Wednesday, July 30, 2008

How to Take Surveys Online and Get Paid

By Gibson Maseko


When taking online surveys, you should know that most of the online survey companies offer a "referral" fee for directing those who want to earn money by taking surveys to their site. And this is where the money is.

The first thing you need to do is purchase a domain name. You will want to get one that is catchy and easy to remember as well as spell. Once our domain name is secured, you'll need to set up a website. It doesn't have to be elaborate at all, but should be attractive to the viewer. And, of course, you'll need to have a host. Most host companies charge about $25 a month. You want to make sure you acquire a host that allows ads. Some hosting sites like Yahoo are very user friendly, but don't allow advertising.

When you build a site to market your survey site, you can add some "testimonials" to your portal site. You have to be careful not to deliberately mislead people; but an ambiguous statement such as "I was working 56 hours a week at a dead end job and now earn over $10,000 a month - Brenda K." are not illegal. Because you're not directly saying that doing surveys is the reason Brenda K. is now earning $10,000 a month. Brenda K. could have won the lottery and is taking her winnings in a monthly payout.

The Good, the Bad and the Really Ugly You Should Know

The good survey companies consist of those that actually pay you a little bit of money for your time, don't sell your information to telemarketers, don't send you thousands of e-mails, most of which end up in your bulk mailbox, and tell you exactly what each survey you're taking is worth in terms of dollars. The good survey companies are an excellent way to bring in a few extra dollars from the privacy of your home. They're usually maintained by parent marketing research companies and confirm your acceptance via e-mail. Their website will provide extensive information regrinding the company and earning incentives.

The good news about the "good" companies is that you don't have to worry about them selling your information to unscrupulous companies, charging your phone bill for something you didn't buy or trying to "trick" you into buying anything. A good company doesn't operate that way.

The bad news about the "bad" companies is that you have to keep on your toes. You'll often find yourself directed to other websites, they will try to sell you many products that you don't need or want. You have to stay one step ahead of them, or participating in a survey will cost you more than you'll make.

There's nothing good about these really, really ugly sites except that they're easy to spot for anyone with an IQ over 60. Unfortunately, the elderly, the young and the very greedy are their favorite prey. Beware of any online survey site that charges a "fee" to join, or has a bunch of "testimonials" from people claiming to have made $10,000 a month on their site. If it was that easy, no one would work; we'd all stay home and do surveys.

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