In my last article, I focused a lot on affiliate
marketing and my successes and failures concerning this money making program.
Prior to affiliate marketing, I focused on making money through paid online
surveys. Let's first get to the main question at hand: Do Paid Surveys Really
Pay? The short answer to this is yes. Paid online surveys do actually pay and
in most cases, this is not a scam or a waste of time. Prior to really answering
this question thoroughly, let me explain what "Paid Surveys" really
mean.
While looking for "Online Money Making
Opportunities" online, I am sure we have all come across the paid survey
ads. When I was initially looking to make a little bit of extra cash to
supplement my current income, it seemed to be the most ideal solution. At
first, I tried to be "frugal" about it and hunt out paid survey sites
on my own. I found about 5 or six sites that promoted offering to pay for
taking surveys. I signed up for them, got on their mailing list, and nothing! I
waited about 2 weeks for "a survey" and did not get anything. Very
annoying! I continued to research the topic (in forums) and started to realize
that 5 sites are not enough to get started. That prompted me to join a paid
survey site. This is when I learned what "Paid Surveys" is all about!
In order to make paid surveys work, you need to
step out of the box a little bit. There is MORE to paid surveys than just
"Paid Surveys". Remember, the whole point to getting paid for surveys
is for companies to collect data, build profiles and become more successful
marketers. Filling out paid surveys online is just one way to do this. Phone
interviews are a way to collect data. Online focus groups exist where you join
a real-time discussion online. Also, you can read other people's email and get
paid for it. While this seems strange, you can get paid a few cents per email,
and this can add up in a short hour! There are about a half-dozen more ways as
well to earn money through paid survey opportunities.
Getting back to the original question again: Yes,
you can get paid for you opinion! Most surveys I have gotten range between $5
and $25 each (for about 15 minutes to an hour of your time). Getting paid to
read emails is about one cent to ten cents per email read (and I have made up
to about $15 in an hour doing this). The other thing to be aware of is the
payment options. A lot of paid survey sites offer compensation in either money
and/or prizes. This can be a good or bad thing, depending on why you are doing
these programs. Some of the prize sites are pretty nice and you can get more
value in prizes than cash.
The main point to be made here is that you will
be paid for you time. If you fill out a survey or sit in on a focus group, your
time will be compensated. You commitment goes no further than the survey or
interview or the group you attend. For people like stay-at-home parents or even
college students, this is a great way to bring in a little bit of extra cash at
your own leisure. A lot of it is quite a brain-dead exercise that you can do
while watching some bad reality TV in the background. My biggest issue with
paid surveys is its lack of residual income as well as its income potential.
I see ads that advertise that you can make
thousands of dollars per month doing surveys. Their math seems to be pretty
convincing as well: If you do two paid surveys a day at $20 each, for 30 days,
that is $1200 per month! Wow! How easy! Not quite reality, though. If you sign
up with enough paid survey sites, you can expect to get (on average) about 5-10
surveys per week, and most of these pay in the $5-$10 range. If you also join
some focus groups and phone interviews, you can add an additional $100 per
week. So in reality, making $500 is very doable, but that is near the ceiling
for cash potential. It is still not bad! That is an extra $6000 per year (and a
fairly respectable car payment!). If you were looking for a higher paying
online opportunity, I would then recommend affiliate marketing. Online
marketing provides the potential for a lot of residual money (money that is
earned while you are not actually driving it) and its earning potential can be
in the thousands to tens of thousands per month. Affiliate marketing does
require a lot more commitment, initial set-up and a bit of training (all of
which is achievable to anyone, as long as they are focused on their goals!).
Read my article First Impressions of Affiliate Marketing to learn more
about this.
In summary, I would like to give a few
suggestions to those who are planning on trying to make money through paid
survey programs:
1) Sign up for as many paid surveys as you can! -
Most paid survey sites provide you with only one or two survey opportunities
per month. If you are signed up on 50 sites, you now can about 2 surveys per
day.
2) Sign up for a Paid Survey Link Site - So where
do you find these 50 or so sites? That is what these paid survey link sites are
all about. Most of them cost about $35 to join, but it is a one time fee (for
any reputable site). Trying to find 50 sites on your own would take 10s of
hours (and remember, time is money that you can be making filling out
surveys!).
3) Funnel all of your paid survey email into one,
new, dedicated email account. - I found that some paid survey opportunities can
appear as spam and become lost in a regular email account.
4) Stay Organized! - As you start receiving paid
online surveys, start a spreadsheet of whom you are working for and what you
expect to be paid. When trying to manage over 50 sites, you can very easily forget
which companies owe you money or prizes.
5) Remember, you are still an employee of the
paid survey sites! - Be sure to fill out the surveys accurately and
consistently. Surveys that have box number three filled out throughout the
entire questionnaire provide them with no feedback and you will more than
likely stop receiving survey requests. Also, if you start ignoring a lot of
requests, they will stop sending them.
Paid surveys are an honest and solid way to make
a little extra money on the side. Like any money making opportunity, there is a
little bit of initial overhead time, but with paid surveys, once you are set
up, you are set up for awhile. You CAN make money working from home and paid
surveys are a fairly safe, easy and risk-free way of doing so.
Getting Started in Paid Surveys
When a company is looking for direction on the
tastes and preferences of consumers they often contract with a secondary firm
that seeks to gauge buying habits and opinions regarding products and services
useful to the surveyed consumer. This is where paid surveys enter into the
equation.
Paid
surveys are simply tools used by a company to advance their business
directives. Because your opinion is valued, paid surveys can provide you with a
multitude of rewards not limited to cash. Participants may be allowed to
provide their survey online in exchange for products, discounts or to have
their name submitted to a variety of paid surveys cash drawings.
