Test Websites From Home: Get Paid to Be a Website Tester

Test websites and earn $30/hour with this flexible and legit work from home job.  Learn exactly what a usability tester is and how to apply.

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Get Paid To Test Websites

Ever find yourself navigating a website and thinking, “Man, this could be so much better?”

It turns out your opinion could be worth some serious dough.

With website usability testing you get paid to share your thoughts on websites from the comfort of your own couch.

It’s like the ultimate work-from-home gig for anyone who loves the internet and has a knack for making things user-friendly.

I’m always looking for different ways to make money online.  I love the freedom that comes with having a location-independent job. 

This is not a path I predicted I would go down, but as soon as I had my daughter, I realized I really didn’t want a traditional full-time outside of the home job.

It turns out there are so many interesting online jobs (that are legitimate!) that you don’t really hear about in everyday life. 

When I started working as a search engine evaluator, I also came across another online job where you can get paid to test websites as a usability tester. 

Companies hire usability testers to evaluate the user experience of their websites. 

You are paid per task and your verbal feedback is recorded as you navigate a site.

You can earn $10 per 20 minute task – a good amount of money for a 20-minute review!

Keep reading to learn how to get paid to test websites, and turn your casual web browsing into a paycheck.

Related post: Appointment Setter Jobs: 24 Easy Online Jobs for When You’re Feeling Lazy.

What Does a Usability Tester Do?

A usability tester goes through a particular task on a website and talks through their experience while being recorded. 

This offers valuable information to a company about just how user friendly (or not!) their website is.

If you are hired to test websites, you will be given a series of tasks to do and talk about and are paid to give quality feedback.

Some tasks that a website usability tester might be asked to do:

• navigate to specific pages and talk about how easy/difficult the task was
• put an item in a shopping cart and describe the process of checking out
• watch an ad and talk about if it made you want to buy or not buy the product (and why)

Related post: Data Entry Jobs from Home: Best Way to Make Money Online With No Experience.

What Companies Hire People to Test Websites?

There are many companies that want to make sure their websites are as user-friendly as possible. 

Some businesses that hire website testers:

• Google
• Amazon
• Allstate
• Microsoft
• Uber
• Ford
• airbnb
• Dunkin’ Donuts
• Expedia
• Facebook
• intuit
• weebly
• Harvard University
• Walmart
• Target
• AT&T
• Hyatt
• asos
• SoundCloud
• Lacoste
• And so many more

Are Jobs to Test Websites Legit?

All this sounds good but you might be wondering:

Is user testing legit?

That’s usually what crosses my mind when I come across an interesting work-from-home job that I’ve never heard of.   

Is this legit or is it a scam?  I wondered the same thing about mystery shopping (and then I became a mystery shopper to find out!)

As with any job, you want to research the company you’re looking to work with. 

There are many legit user testing companies out there. 

From research and reading many positive reviews, I have put together a list of legit companies that hire people to test websites:

Companies Hiring Usability Testers to Test Websites

• Enroll website testing
• Userpeek
• IntelliZoom panel
• userlytics
• Userfeel
• uTest
• WhatUsersDo
• Userbrain
• TryMyUI
• test IO
• TestingTime
• Validately
• Amazon Mechanical Turk (owned by Amazon, pays less than others on this list)
• UserTesting (the biggie in the test websites world)

UserTesting is the main company for website usability testing. 

I would recommend signing up with UserTesting first because they seem to have the most tasks available. 

If getting paid to test websites is something you’re interested in, after applying with UserTesting, I would sign up with as many other website usability testing companies from the list above as you can.

There likely won’t be full-time work available from any of these companies that hire usability testers.

If you’re looking to make money testing websites, sign up for multiple website testing jobs to increase the number of tasks you’re offered overall and make extra money.

Other work from home jobs:

• Search engine rating
• Selling on Amazon
• Teach English to kids online
• Start a blog
• Start a food blog
• Mystery shopping
• Freelance writing
• Best work at home companies
• Pet sitting
• Get paid to surf the web

How Do You Test Websites?

Website testing involves evaluating a website’s functionality, usability, and performance to ensure a positive user experience.

Here’s a basic overview of how remote usability testing is typically done:

Usability Testing required tasks:

• User Experience (UX): Evaluate the overall user experience, considering factors like ease of use, clarity of information, and overall design.
• Navigation Flow: Assess how easy it is for users to navigate through the website and find information.

Usability testing is like putting a website through a real-life obstacle course to see if it can handle the twists and turns of user interaction.

