There's money to be made taking paid online surveys. The trick is to find and concentrate on the surveys that pay in cash or equivalent (such as points that can be redeemed in cash) and avoid those that pay with a form of lottery ticket. Also, you need to avoid those that will not respect your privacy and will sell your address to others.

The first step to accomplishing these goals is to pick a good, reputable paid survey program that you join as a member. Avoid the "free" offers. Free offers are usually made by people getting paid to recruit names and addresses of the gullible. You want to make sure that you are paying the Program that you want to guide you, so that their loyalty is to you and not to someone who wants to use you and waste your time.

In selecting the paid survey program to join, consider these factors:

1. Size and market position. You want someone who has been around a while, is substantial, and won't disappear on you.

2. Guarantee. Look for at least a strong 60 day guarantee. This ensures that the paid survey program you join will be very interested in making sure that you get off to a good start and are pleased with the way things are going for at least the time of the guarantee. Also it means that if all else fails, at least you get your initial membership fee back.

3. Financial Intermediary. It is best to sign up through a financial intermediary such as PayPal or ClickBank. These are large, reputable companies who will enforce a money-back guarantee, and will not work with programs that have an excessively high refund rate.

4. Refund rate. You want to select a company with a low rate of refunds. This is probably the best indication of customer satisfaction for the program. High refund rate means lots of unhappy customers. Low refund rate means happy, contented customers.

5. Selection. Look at more than one guide company. Don't sign up with the first one you see. If it is good, make a note and come back to it after seeing some others. Visit the websites of at least a half dozen good paid survey programs. Look around each site, click over to see all the pages. Compare their sales pitches. Look for contact information. Do they have a support office? Do they maintain regular office hours for receiving and answering customer inquiries and questions? What exactly are they offering? Shop and compare, then select.

Once you have selected the paid survey program with which you wish to affiliate, get set for action. You should:

1. Set up a new e-mail address specifically for paid surveys. Two reasons: A. You should expect to receive a lot of e-mail and B. You want to be sure to read and respond to offers coming in, so it's best to receive them in a place where you can concentrate on the paid survey business.

2. The paid survey guide company you selected will give you a copy of their list of recommended companies that make surveys. Sign up with as many of these survey-making companies as you can, preferably with all. This will take some time and paperwork, but it will pay off in the long run. This is important. You must let the companies who send out surveys know that you are in the market and are ready willing and able to take the surveys they send.

Most will have some kind of pre-qualification to establish your demographic profile. This may be included in your application or they may send you a detailed questionnaire to fill out. Be sure and respond to these promptly. They will need a demographic profile to know to whom they should send which survey.

Do not expect immediate results. You should begin receiving surveys to take within a week or so after filling out the application to the survey maker.

3. When you receive surveys to take, don't let them languish in your inbox. Respond quickly and completely. Answer all the questions to the best of your ability. Prompt and complete response will help you get more surveys to take sooner.

Follow the above steps and you should have no problems in making good money by taking paid online surveys!