A quick online search will show that there are a
number of paid surveys websites;
however paid surveys are intended to be of mutual benefit to both those who
have commissioned the survey and those who participate. Sadly there are many
sites that take advantage of the situation by seeking to have visitors pay a
subscriber fee for information on paid surveys that can be obtained elsewhere
at no cost.
While results may vary, some individuals have
found that paid surveys have been instrumental in helping to either meet family
obligations or provide enough added funds to purchase an item that's been a
part of a wish list for a while.
If you've wanted to participate in paid surveys
and thought it was too good to be true you may be right in some circumstances,
but a reputable paid survey
website can help steer you toward offers that provide the best opportunity for
success.
If you have sought to participate in paid surveys
in the past, but were never offered the opportunity to fill out one of the many
paid surveys available, the answer might be found in the profile you submitted.
Firms that are in charge of selecting individuals for paid surveys must be sure
that they fit a certain profile for the required survey. By keeping an
up-to-date profile the overall numbers of paid surveys that may be available to
you are likely to increase.
Companies that provide paid surveys have a level of expectation if they are going to pay
you for completing paid surveys. If you are not a good match they cannot pay
you for your information. This is why keeping your profile and information up
to date is imperative in the world of paid surveys.
With paid surveys there can never be promises or
guarantees of financial return, however many have benefited from paid surveys
programs. Much of the success of paid surveys has to do with how closely you
follow the instructions provided. There is little tolerance for incomplete paid
surveys. If this happens the respondent may be removed from consideration for
future paid surveys.
As with any online program that pays you for
providing a service, there will always be the potential for scams with paid
surveys, however many of those providers are well noted and can be avoided
using a reputable paid surveys portal website.
Hundreds of paid surveys are available. If you are able to connect with the
right survey company you may find more paid surveys than you can complete. The
primary suggestion that is given to those who are just beginning is to not give
up. Paid surveys will likely be available, but this is not a get rich quick
scheme and there will be work in making paid surveys something that you see
more and more of.
A brief overview...
1) Paid surveys assist companies in their
marketing plans.
2) Paid surveys are available in fund payments,
goods, discounts and cash drawings.
3) Fee-based access to paid surveys should never
be needed. Many reputable sites provide this information at no cost.
4) Paid surveys can provide an income, but this
cannot be guaranteed.
5) Participating in paid surveys often requires
patience and perseverance.
6) Paid surveys are often obtained by keeping profile
information updated.
7) Paid surveys should be filled out completely
and not rushed through.
8) The concept of paid surveys can be subject to
scam artists, be sure to check with reputable sources for surveys to avoid.
9) Hundreds of paid surveys are available.
Paid Online Surveys - What to Know Before You Start
What
do Paid Surveys Really Ask?
You might think that once paid surveys ask you
about whether you like a product, or not, you should answer in the positive.
No, that is not the case! Paid surveys are designed with the sole purpose to
provide reliable consumer feedback to the manufacturing companies and the
service providers. If you think that a certain product is crappy, you should
indicate that, giving your supporting comments if the survey design allows for
that. If you are happy with a purchase you made, then you should say so, giving
adequate rating to the company and product of your choice. Surveys ask you
about your true experiences, because you as a consumer are the key to company
success. If you like a brand, you should credit it with your positive opinion;
likewise, if you've had terrible shopping experience or didn't get the services
you paid for, then your survey responses should reflect that.
But Don't I Get Cash Anyway with
Paid Surveys?
Getting cash with paid surveys does not mean that
you will be rewarded for submitting blank surveys, incomplete surveys, or
surveys with unfounded and misrepresenting responses. If you complete a
satisfaction survey, its questions will be designed to ask for your detailed
opinion - you might need to order a list of product qualities; to show your
product satisfaction on a scale; to supply written comments in a text box, etc.
If you complete a screener survey, it is most likely that you'll end up in a lottery
drawing or get some sort of prize. Screener surveys are get-to-know-you surveys
that companies send to newly registered survey takers. They are broadly scoped
and are usually used for the purposes of the survey companies itself, rather
than for third-party companies.
Some survey companies have reliability scores for
their survey respondents. On the basis of this score, companies select the
survey takers to be contacted when a survey that is really important and pays
top dollars comes up. When a company relies on a particular survey for carrying
on its strategic plans, it needs only the most reliable, most qualifying, and
most objective survey respondents. If you are consistent in your survey
responses, and build a reputation for a quick, reliable and objective survey
taker, you may end up in the top list of your survey company when it sends the
$100-surveys. On the other hand, subscribers who do not respond to survey
invitations on a regular basis are dropped off the contact list.
How quick should I respond to
complete Paid Surveys?
Once you get proficient in taking paid surveys,
you learn how to minimize the time you spend completing surveys. Seasoned
surveys takers have training in providing answers quickly and accurately, thus
ensuring they have completed and returned the survey before it closes.
Why is it important to submit the survey before
it closes? The survey method is based on collecting a representative sample of
responses, which suffice to formulate significant and meaningful conclusions
about the goals of the survey. As it is never possible to interview 100% of
consumers, survey designers set a number of respondents who need to answer the
surveys in order to make its results relevant to the whole consumer segment.
Most surveys, especially the highest-pay ones, have a preset limit of survey
responses. Once this limit is reached, the survey questions might still be
online, but the survey is no longer available to complete, and you will get no
credit for it. Therefore, survey pros know that they should opt to complete the
surveys that are worth the most as quickly as possible. As many other survey
takers get the same invitation that you do, it's no wonder that the most
attractive surveys get completed within the first hour of their upload. To eliminate
the possibility of disappointment, it pays to make sure you complete the
surveys that pay good cash with highest priority.
