Paid Surveys and Focus Groups - The Secret to Free Money
By Tom Howze

Paid surveys and focus groups are a little known way for
individuals to make money for free. There are businesses
ranging from Fortune 500 companies to advertising agencies
and market research organizations who look for the opinions
of regular consumers and business professionals for their
product lines or customers. What is great is that a good
number of them pay cash to the participants and it is free
of charge to join these types of studies. Paid surveys are
generally given online and can range from $2.00 to $70.00
for each survey completed. Focus groups are closely observed
groups of participants and mostly pay from $50.00 to $200.00
depending on the topic for 1 or 2 hours of your time.

Anyone can join up with these organizations that provide
survey opportunities, and people with specialized business
professional backgrounds such as IT, business management,
law, accounting, etc. are ideal for this line of research.
Average consumers who drink coffee, taste ice cream, buy
power tools or electronic products, watch television or own
a certain type of car can benefit from numerous surveys and
focus groups. The possibilities for different types of
surveys being offered are as endless as there are ways to
create and market products to the public. The Internet is
your best source of finding places to join for either one of
these kinds of surveys, free of cost. Some businesses
advertise to do all the footwork for you and will charge a
fee for doing it. So it's a good idea to learn as much as
possible on these services in order to understand what you
will receive if you decide to pay for the information.

The paid surveys are mostly given over the Internet. With
this method you will receive e-mail most of the time with
links to the survey being given. Because they are given over
the Internet, it will take generally between 2 to 4 weeks
for your honorarium check to arrive either through the mail
or by an online payment solution like PayPal. Signing up
with as many survey organizations as you can find can result
in a stream of invitations. When filling out their online
forms, give as much information about yourself and your
background to maximize your chances. And if you are married,
have your spouse sign up if they are interested. Sometimes
if one doesn't qualify for a survey, the other may. Plus
when filling out the forms for signing up, if they ask if
you can be contacted by phone for opportunities, say yes.
This can help to expose you to higher paying focus groups.

A focus group survey is generally performed with a number of
participants consisting from 5 to 50 people that meet in a
designated place to give a more in-depth opinion on tasting
food, driving SUV's, drinking certain brands of water or the
like. Sometimes they pay cash on the spot after you are
done. One can sign up online with some of the focus groups
that have websites. There are times that you may have to
call the centers that offer focus groups to let them know
you want to participate. (If you are in a rural area, a long
drive may be what it takes to get you involved so be sure
the money is worthwhile to you.) And remember that most of
the time they call you at home, so if they do call take them
up on the offer. You will enjoy it and get paid too!

About the Author

Tom Howze is a webmaster for 9 sites that relate to 2005 World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour events, updates and information on how to gamble for free .

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