by Rea Papas

Created on: September 02, 2009   Last Updated: December 02, 2009

Try googling the phrase "make money online" and you will quickly see that one of the top-cited ways, if not the first search you will find, to making money online is by doing paid surveys. If you think about it, this sounds really nice. You are asked a couple of questions on various topics, sometimes because you are an expert, or you have purchased or used a product or service. Of course, the truth is that most of the time you are chosen for surveys because you are the one whom the companies want to purchase their products or services. That way, with their surveys they can find out what you really want for their next series of products and, of course, they sort of get a small advertisement. Well now, since these companies find out what you like and you are really a significant part of their research and development team, why not be compensated for this task?

Yes, all these sound quite nice. The main problem with this picture is that you only receive a small fraction of the money that companies spend for these surveys. There are many reasons for this. First, the middle man takes a big share of the money paid by the companies for these surveys. The second reason is, of course, the fact that many people are surveyed, and thus share the grand reward. So at the end of the day, you really don't make that much money per survey.

However, surveys can be fun and exciting, and they can also be a hobby for some people. Sometimes you might receive products before anybody else sees them on the shelf of the store. Other times, you can see shows and advertisements before they reach your television set. Do you remember how many times you said, "Wow, is this a stupid ad?" or "This thing is on TV?"

Well, by voicing your opinions through surveys, you can modify what is going to be on TV, on the radio, etc. or even stop it from going live. And, of course, one must not forget the sweepstakes that surveys commonly use to lure people into taking them. While I haven't won any of them, it would be nice to win $100, a Nintendo Wii, or even a new car.

So, yes, surveys do not pay as much for a monthly salary, and even the hourly wage is not as good, but if you are a person who has time to kill when watching a boring show on TV anyway, well, it might be worth trying it.

Before you go out there googling the survey sites and register for every one of them, let me give you a couple of tips. First of all, create a separate email address. Some sites might sell your email address, and you will

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