February 4, 2012

Valentines Day Infographic Driven By Marketing Research

As every reader of this blog is aware, Valentines day is quickly approaching. In fact, it is fifteen days away, so guys, make sure you start making your plans now.

I wanted to share this infographic with everyone today because this is the type of information that is collected via marketing research (aka: free paid surveys). Companies who make a lot of their revenue from Valentines day eat this kind of data up, because they need to know what men and women will be spending their money on each valentines day.

valentines day marketing research

As you can see from this graphic, the typical Valentines gifts are as follows:

Candy – $30 Billion Dollars
Flowers – $6.2 Billion Dollars
Greeting Cards – $10 Billion Dollars
Chocolate – $17 Billion Dollars

If I were a greeting card company, I would be doing additional marketing research to find out what kinds of cards might be a hit this season and start producing those.

As you can see, marketing research plays a huge role in how businesses develop their products and marketing plans. That is why paid survey companies are legitimate and will continue to pay for completed surveys.

The Top 25 Make Money Online Blogs To Follow In 2012

As you well know, there are a lot of ways to make money online. You can see some of these way in our blog post The Top Ten Ways To Make Money Online In 2012. Because more and more people are looking for ways to make money online every single day, we decided that we would put together a nice little list of blogs that you should be following on a regular basis to help you in your quest. Some of the blogs are general “make money online” type blogs and some of them are more themed like “paid survey” and “focus group” blogs. Either way, they are all really good and provide a lot of value to the end user. So here you go: The Top 25 Make Money Online Blogs To Follow In 2012.

General Make Money Online Blogs

This is our list of general make money online blogs. These cover many aspects, not just one way to make some cash through the internet.

Can I Make Big Money Online

Blogger Noob

MoneyOnline.net

Smart Bloggerz

TechnShare

Colin Klinkert

MyBlog2day

Paid Survey Blogs

This is our list of paid survey blogs. As you can see, there aren’t many quality paid survey blogs, actually only three in addition to ours.

Survey Inferno (Shameless plug)

Get Paid Surveys

Survey Survival

Paid Surveys Authority

Internet/Affiliate Marketing Blogs

As we have blogged before on our site, these are some of the best internet marketing/affiliate marketing blogs you can find on the internet. If you have a little cash to invest in starting a blog, you can make some serious cash by promoting affiliate offers and blogging on a regular basis.

SugarRae

John Chow

Shoemoney

John Cow

Courtney Tuttle

The Keyword Academy

Focus Group Blogs

Focus groups are very similar to online paid surveys as you are taking some time to answer marketing research questions for money. These are the top focus group blogs you can find online.

Focus Group Tips

Paid Focus Groups Live

Free Publicity Focus Groups

Mystery Shopping Blogs

Same as paid surveys and focus groups, mystery shopping is another great way to participate in marketing research and get paid to shop. Here is a great list of blogs to help you learn how to mystery shop.

Secret Shopping Blog

Mystery Shoppers Manual

Mystery Shopping Learning Center

Beyond Hello

Mystery Shopping Blog

Five Things I Want To Buy With The Money I Make From Taking Paid Surveys

what to buy with money from paid surveysBy now you already know that you can make some good money simply by taking paid surveys. Now, what you decide to do with that money is up to you. Some people use it to supplement their income to help provide for their family, some use it to buy cool stuff for themselves. I typically donate all of mine to my church to help the needy individuals and families in my area, but recently decided to taking a month or two of earnings and actually by myself some things I’ve been wanting for awhile.

Here is my list of the top five things I want to buy with the money I make from taking paid surveys in November and possibly December (can’t decide since it’s almost the holidays and there are a lot of people in need).

iPhone 4s

I’ve been an Apple fan for as long as I can remember. I have a Macbook and iPad, but no iPhone. I’ve never taken the dive and gotten one simply because it hasn’t been a phone that my current carrier offers. I think I’m about ready to switch carriers and will need some cash to fund the new phone.

