If you're into trying to earn a little extra money for your home, whether it be to pay bills or take a vacation, one of the most popular ways to do this is by taking paid surveys. In this article, we're going to try to give you a general idea of what's involved and what you can expect to make doing this. A friendly warning. Don't quit your day job.

For starters, there are a large number of companies on the Internet that offer paid surveys. The companies cover all types of products and services from computers to laundry detergent. If there is a product out in the marketplace, there's a company out there that wants your opinion of that product and for whatever reason, they're willing to pay you for that opinion.

This is where people start getting dollar signs flashing in their eyes. Many of us think that if they simply find enough of these companies and take enough of these surveys, they can walk into their bosses office, hand in their resignation and walk into their new career that will allow them to retire in six months. Well, it's not quite that easy. There are a number of pitfalls that you will run into when it comes to taking paid surveys.

The first problem is just getting qualified for the paid survey in the first place. What, did you think that you just tell the company you want to take the survey and they just give it to you, no questions asked? It doesn't quite work that way. Unfortunately for those of us who want to take paid surveys, we first have to fit into the "demographic" that the company is looking for. The best way to explain this is with an example.

Let's say you're a guy who's married and you apply for a survey on supermarket shopping. The chances of you qualifying for this survey are going to be slim to none. Why? Because it is the opinion of these companies that the woman of the house is the one who does the majority of the food shopping. This may or may not be true but just the same, it's how companies think. Because of this, you will most likely not qualify for that survey. While this may not seem like a big deal, since there are so many other surveys you can take, it's actually a bigger problem than most people realize. For many people, if they don't earn enough money they won't qualify for a number of surveys because the company is looking for high income earners.

The next problem with taking paid surveys is what these surveys actually pay. In most cases, it's not a lot of money by any stretch of the imagination. Some survey sites require you to take 30 or 40 surveys before you even qualify for a $10 payment, especially if they pay you in points. Other companies will just enter you into drawings where you "might" win something. The company that actually pays decently for a survey is hard to find.

These are just a couple of problems you'll run into taking paid surveys. We'll cover other problems in a future article.