A paid survey is a form of market research. Big companies spend billions of dollars a year on advertising. They want to know their money is being spent well. These major companies hire a market research firm to conduct studies of their products, advertising, or of a certain demographic of people they are trying to target.

A market research firm then does a study to find out information for the big company. Their studies are conducted in several ways. One of the most popular is a paid survey. Members of the firms paid survey panels are invited to participate in a paid survey. The survey asks questions about how you feel about a certain product or advertisement and may ask questions on how you feel the product could be better. It may show you five or six advertisements or, slogans, or logos, and ask you to choose the one you think is best. They may survey 5000 people then the company that hired them will make it's product based on the results of the paid survey.

Market research companies are paid alot of money to do this. In return their panelists are compensated for their help. An average paid survey takes around 20 minutes and pays from $5 to $20. Some may pay more depending on time and importance of the study.

Legitimate paid survey panels are always free to join and will never ask you to purchase anything. In fact from time to time you may even receive a product to test and be compensated for it. The best way to profit from paid surveys is by being a member of as many paid survey panels as possible. This way you will be invited to participate in more paid surveys and make more money. A single paid survey panel may send you several paid surveys a month or may only send one. That's why it is very important to start by joining the top 20 paid survey panels. By doing this you are almost guaranteed to receive at least one paid survey a day.