Paid online surveys have been around for quite a few years now, yet most people still don’t understand what they are all about. If you’re looking for a way to make some extra cash, surveys are ideal. Highly flexible, they allow everyday consumers to help shape the products and services of the future. The best part? You can earn money and even free gift cards to dozens of retailers just for participating!
Make Money Online
For many families, a part-time job or side-hustle is necessary for making ends meet. According to Statista, almost 26 million Americans work a second job. And that extra income is not just for padding a savings account or purchasing luxury items. The rising costs of housing, healthcare, and basic needs make the additional work a necessity.
More recently, people have been turning to remote work and online sources of income. As a result of the pandemic, online jobs and side hustles are flourishing, with over four million people working from home at least part of the time. Some of the most popular online gigs include:
Paid Online Surveys
Taking paid surveys is a great opportunity to earn money online, and it’s the side hustle we’re discussing in this post. However, it’s not as well-known as the other gigs that follow below. In fact, according to Pew Research, about 16 percent of people have earned money online in some fashion, yet only four percent of them have done it through paid surveys.
What do those numbers mean for you? First, there are plenty of opportunities to earn money on the web with paid online surveys! Second, the paid survey market is not saturated.
You’ll need to find a reputable survey site, of course. Plus, you will want to understand a little bit about how online surveys work. However, the bottom line is even if you have no experience and you’re a total beginner, surveys can be the perfect way to start making money online. Other gigs include:
Online Tutor
The switch to remote schooling created gaps in learning for many students, and more families than ever before are seeking additional instruction for their kids. That means the market for online tutors has exploded.
At one time, you needed a teaching degree to become a tutor online. Now, however, several companies will consider applicants without a college education. There is almost no investment involved in becoming an online tutor, and if you are knowledgeable in a particular subject, it’s an excellent side hustle that pays reasonably well.
Virtual Assistant
With so many companies switching to a remote workforce, the demand for remote office assistance has also risen. Virtual assistants (VAs) help with all the administrative tasks that companies and small businesses need, but they do it from their homes instead of offices.
For example, as a virtual assistant, you might answer calls, respond to emails, or maintain an organization’s social media sites. With more experience, you may help with tasks like graphic design, bookkeeping, or even building websites. The more skills you have, the more valuable you will be as a VA, and there are plenty of free online classes that teach people how to get into this lucrative side hustle.
Customer Service
There are now many opportunities in customer service for those who want to work online. In fact, even before the pandemic, corporations were utilizing a remote workforce for their customer care needs.
You might do everything from tech support to helping customers place retail orders in this position. Most available jobs involve talking on the phone, so you’ll need to meet a few technology requirements such as a computer, landline, and headset. However, this may be worth the small investment for those who enjoy chatting.
Many companies provide excellent wages and even benefits to their remote employees. To find online CSR positions, you can search job boards like:
- Monster
- Indeed
- Flexjobs
- Ziprecruiter
- Glassdoor
Freelance Writing
For people who enjoy writing, freelance work is abundant online. We’re not talking about becoming a novelist or reporting for the New York Times, though. Instead, we’re talking about copywriting, which involves writing for the web.
Most of us read massive amounts of content on the web every day, yet we don’t usually put a lot of thought into how that content materializes. For example, the article you are reading right now was written by a freelance writer for the web. Likewise, every blog post, article, press release, or advertisement has a real person behind it, And that person could be you.
To get started with online freelance writing, start reading up on it. Resources like Copyblogger and Freelance Writers Den can teach you how to get your foot in the door.
What Are Paid Surveys?
Most of us are all too aware of what surveys are. It seems like after every business you visit or purchase you make, you’re inundated with surveys. They are on the bottom of each cash register receipt and at the end of every phone call. We’ve grown so accustomed to them we don’t even see them anymore.
Surveys serve a valuable purpose, though. They help market researchers determine what people like or don’t like. They determine new flavors, the most attractive packaging, and the best slogans. And they assist stakeholders in making decisions about what products and services to introduce to the marketplace.
However, because we all have “survey fatigue,” it’s getting harder and harder to get people to respond to those questionnaires.
