Anyone looking to make money online or work from home has probably heard about earning money by taking surveys.
Sounds pretty simple, right? But can you really make money taking surveys online?
Let’s take a look and see if this is a legitimate money-making opportunity!
Is It Really Legitimate?
You may have seen ads promising to hook you up with high paying surveys for big bucks. They make it all sound so easy and so profitable.
So you’re probably wondering if it’s really possible or if it’s just a bunch of get-rich-quick marketing hype?
First of all, taking surveys online is a legitimate way to make money. It isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme, evidenced by the fact that you will definite not get rich doing this!
You will probably be able to earn some extra spending money, pay a bill or two, or cover a couple of monthly living expenses.
While there have been a rare few individuals who claim to make a full-time living from filling out surveys, they didn’t start making the big bucks overnight.
They’ve been doing it for years and know all the little tricks to maximize their earnings per hour.
However, most people don’t have a clue as to how much time it takes to complete paid surveys. Also, you can spend a lot of time researching different programs and signing up for a lot of them to increase your earning potential.
So that leads to the real question you should be asking, “Is it worth my time to fill out surveys for cash?”
Is It Worth Your Time To Fill Out Paid Surveys?
Just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Yes, you can earn money filling out surveys online, but you could also make money searching parking lots for loose change.
If you jump into the world of paid surveys with high hopes of earning enough money to quit your job or put your kids through college, you’re going to be very disappointed.
If you’re serious about making money with paid surveys, you’ve got to be realistic!
Here’s a short video that shows just how little money you earn at first and the time it takes to do the surveys:
In the beginning the money will trickle in slowly, and you’ll probably ask yourself why you’re even bothering to do this.
But, if you’re willing to stick with it, your earnings can slowly increase as you gain access to higher paying surveys, and learn how to find and take the surveys more quickly.
You need to learn to value your time in relation to how much effort you need to put in to make the money. Patience and discipline are essential if you choose to do this.
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How To Maximize Your Earnings From Paid Surveys
Whether you’re looking to take surveys online in order to pay a couple of bills or just to earn beer money for the weekend, there are a few things you’ll want to do in order to maximize the amount of money you’re earning each day.
The first thing is to understand the value of the effort you are putting in. Sounds pretty simple, but a lot of people don’t understand how important that is.
Think of it like this, a short survey pays you $.50 to complete it, while another that may take you a little longer to fill out pays you $1.00. You may be thinking that the second one pays twice as much, so that’s the one you’d automatically choose.
But are the surveys that pay $1.00 always the best just because they are higher pay? You also have to evaluate your time to find out. Suppose the $1.00 survey takes 10 minutes to complete, but you can knock out 3 of the $.50 surveys in that amount of time. In that case, you’re better off taking the lower paying surveys.
When you start thinking about it like this, you can pick and choose the surveys that give you the best chance of maximizing your earnings and time. Best of all, many of the places where you’ll find these surveys, such as MTurk, give you an estimate on how long it will take to complete.
So understanding the value of your earnings in relation to your time and effort will help you to zero in on the surveys that can put the most amount of money in your pocket in the least amount of time.
Where To Find The Best Surveys
Okay, so if you really want to do this, it only makes sense that you’ll want to find the best surveys that pay you the most. Unfortunately, that can be kind of hard to pin down.
The reason is that high paying surveys typically won’t be available to you, at least not right away. This is
because in most cases you need to build a reputation with the site they’re hosted on, or because you need certain qualifications. Seriously, some surveys require you to have certain college degrees to be eligible to take them.
The best thing you can do is begin browsing survey sites like MySurvey, Valued Opinions, and Swagbucks to get a feel for what they have to offer, and which ones meet your needs the best.
Remember, there is nothing saying you can’t sign up for more than one site. In fact, the more sites you sign up for, the more options you’ll have.
In the end though, you’ll probably narrow down your preferences to just a few sites that you like best. And don’t forget, some sites, like MTurk and Swagbucks, have other non-survey tasks you can complete for cash as well, so keep that in mind while you’re looking around, and trying things out.
