It seems that every time I go online I am bamboozled and confronted with pop-ups, empty offers and get-rich-quick schemes. Rarely, if ever, do these offers materialize as legitimate opportunities, and it seems that clicking one will amount to nothing more than twenty minutes of wasted browsing and the promise of future spam bombardment. One of the most prevalent online-offer sectors is survey taking. Shady start-up websites promise cash, rewards and sweepstake prizes to the unknowing browser, only to wind up twisting their offers in a web of fine-print and phony qualification requirements. Online survey taking can be a fun and rewarding experience, but choosing a legitimate and stable survey-site is essential. Here are a few tips.
Basic web design:
I know more than one sagacious mother would gasp at this statement but in many cases online, you can judge a book by its cover. In general if a survey-site has a professional look and pedigree, there is a good chance that the site is owned and operated by a major market research group, and has legitimate corporate clients. These companies are more likely to stay true to their offers and place a high premium on you “opinions" (read: more reward resources). This is not to say that that a website with a professional look wouldn’t swindle you or visa-versa, but in general it is a good policy to stay away from pop-up caliber survey carriers, especially when your time and rewards are at stake!
Sign Ups:
Under no circumstances should one pay to become a member of an online survey panel. There are many reputable survey-sites that are on a continuous search for serious panelists and will provide them with steady participatory opportunities and rewards. Any service or website that makes you pay to share in these opportunities is essentially robbing you.
Join a Panel:
Most sites that will allow you to click a few buttons and give a few off-the-cuff opinions are illegitimate and do not have the means to reward you in full. Legitimate market research sites will invite you to join a panel instead. Being part of a market research panel will allow you to be contacted whenever a survey is being conducted, and will not waste your time if your particular demographic is not needed. There is nothing worse than sitting through a half-hour questioning only to find that “you do not qualify for this survey".
Rewards:
Most online-survey sites offer some type of reward or incentive to participation. Some offer steady cash, some offer random lottery prizes and others provide goods and services as compensation. In the survey world, one would be best served by choosing the steady and tangible prize opportunities. For example, http://www.myopinionnow.com, a growing and online research site, offers certain point values to its panelist after each survey taken (point values vary based on the length and intensity of the survey). The site has an online catalog of electronics and prizes with which each point can be redeemed, as well as a cash-to-point value equator if one would rather be compensated monetarily. One should avoid the “win a trip to Miami" type-prizes, as the odds stacked against personal compensation are staggering on such websites. There are other sites like MyOpinionNow.com which do a great job of turning your opinions into cool stuff over time, and it’s worth it to seek them out.
Hopefully with this information in hand you can become a well-compensated survey taker, shaping the products of tomorrow while putting some easy money in your own pocket!
