I’ve heard of SurveyMonkey in the past, but only as a website that offers a way for individual companies to create and conduct their own market research surveys. For a fee, you can use their templates to create your own surveys. After a little research, it seems that they now have their own survey panel which is seeking new members.

From the website:
Respected organizations want your views to help them make better decisions. In return for your insights, they provide the means to reward you and the charities you choose.

When you complete your first SMC eligible survey successfully, you will be given the choice to select a charitable or non-profit organization (“Charity”) from those listed on our Charities page (as updated from time to time) as your designated Charity. Donations relating to your successful completion of eligible SMC surveys will be made to this designated Charity by SurveyMonkey. You may change your designated Charity at any time through your SMC account management page, and such change will take effect for donations made after that time. SurveyMonkey will make donations to Charities in accordance with the designations of SMC users on at least a quarterly basis. If SurveyMonkey is, for whatever reason, unable to make a donation to your designated Charity, we will make that donation to a different Charity of our choosing. I know that SurveyMonkey is a reputable company, although I’m not a member of their survey panel. I checked out their extensive list of charities, which includes Boys and Girls Clubs of America and The Humane Society, just to name a few.

Are you a member of the SurveyMonkey Panel? Let us know what you think.

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When you first get started taking online paid surveys, it can be overwhelming and confusing. Where do I go, what do I do? How do I know which sites are legitimate and which ones are scams? How does it all work? Can I make enough money to pay my bills? How much time will I have to spend?
All of these questions will make your head spin!

1) Read, read and read some more. There is so much information on the Internet about online paid surveys, but not all of it is reliable. Find a website that has done much of the work for you. Visit blogs and forums dedicated to the process. Be wary of sites that have wonderful reviews of all of the surveys sites. They are lying. LOTS of the surveys sites are not only terrible, but are scams. Those sites that are giving rave reviews on all of them, want to to join the good ones and the bad ones. I’ve been accused of being “harsh” in my reviews, but that’s because I only took on this job if I was allowed to be truthful and “tell it as I see it”. I do. Use Google whenever possible by putting in the name of the survey site followed by scam and see what comes up. You’ll get lots of info.

2) Don’t believe any site that tells you that you’ll make $500 in an hour. Again, they are not telling you the truth. You can make extra money taking online surveys, but you will NOT get rich. Take a look at this blog and the forum and you’ll see where some of our members have posted their earnings. You’ll get a realistic overview.

3) The online paid survey process does not bring immediate results. You will have to be patient to be successful. It may take a few months to start seeing real money coming in.

4) Survey sites and their related marketing firms are VERY serious about what they do. They recruit members to take their surveys for very important market research about products and services. They do not tolerate inaccurate answers, or hastily completed surveys. These companies have ways to evaluate data and can and WILL disqualify or ban you if you try to “beat the system”. Please answer the questions honestly and in a reasonable length of time. They will red flag you if you complete a survey too quickly and without giving time for thoughtful answers. Be sure that your registration information is truthful. Survey sites are getting better at recognizing inconsistencies.

5) After you have done your research, it will become clear that you’ll need to join as many survey sites as your free time permits. Joining one or two will not bring in enough income to make it worth your while. Reading blogs and forums such as this one, will help you decide which ones to join. Learn from people who have been doing this over time. As you’ll see, they have joined and unsubscribed from survey sites based on their experiences with them. In the end, you’ll have a better handle on the process and can make wise choices.

Please jump in with any tips or hints that you have found in your own trials and tribulations in the online paid survey process. We’d love to hear about what you have learned along the way! What do you wish you had known before getting started?

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Global Test Market is my second best earning website over the last two years. I earned and received $979.90 since March 1, 2008 and here are several tips for achieving results comparable to mine.

• Tip #1: Add the Survey Email Address to Your Allowed List
Make sure to add the email address globaltestmarket.com and frontdesk@globaltestmarket.com to your email white (or allow) list to make certain that you receive GTM surveys and customer service emails. This is true for every survey panel, especially if you were receiving email invitations and they suddenly stopped. Always check your spam filter to make sure they are being allowed.