So, Can You Make Money Taking Surveys Online?
The answer is yes, but not a lot. You’ll need to spend a lot of time and effort for not a lot of cash coming into your pocket. But if you’re just looking for some extra spending money and you have a lot of time, it could be worth checking out.
However, most people are looking for more substantial income that gives them more money for their time. If that’s you, a side hustle could be exactly what you’re looking for!
If you’re looking for more substantial income, I recommend starting an online business with your own website. This is what I did to earn extra money and was able to quit my job and retire early!
Check out my video below that explains what a side hustle is and why you need to start one:
The most popular ways to make money online are blogging, affiliate marketing, or selling products online. These are much more lucrative in the long run than something like taking paid surveys.
The best thing is that you can start 2 free websites, start online marketing training, and get help from a community of successful marketers with the program I use–all without even putting a credit card down!
This program is Wealthy Affiliate, and you can read my in-depth review here to get more information.
Wealthy Affiliate taught me everything I needed to know with step-by-step instructions, live training, world class website hosting and more. It’s definitely worth your time to check it out and see if it’s right for you!
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Have you taken paid surveys online to earn extra cash? Have any tips or suggestions for those looking to start? We’d love to hear them in the comments below!
Hey, I enjoy a lot while reading your guide on make money while taking survey online and find it very useful for everyone. Taking survey questions is a very easy task and like you have mentioned the income you earn is really small. There are so many other easy to make money online today and they are paying quite a good enough. I love wealthy affiliate and I hope it will work for everyone.
I think Wealthy Affiliate is the absolute best way to learn how to make money online, and your income potential is unlimited. Good to know you’re having a great experience with their program as well!
Surveys are one of the best ways to make quality cash online. Although there a lot of scam survey site that never pays you after all your hard work but that should discourage you because there are other legit ones like peanut labs and my favourite Swagbucks. My Final Words: I must tell you there is a lot of money in doing surveys but it would never be enough to take care of your pressing needs….. I would advise looking into another line of business.
I agree that you can definitely make money with surveys, but the amount is miniscule for the time you need to spend. Freelance writing, affiliate marketing, selling products online–these are all better ways to earn significant money. It may take awhile to get these businesses profitable, but when they get there, your income potential is unlimited!
Hello Janelle. Thanks for sharing this article on make money taking surveys online. There are so many ways to make money online and one of the popular way is taking surveys. I tried survey when I was searching for ways to make money online and made some few dollars. These tips you have give would help maximize profits by the way but as for me, I feel taking surveys is not worth my time comparing what I’d be paid. I don’t really like taking surveys these days by the way because they’re time consuming.
You came to the same conclusion that I did–it’s just not worth the time for what you earn. Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to share your thoughts!
I tried Swagbucks, creates an account and then had trouble logging in, so I contacted them and it took them 3 months to reply. I’ve tried several surveys and I have never had any luck. I tried other that actually pays me 6.25 for the first survey but I had to make at least $20. So, every day I went to take another survey…there were none. So basically I never really got paid. Have you personally had any success with surveys?
I had pretty much the same experience as you. I tried several surveys and after a couple of days, I had earned $5 to $6. But you needed to earn $10 to get paid, and after a couple more days of trying to get surveys, I finally gave up. Taking surveys just isn’t worth the time to me, especially since I discovered how lucrative affiliate marketing can be!
Hello Janelle, taking survey questions is a very easy task and like you have mentioned the income you earn is really small and u don’t think I have that time to start waitingbl to attain a certain level before earning a good amount for someone like me who has lots of bills to pay. I see survey as more of a side hustle to help bring some extra cash. There are so many other easy to make money online today and they are paying quite a good enough.
No matter what you’re looking for, making money online will take time and effort. But in the end, I think you should put your hard work toward something that has the potential to make a very lucrative income. Surveys are never going to give you that!
