Can surveys and other online gigs pay your bills?

Yes

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by Lynne Oconnor

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A brief search on line will find dozens of references to online survey scams from people who haven't made any money. With so many opportunities around, why do some people fail in this easy internet business activity?

Generally because they did not know what they were doing and/or were poorly advised. Most failures fall into one of three categories:

Poor choice of where to start:
They answered an ad and jumped in, not realizing that they were dealing with a sales company trying to look like a paid online survey company, but just wanted to sell them things.

Alternatively, they tried to go the easy route and paid for a list of survey sites only to find it is simply a list of other companies, many of which weren't operating in their country, and even more that offer no more than the remote chance of winning a prize at the end of a long survey. Not only hadn't they earned any money, but they were out of pocket by the cost of the guide.

The simple fact is that there are many websites that will sell you a list of companies offering paid survey work, encouraging you to part with large sums of money against the promises of a full time income for very little work. The reality is that these sites provide nothing that you can't get from a free listing site like http://www.whichsurv eys.com which not only lists around 300 companies requiring participants but offers the whole directory in a free downloadable ebook. In fact, because the free directories don't charge a fee for information, they need to be more vigilant at keeping details up to date to keep visitors returning, whereas paid directories have already had your money and have little incentive to do more.

Failure to get started
Many people are filled with enthusiasm until it comes to filling out their applications to take surveys. They look at the pages of information required and decide it's too much work. Although it may seem like a lot of information, the survey companies need this data to determine whether or not you fit the criteria for a particular survey. For example, if they don't know that you have a young baby how will they know to send you surveys about baby food?

Failure to sign up with a large enough number of survey makers.
Not every survey maker is active with new surveys every week. It's a numbers game. If you don't sign up with all the available survey makers out there, you will miss surveys you could have taken and lose income that you otherwise could have made. The consequent lack of income is discouraging and causes some to quit trying.

Sign up with all the survey makers that you can. Get a copy of Robo-Form to help you fill out the repetitive parts of applications fast. Plan to sign up for 150 to 300 survey makers. Yes, it's a lot of work for no immediate return, but it will pay off in the long run. Remember that survey makers cannot send you surveys to fill out if they don't know you are there, ready willing and able, to fill them out. Get the word out, get on as many lists as you can and you will be rewarded handsomely for your efforts!

Failure to act professionally
Once registered with the survey sites, invitations start to arrive, but they don't respond immediately and a few days later find the survey has closed, or they don't reply honestly in an attempt to complete surveys for which they aren't qualified (remember you've given much of this information on your original registration form so they already know your occupation and family status for example), or simply don't put in the required effort and find their work rejected.

The client, and therefore the market researcher company, want instant results so they'll send out far more invitations than they need, accepting the input from the first to respond. If you don't complete the survey on day one, there's a strong chance the client will already have received enough information, and after a few no-shows they'll assume you simply aren't interested and remove your name from the list.

If you do receive an invitation, you need to remember that you are being paid to do a job and should act in a professional manner. This means checking e-mails regularly, answering truthfully and take your time to consider your answer rather than putting down anything to get it finished quickly.

Unrealistic Expectations
Expectation of immediate results without doing any work. Some people start out with paid online surveys expecting to get rich quick, without having to do any work. So they sit and wait, and when no money comes in they quit.

Sure, you can make money. But it's not automatic; things won't move unless and until you do. You have to do the signup work, answer promptly, take the surveys and do a good job of answering all the questions in order to make the money come in. Do these things and you will succeed.

Lack of patience with the process.
Some fail for lack of patience. You hear people say, "I tried it for two weeks and didn't make any money, so I quit."

Be patient! Two weeks is not even enough time to get started properly! If you do everything right, get signed up for the maximum number of paid online surveys in the first 2-3 weeks, you might make some income in the first month. But you will not hit your peak income for a few months. Survey makers are cautious with new signups. They will send out only a few surveys at first, to check you out, see how well and how quickly you respond. Don't expect to be invited to participate in a $250 focus group right away. They will start you with something smaller, then if that goes O.K. you will be considered for bigger things. Be patient. Don't expect everything to happen overnight. It will come. Just give it time.

Follow this advice and you will succeed.

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