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Earning
Money With Paid Surveys
Can
you really earn money taking surveys? The answer is YES! We've
all seen them, advertisements, banner ads, even spam emails promising
us extra cash just for taking the time to fill out a survey. But
how much can you really make? What exactly do these companies
want in return? Read on below to find out.
First, the
survey companies actually do get a lot in return for their money.
Whether they are researching and developing new products or experimenting
with new advertising methods for existing products, the information
these companies gleam from your consumer responses is invaluable
to them. They can use your responses to find the right market
for their product, gauge interest in certain products and even
test advertising before they spend a huge amount of money on a
national advertising campaign. Not only do the companies get a
goldmine of information from consumer responses, but they can
even use the aggregate information to form very specific ideas
of what a certain market segment wants or needs. Consumer testing
and surveys are one of the most important methods of research
and testing that the big brand names use to research, develop
and market their products, it's a win-win for them, for the consumer
and for the people taking the surveys.
There are
different types of paid surveys and they each have their own pros
and cons, I'll list the two major types below:
Surveys For
Cash – This type of survey is the most prized, because you
give them your time and they pay you in real money. These survey
companies will usually send you a check, but some of them send
actual cash in the mail. Ranging from $2, $5 all the way up to
$10 and $20. Higher payouts happen, but they are more rare and
usually require much more time and information from you, such
as keeping a daily journal of your shopping habits, Internet surfing
habits or your banking habits or testing out actual products.
Surveys For
Rewards – Some survey companies will offer you points for
each survey you take, say 50 points or 500 points. Then these
points can be redeemed for products, gift certificates, gift cards,
airline miles and other items. Sometimes, the points can even
be redeeemed for cash. There are more of these types of survey
programs available since you must commit some time to faithfully
taking the surveys they send in order to gain enough points to
be redeemed for something worthwhile. However, these companies
tend to send more surveys than the companies that pay cash, so
you may have more opportunities to redeem your accumulated points
for a cash or a tangible prize in the end.
Avoiding The
Scams
Most survey
companies are legitimate, but some you may want to watch out for.
Listed below are some ways to make sure you are taking surveys
for legitimate companies:
Reputation
– Before signing up for a survey program, check it's reputation
by doing a bit of research to make sure the company actually pays
it's members or sends out their prizes. You can check with the
Better Business Bureau online, check Google and the many message
boards and forums dedicated to taking surveys and making money
online in general. It should take you just a few minutes to find
out if a company is for real or is just collecting information
to spam you.
Privacy Policy
– Make sure the site has a clearly stated privacy policy
and be sure to read it carefully. Make sure they aren't going
to keep and sell your personal information to third parties and
that the information you do give is used for reasonable purposes.
Survey Directories
– You can find some excellent listings of paid survey companies
on the web. These directories will often have a description and
review of each company. You'll often be able to see what types
of payment or prizes they offer. Be sure to check these out. An
excellent paid online survey directory is PaidSurvey24.com.
Helpful Tools
There are
some helpful tools available for those that would like to take
surveys but don't type very fast or well. One of the best is the
Google Toolbar. It's completely free and installs right to your
browser. Once it's installed, you should click the OPTIONS tab
on the bar and check the box next to AUTOFILL. Then click the
AUTOFILL SETTINGS button and fill in all the information there.
This enables the autofill form tool so that you can fill out forms
asking for your name, address, email address etc. just once and
then you can simply click the AUTOFILL button on your browser
to fill in each of these fields. Extremely handy and a HUGE timesaver!
With the Google toolbar, you can also search Google without having
to go to Google's main page, so you can research paid survey companies
even more easily. You can get it from Google's site, just go to
their main page and click on MORE, then EVEN MORE and then click
on TOOLBAR.
In summary,
while you may not be able to make a living taking surveys, you
certainly can make some extra money and earn some nice prizes.
So the question is not, why would you want to take paid surveys,
it's why wouldn't you want to take paid surveys?! It's easy, often
fun and has many benefits! Good luck!
About the Author
Lydia Quinn writes for PaidSurvey24.com, where you can find a
completely free list of companies that will pay you or offer rewards
for taking their paid online survey. Visit us at: http://www.paidsurvey24.com