I have done the whole survey thing before, and while it was good when I had extra time on my hands, it was only temporary until I could find something else that made a little more money in less time. Yes, you absolutely can make money, I think I made $78 the first month I did them, but that was obsessively doing surveys in every spare minute, often times ignoring other responsibilities. But I guess if they raised the amount you could make on each survey then everybody would be doing it, right?
Most people really don’t understand just how much time it takes to eke out a little bit of money taking surveys. Thank you for sharing your experience!
I agree that taking surveys is time consumiing and that the pay is not that great. They always try to give you offers that you must read thru carefully . they always try to grt you to buy something as well. I found it to be niot worth the effort in my opinion.
That’s the conclusion that I came to as well!
Hello Janelle, I’ve heard all about filling surveys but most times they’re always linked to scam sites because of referrals. It’s really good that one can make some extra cash once in a while from giving their thoughts on products and services but it’s still painful that it doesn’t pay well. I guess with time though just like you said, one can make good money off it. Wealthy affiliate have you’ve said is a great avenue to make passive income and I think it’s the best. Overall, you’ve written a great post. I’m glad I read through.
I’m glad you found the information helpful, and thanks for stopping by!
Before I discovered affiliate marketing, I tried my hand at paid surveys and what a waste of time and energy it was for me. I live in South Africa so it was even harder to find surveys that I qualified for and the most frustrating part was getting kicked out of a survey when you were close to the end of it because of quota being filled.
Seriously, there are better ways to spend your precious time. Thanks for putting into perspective once again for me the value of time versus money aspect.
That’s definitely what someone needs to think about–their time vs. money. Anyone’s time is worth more than the pennies paid by taking surveys, in my opinion, and hopefully people will see that.
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts!
I’ve been filling surveys for more than 2 years now in my spare time but I’ve got to tell you that there’s just no way to make more than $50 per month with them… They just take up so much time and they pay so little.
At that moment, I am actually a member of 20 survey websites. I’ve done some calculations and even if I was in front of my screen for 16 hours a day filling in all their surveys I wouldn’t manage to earn more than $500 a month…
Surveys are a great way to earn some extra bucks per month but nothing more than that.
That is the same experience I’ve found with the survey sites I joined. It’s definitely a real way to make some money, but the time you have to spend is just not worth it.
There are other ways to make money online that take a little longer, but can earn real income. My favorite is affiliate marketing, and I just love it!
Thanks Janelle, I have found doing surveys to be a thankless and painful task. The reason being is that for many of the platforms you need to do fairly extensive initial surveys so that they can match you to appropriate surveys down the track. You do not get paid for these qualifying surveys and they can take a very long time. Then, depending on the platform, you may only ever get a couple a week. Which means if you want to make any money you have to sign up for MULTIPLE survey platforms. You really only make peanuts at the end of it. I think many of them bank on the fact that people give up before they ever cash out their first payment. Affiliate marketing is a far better option in my opinion.
I think you’re absolutely right. I know that I was one of the ones a few years ago who signed up for a lot of sites and then got frustrated and left money on the table–which was very little!
This is a great article on taking paid surveys. Years ago I made my first money online with paid surveys. Im not going to lie it took a lot of my time for very little money. I have since moved on to bigger and better things.
However my wife does do surveys and she usually does it on the go. Sitting at the Dr office, cleaning house and so forth. She does a lot of surveys and makes maybe the best ever maybe 200 in a month but usually between 50 and 100 dollars.
It can be a good place for starters who have nothing but time and have absolutely no money to get into a great opportunity.
Dale
It’s great that your wife has found a way to make some money by taking surveys! By using her extra time while doing other things, she’s able to make some spending money and make it work for her–thanks for sharing!
thanks for the information! Some years ago I was looking for ways to earn some extra money and found some survey sites but It looked like you have to spend a lot of time for so little money. I kept searching and found Wealthy Affiliate and have never looked back. It is an awesome community to learn and started your business!
