Side Hustles That Work: Make Money Taking Surveys

Just a year ago, I had no side hustles. (I still kick myself for wasting so much precious time that I could have been making money!) Now, they’re what we’re using to pay for our week-long vacation! And one of the top side hustles was to make money taking surveys.

No, I didn’t make millions from taking online surveys, but I did earn a nice side income by doing some pretty easy work.

I signed up for as many survey sites as I could. Thanks to the number of sites I joined (50+ in the beginning!), I was able to complete a few surveys each week that added up to a nice check at the end of the month.

It wasn’t enough to make me rich, but it’s enough to earn a nice and easy $100 check in the mail each month. The work is easy and can be done from home on your own schedule. Basically the ultimate win-win!

Here are some of my tips for making online surveys a side hustle for you and I listed the best online survey sites for you to join (that I personally use)!

Related Post: How I Earn Money as a Stay At Home Mom

Sign up for as many free online survey sites as you can!

Definitely sign up for all of the sites listed here. The more sites you join, the easier it is to make money taking surveys.

Each survey company might only send a few surveys to you each month. The more survey sites that you sign up for, the more money you can make. You can sign up for all of these survey sites easily and quickly, so it’s worth a try!

All of these free online survey sites are legitimate and can be a great way to earn money:

American Consumer Opinion
InboxDollars (Get a $5 signup bonus when you sign up)
Swagbucks (Get 300SB when you use the code “cowcountry15“)
VIP Voice
Survey Junkie
Pinecone Research
Harris Poll Online
One Opinion
Nielsen Panel
Survey Spot
Product Report Card
iSay
Zen Surveys

Be honest when signing up for online survey sites!

When you fill out the survey forms, you’ll be asked questions about your age, income, ethnicity, state, languages spoken, and more. These are not questions to stalk you! They want to know the answers of certain demographic types.

Sometimes they’ll only want females 25-34 who drink coffee, sometimes they’ll only want men 6’11” and taller who enjoy needlepoint. You never know what they’re looking for in a survey, so the best bet is to just be honest.The survey companies want people who actually fit what they are looking for.

Plus, you don’t know what they’re looking for anyway! By lying you might actually be cheating yourself out of a perfect fit for a survey.

Make sure the survey site is legitimate.

For every good survey site, there’s always a bad one. And one that will likely sell your info to third party spammers. The free online survey sites listed in this email are all legitimate and some of the best online survey sites out there, but there are many not-so-legitimate ones out there. I am often sent emails from readers asking whether so-and-so is real and what I would do.

All of the free online survey sites that I listed for you are legitimate and some of the best online survey sites out there. But there will be plenty of others that try to get you to sign up that are just out for trouble.

If you see one or all of these warning signs, you’re likely looking at a scammer:

You need to pay to sign up. I’ve taken many paid surveys, and not once have I ever had to pay a single cent to take them. If you need to put in your credit card info, or you need to pay per survey, you’re looking at a scam. Never put in your bank or credit card info!
You are promised to make millions from surveys in 2 weeks. These and other promised of the world are the signs of a scam. It would be really, really tough to earn a full-time income just from answering surveys from one website. Surveys are meant as a way to earn side income. Any survey site promising too much is likely a fake.
You don’t remember signing up. If you’ve ever had an email and wondered if you ever signed up for a site, you might be looking at a scam. Before you click on any links from the email, search your email history and see if you ever signed up for it. Fake survey companies are only out to steal your information. Ignore the emails and don’t click on anything!

Pro tips before you get started

Make a new email just for surveys. This way, you won’t be getting email alerts at all hours. I also do this because I’m more than a little paranoid about getting my information sent to third party scammer!
Never give out your phone number. This goes back to my concern about having spammers call me. I always put in a fake phone number. I’m sure that some people will frown upon this, but you get your phone number on a spammer list and you get a little over protective!
Don’t give out your credit card or personal bank information. No survey should ever ask you for your personal banking or credit card information. Ever. You can answer about where you have credit cards and where you have bank accounts, but any information more than that is a big NO.