Paid Surveys and SPAM

I wanted to address really quickly the topic of Paid Surveys and spam. To re-iterate some of my blogs and reviews of the past, I am not the biggest fan of paid survey programs for one reason: they really don't pay enough money, in my opinion. If you are looking for an extra $50-$100 per week, then yes, this is a pretty simple way of doing it. I did this in the past, and I was not satisfied with this amount. That is what lead me into other programs like affiliate marketing and wholesaling. Both of these require a much larger initial commitment and a bit of persistance to be successful, but if you can get to the top of the mountain, the stroll down the hill is rather nice and profitable.

But this is not about affiliate marketing or wholesaling. Paid surveys do work! If you want to spend the time to fill out surveys or mystery shop or read emails, you will get paid for it. But be prepared! The way paid surveys works is that you must sign up on a lot of sites to get the 5-10 surveys per week. Signing up on a lot of websites means one thing: You are exposing yourself to a lot of sites, some of which don't have great intentions! If you plan on doing this, protect yourself! Here are a few suggestions:

1) Use a new email address (like a hotmail or gmail account) to conduct all of your paid survey business on. Some of these sites WILL sell your email address or use it to try to sell you stuff (as spam). Mixing this with your personal email is a mistake!

2) You should still use your real name and address, since they may be sending checks or confirming a PayPal account.

3) You should not need to supply your social security number. You will not be making enough money. If they require it, look into the site a bit more and make sure it is legitimate (if it is something like "Yahoo", it is probably pretty safe...if it is something like "PaidSurveyBonanza", I would be a be skeptical!)

4) Only give your phone number if you are planning on taking part in phone surveys or focus panels.

5) Create usernames and passwords that will be specific to this paid survey venture.

Unfortunately with systems like paid surveys, you are required to expose yourself a bit. Be conscious of what information your are giving them. If you protect yourself with the data you give out, the worst that can happen is a bit of annoying spam organized in a way that will not interfere with your normal life.

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