Finding legitimate online surveys that pay isn't easy, but with persistence, and by knowing how to find good leads, you can make a pretty penny off of your survey-taking efforts. There's really not much to it. All you do is find a legitimate survey site, sign up to begin receiving offers to your email inbox, and then start participating in surveys that look appealing to you.

Sounds simple, right? Unfortunately, it's not quite as simple in practice. Because there are many phony survey sites seeking to take advantage of honest web users, there are certain things that every survey taker should take into account. Don't just blindly sign up for every survey that you see. This is a quick way to get your data mined and your inbox full of spam. Instead, go about it carefully, and make sure that all the survey sites you sign up for meet all the criteria in this checklist:

1. Traceability: Is there an address and a customer service number for the survey site? If so, then there's a good chance that the company is on the up and up. Just to be safe, you might want to try even giving their number a call to make sure you get a real person.

2. Transparency: When you go to an online survey service, the steps you need to take to participate in the surveys should be immediately apparent. There should be an easily identifiable link to the sign-up screen, and this link should really take you there. If you feel like a survey site is leading you around in circles, then it's probably not a very good one.

3. Rewards: Before you participate in a survey, make sure that you are clear on the rewards you can expect. Depending on what you hope to get out of your survey taking, you may consider it a waste to spend two or three hours on a survey only to find that all you get out of it is a few measly "points" or entry into a contest with odds that aren't very good.

4. Interesting surveys: As you look around a survey site, you'll probably get a pretty good sense of the types of surveys that they can connect you to. Some survey sites have specialty demographics. For example, some are just for teens, just for women, or only for people who are interested in a certain product niche. If you don't think you're going to be able to provide informed opinions to the surveys offered through a site, move on to the next one.

5. A referral program: Many survey sites provide you with rewards for referring your family and friends to the service. For some, the more people you bring to the site, the bigger your rewards will be. You may not end up taking advantage of this feature, but it can't hurt to at least have the option. And if the survey site turns out to be a good one, everyone benefits.

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