Starting an online business is definitely the way to go to earn money online, and Wealthy Affiliate has everything you need to be successful if you’re going into it with the right mindset. Paid surveys are for someone who has a lot of time, needs to stay at home, and doesn’t need substantial income. For everyone else, I recommend an online business.
From my own experience, a lot of get paid to fill in surveys are not available in my country. So that leaves very few other opportunities and as you mention, one doesn’t get paid a lot for doing the survey.
The other issue I have is with having to provide personal information in the survey and I’m not comfortable with that. From this point of view, I’m skeptical as to why they need that information for the survey if it’s about a product or item.
One would be better off spending time creating their own website and creating reviews of Paid To Fill In Surveys and earn more money that way.
Edu
Providing personal information is definitely something that many people are not comfortable with and is another reason they get turned off from filling in surveys. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment!
Great post. I’ve tried out online surveys as a way to make money online during my days as a newbie to MMO. It was frustrating, I never made enough to reach minimum payout, sometimes after filling pages of questionnaires, I’ll not be qualified for the surveys.
Just like you, I’m on WA now. my only regret is not joining sooner. I’ve learnt a lot from wealthy affiliate and I’ve saved time/money on searching. Thanks for sharing.
My problems with filling out surveys was the fact that there were never enough available during the time I had to do them, or that I wasn’t qualified, like you said. It doesn’t make a difference if a survey only takes 10 minutes if you have to spend 30 minutes or more finding it or trying to qualify for it!
With Wealthy Affiliate you’re not going to make money right away and it takes a lot of effort, but it’s extremely lucrative and low cost if you commit and stick to it. Thank you for taking the time to comment!
Some people think that online surveys are great for making money. What you need to do is to sign up, wait for survey alerts, then zip through the questions of different survey and then survey sites add the cash or other rewards to your account. It’s fun and its good money for just being honest about your thoughts but if you want to earn full-time income then Wealthy Affiliate is a great place to start and grow your business.
Thank you for sharing your tips and experience with taking surveys online!
Maybe it is my personal demographic, but after trying several dozen surveys via three different survey sites, I don’t believe I have ever yet been accepted for a survey. I spend five to ten minutes on the qualification. only to be told that I do not fit the survey. I’m not quite ready to give up, but am getting close. I was hoping I could at least get a few dollars to help bootstrap a blog/affiliate site. Hosting, auto-responder, those types of things
You’ve encountered one of the most frustrating things about taking surveys online–the time it takes to find surveys that you’re qualified for. In the long run, it may be more beneficial for your time to start with Wealthy Affiliate’s free starter membership where you can create 2 websites. Then you can spend your time creating content for your sites that can earn money down the road!
Good luck!
I have tried surveys and while they do pay, you are right in stating that you probably will not get a significant income from them ( you probably spend more on electricity and internet costs!) I think setting up your own website is a far better option because your hard work will determine how much you can make (among other factors).
Having your own sustainable online business is much better than relying on someone else who much shut down their survey site tomorrow! It is also nice to have digital real estate that you can sell or leverage to reach a financial goal.
You are very right, and thanks for bringing up a subject that I haven’t touched on much in my site–making money by selling websites. It’s a very legitimate way to earn income once you’ve got some experience, and it can be very lucrative!
I started out filling out surveys in my early days on the internet. I also found out that you don’t make much money, and you spend a lot of time trying to find good surveys to take. I quickly found out you might as well work for minimun wage at a part time job. You would earn more per hour! If I had a college degree, you wouldn’t think I would need to fill out surveys.
And starting your own business requires good training, and self motivation. You must be able to wear many hats when you are in charge! Does Wealthy Affiliates provide all the resources to create all the different types of business you mention?
Wealthy Affiliate provides all the resources you need to start a website and online business. Their focus is affiliate marketing and blogging, but I have learned a great deal about freelance writing, selling products online, and creating eBooks from their community forum.
This community is extremely active with members who are building online businesses of all types and niches. So you can ask questions that will educate you on all the resources you need to be successful!