BOB Stroller

My wife and I just recently had our second child and of course, she wants to start exercising to lose the baby weight. She likes to run outside, but we currently only have a single jogging stroller. She would love one of the new BOB double seat strollers, so I think this makes my list.

LoveSac

I’ve always wanted a LoveSac to help fill some of the empty space in our living room. During the holidays they typically have sales, so I might buy one this year.

Nintendo Wii

Now that my oldest son is four, he is starting to like playing video games. The Nintendo Wii is a very family friendly unit and there are a lot of games the he and I can play together. At Costco, they have a bundle that is $149.99 that includes the unit, a few controllers, and a game. I think this would be a worth while investment.

Mini Fridge

Again, now that we have a new baby in the house, someone has to take the night shift and it ain’t my wife. She tends to pump her breast milk in the evening and I get up once a night to feed the baby. I think I want a mini fridge in our room so I don’t have to go all the way down stairs and get the milk to heat up. I can move the bottle warmer into the room as well so it is easy to get the job done.

There are a few others that didn’t make the list, but I think that these are some worth while things to purchase with the money I make from completing paid surveys. What will you buy?

Opinionology Merges With Survey Sampling International (SSI)

opinionology ssi paid surveys

I’m not exactly sure where I’ve been over the last few months, but I was on LinkedIn last night and saw that a an acquaintance of mine who used to work for Opinionology (Opinion Outpost) now worked for Survey Sampling International (SSI). At first I wondered if he left Opinionology and went to work for a competitor, but upon further research, I found out that the two biggest marketing research organizations in the world actually joined forces to create the largest and most powerful marketing research company on this planet.

The companies received approval to merge in July 2011 and Opinionology merged into the SSI brand. Their goal was to create the most innovative and comprehensive marketing research organization by collecting survey data via phone interviews and online survey panels. They also have offices in every time zone so they can provide world class support to both their research clients and survey respondents 24/7.

For many survey takers, the question has been asked, what is going to happen to Opinion Outpost? As of right now, it will continue to run as Opinion Outpost, but under the brand SSI. They recently underwent a site redesign to make the look and feel more in line with the SSI brand, but nothing has changed other than increasing the number of paid survey opportunities as they are now able to tap into SSI’s client base.

If you have ever been thinking about joining Opinion Outpost, now is the time!

You can read the full press release of the Opinionology and SSI merger by clicking here.

Top Ten Ways To Make Money Online In 2012

make money online

We’re 82 days away from the New Year… That kind of freaks me out.

At Survey Inferno, we’ve helped almost a half a million people over the last six years make money online with paid surveys, if you as me, that’s pretty impressive. One thing that sets us apart from other paid survey sites online is the fact that we are truly committed to the success of our visitors and members, we are committed to your success and aren’t a one and done shop like the other guys.

Because of this, we have spent a considerable amount of time over the last six months to research and develop a list of the top ten ways to make money online in 2012. These are legitimate, proven ways to make money on the internet and all but one of them outside of paid surveys (our expertise). So without further ado, here are the top ten ways for you to make money online in the year 2012.

Freelance Content Writing

Over the last few years, there as been a growing demand for online content writers. Did you know that there are websites and networks out there were you can offer your writing services and get paid for it? Most of the opportunities are for writing 200-300 word articles, mostly for search marketers and bloggers. If you want to make more money than the average freelance article writer, it would be smart to develop an understanding of keyword research, search engine optimization, and content marketing. Our favorite and most reliable network we tested out was iWriter.com. Writers get paid 81% of the price of each piece of content written and payments are issued via PayPal on a weekly basis.

Become A Virtual Assistant (VA)

As with freelance content writers, the demand for virtual assistants has been growing over the last few years. There are actually entire books written on how to become a (VA), so this type of online job is definitely worth pursuing. To find these types of opportunities, you can advertise your services via freelance websites like Elance or oDesk, or you can also reach out to potenital customers directly and let them know how you can help them in their business. It is also a smart idea to look into resources such as AssistU, which provides training and direction for new virtual assistants. Virtual assistants typically make between $15 to $35 per hour depending on their experience and availability.

