YouGov - Being Paid for Your Opinions

I have already covered Online Surveys as a good means of earning a regular secondary income.

But of all the survey providers YouGov is probably worth a stand-alone mention, as it is just so straightforward and reliable. Once you join YouGov you need only to sit back and wait for notification of a new survey to be e-mailed to you.

YouGov typically pays 50p per survey that you complete. On occasions a short survey may pay 25p or a longer one 75p or even £1, but 50p is the norm. Or to be precise you will earn 50 points, with one point equating to one penny. Alternatively a prize draw survey (called an Oracle Survey), is offered.

Once notification of a new survey arrives by e-mail the easiest way of accessing it is by simply clicking the link in the message. YouGov chooses participants from their profiles, which you should fill out as soon as you join, so the eternal irritation of completing half a survey only to be told that you don't qualify rarely happens. Normally, once you are in you are in.

Surveys can be about any subject but common ones are politics and shopping. The questions are easy to follow and the options given cover all possibilities. You simply select the one which best matches your own opinion and move on to the next question.

At the end of each survey, before your points are allocated to your account, you are given the option of either banking them or redeeming them for an entry into the prize draw. This is of course your choice to make but if the object of the exercise is to make money fast the obvious course of action is to hold onto the points.

Once a total of 5,000 points has been reached a payout of £50 can be requested and either the money is paid into your bank within a few weeks (usually two) or you can request a cheque.

As it is a highly professional and universally respected survey platform YouGov does not take liberties with your time. You complete your surveys and you get paid for them, simples.

Online Surveys

Completing online surveys is an easy way for anybody to generate a regular income from your computer. Just sign up to a survey website, give your details and within half an hour you can be making money.

It is important to understand that nobody ever got rich by answering survey questions on a computer screen. As an occupation it is poorly paid, and if you are eligible to pay income tax then you also need to bear in mind that survey income is tax deductable. A few pounds an hour, in cash or in store vouchers, is as good as it gets. However you can work your own hours, from home, whilst eating a meal or watching television. You are entirely your own boss. If you are at home and doing nothing, why not use that free time to supplement your income?

There is a whole host of survey providers who pay for your opinions. Amongst the better ones are YouGov, Populus Live, Valued Opinions and Ipsos, but there are literally dozens. One other very popular site with survey enthusiasts is Swagbucks, chiefly because there are a whole range of games and videos from which one can accumulate points.

An excellent source of further information on using online surveys is Money Saving Expert. There the top twenty or so survey operators are listed and linked to, and advice is given on how best to maximise income.

One word of advice is to use a dedicated e-mail address that is set aside for this purpose only. In this way you will save yourself the anguish of a whole load of spam in your regular inbox.