Money Blue Book

If you occasionally have free time to spare, then I recommend that you make some extra money on the side while you’re at it. MySurvey is one of the online survey companies that has drawn positive reviews. Spam does not appear to be an issue and the surveys are well designed and easy to complete. Doing online paid surveys is not the most efficient use of time, but if you approach it like a hobby like I do, it’s just a quick and easy way to make a small sum of money.

After completion of each survey, you receive reward points that can be later redeemed for prizes, merchandise, and even cash. You are also automatically entered into a cash sweepstakes after completion of each survey. The payouts for each completed survey averages from 10 points to 200. However, I have completed at least one offer worth 1000 points. If you decide to redeem your accumulated points for cash, 1000 points = $10.00.

If interested, you should sign up for several online paid survey companies to maximize your survey opportunities. I suggest expressing interest in many things during the initial profile setup to increase your chances of qualifying for more survey opportunities. The companies are not all the same. I personally prefer MySurvey more than some of the other companies like Greenfield Online because MySurvey doesn’t trick you into completing a lengthy survey only to wait till the very end before informing you that you didn’t qualify for the survey.

I’ve Earned More Points Than I Expected

I signed up with MySurvey a month ago back in August. So far I’ve racked up 2610 points by completing surveys during my free time. I’ve gotten very efficient in completing them. For a long one that should normally take 60 minutes to complete, it now only takes me 10-15 minutes. Not bad. I now have enough to redeem for $26.00 cash. Keep in mind that this is only for one survey company. I’ve also earned points through other companies as well.

I think this company has been around for a few months now but it wasn’t until recently that I heard about them. If you have been searching for ways to earn more frequent flyer miles or have been trying to find ways to top off the accumulated miles of your frequent flyer plans, now you have another option through E-Miles. E-Miles is offering to give you mileage points but in return, you guessed it, you have to view video ads and then complete surveys pertaining to the products featured on the ads.

Once you register with them and complete a profile, you are paid mileage points for every ad you view. You can earn 10-20 miles for each 30 second video, and even more points for longer ads. The ads are provided to you based on your previously completed profile in which you indicated your interests. I recommend having as many interests as possible. I actually enjoy the process because it’s relatively painless and fairly quick. Earned mileage points are automatically deposited every quarter into the participating frequent flyer program of your choice.

Earning and Using the Miles

In general, a free domestic flight through most frequent flyer programs will run about 25,000 miles. If you regularly view the ads, you could reasonably earn a free domestic flight within a year. However, I only plan on using the program to help me get over the free ticket hump for my various frequent flyer plans. I could try to accumulate from scratch but than it would take much longer than I’d personally like.

Now the bad news. Currently, points earned through E-Miles are only good for Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, and US Airways. If your preferred plan is through another carrier, you’re out of luck for now. Hopefully the company will add more airlines soon.

Fortunately for me though, Continental and Northwest are my biggies. I should be able to rack up free flights in no time. I hope you can get something out of it as well.

Don’t forget the Starwoods Preferred Guest American Express Card. It’s my recommended travel rewards card for earning frequent flyer miles and for topping off your assorted frequent flyer plans.

In an earlier entry, I discussed about this new get paid to surf company called AGLOCO that was developing an application that shows ads on the bottom of your computer screen. For the past few months, users have been downloading and using the application, with the expectation that the company would ultimately fine tune its business plan and release news about the payment structure.

Last week, AGLOCO announced on its blog that it had finally signed one of its major revenue partnerships and that a formal announcement would be forthcoming. On the face of it, it seems like good news for the people that have downloaded the application and are actively accruing usage hours. The informal announcement suggests that the company is trying to carefully move towards a viable and sustainable implementation of its payment plan. I noticed that the company wisely steered away from further discussing its previous assertions that payment might also be made in the form of shares – most likely to avoid complications from possible securities law issues.

I remain cautious but encouraged, however, I suggest that you should keep your expectations reasonable. The payment structure is still being developed and there is no clear indication of what the payout really will be. I suspect it may not be as lucrative as some may have hoped. But usage of the AGLOCO application is free and early adopters will likely benefit the most from referrals.

Pinecone Research is an online survey site that conducts online interviews with consumers to obtain their opinions about new products. They conduct their polls by sending members online surveys as well as product samples to review, such as shampoos and detergents. You complete the online surveys and review the products in the comforts of your own home. The best part is that they mail you a $5 check for each completed poll (although shorter ones only pay around $3). The online surveys generally take around 15-20 minutes, but since I’m a pretty fast reader, it only takes maybe 10 minutes of my time.

Pinecone also occasionally offers the opportunity to review trial products. This is probably the most exciting part of these surveys because you get to test try products that aren’t even on the market yet. Interesting products include shampoos, candy bars, video games, and even frozen meals (sent in a foam cooler packed with dry ice). Not only do you get paid for completing the product survey, you also get to use and keep the product!

By the way, you might also be interested in other similar online paid survey opportunities. There are several really good ones out there as well.

Can’t Seem To Find the Sign Up Link? Yup, It’s Hard To Find!

The Pinecone Research survey program is getting more popular as people start to find out about it. However, the sign up process remains rather elusive and the company appears to want to limit new entrants to the program. The company does not automatically approve each application and I suspect they are trying to target certain demographics (such as age or race) or certain consumer characteristics (home owners etc). There is also no easy way to find the sign up application links as they appear on random advertisement banners from time to time. Open registration season is usually only available for short periods of time as well. The company is either trying to drive everybody crazy or it’s doing a great job of generating viral interest.

Please check back occasionally in the event that the existing link disappears back into the void. I will try to keep posting new active registration links as I discover them.

Currently, you can find an active registration link by visiting the link below. Act fast before it disappears – Hopefully it is still working:

Live Pinecone Research Application Link – (Click Here)