My Year Of Making Money Online

          A little over one year ago, after more than a decade in the radio industry and a number of years in the corporate world, I decided to take a leap of faith and step out on my own. While many warned me against doing so, considering the economic decline, I was determined to be an entrepreneur. I already had a small business opportunity in mind and also wanted to devote more time to writing. Writing and starting a small business both require time and patience. However, until both began to take off, I thought I would simply find a way to make money online.

          Make money online. It is much easier said than done. There is so much information on the internet surrounding the topic, yet so much of it is either totally useless, or simply a scam. With that said, there are a number of ways to earn an online income. Over the past year, I have started on a couple of serious writing projects and my small business has already provided a rather nice income.  I know, you are asking, “What about making money online?” After all, that is why you are still reading. Well, over time and with perseverance, my goal of making money online has finally started to pay off.  Keep in mind, I used the words time and perseverance.  Making money online does not happen overnight.

          After a year of research on how to make money online, including a fair share of mistakes, I have found a number of ways that have helped me develop a passive online income. As of this writing, I have by no means reached internet guru status, but I will share some of the methods that have worked for me.

          We all have knowledge of a particular area of expertise. Whether your background is engineering, construction, management, working as a postman, being a wife, mother, sister or brother, you know things that others want to know about. One of the best ways to share your area of expertise with the world is with a blog. Blogging has become one of my most successful methods to make money online. Today, it is easier than ever to create a blog in minutes and start sharing your knowledge. There are a number of blogging platforms that are easy to use. Wordpress and Blogger are free and very popular. I use both and with the help of Google Adsense, I make money using Blogger simply by writing about my small business. Search engines seem to be particularly attracted to blogs, which can help your material rank well in search results and increase traffic to your blog.

Recommended Free Blog Hosting Sites

• Blogger
• Wordpress

          This is probably my least favorite thing to do, but I have been able to make extra money taking online surveys. The majority of these sites only offer online prizes or credits. I have found an online survey site that does pay cash for taking surveys. It is free to sign-up and while the surveys do require time, the cash incentive remains. The surveys do not come across every day and not everyone is chosen for each survey. However, all of the completed surveys pay a few dollars and once in awhile, you get the opportunity to participate in larger surveys that can pay over $100. Participants are also given the chance to win cash prizes.

Recommended Make Money Taking Online Surveys Site

• American Consumer Opinion

          An author I like very much wrote recently, “I believe each of us has a natural-born writer within.” I could not agree more. As I have already mentioned, we all know something others would be interested in. There are more than a few online writing websites, where anybody can write articles. Many of these sites participate in the Google Adsense program and share a portion of the revenue with members. My favorite of these revenue sharing sites, devoted to writing, is Hubpages. I am fairly new to Hubpages, but it has quickly become my first choice for writing articles. Unlike many of the content-generation mills, Hubpages is much different. It is a free online community of writers, dedicated to unique and high-quality writing. They are generous too, sharing 60% of the Google Adsense revenue with their writers. You could use your blog from Wordpress or Blogger to help promote the articles you write on Hubpages. Creating back-links to your articles is critical. I have a number of ways that I use to create back-links.

Other Recommended Content and Revenue Sharing Websites for Article Promotion

• She Told Me
• You Say Too
• Spicy Page
• Snipsly
• Xomba
• Tip Drop

          Once you have created a blog, registered at the free sites above, it is time to get started writing articles. Before you begin writing, I do have one tip. When it comes to writing articles that draw traffic and help increase your Adsense earnings, it is important to become familiar with keyword research. This will help you determine which words will rank higher and which topics might be the perfect fit to build around those words. I wrote an article on keyword research, which offers some insight on the importance of keyword research.  Once you have some keyword research under your belt, it is really time to get started on that first article. Sign-up For Hubpages Here.

          I have only scratched the surface on all of the ways to make money online. Every day I learn of another way and will continue to share what I learn. While the methods outlined in this article may not be right for you, they have worked for me. I think it is important to say it again, that making money online is not easy. However, if you are willing to put in the time and remain committed, than what has worked for me can work for anyone. Remember, dedication, time and perseverance my friends.

J.C. Shelton  2010  All Rights Reserved