by 7 people |
Make Money Taking Surveys - Is this Real?
Always the skeptic, thinking I could make money taking surveys seemed a little "out there" - I mean, really out there. Like you, I read where people were claiming to make money taking surveys, being secret shoppers and all sorts of things like that. And I tried a few of them.
Then, something happened. It was called the Do Not Call Registry, and the marketing industry changed.
Then, something happened. It was called the Do Not Call Registry, and the marketing industry changed.
Marketing Changes
Do Not Call Dealt a Blow
The Do Not Call Registry changed marketing in a good way for those of us who were being inundated with telemarketing phone calls. Since signing up for the Registry, we rarely get any calls on our "home phone" anymore. That's the magic of giving our cell phone number to people we wanted to call us and cell phones being off-limits to telemarketers.When the Do Not Call Registry began back in 2003, the initial registration period saw 50 million people putting their phone numbers on the list. In the next 18 months, that number grew to 91 million. And that number had grown to almost 150 million by the end of 2007.
The Stop Invading My Privacy message has virtually silenced what had become 9,000 call centers in the U. S. alone that employed over 500,000 people in the outbound telemarketing segment.
Businesses HAD to come up with something new. Surveys might be the answer.
Competition - the American Way
Competition pushed Surveys to the forefront
ABC News sent a business reporter to find out what companies were now doing after the drastic reduction in telemarketing. The reporter said, "I have taken about a dozen surveys myself with the two online survey sites I joined. I was paid for three of the surveys ($15, $6 and $1 each) and was entered into a sweepstakes for the other nine surveys (which I did not win). However, I found it easy and enjoyable to answer the questions."The reporter said something else: "If you have a computer and like giving your opinion, you might want to try doing online surveys from home to make a little extra cash while trying new products. There are hundreds of companies that enlist research panels of average consumers to complete surveys online."
First Step - Get Organized
Watch Out for the Mall Effect
Before you ever sign up for your first survey, you must prepare yourself and your computer. Preparation is essential. Can you imagine the Blue Angels taking to the sky to fly in precision formations without proper planning?Certainly not! They know the possibilities of not being prepared, and they certainly know the meaning of "crash and burn" better than most. You want to take the appropriate steps to prevent your money-making opportunity from crashing and burning.
Create a folder on your computer that you will be able to find easily and name it something like My Surveys. Inside that folder put a spreadsheet.
A spreadsheet is preferred to a document because you will be able to sort it alphabetically very easily.
You would want columns like Name of Survey Company, Name of Survey, Date Enrolled, Date Survey Completed, etc.
Why ?
Survey sites make money by referring you to other survey sites. It won't be long before you will not know what you have enrolled in and what you haven't. You need that spreadsheet to keep organized.
In the brain injury community, which with I am most familiar, there is something we call The Mall Effect. Essentially, it is too much information coming at you to process in time to act on it.
Survey sites can certainly produce that same Mall Effect if you are not prepared before you begin.
That's probably why you'll hear people say they burned out quickly. They were not prepared to handle survey participation like a business. It is a business. You do earn money, products, etc.
Before you do anything else, get organized.
Treat Making Money with Surveys Like a Business
Work Smart
Making Money with Surveys should be treated like a business. You should work at it every day using the organization methods mentioned above.
There is one tool that will make your life much, much easier. Roboform is a memory tool for Internet surfing and filling out forms.
The free version will only handle 10 web addresses, and ten web addresses will be pretty useless in your Survey Business. The Pro version provides unlimited availability for you. The cost will be recovered time and time again.
Signing up for surveys - and taking surveys - means that you will be entering your name and address, etc. time after time after time. You can put that standard information in Roboform and let it put that information in the forms for you.
When you go to a site that requires a login and password, Roboform will remember that information for you in a password-protected directory. The next time you get on the Internet, simply click on the Logins drop down list, choose the website and Roboform will take you to the site and log you in.
Roboform is a must have for your Survey Business.
There is one tool that will make your life much, much easier. Roboform is a memory tool for Internet surfing and filling out forms.
The free version will only handle 10 web addresses, and ten web addresses will be pretty useless in your Survey Business. The Pro version provides unlimited availability for you. The cost will be recovered time and time again.
Signing up for surveys - and taking surveys - means that you will be entering your name and address, etc. time after time after time. You can put that standard information in Roboform and let it put that information in the forms for you.
When you go to a site that requires a login and password, Roboform will remember that information for you in a password-protected directory. The next time you get on the Internet, simply click on the Logins drop down list, choose the website and Roboform will take you to the site and log you in.
Roboform is a must have for your Survey Business.
Tips for Making Money with Surveys
What You Need to Know
Tip # 1 - Use Roboform.Tip # 2 - You need to work your Survey Business for at least two months on a consistent basis (daily) to increase your chances of being picked for higher paying surveys. You will establish yourself as someone who can be counted on to perform.
Tip # 3 - Set up a separate email account for all your survey contacts. There is a good chance that you will receive a lot of emails about surveys and products. You can set up a free account at Yahoo or Google. We use Google for our Survey Business and Yahoo for other business pursuits.
