Online surveys reinvent traditional format and offer a unique way of interaction – all benefits of internet without programming. Here are ten reasons why they may be silver bullet marketeers’ need, complete with examples supplied by Martin Day, managing director of Survey Galaxy - one of a new breed of websites making online surveys quicker and cheaper

1. It’s cheap as buttons Select right survey website and creating surveys can be free of any charge and cost to publish is minimal.

Useful information harvested from surveys can be reused and repackaged in other marketing and PR for use in press outlets making it a very efficient form of information gathering.

2. It’s easy peasy Anyone can develop an online survey. Survey sites allow people who are interested in benefits of surveys, rather than technicalities, to side-step required programming skills and create relevant up-to-the-minute surveys,instantly – surveys that are even easier to complete than they are to make.

3. Anyone can play Once survey is online it’s a simple step to promote it, either through email (with a link enclosed), via a link from a website or referenced by other forms of advertising. Anyone who has link can be connected instantly to survey, at a time that’s convenient to them, 24x7.

4. We’ve all got an opinion – and we like to give it

Customers like surveys – they’re not seen as spam, but as an empowering opportunity to make their voice heard and a chance to have an impact on a brand. They can be particularly good for broaching sensitive subjects with concerned employees; a survey asking a workforce on their opinion of change allows key issues to be raised in a positive way and encourages employee participation. Online surveys allow message to reach each individual and invite feedback in a manageable form.

5. Get inside their heads You can lead a customer to an advertisement but you can’t make them think. Surveys actively engage respondents, who think about question before giving their response

6. Beautiful relationships start here It needn’t all end at end of survey – while you have their attention and are in mood you can ask if they want to sign up for more information or a regular newsletter – making most of window when you have their interest.

KEY POINT: When you submit articles to a newsletter/ezine publisher or a website owner, you have to remember that we aren't going to publish YOUR article for OUR customers and visitors unless it is a high quality article that gives something of value.

If you're writing articles like crazy, but getting very few of them actually published, then you might want to re-evaluate your approach. Are you making one of these crucial mistakes?

1. Poor Subject Matter: If you're going to bother to write an article, write about something that we're interested in reading about. In other words, address a problem and provide a solution. Articles that approach an old problem in a new way or with a new twist work well too -- you don't have to necessarily discover a whole new problem that no one else has ever though of before (If you discover a whole new problem and have solution you better be thinking of product creation not just an article!).

2. Write with personality: No one likes to read text books. Put a little of your own personality into your writing and make it engaging and entertaining as well as informative. If you have a sense of humor, use it. You have a good chance of being published on one of my sites if you make me giggle... Belly laughs are nearly guaranteed to be published.

3. Write for your audience: Don't send an article about value of protein in American diet to a Russian Political website or publisher of a podiatry newsletter... They don't care.

4. Write a decent sized article: I would much rather an article be a little bit too long than very short. Four hundred word articles just don't have enough meat in them. I'm not suggesting that you ramble, but you've got to give me some details if you want me to publish your piece.

5. Break up your article: Don't write your article in three long paragraphs. Break it up into smaller paragraphs with a few single lines, bullets, etc. to make it easier and more enjoyable to read. Again -- no one likes to read text books.