• Tip #2: Complete Your Profiles
The next tip is also true for every other survey panel. Go to http://www.globaltestmarket.com/ and click on the ‘Surveys’ tab. Here you will see 10 Profile Surveys, including Basic, Household, Employment, Travel, Vehicle, Medical, Technology, Financial, Purchases and Interests, with the date last completed, that take about five minutes each to complete. Global Test Market will automatically make you update these Profiles every year before taking regular surveys, so it is not necessary to update them any more frequently unless you make changes, like moving, purchasing a new vehicle, a new health condition is diagnosed, etc. that might affect the surveys that you qualify for.

• Tip #3: Respond to Survey Invitations as Soon as Possible
Click on the paid survey email invitations the very first thing each morning, starting with the highest paying surveys. Some of these will be for sweepstakes, so save those for last. At the end of the day, if you have time, go to http://www.globaltestmarket.com/ and click on the ‘Surveys’ tab. Below the Profile Surveys you will see a section devoted to surveys that you have not yet completed. I complete these even if they are for a sweepstakes entry because occasionally they lead to paid surveys, higher-paying Invoke Interactive or product tests. The only way to know is by doing them.

• Tip #4: Check Your Rewards on GTM’s Website
It’s been my experience that you do not have to keep track of the surveys completed for Global Test Market because they credit you immediately and accurately on their website. Click on the tab ‘Rewards’ and under ‘Rewards Account Balance’ you will see four things: ‘Total MarketPoints since joining’, ‘Total MarketPoints currently in your account‘, ‘View Recent Market Points Activity’, ‘View Recent Market Sweepstakes Entries’. Under ‘View Recent MarketPoints Activity you will find all of your rewards neatly organized by transaction date & time, type (survey or redemption), description and MarketPoints amount. For convenience you can increase the number of entries on the screen by increasing the ‘Page Size’ on the upper right of the chart. The default is ten entries per page. You can also review your sweepstakes entries by clicking on ‘View Recent Sweepstakes Entries’. Note: the points balance on email survey invitations will not always reflect the most up-to-date total, so do not worry about this.

• Tip #5: Order Checks Promptly After Reaching 1000 Points ($50)
Once you have reached 1000 points ($50) you may request a check, which generally arrives within four to six weeks inside of the US and within six to eight weeks outside of the US. You will receive an email confirming that your check is being processed and I save these until the check arrives.

• Tip #6: Keep Track of Higher-Paying Surveys and Contact Customer Service With Problems
There is usually no need to keep track of surveys for Global Test Market because they have the best survey history and best record of crediting and keeping track of completed surveys of any survey panel that I currently use; however, if you complete a higher-paying survey, such as the 1500-point ($75) phone interview that I recently completed on electronic devices, then you may want to keep that email invitation with the survey number until you have been credited. I keep the emails for any survey invitation that is worth 100 points or more.

Global Test Market is one of the very best survey panels and has been for over three years, which is why I often take surveys for sweepstakes entries because I know they are completely legitimate and many good things have come to me from answering their surveys honestly and accurately. If you follow these simple tips, I think you will find they will also become one of your top earning survey panels.
__________________

What do you think of Global Test Market? Is it one of your favorites? Do you have any tips to share?

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There will no longer be drawings for a chance to win cash prizes when you complete a screening survey. Now you will be paid Points for every screener or survey you complete. Points will range from 10 to 50 Points for screeners or screening surveys, and 100 Points to 5,000 Points or more for longer surveys. Any time you complete any type of survey with American Consumer Opinion®, you will get paid!

To explain more about Points-one Point equals a penny. A hundred Points equals a dollar. You can redeem Points for cash (PayPal or check mailed to you), or you can donate your Points to a worthy charity.

You can cash out when your Member Account equals at least 1,000 Points (ten U.S. dollars), the same as always, as long as you follow the rules in our Terms and Conditions.

