Paid Survey Newbies - Read this first!

[hok2]

Hello!

I would like to share my experiences involving paid surveys for all those newer people out there that are just venturing into this industry. The recession has been tough and many people are now trying to make money online. Hopefully my tips will help them from getting burned and scaring them away from the internet, because there is so much potential to profit online

Do not join survey sites that require payment to join
Many websites out there require some financial information as apart of their sign up process. Many of them require your credit card details. Generally stay away from these sites as the majority of these are scams. You can perfectly earn a decent amount of money without having to pay a membership fee. In fact the quality of the free survey sites are better than the paid ones as you will most likely will not make a return of your investment with the payment requiring survey sites.

Test out their customer support before joining
A sign that you should look for in legit survey sites is whether they possess a customer service option or not. If they don't then you can assume that they are scams trying to look for a quick buck. What I would do is that, I would usually test a preliminary email, just some question that I had and would see how long it takes for them to reply. If the responses are fast, that would be a good sign and I would likely try out their services.

See if the survey site is TrustE ceritified
When doing surveys, you will have to submit some personal details. Usually I'm wary of this process, and I want to make sure that my information is protected. That is why I look for the TRUSTe signature of approval in the survey sites. This ensures that my details are protected and not shared with anybody else

Social Proof
I would usually check the daily pageviews of the website to see whether or not it is popular with the Internet users. A popular site is usually an indicator that it is a legit site. I use Websiteoutlook.com . What I would do is submit the website to the search box and it would pull up the traffic details. I would then look at a projection of the traffic views over a year or so and observe the patterns. If this traffic shows a sharp decline, I would stay away. I would look for sites that have a general positive trend. This is a powerful tip in not only avoiding scam sites, but to find out which sites that are declining in customer satisfaction

Google Search
You can usually tell whether certain sites are scams or not by doing a quick google search. Simply search the website name and the term scam. Then take a look at the posts and read through them to see the general opinion of users that have previously used the site before. This method is pretty effective in weeding out scam sites.

Whois Search
A Whois search basically identifies the owner of the website. Many individuals like to protect their details online and that's normal for individuals like me. But when a company registers their website through a private registration that does not show any contact details or addresses then you have a big problem. This is a good indicator that the website is a scam. I recommend this site to do a whois check http://whois.domaintools.com/

Check the Better Business Bureau for Complaints
Usually when someone is scammed, the first thing that they would do is to complain to the BBB. Look at the BBB website for your survey site and see if there are any complaints.

These are all of the steps that I used when I check out whether a survey site is legit or not. These tips are not restricted to just surveys but pretty much online work at home opportunities in general.

[urouj862]

great advice HOK2 , wish i had something liek this to read when i first started doing surveys!

[hok2]

Thanks for the kind compliments!

[FitMom11]

Thanks for the great tips!

[Dee09]

After researching and comtemplating doing these, I finally jumped in and joined about 10 of them out there. I know the panels I joined sometimes refer us to other companies and a quite a few I've had ask what my ethnic/cultural heritage is. Since I fit into one of their catagories I would submit my answer (I could've clicked "prefer not to answer") and it was 'thank you for your interest, blah blah blah...' I was a little stunned at first, now I'm a little

Anyone have this happen to them? have any insight? Sheesh. I'll be clicking "prefer not to answer" from now on and see what happens.

[bob101]

for more information about paid surveys
accreditation
how to avoid scams
maximize your income
list
etc

go to


http://canadasurvey.blogspot.com/

[hok2]

This your blog?

[bob101]

no here my own blog

bestptc.monblogue.branchez-vous.com

[canuck202]

thanks for this information it is very interesting for newbies...but for more information go to

www.surveypolice.com

it is the best website about paid surveys