i signed up for mturk a couple of weeks ago and have been kind of disappointed. after about two hours of poking and clicking, i made $3. does it get better, like the more you do it the more options open up? most of the stuff i see is between .04-.09 per HIT.
YMMV but I think it gets better
. More HITs open up when you reach 1000 approved, 5000 approved, etc. The majority of requesters set filters for who can do their HITs, and getting your numbers up is key.
Time of day does matter. University surveys are usually quick and pay well, and lots are posted weekday mornings. You can make money at night, but the pickings are slimmer.
When available, a requester called p9r is great for number building, with simple data entry tasks.
There's a daily thread called Great Hits on a site called mturkforum. I recommend keeping that thread open in a separate tab and checking it while you mturk. Lots of great information sharing about the best tasks of the day, so you can hop on them when they're posted.
I wouldn't be discouraged yet. It took me a couple months to get into a groove with mturk and figure out how to maximize my earnings, but it's hard to explain exactly how I did it because personal skills and the available HITs vary so widely.