Because of these changes, we have recently updated the Terms and Conditions for the American Consumer Opinion® panel. Please click here if you wish to review them.

With this change, you will accumulate Points in your Member Account rapidly. Thanks for being a member of American Consumer Opinion®.
Sincerely,
Anne Parks

I don’t know about you, but I’m all for not being entered into a sweepstakes which gets on my last nerve. At least with these new changes we’ll be paid SOMETHING for completely those screeners.

I do fairly well with ACOP although it not one of my higher earners. Will these new changes be positive overall? Only time will tell. We all know that sometimes these changes bring headaches. Anyone having any problems yet? Are you optimistic that this will improve ACOP?

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If you aren’t already a member, here are some of the specifics:

$4000 Sweepstakes
Grand prize of $4,000 – awarded several times a year
Extra chance to win every day you login to MySurvey.com
Reward Points
Earn points for taking surveys, referring new members and other activities
Redeem points for PayPal, e-certificates, gift cards and more with just a few simple clicks
1,000 points is equivalent to $10.00, which can be redeemed for a variety of Reward items
Survey Completion Bonus Sweepstakes
Earn sweepstakes entries for certain surveys you participate in
Ten (10) winners awarded 10,000 Reward Points every month
Extarvaganza Daily Give-Away
A member wins 10,000 points every day!
Automatic entry when you register, and each time you log in or take a survey at the site

Are you a member of MySurvey? What do you think?

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Cashout is $20, and you are awarded $5 for sign-up. When you earn $20, you can cash out with Paypal. If you wait to cashout at $25, you can choose from various gift cards: Amazon, TigerDirect, I-tunes, NBAStore, Nike, AmazonMP3. If you wait until $50 for cashout, your choice is between an Amazon gift card or a Premier Gold Reward Certificate. I cashout ASAP with Paypal. I’ve earned $120 so far. I’ll take it!

It takes at least 4 to 6 weeks to receive your reward after you request it. I wish it were quicker, but I’ve been patient and have had not problems. I login to my account every day to see what new surveys are available.

What has your experience been with OnlyCashSurveys so far? Let us know if you have any tips or suggestions as well.

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I started keeping records of my online paid surveys January 31, 2008. I spend an average of three to four hours per day taking surveys. I have earned $9138.63 in 48 months from 21 survey sites, which is $190.39 per month. The average survey site earned $9.07 per month. I have added the dates that I joined each site as well as whether they have PayPal, Invokes or product tests. About 15% of my earnings are from product tests and Invoke Interactives. Another 10% is from survey sites that I don’t earn enough per year to bother keeping track. I do not keep track of prizes or free products, but I do include contest wins. I only add in points accumulated after they have been redeemed due to the difficulty of calculating point values. I have added Monthly Averages in boldface below.

