The opportunities to take paid surveys on the Internet are staggering. Countless websites offer people cash, products, or gift certificates for their opinions. Many of these surveys are legitimate offers that actually provide the rewards promised, but many of them involve a lower likelihood of compensation. Some websites let consumers access a database of paid surveys for a one-time fee. Other paid surveys require participants to go to a focus group to study a particular product in depth.

Indeed, paid survey offers are very common on the Internet. Many of them appear as pop ups when people visit certain websites. These pop up advertisements direct surfers to take opinion surveys, offering them products like free Apple I-pods and gift certificates to popular restaurants after the survey is completed. These types of surveys often require that the people who fill out the survey give personal information like their name, address, phone number and email address, and then sell this information to marketing companies that follow up with advertisements, including emails, regular “junk” mail, and telemarketing.

Another way to find paid surveys is to buy access to a database of companies that offer to pay people for their opinions. Many of the companies listed on the databases merely offer the opportunity to be entered into drawings for prizes upon completion of the surveys.

The best bet for paid surveys is the focus group. They require more time than online surveys, but they have much better rewards. A focus group is a meeting that marketers have with consumers, where the consumers are asked for their opinions about a particular product. These focus groups can take an entire day or even a weekend, but they often pay well or have other rewards given out at the end.