer that will explain exactly what you need to do. Usually you are expected to speak aloud to express your thoughts as you move through a website, stating why you’d click on a certain button or what you think of the design, for example.

Tests can take as little as five minutes and the maximum is 20 minutes. They are very sporadic, so one day there may be a few tests to complete and then nothing available for a week or so.

How much can you make doing website testing?

I make anywhere from £5 to £60 per month, so it’s really just pocket money. It’s a side hustle to me and I don’t always have time to accept the available tests right away, so I make less than is totally possible.

It’s a first come first served platform, so tests don’t hang around for long. If you can access them and complete them quickly then you can probably make more than I do each month. Some also have criteria, so you need to answer a few questions to see if you’re the right candidate for the test.

Are there any start-up costs and/or ongoing expenses with this side hustle?

No there are no startup costs to get involved and no ongoing costs. All you need is your laptop or desktop computer. Some of the tests are to be completed on an iPad, iPhone or Android, so you’ll only be able to accept these if you have these devices.

To get started you simply need to sign up and complete the audition test. They’ll then email you whenever they have a test for you.

What advice would you give to somebody who wants to get started?

Simply sign up and try the audition test. This will give you an indication of what’s expected and whether it’s something you want to do.

If you do sign up then make sure you accept the tests quickly or you may miss out. They usually only need a certain number of participants and once they’ve met this quota then the test will no longer be available, even if you did receive an email about it.

Also, don’t count on it as income as you’ll never know how many tests you’ll receive or be accepted for, but instead see it as a bit of extra cash that’s relatively easy to make each month.