I thought I would write an article about how to make money doing online surveys because so many people come online wondering how to do it. I will give you a few ideas about how to do it without listing any companies directly.

The paid survey industry has gotten a bad rap in recent years, in my opinion. I say that from experience, because I have actually done paid surveys and gotten paid for those. I think the key is in how you approach it.

Deborah Casey is one gal who is online in various interviews. She's a real person that has made money for over 30 years doing surveys and participating in consumer opinion groups. It seems to me that finding other people who have really made money has been like documenting a Bigfoot sighting.

What I did was I started going into discussion forums and found several that contained the threads specifically aimed at paid surveys. I was amazed at the number of people who are making several hundred dollars a month, and one gal even claim to have made $1400 in December of 2007.

I personally found several companies who gave me access to a database of survey companies. Today thanks to the Internet this is very easy to do and you will have no end to the amount of work you can participate in if you choose to.

There are surveys that pay anywhere from $.25, to $10 and up. There are discussion groups you can participate in and earn even larger sums of money such as $30 or $50 or more.

Another way that I found to make money is to actually sell leads to the survey companies. I feel good about this because it is possible to get started making money completing paid surveys online without paying for a list.

This kind of goes back to the old philosophy of whether you are an actual worker or want to make your money selling the tools. It really comes back to your personality, but it is possible to make money doing online surveys both ways.

If you have any doubt whether you're being taken advantage of I came across a website called ripoff report, which contains as I write this links to 56 complaints about paid survey companies. I'm not saying that all of these are legitimate, but that in fact they are listed on this website here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/default.asp

The bottom line is you do not need to pay for a database of survey companies. And if you're willing to work and treat it as a business you really can make extra money at home doing online surveys.