How to Make Money on the Internet
I make about $3,500 a month on the internet. Not quite enough for me and my family to live on, but a nice addition to my income just the same. It's pretty easy, and pretty quick, to get a SMALL income stream started. It takes time and effort to build it up. Might as well get started today.
Take stock of what you have to offer
If you are a writer, programmer, designer, or photographer, there are oodles of opportunities for you. If you have a speciality of any sort -- carpentry, raising kids, planning vacations or weddings, playing Guitar Hero 3 -- you can get paid for your expertise.
Even if you think all you can offer is time, there are plenty of opportunities for you as well.
Scan the available steps
I've listed a lot of options in the steps that follow, all of them legitimate. Pick the one that seems the best fit for you and your skills, and start exploring.
Freelance Work
If you have a skill to offer, check out the various freelance sites (sometimes called "personal outsourcing"), like elance.com and guru.com (see the Resources section for the links I mention).
You can post your skills at these sites, so potential customers can check you out, and you can also look around for freelance projects that others have posted.
There are tons of opportunities for freelancers, in very varied fields. Common projects, though, are writing, computer or graphics design work, creating web pages, programming, writing brochures or reports, illustration, photography, and so on.
Pay can be pretty good, especially after you've earned a quality rating at one or more of the freelancing sites. At the same time, though, keep in mind that you're competing with freelancers from around the world.
Take a look at the "How Elance Works" video on their main page to get a quick overview.
Try Writing Web Content
There are a quite a number of ways to take your skill as a writer and turn it into cash.
One of them is right here at eHow. Write brief "How to" articles on any topic of your choosing, and get paid for the article. The more popular the article, the more income you can expect. A good article will bring in $50 per year or more. Write 10 top-notch articles, and that's $500. A hundred articles...you get the picture.
I can't say enough good things about eHow. To my mind, it is the best income generating opportunity available. Google the term 'ehow101' to learn more about how to make it work.
UPDATE: eHow is now run through its parent company, Demand Media Studios (DMS). If you want to apply to write for eHow or other DMS properties, or to be an editor, check out the freelancer's application at demandmedia.com.
Write Product Review
ConsumerSearch.com, a site owned by the N.Y. Times, pays freelance writers a minimum of $350 per article for product reviews. While that sounds like good money (and it is...and you can earn even more than that!), their particular brand of reviews requires good research and writing skills, and takes a lot of work. Check 'em out at consumersearch.com/jobs.
More writing opportunities
--At SoftwareJudge.com, write reviews of select software products...top reviews earn up to $50 each.
--Product Reviews. You may be familiar with epinions.com, but did you know they pay cash for good quality reviews. You won't get rich, but you can get started.
--Suggest domain names according to site descriptions at Pickydomains.com Get $25 for each name that is chosen.
--At Xomba.com, write anything you feel like, and collect 50% of any advertising income from Adsense clicks on your page.
--Become a fledgling journalist at examiner.com, and cover a special topic area in your neck of the woods...they pay pretty well.
--Other writing sites include associatedcontent.com, firehow.com, helium.com, and Squidoo. In fact, one of my eHow colleagues has put together a very nice Squidoo 'lens' with 101 sites where you can get paid to provide content...
