This post is brought to you by Survey Sampling International in conjunction with Blog Meets Brand. I have been compensated for my participation but all opinions are my own.
Years before I ever even knew what a blog was, I made extra money at home by taking surveys online. Through those surveys, I earned enough extra money and gift cards to pay for nearly all of my son’s holiday gifts. In fact, one year, I bought my son $712 worth of gifts for just $158.93 out of my pocket by shopping sales and using my survey earnings. My survey earnings accounted for over $300 worth of that savings.
The key to making money at home with surveys is finding legitimate survey sites. You want something that rewards you fairly for your time, has relatively low thresholds for payouts and gives you plenty of opportunities to actually take surveys after the initial sign-up survey. One of my all-time favorites is Opinion Outpost.
Making Money at Home with Opinion Outpost
Making money from home with Opinion Outpost is fun and pretty straightforward. Just sign up for free on the Opinion Outpost website, then verify your email. Once you do that, I highly suggest that you take the introductory survey so they can get to know you. Don’t worry, it’s not too long and you’ll be rewarded at the end with your first 5 points. Look at that, you’re already 17% of the way towards at least one reward and all you had to do was talk about yourself a bit!
Once you’re signed up, you have two options: sit back and wait for surveys to come to you via your email or hit the “Take a Survey” button and tell Opinion Outpost more about yourself through a series of shorter surveys. These typically ask questions about your shopping habits, family health concerns, types of magazines you like and more. Depending on your answers, you’ll be taken to a paying survey. Once there, you’ll need to answer a few qualifying questions to move on.
I could write you a 500-word tutorial on how to take a survey, but this is all stuff you’ll figure out on your own within 10 seconds of signing up. It’s all pretty easy and self-explanatory on the Opinion Outpost dashboard. Let’s get to the good stuff, shall we? When I looked for the best survey panel sites, I asked myself three questions: “what are the rewards?” “how hard is it to get them?” and “do the surveys reimburse me fairly for my time?” I’ve joined sites with amazing rewards that didn’t take many points to reach, but they offered up surveys that took like half an hour for what amounted to pennies worth of points.
What are the rewards on Opinion Outpost?
There are actually a bunch, but the top three in my opinion are:
- iTunes gift cards
- Amazon gift cards
- Cash via PayPal
Other rewards include entries into prize drawings (you earn an entry when you don’t qualify for a survey too, so I never spent my points on these), Alawar Games, MileagePlus Awards Miles and donations to the Red Cross.
How long will it take to earn enough points for the rewards?
Obviously, that answer depends on how many surveys you take. At one point, when I was at the height of everyone’s target demographic, I was cashing out every week. You only need 100 points for $10 in Paypal cash or a $10 iTunes card. You can also cash out at 50 points for a $5 Amazon gift card.
Do the surveys reimburse you fairly for your time?
The point value on survey vary. Some offer 10 points for a 15-minute survey while others only offer 5 points for the same length. You’re under no obligation to take a particular survey, so if you feel like it’s not giving enough points for your time, skip it. Of all the survey sites I used to belong to, Opinion Outpost was among the fairest when it came to the point system.
Bottom line, you really can make money at home taking surveys. Will you make enough to pay your mortgage? Probably not. If you set aside a little time each day and answer the surveys that come in for you, though, you can make enough to pay for birthday and holiday gifts. It’s a fast, fun and easy way to bring in a little extra income.
Sign up for free at Opinion Outpost!
I’ve used these services in the past and they were pretty fun. I like being able to share my opinion for special rewards.
I will have to try this! I’ve heard of Opinion Outpost, but haven’t been to the site yet. I’ll definitely check it out, because who doesn’t want more money!?
I have yet to give this a try. I’ve heard from other people that you can make some real money, but it’s hard for me to find the time.
What a nice way to earn some extra income. It’s nice that they offer some different rewards for your points.
I do surveys to earn extra money and opinion outpost is one of my favorites. They also pay out really quick.
I’ve tried doing these paid surveys years ago. The only thing I dislike is that sometimes I don’t match the demographic criteria for particular surveys.
I’ve thought about doing surveys online but I always hesitated. Thanks for the insight and I’ll be sure to try it when I get the time! It sounds rewarding!
I have always loved to take surveys & make some extra money, but has been quiet fishy on finding the best source. The Opinion Outpost sounds like a wonderful resource & I would like to give it a try & see how it works out!
They really are fabulous and legit. They’ve always been one of my favorites!
This is great to way to earn extra income 🙂 I should try this too. Sounds amazing 🙂
Great Tips! Such a great information.
I agree with you that ”The key to making money at home with surveys is finding legitimate survey sites.” and I have always been facing problems with Make Extra Money at Home and was trying to hire someone to help me.
I will tweet your post. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Stefan