1. Opinion Outpost $1335.40 (100 points = $10 minimum pay out) (Joined: 2008-02-04) (PayPal) (Invokes) (product tests) [1-13-12] [2/9/2012] Monthly Average = $25.82
2. Global Test Market $1096.65 (1000 = $50 po) (2008-03-01) (Check) [12-30-11] (req’d $50.50 1-27) Monthly Average = $23.33
3. MySurvey $845 (550 = $5 po) (2008-02-02) (PayPal) (product tests) [1-20-12] Monthly Average = $17.60
4. SurveySpot $839 (1000 = $10 po) (2008-01-30) (PayPal) (Invokes) (product tests) [1-20-12] Monthly Average = $16.79
5. Toluna $822 (60000 = $20 po) (2008-02-11) (Check) (product tests) [1-31-12] Monthly Average = $17.13
6. Surveyhead $691.50 ($25 po) (2009-02-05) (PayPal) [2-3-12] (req’d $25 2-6) Monthly Average = $19.13
7. IPSOS I-SAY $650 ($10 po) (2010-01-15) (PayPal) (product tests) ($500 sweepstakes win) [12-19-11] Monthly Average = $26
8. Valued Opinions $515.70 ($20 po) (2008-02-18) (Amazon gc [gift certificates] & VISA pre-paid gc) (product tests) [11-15-11] ($20 req’d 1-18) Monthly Average = $10.74
9. MyView $391 (21000 = $15 po) (2009-03-01) (Amazon & VISA pre-paid gc) [12-15-11] Monthly Average = $11.17
10. OnlyCashSurveys $342.50 ($20 po) (2010-03-23) (PayPal) [2-3-12] Monthly Average = $15.57
11. SurveySavvy $278 (Check) (2008-03-01) [1-27-12] Monthly Average = $5.92
12. Socratic Forum $243 ($5 po) (2008-03-28) (Check) [1-23-12] Monthly Average = $5.28
13. Global Opinion Panel/Synovate $225 (5000 = $5 po) (2008-05-02) (Check) (product tests) [2-9-12] Monthly Average = $4.89
14. Mindfield Research Online $205 ($5 po) (2008-02-01) (PayPal) (product tests) [1-15-12] Monthly Average = $4.27
15. Viewpoint $181.88 (375 = $10 po) (2009-01-21) (Check) [2-6-12] Monthly Average = $4.77*
16. ACOP $170 ($10 po) (2008-03-01) (Check) (product tests) [10-24-11] Monthly Average = $3.62
17. 20/20 Research $160 (2009-6-1) (Check) (Invokes) (product tests) [8-30-11]
18. ShopTalk $150 (2010-11-01) (Amazon gc) (mystery shopping)
19. Springboard Surveys $140.75 (2009-05-01) (Check) [7-9-11]
20. Consumer Research (Gongos) $135 (2009-11-01) (Check or Amazon gc)
21. HCD $134.20 ($10 po) (1000 = $10 po) (2008-02-27) (Check) [5-3-10]

TOTALS

Earned: $9542.58

Last updated: February 10, 2012

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Surveyhead has rapidly moved into sixth place as one of my best earning survey sites. I have earned $634.05 since February 5, 2009 and here are a few tips for achieving results comparable to mine.

• Tip #1 – Complete Your Profiles
Most people have no problem filling out their profiles on Surveyhead because you receive $0.10 to $0.25 for each of the nine profiles you complete, in addition to the $5 that everyone earns after registering. They also remind you to update your profiles after each survey, so at least several times per year you should remind yourself to check and see if any of your personal information has changed and update the appropriate profile; although, I have found that I receive plenty of surveys from Surveyhead compared to any other panel that I belong to and often Surveyhead pays more.

• Tip #2 – Check For Surveys on the Website
You will occasionally get survey invitations through your email account, but I have added Surveyhead to my Browser Menu bar (Internet Explorer 9) so that I can check it every morning after I have completed the higher-paying surveys from my Inbox. There are only a few sites that this is absolutely essential and this is the best one of those few.

• Tip #3 – Check Your Rewards on the Website
Located under the ‘Rewards’ tab is a well-organized ‘Account Snapshot’ of all surveys you have taken along with the status explanations, as below:

Total Earned This is the money that you have successfully earned from taking online surveys.
Total Available Current balance.
Total Pending Before funds can be released to you, we must validate the survey data.
Redemption Threshold This is the minimum amount you need to earn before you can redeem your account balance for rewards.
Total redemption amount We have confirmed your request to receive/donate funds. It may take up to 4 weeks until your request is fulfilled.
Needed to Redeem for Rewards This is the amount you need to earn before you can redeem your account balance for rewards.
Sweepstakes Entries This is the number of times you have been entered into our iPad sweepstakes.

It is completely normal for surveys to remain in ‘Pending’ status for over a month and, sometimes for as long as three months. It is also normal to have several surveys that are marked ‘Invalid’.

