Opinion surveys have been around for a long time. Before just recently it was not possible to get paid to participate. Recent changes mean that if you take free surveys online now, you can receive checks in the mail for your efforts.

The money comes from the same big companies that commission the market researchers to make the surveys. Since the Internet saves them a lot of money (over the cost of snail mail) and is faster, there's budget to encourage survey takers.

There is not much work to filling out a survey questionnaire, but you do have to apply to each of 100-300 survey makers individually. They need your contact info and your demographic info so they can see for which surveys you qualify. So there is some work involved, but getting paid makes it all worthwhile!

To get paid take free surveys online this is what you need to do:

1. Pick a good paid survey guide company.

There are 750+ survey making companies in the U.S. alone, 3,000 or so worldwide. Some are good, some bad, some are terrible and some are worse! To know who the players are and apply only to the good ones you need a guide.

There are 200 or so available. You pay your guide company a $35 to $50 membership to access their list of good survey makers and guide you to getting off to a good start.

Beware the free guides; most are being paid to steer people to places you would rather not go!

Pick a guide company that has a strong money-back guarantee, backed up by a bank or financial company like PayPal or Clickbank. Look very carefully at their refund rate. Refund rates are the best indication of customer satisfaction.

Low refund rates are good; they mean happy clients. High refund rates indicate many unhappy clients. Look for a refund rate of 3-5% (ideal) if you can find it. Avoid anyone with refund rate of 10% and over.

2. Open a new e-mail account with your favorite free e-mail provider.

Plan to use this address in all your applications to survey makers. Plan to check it at least daily and respond to all correspondence from survey makers.

3. Make application to as many survey makers as you can.

When you pick your guide company and start out, they will give you a copy of their list of preferred survey makers. It is very important to get your application on file with as many of these as possible.

You must apply to each separately. They are separate competing companies and don't share info. In order for them to send you invitations to take surveys, they must have your contact and demographic info on file. They get this info from your application. Your future income will depend on how many survey makers have your application on file.

4. Be patient.

Survey makers are cautious about newbies, tend to rely on tried and proven survey takers in their files. Accept every survey invitation you receive, respond promptly, fill out the forms completely and just give your honest opinion. With time and experience they will tend to send you more and bigger (higher paying) surveys.

When you give your opinion and get paid to take free surveys online, your overall income will depend on your diligence and your demographics. Most serious survey takers report monthly incomes of $200 to $600. Some report incomes of $1,000 a month and more.

Jorge Chavez is an experienced paid internet survey expert at: http://surveysentinel.ya23.com