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There is no quantifying the effect the Internet has had on the job market. Because of it, a lot of people who were having a hard time finding traditional jobs are suddenly swamped with job opportunities. The ways you can make money online are myriad. Most of them require skills, like website designing, search engine optimization or seo, content writing, programming, blogging and the like. There are, however, jobs that require little or no particular set of skills at all. The only requirement is that you have a computer and access to the Internet, and you’re good to go. One of those jobs is doing online surveys for money.

This job is really as simple as it sounds. All you need to do is answer surveys, and you will get paid. If you’re wondering what kind of surveys would pay people money just to take them, think of these paid surveys as marketing research done by various companies that would give them an idea what you and other people feel about their specific products and services. By gathering feedback, they would know what areas of their operations are doing well and what aren’t so they can make the necessary adjustments and improvements.
To be able to do online surveys for money, you have to register with survey sites, which companies partner with for their surveys. Once you’re registered, you can negotiate with whoever’s operating the site regarding rates for a particular survey. Once the rates are agreed upon, you can then begin to answer those surveys. Can you think of an easier and more convenient way to make money online?

There are free survey sites and those that charge a certain fee for you to be able to answer their surveys. Free survey sites are alright, but it is recommended that you go for the pay sites, for the simple reason that they do offer higher rates and even more benefits, which of course will be a lot better in the long run.

With the help of search engines like Google, it is now easier to look for information about practically anything and anyone. At one point in your life, you may have even Googled yourself to find out what information about you is available online. As a result of this technology, more and more people are now becoming conscious about the safety and security of the personal information they divulge online. One way of securing your safety is by finding out who is searching for information about you in various online sources.

There are a variety of reasons why someone is looking or searching for you. If you’ve recently applied for a new job, it may be that your probable employers are simply checking you out. Some employers, on the other hand, also try to keep a close watch on their employees by checking up on them online. This is one way for them to make sure that their employees are not involved in anything illegal or demeaning when they are outside of the office. Somebody may be looking for you online, too, because he or she has something that you may want to have – like information about your family or loved ones; or maybe he or she is a long lost relative of yours.

If you’ve ever wondered and asked yourself the question, who is searching for me? you’ll feel definitely better if you know who and how many are searching for you. This is one of the reasons why people search sites came into fruition. Their main obligation is to track your name, along with some other personal information, and then find out who searched for you online. All that you need to do is sign up and select what services you’d like to receive. You can opt to receive email updates every time someone looks for you online. What these sites do is check out all search engines and social networking sites to help you find the answer to the question “Who is searching for me?”.

Another option that you can go for is to register with a search directory. You’ll need to create your own profile and upload your photo so you’ll be easily identified. Your profile will include personal information like your name, address and age. You may also be asked to include links that are related to you, like a blog or personal website, so that they’ll be able to help you find the answer to the question, who is looking for me? You’ll get notifications, through email or via the search directory website, everytime information is found about people looking for you.

With the help of people search sites and search directories, you won’t need to wonder and ask yourself “Who is looking for me?” and not know where to find the answers.

Like virtual houses in a virtual city, each computer connected to the Internet has an address. Naturally, for an address to work it has to be unique so as not to confuse data traffic that goes to and from a particular computer. From a zoomed out view—and considering that the human population has reached the 6.9 billion mark—an address system that would work for all regions of the world would seem mind-boggling. However, the bodies responsible for formulating cyberspace standards have pulled it off by standardizing a numerical system that tags the billions of personal computers and other digital portals with unique addresses.

The addresses this system gives out—called Internet Protocol (IP) addresses—come in the form of “dotted decimal numbers,” 4-number strings having component numbers that range from 0 to 255. The component numbers are all separated by dots, hence the name. Here’s an example: 216.54.101.236.

To fully appreciate how unique this number is, know that computers communicate in binary form—they can only understand “1”s and “0”s. The IP addresses shown to users have all been converted to decimal format to make them easier to remember. (You can see your IP address by using an IP locator or using the service of a website that offers Whois IP services.) If you convert the above example to its equivalent binary format, the result is: 11011000.110110.1100101.11101100. This binary version can’t be seen in IP Locator results but it’s the format that computers can understand.

If you’ve noticed, each of the four numbers have eight slots to put “1”s and “0”s in. It is because of this reason that they are called octets. Since each of the slots can have two states (a “1” or a “0”) each has a total combination of 2 raised to the eighth power. That’s 256 possibilities (from 0 to 255). Now, when you combine all the possible combination of all four octets in a given IP address, the possibilities exponentially balloon to 2 raised to the 32nd power—that’s a total of 4,294,967,296 unique values.

With the above explanation, one can see that there’s a stupefying range of IP addresses. The IP Address system ensures that each personal computer or digital portal gets a unique address. IP addresses are running out though so newer IP addresses have been rolled out but that’s beyond the scope of this article.

People who are in need of extra income often find themselves looking for options online. Most of the time, what they find are data entry jobs and paid surveys. These are the best options for them since they won’t need to leave home or give up their nine-to-five job. In addition, the requirements are quite simple: a good Internet connection and a computer that one can freely use. However, as in almost everything found online, there are a lot of online job sites and offers that are merely fronts for scams or fraudulent activities. This is where a little research and careful scrutinizing comes in. In choosing websites or programs that offer paid surveys, it is important to keep in mind several vital points.

• If the paid survey site is legitimate, you won’t have to pay any fees, no matter how minimal the amount may be. Paid survey sites are totally free.

• A legitimate paid survey site has a detailed privacy policy, and its terms and conditions are open and presented to the public. It is important to make sure that the privacy policy and terms and conditions pages or links function, as this is one way to find out if they are real. If the link or page is dead, chances are, they’re only dummies intended to lure you into signing with them. In addition, in scrutinizing the privacy policy, make sure that it is indicated in black and white that the website will not share any information you give to any third party.

• If the website offers unbelievably high rates, like $75, be careful. It may not be a legitimate paid survey site. Normally, paid survey sites offer a minimum of $1 and a maximum of $15 for every completed survey.

• Finally, be sure that the website’s Contact Us link or page works. Click on it and take note of the company’s contact information, especially the office address, telephone number and email address. Some people even check out a paid survey company’s address by paying a visit to their office. This will help verify whether the company is real or not.

Paid surveys offer you an opportunity to earn extra dollars. You may not turn into an instant millionaire, but at least you’ll have something to use for those unexpected expenses and financial emergencies. The work is easy and stress free; it is also convenient as you can stay at home while working. The only thing you need to be wary of are scammers and frauds. But if you follow the tips given above, you won’t need to worry – you’ll find only legitimate paid survey sites that are risk free!