First off, there’s the user experience (UX) check. It’s all about vibes—does the website make you feel like a web-surfing superhero or more like you’re stuck in a digital labyrinth?

Smooth navigation is key; you shouldn’t need a treasure map to find what you’re looking for.

Then, there’s the grand tour of buttons, forms, and interactive bits. Fill out a form, hit a button—make sure the website plays nice and doesn’t throw a tantrum when you ask it to do stuff.

Accessibility is the unsung hero. Can your grandma use it? How about your tech-challenged cousin? The website needs to speak the language of the masses.

And, of course, the golden rule: Mobile responsiveness. Does the website look good on your mobile phone? In a world where we have mobile devices practically glued to our hands, a website that looks wonky on mobile might as well be written in hieroglyphics.

Usability testing is basically taking the website out for a spin and asking, “Does this thing work for real people, or did the developers accidentally create a digital Rubik’s Cube?”

Website tests are all about making sure the website doesn’t just exist but thrives in the wild.

What Kind of Tasks Could You Do to Test Websites?

There are so many different tasks you could be asked to do as a usability tester, but here are three usability testing examples to give you concrete ideas of what you might test:

1. Navigating a museum website.

For these tasks you might be asked where you would search on the website if you wanted to plan a visit to the museum. 

You would potentially want to know exhibits, hours, maps to get to the museum, floor plans/maps inside the museum of the exhibits. 

You would talk through exactly what you’re doing and why.

2. You might be asked to try out a clothing website’s shopping cart.

You would have to navigate to the item they want you to (pretend to) buy, put it in your shopping cart, and simulate a check out. 

You’d then describe how the checkout process was – if it was easy and straightforward, if there were any confusing parts or things you found frustrating, etc.

3. You could be asked to book a car rental.

You would go through the process of choosing the car and all the extra steps, talking through what you’re doing. 

The car rental company would want your honest opinion on how you found the registration process of renting a car through their website.

What Do You Need To Test Websites

1. An updated computer/laptop

2. High-speed internet

3. A speaker built into your laptop or a separate microphone (like this one)

4. You’ll need to download and install the screen recorder software onto your computer. This will be the website testing platform for performance testing of different sites.

5. Most tasks are voice only but some tasks require a webcam. If you want the option of tasks that include video (these usually pay more), a basic webcam will do.

You don’t need to have prior experience to test websites. You just need a basic level of web experience to navigate a website and explain what you’re doing.

Related: 12 Beautiful and Helpful Home Office Gifts to spruce up your home office!

How Much Do User Testers Make?

Most website testing gigs pay $10 per 20-minute review of testing sites, or $30 an hour.

The majority will pay to your PayPal account.

Tips For Website Usability Testing

1. Test Your Microphone Before You Apply to Test Websites

You have to get through the initial screening where you are given a sample test website and tasks to complete. This will be your qualification test before they give you tester work.

They will record you to make sure you’re able to talk through doing the tasks because this is what they’re looking for in a usability tester.

The first time I tried I got an email back the next day saying there were audio problems and asking me to try again. 

I only have an internal mic so am looking into getting a simple external mic and trying again. 

I am a soft-spoken person so I might need the extra boost so my talking can be picked up well!

2. Speak Clearly When You Test Websites

It’s okay if there are umms and ahs and pauses because you will not be reading from a script, you will be talking off the cuff.

You don’t need to sound perfect while completing usability tests. 

But you do need to make an effort to speak clearly and project as well as you can.

3. Keep Talking While You Are Testing Websites for Usability

You might feel a bit silly for the first few tasks but you will get over this. 

At first I wasn’t so sure I would feel comfortable with being recorded and didn’t know if applying to test websites made sense for me.  

But I thought no harm in trying and it sounded interesting.  It actually felt less weird than I thought it would.

The main thing is they want you to talk out loud what you are thinking in your head. 

So “now I’m clicking here” wouldn’t be a great help to the website owner that wants website usability testing for honest feedback on their new site. 

“I’m clicking here because I’m looking for the hours they’re open and this is where I would expect to see them” would be much more helpful.

Can I Get Paid to Test Websites?

If you have read through this article, you’ll know the answer is yes.

Once you are accepted as a website usability tester, test invitations can be sent to your email address.

You can complete tasks in your spare time and get paid well.

It’s an easy way to make money in your free time.

Plus you are helping site owners work out any usability issue they might have.

If you are comfortable giving honest opinions on website testing tasks, getting paid to test websites could be a great fit for your work-from-home job.

Want more ideas to make money from home? Check out 8 Surprising Ways to Make an Extra $1000/month

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