It is so easy to make some extra money by taking paid surveys on the internet. Part of the reason it is so easy is that there are so many companies out there willing to pay you for your opinion. Market research is a billion dollar industry and the internet has made it possible for you to get a share of that cash too. Just search on "paid surveys" in Google and you'll get back more hits that you would ever be able to look at.

As you start to look through the results you'll find a common theme. The sites are NOT the actual survey sites, but rather sites that promise "$150 an hour taking surveys" or "get rich taking surveys". Some want your email address to register and get access to their list of paid surveys on the internet and others expect you to pay your hard earned money for "membership" to their site. Other sites may even claim that getting paid for internet surveys is a total scam. So what should you do and who can you believe?

Is it worth your time to try getting paid for internet surveys or has this become just another internet scam?

First, you need to understand that these websites with lists are not the ones that will be paying you to do internet surveys. The surveys and payments come from market research companies, many of which started offline, but have moved to online surveys to be able to reach a larger audience. These market research companies have been paying people for their opinions for years, sometimes decades. And now they are using the internet as a cost effective way for them to reach a larger number of people in less time than ever. These market research companies are, for the most part, completely legitimate. Their research is used by companies to improve existing products and services or to determine the best way to introduce new products and services.

Lately there have been many sites trying to cash in on the popularity of paid surveys on the internet which can be both good and bad. The information itself is not bad, but some sites require you to pay them for membership to their sites and access to their "special" list of paying surveys. Honestly, there is no reason to ever pay someone for a list of paying internet survey companies. This information is freely available and anyone who wants you to pay them for the information is simply stealing your money. The ones who offer free access, but require your email address to register are not quite as bad, at least they are giving away the information, but it still comes at a price. If you give up your email address to register at one of these sites don't be surprised if the amount of spam you receive increases dramatically. They only want your email address to resell or to use it to market to you themselves.

So, you've managed to avoid the scams and you've found the legitimate paid surveys on the internet and now you still want to know if it's worth it trying to get paid for internet surveys. That totally depends on what you expect. If you're looking to get rich and retire then keep looking. You won't be able to retire with what you make taking internet paid surveys, however you can make several hundred dollars a month and improve your lifestyle.

It's easy to make money through paid internet surveys, you just need to do two things. The first thing you should do is register with all of the paid survey sites you can find. Since the survey companies are looking for a certain demographic for each survey you won't always qualify. By signing up with more survey companies you'll get more survey opportunities. Second, make sure to respond to all of the surveys you get. The survey companies will track your response rate and guess what? People who are quicker and more reliable at responding to the surveys will begin to get the better paying surveys. Makes sense doesn't it?

Each survey typically takes 15-20 minutes and pay ranges anywhere from $1.00 to $50.00 per survey. You can take 3-4 surveys a day in just 1 hour and at an average pay of $5.00 a survey you'll make $150 in a months time. Of course your earnings will vary from month to month depending on what surveys you get, how fast you're able to complete the surveys and how much time you devote to taking surveys. In any case you should be making around $15 an hour which isn't bad for a part time job you can do at your leisure from home.