How Much Can You Really Make With Online Paid Surveys
February 23, 2008
You have probably gotten the emails or seen the advertisements telling you that you can make a lot of money simply taking online paid surveys. It seems enticing, especially for newcomers to the web marketing world. Is it a legitimate way to make money and how much can you really make?
There are companies in the market which let you access their complete database of market research companies. They usually have about 400-500 companies listed and charge you a fee ranging from $30 to $60 for this. Is it wise to pay these companies for the data? The answer is no.
There is plenty of information available for free on the internet and you can get a good listing of free online survey sites. Another reason is that you will also have to individually join each market research company in order to do their surveys. You will also find that only 20% of the names that you get from their database will be genuine. With some time and effort from your side, you can get the listing of survey companies at absolutely no charge on the internet.
While some online paid survey companies pay in cash, others work on a point system, where you can redeem the points after you accumulate them. Survey sites like Ciao Survey or American Consumer Opinion Panel are a couple companies to check out. If you register with enough companies, you should get 1 to 4 surveys to do every month.
If you don’t mind a points system, check out companies like Global Test Market, Mysurvey, and Opinion Outpost. Be sure that you can actually redeem the points for something you really want.
Other companies will enter you into a sweepstake or lucky draw for completing a survey. This is probably the least preferred way to “get paid″, as you may get nothing for your time. But if you participate in a combination of cash, points and sweepstake survey companies, you will be making some cash and entering a sweepstake can add some fun too. Companies that offer sweepstakes include Synovate, NOP World and Nielsen Netratings.
Your country of residence is also another determining factor in your amount of earnings. Residents of the United States and Canada make better money as there are several market research companies operating from these places. They get more surveys to do which helps them earn better.
Doing online paid surveys is a legitimate way to make money online. You should not expect to replace a full time income by doing it, so don’t believe such claims. But you can surely gift your self an extra $200-$300 each month from online surveys.