Growth Trends for Related Jobs

How to Become a Survey Taker

careertrend article image
pen image by Rog999 from Fotolia.com

Survey takers on the Internet get rewards or payments for submitting their honest answers in online surveys. The surveys are usually directed at a specific audience, and how much they pay depends on both the length of the survey as well as how important your opinion is to the company conducting the survey. You might wonder how these companies can afford to pay you just for answering a few questions. Hiring an online company to survey a set amount of people is much cheaper than in-person phone surveys. Hence the company makes money by paying you to tell them about the public's opinion.

Go to at least five top survey sites such as yellowsurveys.com, paidsurveys.com, acop.com or surveysavvy.com and compare their terms and agreements to familiarize yourself with these sites. You can also use sites like onlinesurveyspaid.com that have lists of paid survey companies.

Google the name of every company you are interested in with " + scam." All the top paid survey sites have comments and reviews across the Internet, so read until you feel comfortable with each company.

Create a new email address to use only with survey taking. Some survey sites, although legitimate, send out junk mail so you don't want to use your main email account.

Sign up with at least five trusted companies with your newly created email. This is a minimum if you want to make money doing surveys online. Most sites only send out one or two invitations a week, and it might pay only around $3. Therefore, the more companies you sign up with, the more money you can make.

Fill out your profile completely with every interest you have ever had. You will be sent surveys largely based on your interests, so completing these fields increases the number of surveys that target you.

Tip

Getting paid for taking online surveys is absolutely possible, but don't expect to get rich. Many sites require a minimum earning before payout. Be sure to acquaint yourself with the terms and conditions before signing up. The more sites you sign up with, the more surveys you will be sent.

Warning

Always Google every site and read reviews for scams before signing up.

References
Tips
  • Getting paid for taking online surveys is absolutely possible, but don't expect to get rich.
  • Many sites require a minimum earning before payout. Be sure to acquaint yourself with the terms and conditions before signing up.
  • The more sites you sign up with, the more surveys you will be sent.
Warnings
  • Always Google every site and read reviews for scams before signing up.
Writer

Scott Nelson began writing professionally in 2005, contributing to online publications. He is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in humanities at the University of Washington.