If you are a fan of online surveys, or even if you’ve only
been thinking about becoming a member there’s now an online friend that can
give you some valuable tips and increase the chances that you may earn a few
bucks doing so.
There’s a new website called The Survey Sheriff (http://surveysheriff.blogspot.com/) and it’s absolutely free with no strings attached. The sole purpose of
the site is to share information about taking online surveys. What are the ups
and downs of survey taking? How much can you really make taking online surveys?
Which surveys are worth participating in and which are not? These questions and
more are discussed at the site. There’s also plenty of opportunity for readers
to share their thoughts and experiences.
What Are Online Surveys?
For those that are not familiar with online
survey taking it’s very simple. Companies set up web sites and offer membership
to just about anyone willing to take surveys about products, services and other
issues, experiences and more. The survey sites solicit companies who pay to
have a survey placed on the online survey site. A great many of these surveys
are merely about capturing public opinion about their product or service. Some
sites let members post their own surveys. All of the sites offer participants
some kind of reward for their participation.
“The whole idea for the Survey Sheriff is to
bring together the online survey taking community to see if we can’t figure out
what works and what doesn’t,” says the Sheriff.
For some people taking surveys is pure fun and
entertaining. For others it provides some great incentives, not to mention cash
and actual prizes or rewards that can be cashed in for merchandise. Some sites
offer product-testing opportunities.
Caution Advised
But, says the Survey Sheriff, there’s a dark
side to survey taking online as well. “Some sites are slow to pay or have you
complete surveys for which a promised reward is never realized.” There are also
some companies that post surveys that are nothing more than advertising for
their products and are hesitant to actually pay people for taking their survey.
In addition there are secrets to making your
time more efficient and productive and the Survey Sheriff shares these tips as
well. An article on the “secrets” is also available at Secrets of
Survey Taking.
For the reviews of specific online survey
sites the Survey Sheriff adheres to a simple set of principles.
1. The rewards/prizes offered
2. The frequency of surveys available to be taken
3. How quickly payment is made for completed surveys
4. Responsiveness to customer complaints
5. Fewest glitches or other incidents that make taking a
survey unpleasant.
The key to the Survey Sheriff is the input from other online
survey takers. The growing community of online survey takers will provide a
valued source of information.
“The more we share, the better experience all of us will
have with online surveys.”