With over 500 "paid survey" companies on the Internet, it's clear that this is a business that's here to stay. Some of the sites offer you an opportunity to "get rich quick" while others offer you a chance to earn a few extra dollars in your spare time participating in panels. Can you make a living off of these sites? You sure can - but not by taking surveys. There simply isn't enough time in each day to earn a viable living off of the online survey gig.

So how can you make real money with these websites?

It's very simple. You create a "survey portal." While not easy to set up, once established, it's a way you can earn money and not even have to fill out one survey. The set-up fees are minimal, but some computer knowledge is required.

Most of the online survey companies offer a "referral" fee for directing those who want to earn money by taking surveys to their site. And this is where the money is.

The first thing you need to do is purchase a domain name. You will want to get one that is catchy and easy to remember as well as spell. Once our domain name is secured, you'll need to set up a website. It doesn't have to be elaborate at all, but should be attractive to the viewer. And, of course, you'll need to have a host. Most host companies charge about $25 a month. You want to make sure you acquire a host that allows ads. Some hosting sites like Yahoo are very user friendly, but don't allow advertising.

You'll have to do a bit of research into the various survey companies that offer a referral fee. You can sign up for each site and you'll receive a "referral link." This link will be posted on your website in the form of a "hyperlink." You'll want to get as many referral links as you can to post on your website. When researching the companies, make sure that referral payments are made in cash, not points, and that you can receive them by check or through Paypal. If you decide to accept those that offer points, you'll have to monitor that site to make sure you cash in the points for cash periodically. Do not bother with any site that offers points in exchange for sweepstakes entries or prizes; you're wasting your time.

Some survey sites offer "affiliate" programs. This is where you can actually post an advertising banner on your website. It won't cost you any money, and every time someone actually clicks on the banner and signs up for the survey company, you'll get paid.

You'll want to use a lot of visual effects in your website giving the impression that anyone can make a living online doing surveys. I've seen a lot of survey portals, many of them have photos of large homes, pools, exotic vacation spots and fancy cars. Be careful that you don't use any images subject to copyright.

You can also add some "testimonials" to your portal site. You have to be careful not to deliberately mislead people; but an ambiguous statement such as "I was working 56 hours a week at a dead end job and now earn over $10,000 a month - Brenda K." are not illegal. Because you're not directly saying that doing surveys is the reason Brenda K. is now earning $10,000 a month. Brenda K. could have won the lottery and is taking her winnings in a monthly payout.

In addition to having several hyperlinks directing people to the survey sites for which you will receive a referral fee, you can also add other advertising on your website. There are several companies that offer pennies on the dollar every time someone clicks on their ad that's on your website. This is just another way to generate income for your survey portal site.

The most important thing you need to learn how to do is market your site. In addition to hundreds of paid online survey sites, there are also hundreds of free blogging sites. Sign up for them, make as many "friends" as you can and tout the success of your online business daily in your blog (providing a link to your site, of course),

While this method of making money may be just this side of the law and takes a bit of time, a small initial cash investment and periodic updates, this is the only way to make money in the online surveys for cash game. PT Barnum knew it; other people know it and now you do, too. There is a sucker born every minute.

Just make sure the "sucker" isn't you.