Write Online Reviews For Pay or Perks

This type of online work typically gets a bad wrap, just as paid surveys have over the last few years. Truth be told, there are thousands of businesses online who build new products or services and need willing people to test what they have to offer and write an honest review. Most companies looking for reviewers present two offers to individuals, one, a free product or service in return for a review, two, some monetary reward for testing and offering a review, or in some cases, both. If you are looking for something to review you could start by searching popular mommy blogs on things they are reviewing or you can sign up for a service like PayPerPost. We’ve seen product or service reviewers earn anywhere from $10 to $100 per review depending on what they are reviewing.

Become An Online Tutor

If you are educated and are looking for ways to make money online, tutoring people online is a great way to make some extra cash. Working with companies like e-Tutor, Smart Thinking, and Tutor.com, you can find individuals needing your services and pay pretty decent. If you like help others learn, and have the ability to set aside a certain number of hours per week (anywhere from 2+ hours), you can generate a nice supplemental income. Online tutor pay is based on the subject you are tutoring on and the number of hours spent tutoring. Many online tutors earn anywhere between $500 to $1,600 per month. In most cases, there are also bonuses and performance incentives.

Make Money On eBay

There are many different ways to make money with eBay. The three most popular ways are by going to Garage Sales, Estate Sales, or Abandoned Storage Unit Auctions and buying stuff to resell. If you are dedicated and have a few bucks to get started, you can make some decent money this way. The most difficult part of this method of making money online is the time investment needed to traveling around to find the stuff to sell. Depending on how much money and time you have to invest in purchasing items to resell, we’ve seen people make around $500 to $2,000 per month. The pros (like the guys on Storage Wars), however, make upwards of $20,000 per month.

Become An Online Juror

Never heard of online jurors? Neither had we until we started doing our research on high quality online jobs. Online jury pools are starting to become very popular as more and more people are pursuing higher education, especially in the legal field. New lawyers, right out of school, need to practice and get real experience before they hit the real world. Online resources such as TrialJuries.com stage mock trials where new lawyers can get their practice. Online jurors get paid anywhere between $5 to $70 depending on how complex or time consuming the case is. It’s fun and easy to get involved and the more you participate, the more you asked to join other juries in the communities.

Learn WordPress, Then Offer To Install Plugins & Upgrade It

Anyone who blogs frequently and has their blog installed with WordPress knows how difficult it can be sometimes to upgrade to newer versions and install new plugins. This blog runs on WordPress and every time we upgrade it, something always breaks. Same thing often happens when you install plugins that conflict with WordPress installation or theme. There are people out there who you can hire to install WordPress, upgrade it, and also install plugins. They typically charge $5 to install or upgrade plugins and $50+ to install or upgrade WordPress itself. The demand is there for this to be a full time position so the possibilities to earn are limitless depending on how fast you can work. You can find customers by contacting blog owners directly, get references from bloggers who already have hired you, or check out services like Fiverr.

Interview Industry Experts & Sell The Interview

Interviewing industry experts is a newer way to earn money online and will definitely become more popular in 2012. People we have talked to have said to have made around $600-$800 per interview and try to get 2-3 per month. The trick here is to find a pain point that people are experiencing, interview an industry expert, as the expert questions around the pain point and then selling the interview to bloggers or others in the industry who are interested in the content. This one is a little more tricky because you have to do some leg work to find people interested in buying the content in every industry, but they are definitely out there.

Submit Websites or Blog Posts To Social Media Websites

Submitting websites or blog posts to social media websites is not very exciting work, but this type of work is in high demand from bloggers and small businesses trying to gain visibility online. This type of work consists of setting up accounts on all the major social bookmarking sites like Digg and Reddit and then bookmarking your clients websites or latest posts to help them get more traffic and backlinks. The real money comes to those who set up legitimate profiles, build relationships and grow your following because the links from these profiles bring more traffic and credibility. One of our team members used to do this full time and made around $50 per submission package. Each submission package was about 20 bookmarks.