• Tip #4 – Order Checks Promptly After Reaching $25
The single most important tip that I can give anyone that is a member of Surveyhead is to be patient. Not only does it routinely take from one to two months for completed surveys to be moved from ‘Pending’ to ‘Confirmed’, but once you request your payment, which becomes available after you have $25 in confirmed earnings, it takes eight weeks before your cash-out request is moved from ‘Requested’ to ‘Confirmed’ status, at which point you will receive an email stating that “Your recent PayPal cash out request has been approved from Surveyhead. You will receive your PayPal payment to the email address provided within 6-7 days. We appreciate your patience and thank you for your continued participation. If you have any questions please let us know.” I have never known Surveyhead to not pay me and it is for this reason that you must be very patient with them. When your cash out does arrive via PayPal, you will often find that you have not only requested another cash out, but that you are well on your way to a third $25 cash out!
Surveyhead is one of the very best survey panels for me and has been for the past two years. Many good things have come to me from answering their surveys honestly and accurately. Yes, they are very slow at confirming pending surveys and redeeming your cash out requests, but they are definitely one of the top earning legitimate survey sites out there. If you follow these simple tips, I think you will find they will also become one of your top earning survey panels.

What do you think about SurveyHead? Do you have any tips for us?

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I did an intensive Google search, and guess what? So far, I haven’t found a negative comment. Mindswarms is certainly a new concept. All you need to participate is a webcam. Here is a short video about how it works from a market research standpoint: http://vimeo.com/24153822

If you have a working webcam, sign up is easy. You’ll answer a few basic questions, and then set up your webcam (my webcam was having problems so I’ll need to work on that) and do a test video. From there you’ll apply for available surveys. From the website:

1. What is MindSwarms?

MindSwarms allows you to participate in paid research studies using a webcam and high speed internet connection. So whether you are at home, in the office, traveling abroad, on your private jet, or down below in your submarine, you’ll be able to participate.

2. How much do I get paid and what do I have to do?

We pay you $50 to answer seven questions via webcam. It’s that simple. It’s also fast; most people take less than 20 minutes from logging in to signing out.

3. Who can sign up?

Anyone anywhere in the world can apply to join our database.

5. How do I sign up?

You can apply to join our database by going to the consumer home page
( http://www.mindswarms.com/consumers/new ) and signing up as a new user.

6. What’s the catch?

We get this question a lot. People worry that they’ll have to do something special to qualify, like dress up as Batman or sing and dance while twirling a baton. We want to assure you up front that, while we do appreciate your unique talents and large inventory of super hero costumes, we are most interested in what you think and how well you are able to share those thoughts with our clients.

We believe that everyone is an expert in something, whether that means expert business traveler, technology geek, or stay at home mom. Our clients–including product design firms, advertising agencies, and large corporations–want to hear your thoughts and opinions about your unique expertise. Ultimately, they will use what they learn from you to make better products, services, and advertising.

In the past, companies have used focus groups and surveys to obtain this information, but these forms of market research are often expensive and time consuming. The MindSwarms platform enables companies to gather valuable qualitative data in an affordable, hassle free way.

When a company wants to conduct market research, they pay us to set up a study for them. Since we want to encourage you to participate in our studies, we pay you for your responses. In the end, everyone wins ­ the companies get their research data, we get business, and you get paid for answering seven questions via webcam.I’m really excited about this one. What a great way for companies to find out what we think about products and services. You’ll find lots of information on various forums talking about the
studies and those who qualify and are paid the $50. Here is a very long thread from Slick Deals: http://slickdeals.net/f/3093438-Mindswarm-HU?

It certainly seems legitimate. I’m anxious to get the kinks out of my webcam so that I can get started. From what I read, you certainly can’t expect to qualify all that often. The studies are generally very specific, and the chances for qualifying probably aren’t that high. But I’ll take my chances. We’ve all done much more trying to qualify for endless surveys which pay $1. Seems to me that checking my dashboard for these surveys is MUCH more cost effective in terms of my time.

Are you already a member of Mindswarms? Let us know about your experience. Thinking of joining? I can’t wait to find out how many of you qualify
for a study. And thanks, Msjbelle!

