by Barry Tadmore

Created on: December 27, 2010   Last Updated: December 31, 2010

I was once told that finding information from the internet is often like drinking water from a fire hose.  The same can be said about finding survey spots that are worth your time and actually pay.  There are hundreds of websites that offer some sort of incentive for filling out online surveys, but many of those are scams intended to sell your email address or make money at your expense in a variety of other ways.

The first step in starting out with online survey sites is to set up an email address that is dedicated to your "business" of making money online via survey sites.  The more websites you sign up for, the more junk mail you will receive.  When I first started, I was receiving 500 emails per day, 99% of which was Spam.  If I wouldn't have set up a separate email account, I would never have been able to keep track of my normal email.

The second step is to find actual, reputable sites.  This isn't easy.  The source of information I used was Money Making Mommy (www.moneymakingmommy.com).  Not only does this sit give you a good source of finding legitimate survey sites, it will also give you information on various other ways to make money on the internet.  This is a great place to start.  Unfortunately, you'll still end up wasting a lot of time with junk that simply won't pay off for you.  If you're interested, I've narrowed the list of the survey sites I use down to three: Opinion Outpost, Survey Spot, and Global Test Market.  Click on any of the links to learn more about each of the websites and why they have become my favorites.

Once you sign up with a website, it's important to fill out any and all of the "profile surveys" that are intended to match you with the various surveys they have available.  This allows the website to filter your profile for particular surveys.  For example, if one of your profiles lists your age and there is a survey available that is looking for respondents that are outside of your age group, the website will know not to send you the survey invitation.  These profile surveys will save you time and energy that would otherwise have been wasted when you clicked on surveys and inevitably were screen out of the surveys because of this basic information.

My final tip is to spend as much time as you can on this!  Don't sacrifice time you could otherwise spend with your family, at work, or sleeping.  But what if you're just browsing the internet or playing games to kill time?  Why not fill out surveys to kill time?  If you fill out two surveys per day at an average incentive of $2 per survey, you will earn $1,460 in one year.  Just imagine what you'd be able to do with that extra money!

Good luck with your survey career!

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