Take Paid Surveys

Lastly, paid surveys will continue to be a viable way to earn money online in 2012. More and more big corporations are looking to collect data about their customers and potential customers and will continue to spend in this market.

If you truly want to make money online and create a life where you can work from home and spend more time with your family, then it takes some work and effort on your part. These are the top ten ways that YOU can make money online in 2012… Enjoy!

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Survey Inferno Announces Opinion World

opinion world paid online surveysHey everyone! We just finished qualifying our latest paid survey company called Opinion World.

We have been spending the last two months testing Opinion World, making sure that we get paid for actually putting forth the work and taking their surveys. Truth be told, we did get paid… all four of us!

Registering for Opinion World is free and easy and just for entering you have a chance to win $12,000.

Take two minutes and register for their program now, register by clicking here

Japan Disaster Relief Campaign

Just three weeks after we donated over $2,000 and have since donated an additional $1,000 to the Red Cross to help the victims of the devastating earth quake and tsunami, we at SurveyInferno.com have decided to organize a disaster relief campaign for those good people.

At Survey Inferno, we have over 50,000 people who work with us on a regular basis to find new opportunities to take paid surveys online. We plan on leveraging our relationships with these individuals to raise money and will also be reaching out to our fellow paid survey website owners to see if they are interested in helping out as well.

We believe that with many, small donations, we can make a huge difference! To donate, you can simply click this link.

May God be with you and with the suffering people of Japan!

We Just Donated $2,000 To The Red Cross (Tsunami Relief for Japan)

One think I really love about MySurvey.com is the fact that they reward me for taking paid surveys with points. With those points, I can get anything I want from Amazon Gift Cards or Cash. I have to admit though, one downside is that my wife wants to always take my points and get Amazon Gift Cards for herself. Not a fan of it when that happens, but whatever.

So, when I logged into my MySurvey.com account last week, I noticed that they gave me an option to give my points to the Red Cross to help with relieve efforts for the Japanese people after the devastating Earthquake and Tsunami that rocked their nation a few weeks back.

mysurvey.com japan tsunami relief

My team and I (there are five of us now) decided that we would each donate everything we have in our accounts to the efforts. When it was all said and done, we donated just over $2,000.

We would hope that each of you take the time to consider donating some of your points to the effort. I now that many of our users sign up for MySurvey.com, so if we all band together, I know we can make a difference for the Japanese people.

I Scored My First $50 Survey Last Night

Great news people! I scored my first $50 survey ever! It happened last night and took me almost two hours to complete. It was really long and pretty painful, but I’ll take $25 an hour any day.

99.9% of all of the paid surveys we take are confidential and if the survey company sees that anyone is speaking about it online, you will be kicked out of the survey panel, so I can’t say which company or what the survey was about, but it was pretty pumped when I got it.

It’s been a great year for me and my team so far when it comes to paid surveys. There have been more surveys than we have ever seen and the payouts have been amazingly high! This is why we continue to maintain this site year in and year out to help you, the consumer earn money by sharing your opinions.

As always, you can get started earning money today by clicking here.

Let us know if you have questions.

Thanks,

Steve

Update On MySurvey – Lightspeed Research Merger

So, it’s been about a month since we announced the Lightspeed Research / MySurvey.com merger and so far the outcome seems very promising!!!

What we’ve noticed more than anything is the volume of paid surveys is through the roof. It seems, on average, each of our staff members is averaging about five high paying surveys per day being emailed to them. This is about 50% more than MySurvey used to send out on a regular basis.

We have also noticed that the payouts on these surveys are considerably higher than in the past as well. This is great news for anyone looking to supplement their current income stream or generating their only income stream.

It will be interesting to see what happens as time goes on. As always, we will be following this as will we be following each of the paid survey companies we recommend at SurveyInferno.com.