Online Surveys Financed My First Website!
by Jason Glicken
Online surveys alone financed my first web site. Getting paid to take these online surveys is a win-win
situation. Large companies want your opinion on their products and services and they are willing to pay
you for it. These online surveys give them good insight into their target market, people like you, so
they win. You win by getting paid for your time.
It all started about five months ago when I had finally decided I wanted to start my own online business.
I have a full time job, a stay at home wife, and a 15 month old baby boy. I had no extra money, as you
can imagine, and didn't want to risk my hard earned salary without knowing if this venture would work.
With no idea on how to go about starting an online business and with no startup capital, I did what all
web surfers do; I surfed, and I surfed, and I surfed.
During the course of my research I ran across some ads for taking online surveys and getting paid for it.
I was skeptical at first, but when I researched the companies that offered online surveys I found a few
that were for real. So I signed up with three of the sites.
Once you sign up you fill out some easy questionnaires about yourself so the survey company can match
you with one of their clients looking for your demographic profile (e.g. age, sex, where you live, what
you do, etc...). Easy enough, still free, I filled out my profiles and that was it, they let me know
that they would contact me when a survey that fit my profile was available.
Without skipping a beat I went back to my research. It was becoming more and more evident that I would
need to learn a lot more before starting my own internet business. I decided that for any business
venture you should be as prepared as possible. And I still had no extra money to even give it a try.
I was still in my hunting and gathering phase.
Then one night while surfing the net, I got an email telling me that a $10 survey was waiting for me.
Great! I logged into my account at the survey site and clicked the link to start the survey. It took
me about 20 minutes. This particular survey company pays directly to your PayPal account (it took a
couple weeks to see the money, but I did see it.)
I was hooked. Over the next several months I received more surveys. There are times when you don't
qualify for a survey. This could even happen a couple times in a row. Don't worry they will keep
sending them and you will qualify for a lot of them.
About four weeks ago I decided I knew enough about web sites, web site hosting, web site promotion,
newsletters, and most of the basics of starting my own site. So I logged into my PayPal and found $32
(all from surveys), and logged into my other two survey sites, $20 dollars in one account and $45 in
the other. I had my startup money!
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