If you're reading this, then you're probably already interested in making some extra money - and considering that maybe the internet is a good place to go about it. Work from home in your pajamas, set your own hours, get paid for your opinions as you rate everything from truck tires to movie trailers...
That's the hype surrounding paid online surveys; and a lot of the claims are grossly inflated. Who's usually to blame for the misinformation? My guess is it's the Survey Databases you see advertised all over the place. After all, they're the ones asking you for $30-50 to access their listings. The actual market research companies don't do that.
And then, after you sign on and get deluged with "partner offers" and the like, one must begin to wonder if these sites aren't raking in some payola from elsewhere, aside from what cash you or I may be handing over to them.
Well, I've been involved in online surveys for several months: long enough to know that, although the schpiel about "the average survey being worth $20-$50" and "make up to $150/hr." is exaggerated, one CAN make money with the right companies. So here I'm going to list the best, in my experience. I haven't taken a year to sift through each and every one and weigh them according to a dozen different merits. I'm simply listing the companies that I MYSELF have MADE MONEY from, and listing links to those companies' sites. Also, I'm going to list them in the order of how much I earned, from highest to lowest.
1. Survey Spot http://www.surveyspot.com/
2. Institute for Online Consumer Studies http://iocs.org/
3. American Consumer Opinion http://www.acop.com/
4. Lightspeed Panel http://us.lightspeedpanel.com/
5. NFO MySurvey http://www.mysurvey.com/
6. esearch http://www.esearch.com/
Best of luck with these sites - just hold onto that day job for the time being! If I have any more encouraging news down the road, I'll be sure and share it.
Seth Mullins is the author of "Song of an Untamed Land". Visit his complete blog at http://www.writingup.com/blog/seth_mullins