Paid Online Surveys - Valued Opinions

Valued Opinions is a high quality paid online survey site. It has panels for the US, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand and primarily focuses on paid surveys; with the occasional paid product test available to suitable panellists. Membership is open to people over 14 years of age.

How does it work?

Like most survey sites, when you first join you will need to fill out your profile information. This information is used to send relevant surveys to your email address. The email specifies the topic, time and incentive (normally $0.50-$5) and you can choose whether or not to participate. After being asked some initial screening questions, if you qualify and complete the survey you, your account will be credited with the incentive specified in the survey invitation within 28 days.

How do I get paid?

Once you account balance reaches $20, you are able to claim your rewards. Valued Opinions does not pay at all via cash, cheque, bank deposit or PayPal. You can choose to either make a $20 donation to one of their listed charities, or you can opt to receive a $20 voucher from one of their reward partners. The reward partners include major retailers (such as Woolworths, Coles and Bunnings Warehouse) and also iTunes gift cards.

What's the downside?

The limited list of retailers may be seen as a downside, and also the fact that you can only receive a $20 voucher rather than choosing your own amount. However there is no maximum balance you can have in your account, and your earnings never expire. Also I have noticed that occasionally some of the "screening" questions take quite a while, and it would be nice to get some compensation for this time (is 10-20 cents asking too much?)  

Valued Opinions is a site that can be relied on for sending frequent survey invitations. It does not take long to earn a $20 voucher, and putting that towards your groceries every couple of months is certainly very handy to have.

Paid Online Surveys - Pure Profile

Participating in paid online surveys is one of the simplest ways to earn extra income, and in my opinion, pureprofile is one of the best survey sites to join for this purpose. pureprofile has panels in several countries, and recruits Australian panelists here. One of the best things about it is that it pays in cash directly into your bank account, rather than in vouchers. 

Who can join?

Anyone over the age of 13 can join. Some basic information must be provided before going on to create rest of your profile, such as your location and date of birth.

How does it work?

Once you are registered you need to create your profile, which is the information market researchers will use to target appropriate campaigns to you. You earn money by visiting your "next button” page which is where you can view all your available campaigns. These might be a 10 cent incentive for watching a video, a $1 incentive for completing a short survey, or a longer survey may pay up to $8. If there is anything you don't want to do, you can simply choose to skip that particular campaign. Even if you don't qualify for surveys, you will still get 5-10 cents added to your account.

When do I get paid?

Once you have reached a minimum of $25, you are eligible for a direct deposit of cash into your bank account.

What is the downside?

pureprofile only allows a maximum pay out of $50 every 60 days, and it is possible that you may earn this much in this time period. But really I don't see this as too much of a downside, since you can still keep earning you just can't cash out until the 60 day time period is up!

The verdict

As there are so many scam paid online survey sites out there, if you only join one online survey panel, join pureprofile as it is a quality site that does pay you for your time. If anyone has comments, please feel free to add them!

Make Money Writing Online with Helium

Helium is an online content site that allows anyone to join and write for them. It is a great way to start to make money writing online, and quality writing gets rewarded. The more articles you write, the more you will earn and this is true for any online based article writing work. I personally use this site (check out some of my articles if you are keen here) and I have found it very easy to use and to learn from as well.

How does it work?

Writers from anywhere in the world can sign up and create a profile, and then you are effectively free to write to any of the titles in the Helium database. There is an assignments section, where there may be an upfront payment of $1-2 per article in the "Marketplace". The assignments section also contains articles that pay via revenue sharing, which is how the majority of money is made on this site. The downside to accepting an assignment with upfront payment is that you may be competing with other writers. If your article is not accepted by the publisher, then it transitions over to  Helium where it will earn you revenue based on the number of page views. You can also earn money by participating in writing contests. 

How much do I have to write?

Articles need to be a minimum of 400 words (except Poetry) and normally a maximum of 1500 words. Do not plagiarise or duplicate content, it will be deleted!

How do I get paid?

To get paid, you will need to have a PayPal account, and payments are made once your account balance reaches a minimum of $25.

I am an expert in my field, will this be helpful?

Helium values quality content, and awards "badges" to certified professionals and professional journalists. Get your credentials verified and this will most likely increase the number of views your articles receive. 

What's the downside?

In order to earn money, you have to participate in article rating (rating the quality of others' writing) and maintain at least one rating "star". This can be frustrating if you aren't regularly visiting the site, as you aren't notified when your star rating drops. Make sure you check in at least once a week and rate a few articles while you are there to avoid any loss of earnings.

Is it worth it?

It takes patience but Helium does pay, even if a few cents a day makes it seem like it will take forever to earn the first $25. Accepting a few of the upfront payment assignments will help to get you there sooner. Have a plan to write every day, write on topics which you know about and soon you will see your earnings start to rise. 

An update

So not a lot happened for a while there...life gets in the way for the beginner blogger! Hopefully now with a little  more spare time I will be able to get back to work on this blog and keep it updated with fresh ideas.

The need to supplement our incomes is ever increasing, and we are all feeling the pinch, as the cost of living continues to rise. There are two ways to meet these increasing expenses, either cut out expenses elsewhere on those things we enjoy; or try to somehow supplement our income. I personally prefer the latter, as there is a limit as to how much we can all keep "cutting back".

Decide how much extra income you would like to earn, then learn about ways to help you get there without sacrificing your lifestyle.