Do you want to make money online? Of course you do, who wouldn’t? It is the dream of so many to never have to leave the house to make a nice income. The reality is very different from the dream. Most people will not make enough money online to support themselves fully.
It is the minority of people that make it big online and a lot of them make it big by feeding you dreams of making a living online. Watch out for get rich quick schemes and affiliate offers designed to make other people money.
Now that you have got your expectations in order, let’s take a look at a few ways that you can and can not make money online.
Say Yes To Blogs
Blogs are one of the biggest money makers that will be pitched to you by, who else, bloggers. Start a blog and just spend your days writing articles from your recliner. Not a bad way to make a living.
Most of the people telling you that you can make a fortune blogging want to make money off your back. They want you to sign up for their 10 step blogging program where they will essentially just throw affiliate links at you. Biggest of all is hosting links and they get a nice cut when you sign up
Can you make money blogging, absolutely, but you do not need to sign up for any programs and you should not count on earning a dime for several years.
A blog is a long term investment. Write on it often and consistently and in the distant future, you might make some money. You are basically rolling the dice with a blog.
So, to wrap up about blogging, yes it is a good idea to start one. just be sure to write about something that you are truly interested in so that you do not get bored. Also make sure that you do not expect to make any money anytime soon.
Say No To Surveys
Next, let’s look at paid surveys because that is a big thing that is going to get pushed at you. The pitch is that you can make a couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand dollars just by doing surveys from the comfort of your home.
The truth is much different. Most people are desperate for money but will be lucky to earn $20 a month and that would probably involve about 10 or more hours of work. Well below minimum wage.
Surveys are frustrating. What happens most of the time is that you pick one to do and then you have to qualify for it first. It will ask you about 10 to 20 questions up front, before you even get to the real survey. Somewhere along the line, you will be disqualified and will have to start completely over with a new choice. This happens again and again until you just give up.
You might be lucky enough to make it through a few surveys and earn some points but so many people will never build up enough points to even be able to cash out.
So, wrapping up, just say no to surveys, they are a waste of time.
Say Yes To Small Business
This is probably the best way to make money online. Create a website to promote your local business.
Making a website is easy, especially if you use WordPress which is a blogging platform. Nearly every web host has one click installation for this program. This is the part where most bloggers like to throw an affiliate link out there for a web host but I am not going to do that. Just choose a host that specializes in WordPress because it does make a difference.
Once you have your website up and running, promote it on Yelp and Facebook and you should see some business start trickling in. No matter what your business is, do good work and you will get referrals and your website and your business will grow in popularity.
So as far as using the internet to promote a local business goes, Yes, you should absolutely consider this if you want to make money and the amount you can make is virtually unlimited.
Say No To Mechanical Turk
Mechanical Turk is an Amazon project. Developers will pay people like you to do projects on line. Most of these projects are doing things like collecting data.
The work is very tedious and pays very little. Most people struggle to come anywhere close to minimum wage so you would be better off taking a regular, local part time job, even if it pays just minimum wage.
In conclusion, pass on Mechanical Turk unless you live in an area where there absolutely is nothing else available to do locally.
Say Yes To eBay
It has been around since forever, but it is still a great way to make some extra money online.
The trick with making money on eBay is to come up with inventory. There are only so many things around your home that you can sell, eventually you will run out.
To come up with inventory, choose a niche and know that niche in and out. You can then know what things sell for on eBay and you can purchase them cheaper locally. Shop thrift shops, garage sales and of course, Craigslist. With product knowledge, you can buy cheap locally and sell for a profit online, you just need to choose a good niche.
So, once again, to wrap things up, you can absolutely make money online with eBay if you are willing to put in the work and do the research. How much? If you are good, an easy 500 dollars with minimal work and more if you want to commit.