Tip # 4 - Make sure you qualify for a survey company before joining. Some surveys are for men only. And wouldn't it be useless for a man to sign up for a survey about feminine products? Likewise, if the survey is looking for Seniors, they're not talking about Seniors in high school or college.
Tip # 5 - Don't register with every survey company. Be picky to an extent. Look to see if they tell you what is being offered for completing the survey. Will it be cash? Will it be samples? Will it be a chance to win cash? Of course you want to concentrate on the cash surveys, in the beginning at least.
Sample Surveys
Get paid for getting your free credit report! You can not help seeing the television commercials about getting a free credit report. Free credit report is also a highly searched term on the Internet, with monthly searches in excess of 150,000. Throw in variations of the term and you get over a million searches a month for people wanting a free credit report.Did you know there is a Free Credit Report Survey that will pay you for obtaining your report from a particular site using their 30-day trial program (during which you can cancel to avoid any charges)? You obtain your report, you fill out a survey about it, and you get paid. Not only did you get a free copy of your credit report, you earned money to boot?
Free DVD Rentals come with another survey. There is a particular major Video Rental service that will pay you for completing a survey after testing their service. Yes, you will pay for one month participation, but you receive back more than the cost by completing the survey. So, it's like getting a free month's DVD rentals plus cash.
These are just two samples. There are around 432 survey companies conducting surveys for hundreds and hundreds of businesses.
Finding Legitimate Surveys
Things to Look For
Finding legitimate surveys so you can earn money from your computer can be a daunting prospect. The ABC reporter, you'll remember, said there were hundreds of companies using legitimate paid surveys.Of course, like everything else in a free enterprise system, the scammers jumped on the bandwagon as well - which led to my skepticism about any of these things being real.
While taking surveys on your computer may not be the "golden eggs" of financial freedom, they can provide legitimate income - depending on how much time you devote to it.
Make Certain the Survey Site where you enroll has a Privacy Policy that protects your personal information. You might even check for an opt-out policy as well.
One site that we really like (and it's run by a young lady who knows her stuff) has such a privacy policy, and she provides a way for you to opt-out of any communications from her site if that's your desire.
Click here for information about Lauren's Make Money Taking Surveys Site.
Take a Test Drive
Before Making a Commitment
Why not test drive a survey and see if you like it? Here's one I especially like.
My Test Drive Survey
My Test Drive Survey
Make Money Clicking on Ads
How It Works
You can actually make money by clicking on ads and spending 20 seconds on a site. No, it's not a rich enterprise...but think about this.
This morning before writing this blurb, I spent less than five minutes doing this and earned 30 cents. Okay, thirty cents is small change, right?
But let's just say that I spent a full five minutes earning that 30 cents. That's the same as $3.60 per hour. Now, let's say I did that for one hour per day Monday through Friday for a year. Now we're talking $936.00.
That thirty cents for five minutes begins to take on a whole new look when you think of an extra $936.00 in your pocket. And all you had to do was click on an ad and visit a site for 20 seconds.
You see, advertisers pay the main site to have their banners hosted. The main site guarantees a certain number of clicks on those ads. In order to fulfill that guarantee, they pay people to click on the ads.
Are the advertisers getting targeted clicks? No. But they have a reason for wanting those clicks, targeted or not. Maybe they want to tell a prospective advertiser they had 250,000 unique visitors on their site this month. Well, that's certainly one way to do it. You really don't care why their doing it, do you?
It does not cost you one cent to register and start earning money by clicking on ads!
Visit Make Money Clicking on Ads
This morning before writing this blurb, I spent less than five minutes doing this and earned 30 cents. Okay, thirty cents is small change, right?
But let's just say that I spent a full five minutes earning that 30 cents. That's the same as $3.60 per hour. Now, let's say I did that for one hour per day Monday through Friday for a year. Now we're talking $936.00.
That thirty cents for five minutes begins to take on a whole new look when you think of an extra $936.00 in your pocket. And all you had to do was click on an ad and visit a site for 20 seconds.
You see, advertisers pay the main site to have their banners hosted. The main site guarantees a certain number of clicks on those ads. In order to fulfill that guarantee, they pay people to click on the ads.
Are the advertisers getting targeted clicks? No. But they have a reason for wanting those clicks, targeted or not. Maybe they want to tell a prospective advertiser they had 250,000 unique visitors on their site this month. Well, that's certainly one way to do it. You really don't care why their doing it, do you?
It does not cost you one cent to register and start earning money by clicking on ads!
Visit Make Money Clicking on Ads
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DBird wrote...
Good lens for people wanting to learn how to work from home.
Posted November 26, 2008
onthejourney wrote...
I too have received these kinds of offers. I like your lens and think you have started with some clarity and sanity. Since I know squidoo attracts lots of people interested in money making ideas, I am going to add you to my favorites list. Come visit mine, it's a lot different than yours. Good job.
Mark
Posted August 20, 2008
by netventurer
Published author Larry Jameson (Brain Injury Survivor's Guide) has written several eBooks and hundreds of articles. He has been working from home sinc... (more)
