Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) not only paved a path to make it easy for anyone to become a web publisher on the internet, but they have also provided several ways to monetize their blogs or website. Now they are announcing yet another easy way to help bloggers and other website owners earn money. They just introduced Google Consumer Surveys, a program that allows companies to learn more about their customers or potential customers by asking a brief question and providing a few answer choices. Publishers who allow these surveys to be featured on their sites will earn a small amount of money.
The new program is still fresh and will probably undergo a lot of changes in the future to make improvements. Right now, companies must pay per answer and that rate varies. General questions are $0.10 each and more questions to specific demographics are $0.50 each. The program is currently available in the United States only. The rate publishers receive will depend on how many people answer the surveys on the blog.
Well-known publishers that have already used Google Consumer Surveys include Adweek, Star Tribune, and The Texas Tribune.
If publishers think the new survey program might be intrusive to their readers, Google has two other money-making opportunities they might find useful. They have an affiliate program where publishers can apply for advertising rights from select online stores and services. This program is similar to Link Share and Commission Junction where the publisher is paid a small commission for any product or service that is purchased via affiliate link through their website. The other program is Adsense which allows publishers to put ads on their website and earn money through link clicks instead of actual purchases.
It’s too early to tell if Google Consumer Surveys will catch on a be a success, but speaking from a blog publishers perspective, I wonder if readers will be turned off by these intrusive advertisements. According to PCWorld, the spokesman for Google said that although they use cookies and IP addresses to access specific information, they won’t personal identifying information about the responder.
