In 'real life' I run a business and do quite a bit of freelancing, but over the last year finding work has becoming more and more difficult. Over the holidays, I finally played around a bit with paid online surveys. Like most people, I figured all of them were scams until a friend of mine mentioned she was actually making a little bit of cash in her free time with them. So, as usual, with a little bit of internet research under my belt, I gave it a shot.
Tip #1: The first thing you should know is, don't quit your day job. I read several good websites and blogs, and the 'full-time online paid survey professionals' generally agree that the most anyone can reasonably expect to make is about $200 a month. While that definitely won't pay your bills, that's still a nice dent. Hell, that would cover my health insurance each month. So instead of playing MindJolt games in the evening before heading to bed, I've been trying my hand at spending an hour or so each day, filling out surveys.
Tip #2: You gotta put in a LOT for a little reward. At least to start. First, you need to sign up for around 15 - 20 legitimate sites. (Legitimate = rated well by others AND not charging you for joining.) Second, each site may require anywhere from six to sixty pages of interest forms for you to fill out so that surveys can be best matched to you. Thirdly, you must establish a good history with many of the companies. Most companies will send you few surveys to start with, and once you have successfully and diligently responded to surveys with little to no reward - then you start receiving invites for the paying / points surveys!
Tip #3: Create a separate email account. While I've yet to receive any type of spam from any company, there are A LOT of surveys to sort out, and having a new email account is very helpful.
After a month, I've earned a bit of spare change, and would recommend the following sites currently based on my own experiences:
Global Test Market - surveys emailed weekly
InboxDollars - get paid $0.02 for each email you read
Lightspeed Panel - surveys emailed weekly
MyPoints - get paid to read emails, give reviews, and points on purchases (comment for an invite)
Toluna - surveys emailed weekly (comment for an invite)
(Why an invite? Help me stay employed, people.)
Anyways, so far so good - I'll post a new update every month or so and tell you if I'm, ahem, slamming my head into my keyboard yet.
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Really useful post, thanks. I've made a little money with Lightspeed Panel. Not a life changing amount by any means, but actual money, paid swiftly into my actual PayPal account without have to acrue a massive sum before doing so. Toluna seems to be a lot of surveys to earn points, but a huge amount of points needed to get any cash. I'll try the others you recommend. Valued Opinions is pretty good too. :)
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