Enter paid surveys. By offering customers a cash incentive to fill out a survey form, marketers discovered that they were much more likely to get the information they needed. As a result, they get to gather essential data, and users earn some money. Paid surveys are a win for everyone.
Make Money Online by Taking Surveys
Making money online with surveys is not complicated. In fact, finding the right survey site (which we’ll discuss next) may be the most difficult part of all. After that, there are only a few easy steps to complete:
Register with the site:
You’ll need to register with your name and email address.
Confirm your registration:
Look for a confirmation email and click. Once you’ve confirmed, you can create a user name and password.
Log in to the site:
Log in to the survey site for the first time and have a look around!
Complete your first few surveys:
The first paid surveys available to you will be profile surveys. These help the company get to know your preferences to send you the most relevant survey opportunities.
Work on some regular surveys:
When your profile surveys are finished, find a survey that interests you and fill it out thoroughly. Once you’re done, repeat this process until you reach your payout threshold.
Request a payment:
Once you have reached the cashout threshold, you can request a payment. Depending on the site you joined, that might be Paypal, direct deposit, gift cards, or some other form of payment. We’ll discuss payments more in just a moment.
How To Find a Paid Survey Site
As discussed above, finding surveys for legit money is one of the most challenging parts of making money with paid surveys. That’s because, like all great ideas, scammers try to duplicate them for their own greedy and selfish purposes. You’ll want to avoid scam survey sites since giving them your personal information can result in identity theft and other financial disasters.
So how do you know a survey site is legit? There are a few ways to tell:
Scam Sites Have Bad Reviews (Or None at All)
Consumers are not shy anymore about leaving honest reviews regarding the companies or products they engage with. Survey sites are no different. So, if you are considering joining a particular site, be sure to perform a Google search for reviews.
For example, Branded Surveys (a reputable and established survey company) has over 45,000 genuine user reviews on Trustpilot, plus a rating of excelling. These are the kinds of numbers you should look for. Avoid any brand new site or one with no published information.
Scam Sites Make Overblown Claims About Earnings
We’ve all seen get-rich-quick ads that promise you if you take surveys for money, you can earn hundreds of dollars a day. Don’t fall for it. Surveys are an excellent way to make a little extra cash online, but you won’t get wealthy taking them. After all, if that were the case, everyone would take surveys for a living!
Scam Sites Often Charge Membership Costs
A legit survey site exists to gather consumer data and compensate users for their time. No reputable survey company will ever charge a fee to join. Avoid it entirely if you come across a site that asks you to pay a membership fee.
Getting Paid From Taking Surveys
So you’ve found the survey site you want to work with, you’ve done a few surveys, and you’ve now reached your cashout threshold. Now what? It’s time to get paid.
Each site will be a little different, of course. But in general, the process for cashing out will be similar. The cashout threshold may be $5.00, $10.00, or even more, depending on the site. (At Branded Surveys, it’s $5.00, or 500 points.)
You’ll want to navigate to the page that lists the site’s payout options and choose how you want to be paid. For example, Branded offers several ways to withdraw your earnings. The most popular is to have your cash delivered to your Paypal account. That’s the most straightforward and fastest option.
However, if you don’t have a Paypal account, you can also opt for Branded Pay. This choice will allow you to deposit the money you make as a direct deposit into your bank account.
The final option is to have your earnings transferred to a gift card of some sort. Many sites let you take surveys for gift cards, although very few of them offer as many choices as Branded Surveys. For example, on Branded, you can earn the usual gift cards like Amazon, Walmart, or a prepaid Visa. But you can also choose from dozens of other retailers and services. Here are just a few:
- Delta Airlines
- Advance Auto Parts
- Game Spot
- Fandango
- L.L. Bean
- LongHorn Steakhouse
- Dunkin Donuts
- Lowe’s
- Tony Roma’s
- Uber
Closing Thoughts
Taking online surveys for money is a tried and true way of working online, and it’s well worth the effort. If you’ve never tried taking surveys for cash, it’s easy to get started, plus you can start making money right away.
Additionally, surveys are great if you need a side gig with flexibility. You can work on them any time, day or night. Additionally, you can complete surveys on the go! As long as you have internet access and a computer, smartphone, or tablet, you’re ready to roll. Give paid surveys a try today!
