As someone extremely interested in supplementing the current income, without having to spend 10 to 20 hours a week on another job, I’ve started researching the ways of making money online. The most frequently suggested method – blogging – is not my cup of tea. Starting a blog from scratch requires some serious effort and it takes years before you start making money from it; the time I don’t have on my hands. As far as I’m concerned, what seems to be the best method is filling out online surveys. Why? Apart from not requiring any special skills or knowledge, this method gives tangible results in a short time.
How do online surveys work?
All those articles we come across on the Internet and in magazines that contain statistical data rely on paid surveys to get their statistics. The results of surveys are also used for marketing purposes in various ways. Companies want to know how their customers think, which products they need or like buying, as well as which ones they want to avoid. Some firms even send the results of a survey to journalists hoping the name of the firm will be mentioned in an article. Their objective is to attract greater publicity that will boost the sales and improve the firm’s reputation. What most businesses have in common is that they rely on professional survey companies in order to collect data; and, this is your chance to get paid for online surveys and generate some extra income. These survey companies create a database of users and then contact the appropriate respondents for each questionnaire, offering money in return.
How do you actually make money?
Many of the articles I’ve read online claim that money can be earned, but let me elaborate. While filling out surveys cannot replace your regular earnings, it can certainly supplement them. If you are happy with your salary, there’s no need to bother with this method, but, if you are below the median household income, the completion of surveys is surely the path to pursue.
One of the advantages of paid surveys is that it is one of the most reliable methods of making a profit online. The process doesn’t require any special skills or knowledge and it doesn’t take much time, so it can easily be done in your spare time. All you have to do is answer a series of questions and express your views on certain products or services, depending on the type of company which has ordered a survey. As each survey company offers a finite number of questionnaires at a time, make sure you sign up to more than one survey site. By doing so, the surveys will be available to you on a daily basis and you will increase your chances of earning extra cash. In most cases, you will start receiving e-mails as soon as you sign up for a company, so you might consider it a good idea to create a separate e-mail address solely for this purpose.
Payment methods
Each survey varies in length and compensation – it takes between 5 minutes to half an hour to complete one and the average payout ranges from $ 0.5 to $ 4.00. Before signing up to a paid survey site, check out their method of payment. Some pay by PayPal, others by Amazon Vouchers. With most sites, before being able to redeem points or cash, one first has to reach a certain threshold. The truth is that in some cases you will be able to claim the money right away, while in others, you will have to wait for months before you collect a certain number of points and see any cash. If you go for surveys which pay by vouchers, check the expiration date, as some vouchers are valid for less than 6 months. Some of the best paid survey sites include I-Say, Swagbucks, MySurvey, OpinionWorld, Crowdolog, Valued Opinions, etc.
The truth is that one can really make money from paid surveys. Maybe that amount of money cannot substitute your nine-to-five job, but it will certainly boost your monthly earnings. What makes this method of earning money online so appealing is that it can easily become a reliable source of regular income.