How to Make Some Extra Money on the Internet

With online surveys you have the opportunity to influence the development of new brands, marketing campaigns and even political opinions. In return you can expect to receive a "reward" in the form of cash, vouchers or an entry into a prize draw (or sometimes a combination of all three).

Such surveys take the form of multiple choice type questions with a few free text boxes at various points. They generally begin with a screening section as most surveys are aimed at a particular group of people. This section will usually ask for your age, gender, household income, what sort of employment you are in, before moving on to more specific questions such as what type of snacks you regularly by, for example. From experience, there is no point in trying to guess what sort of person is being sought to ensure that you qualify for the survey, because it almost always doesn't work. It is far better anyway to give honest answers, as the exercise is actually all about gaining your view.

Surveys can take anything from 5 minutes up to 40 minutes, and generally the reward reflects how much time is required to complete them. However, this does not always follow. The cash equivalent of rewards generally varies between 0.10GBP (US$0.20) to 4.00GBP (US$8.00), although occasionally some survey panels will pay more, particularly when they are looking for a very specific demographic group.

The subject of surveys varies enormously, although the majority focus on consumer attitudes. For example, you may be shown the idea for a new product and will be your view on this and how relevant it is to you. Crucially, you may be asked how much you would be willing to pay for this product. You may be asked what you think about a particular marketing campaign and what you remember about specific adverts. It is important to remember that these are not memory tests and that if you do not remember anything about them then this is a measure of the success, or otherwise, of this particular campaign.

Occasionally, you may also be sent a new product to try, and then there will be a follow up survey where you can give your view on this product.

The more interesting surveys ask for your opinions about political issues or your views on particular parties. Some also ask about more general social trends - for example how much alcohol you consume while you are on holiday.

Paid surveys will not make you rich, but they provide for a little extra money, and they give ordinary people the opportunity to provide opinions on a wide variety of issues.

Cashback shopping sites are sites which offer you the opportunity to get some cash back when you shop on the internet! You simply register with the site, then go to online shops via the cashback site to receive some money when you shop.

Why would they want to do that? Well the cashback site is really just an a site for retailers to advertise on. What you receive is essentially a portion of the advertising revenue.

How much cash do you get back varies hugely so it is impossible to generalise. For some purchases you will receive a percentage of what you spent, for others you will receive a fixed amount. The best rewarded purchases are usually financial products.

You do not always have to spend money to get cash back! Most sites allow you to get a small amount of cash back for undertaking a price comparison (or similar transaction). There are also various other ways such as signing up for newsletters.

Paid to Click sites are sites where you sign up to receive e-mails and you receive a cash sum for clicking on them and viewing them for a defined period (usually up to 45 seconds).

Why would they want to do that? Well, again it's about receiving a portion of the advertising revenue and a way of increasing the chance of people actually taking notice of adverts that otherwise may be ignored.

One thing to say here is TREAT THESE SITES WITH CAUTION!! There are many sites out there that apparently offer 100s of US$ (they are mostly US based sites) just for viewing e-mails. I have personally never tried these sites, but feedback from blogs etc is that these sites have a habit of disappearing just as you reach the minimum threshold for payout. The reality is that you are likely to recieve between £0.00075 (US$0.0015) to £0.01 ($US0.02) per e-mail. Not exactly riches, but you can do as I do and click on messages, minimise the advert, and then carry with something else. So it can be a fairly painless way (apart from the Repetitive Strain Injury) to accumulate a few extra pennies.