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Lee posted these tips for us over on our forum, so I thought I would repost.

IPSOS-ISAY is my seventh best earning website over the last two years. I earned and received $635 since January 15, 2010, although $500 of that came from a sweepstakes win. Here are several tips for achieving results comparable to mine.

• Tip #1 – Add the Survey Email Address to Your Allowed List
Make sure to add the email address questions@i-say.com to your email white (or allow) list to make certain that you receive IPSOS surveys and customer service emails. This is true for every survey panel, especially if you were receiving email invitations and they suddenly stopped. Always check your spam filter to make sure they are being allowed.

• Tip #2 – Check the Website for Available Surveys
Although IPSOS will generally send you an email invitation every day to get you started taking their surveys, it’s a good idea to check their website under “Available Surveys”, which is found on the drop-down menu of the “My Surveys” tab on the Home page. Most of their surveys are for 45 ($0.45), 90 ($0.90) or 150 points ($1.50), but occasionally you will receive 200 ($2), 250 ($2.50) or even 600-point ($6) surveys. They will credit you with five points ($0.05) if you are disqualified. When you have taken all of the surveys this message appears: “Currently, there are no surveys available for you to take. Please check again later.”

• Tip #3 – Always Play the Poll Predictor Game
The reason this is a great idea is because I won $500 shortly after joining IPSOS, so it is possible. IPSOS would only be #19 on my list of highest paid surveys without that sweepstakes win. Another great idea is to vote in the Quick Poll Share and pay attention to the results by clicking on “See past poll results” to give you a good idea of what the correct answers might be in the Poll Predictor game. Here is how the scoring works:

Exact guess = 25 chances
Within 1 point (plus or minus) = 20 chances
Within 3 points = 15 chances
Within 5 points = 10 chances
Within 10 points = 5 chances
Within 25 points= 1 chance

There are a variety of other contests that you could win:

Enjoy our many Contests including:

NEW! The Trading Post Draw
Between September 1 and December 31, 2011, redeem 250 points for a chance to win an iPad2 in The Trading Post draw. Redeem as many times as you like – the more you redeem the greater your chance to win.

$5,000 Monthly Click Draw
Every time you click on a survey link, you will automatically be entered. It’s that easy. And remember, the more surveys you click on, the more chances you have to win!

New Member Bonus Draw
All new members are automatically entered to win a prize worth $1,000 – just for taking your first survey!

$5,000 Member Contest
Stay an active member for the Quarter and you could be the lucky winner of 5K cold hard cash!

Monthly Points Giveaway!
Earn even more! Every month we will choose 10 random panel members and reward a bonus 2,500 points!

• Tip #4 – Check Your Rewards on IPSO’s Website
Under the “My Surveys” tab drop-down menu, click on “Survey History” to find a comprehensive and well-organized list of every survey, rewards earned, date the survey closed and status for every survey taken since you joined. The status legend on the right tells you what each term means:

Complete: The survey was completed successfully.
Complete – Day 1: Part 1 of this survey was completed successfully.
Complete – Day 2: Part 2 of this survey was completed successfully.
Incomplete: You have started this survey and have not completed it.
Not a Match: Based on your profile and/or answers, this particular survey was not the right match for you.
Quota Met: We have received enough responses from panelists matching your profile.
Redirected: Based on your profile and/or answers, you were redirected to another survey.

Although there are a variety of rewards, including 13 charity donations and Amazon and American Express gift cards, I prefer the $15 PayPal cash option, which generally arrives within a few days. I have never had the problem of deciding whether or not to cash out for the $100 minimum cash check option.

IPSOS ISAY is one of the better survey panels primarily due to how well-organized the site is, the product tests and the many winnable contests, which is why I often take surveys for sweepstakes entries because I know they are completely legitimate and many good things have come to me from answering their surveys honestly and accurately. If you follow these simple tips, I think you will find they will also become one of your better earning survey panels.

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