Taking Surveys for Money: Getting Started

I'm pretty sure that if you've looked up "make money taking surveys" in any search engine that you've been FLOODED with tons of results claiming to lead you to tons of survey sites that promise you riches in a few minutes. They also tell you that for a small fee that they'll lead you to all of the survey sites that you need to begin--stay away from sites that make you pay for a survey data-base.

There are plenty of sites out there that you don't have to pay for in order to receive surveys in your email inbox that you can start earning cash for. Some are mentioned at the end of this post.

The money that you make from online surveys can range from $1.00 to as high as $20.00 (this is only in my experience--this is not including in-home product evaluations or focus groups). Some survey companies pay in points which can be redeemed for cash or prizes.

So, this is what I did to begin taking surveys for money online about 5 years ago and it brings in a bit of money for me and I hope that it will for you too!

1. Set up an email address that is dedicated to surveys and survey offers. This ensures that your personal emails don't get mixed up with your personal emails. Free email programs like Hotmail and Yahoo are good ones. (I use Yahoo). Also if you get burned by a survey site (what I mean is if you sign up for a survey site and begin receiving spam) it won't clutter your personal email address.
   
2. Get RoboForm. Roboform keeps all of your personal information (name, address, phone number, etc.) secure and makes filling out surveys a snap. You can get so many more surveys completed with Roboform. Roboform also stores ALL of the passwords from the different survey sites that you are part of so that you don't have to keep track of them yourself. I have used Roboform with no problems for over four years now and it makes filling out forms so much easier. Click here to download Roboform.
   
3. Sign up for survey companies. Some are listed at the bottom of this post. 
4. Create a new folder in your Favorites of the internet browser that you are using and label it "Surveys." This way you can keep track of which companies you are signed up with--and if you like to check your survey balances like I do, you can check them quickly and easily (and not worry about passwords with the Roboform that you downloaded!)
   
5. Check your email at least once a day for surveys. Some surveys are time sensitive and others have a quota of people to be filled before the survey closes.

Here are a couple of survey companies to get you started: (I will have a page with a list of them in the near future!)

• Mindfield Online 
• Survey Saavy