40 Ways to Make Money Online

How often have you linked to a site in a forum or blog or offline and thought to yourself – I should be getting paid to promote this site?

That’s what affiliate programs do – they pay you if you earn sales for them. Some sites, like LunarPages or Thinkhost for example, will pay you up to $97 for a single referral.

So if you tell people about a good host you recommend and they use you’re affiliate links (like I have added above) and sign up, you can earn mega bucks for simply telling people about a site.

Clickbank and Commission Junction are just two affiliate networks who display a list of sites that run these types of programmes. Big sites like ebay and amazon also run their own affiliate programmes who’ll pay you for giving them sales.

I guess you are in effect, getting paid on commission, just like one of those salesmen, going around ‘door to door’ selling bibles. The more doors you knock on, the more books you’ll sell

Check out wickedfire which is an affiliate marketing forum where you’ll find all sort of interesting people and programs.

There are tons of paid survey sites out there who will pay you to fill in forms. Again, you’re not going to become a millionaire doing this type of work, but if you’re stuck for cash and need a few dollars then this is a really easy way of raising a few bucks.

Some survey sites are limited to US only, others are international, so be careful and read the terms before you signup and complete surveys. You don’t want to be working for nothing. Here’s a few of the  better known survey sites;

• Cashcrate
• Treasure Trooper
• Rewards Central (formally Email Cash – is a popular Australian website)

If you’re in any way tech savvy and know you’re servers from your scripts, then you may be able to help those who aren’t so tech savvy.

Loads of people don’t know how to move sites and databases from one site to another or install a script they’ve bought.

It can be tough work and complicated at times if all isn’t as easy as it’s been described, but again it’s easy money if you know what you’re doing. In some cases, it’s just a matter of transferring stuff from A to B using your broadband connection.

You can advertise your services or keep a lookout on the major forums like DP & sitepoint.

Forums are one of the most difficult types of sites to drive traffic to. Why? Because nobody wants to look at an empty/dead forum. Forums need members, they need content, they need to be active to keep people coming back.

So with this in mind, it’s not surprising that forum owners actually start off by PAYING members to post and create threads. This is of course all done on the down low – nobody knows apart from the person getting paid and the forum owner.

It’s perhaps a bit naughty, but believe it or not this is how a lot of forums get going. And so, this is where you can profit. You’ll find threads like paying $25 for 50 posts one from time to time paying forum members to join and post. Easy money for creating an account and making a few posts.

Blogs are great. Google love them and index them fast and users love to read them as there’s loads of fresh, unique, informal content. You can set up a free blog at MCblogs, there are other popular blogging websites, but this one has been optimised already, and I didnt want to overwhelm you with choices.

Then all you have to do is write, write, write and promote your blog in emails, signature links etc… and wait for the traffic to build up.

Depending on the quality of content and amount of readers, you can eventually put ads on your site, or even sell the blog itself for a small profit.

This is something I’ve noticed over the past year or so, it’s becoming more and more popular..

I’m sure you have a forum account somewhere that you regularly post on. If so, 99% of the time, you will have ad space sitting right under your nose.

In most forums, you have the option to create a signature link and an avatar. If you’re active on forums, there are people who will PAY you to rent out your signature and avatar. All you have to do is link out to a site and maybe display a little image as an avatar.

Easy money and a great way to earn passive income – as most of us post on forums for free. If you’re really clever, you could also link out to an affiliate program or just use an affiliate link that pays per signup or per sale. You can check out clickbank or Commission Junction for some offers, and use tinyurl to disguise the link

To sell your sig just advertise it on a forum like DP and if you’ve loads of posts and you’re a long time user, you’ll have no problem making a few bucks.

I’m sure you have some sort of graphics design software lying around. Photoshop, Fireworks, Ilustrator… any of those ring a bell? If not, you can always use free software like GIMP.

If you have a creative side, you’re in luck – there’ll be no shortage of opportunities for you! Logos, Banners, Templates, Mascots, T-shirts… the list is endless. People are always looking for good and cheap designers. Usually, a webmaster cannot do everything… i.e think up of a site, write content, design, code etc… so he’ll outsource. Every couple of years he’ll probably want things re-designed. It’s an endless cycle.

Again, head off to rentacoder, elance, sitepoint etc… you’ll find contests, people looking to hire designers full time, people looking for one off logos and banners, people willing to partner with a designer…

My advice would be to offer a few free logos to people to build up your portfolio and reputation, then start charging a few bucks and gradually increase it once you gain more respect and have the portfolio to back you up.

Nobody will buy a logo off you for $50 if you have nothing to show – you need to start off small, earn peanuts, build a rep and portfolio and then gradually increase you’re prices.

For some inspiration and design talk, you can check out designcharts.com

Ebooks, if written with care, thought and effort can be great resources – just like all good books. Anyone can write an ebook. You don’t have to be a writer to write and ebook however, and that’s why ebooks generally tend to be inferior to real life books – because more often than not, the quality is poor or just re-hashed from other ebooks and flipped for a few dollars profit by some 13 year old in his bedroom.

I’ve started writing ebooks, as they’re a great way to pour your heart out on a certain subject. This ebook, for example, was created by myself, over a few days in my bedroom and at college in any free time I had. All it takes is a PC, a brain and the ability to write fluent English. That’s what it boils down to. Of course you need to know you’re market and if there is a demand for what you’re writing about – assuming you’re going to sell your ebook. If you want to keep it free, all the better!

If you believe the ebook is of value and contains quality content that can save people time and dumb down things for them, then you can sell it. Who knows – you may end up with few grand’s worth of sales.

You could also end up with nothing, so be sure to price your ebook competitively and give out a few free reviews so you can get feedback and let other people see the feedback.

If you’re really adventurous you could add your ebook on clickbank and start an adwords campaign, plus maybe a separate referral program where people get paid 50% of all sales they earn you.

To sell a small ebook (or give it away for free) about tech related stuff, you’re best bet is to hit digitalpoint or sitepoint and create a new thread making a sales pitch. If a few people buy it and like it, it has a snowball effect and everyone starts buying it as they’re curious. So although you may be able to sell a poor quality ebook once or twice – don’t expect to do it again as you’re reputation will be shot to hell.

Article writing is one of the easiest ways to make money online. It’s also the most time consuming and definitely not everyone’s cup of tea.

If you think about it, webmasters are always looking for content… whether it be in forums, in new sites on a specific niche topic, movie reviews or even editing existing content and making it search engine friendly.

Information gets traffic and the more unique content added to a site, the higher it’s value, hence the reason why there will always be money to be made from writing.

Check out rentacoder or elance to name just two of many places you’ll find people looking for writers. You’ll also see people wanting article writers on digitalpoint forums or sitepoint (two of the largest webmaster community forums).

If nothing tickles your fancy, create your own thread, set your price and list your experience. You may only get offered peanuts, but it’s a start.

Ever hear of yahoo answers or bitwine? These are just two of many question & answering sites out there. People ask questions, and other people answer them.

Simple. Believe it or not, you can actually get paid for answering questions. Most of these sites pay for some answers, if they’re deemed to be high quality – you can’t simply answer a question with anything and expect to earn money.

So for the sake of a bit of thought and a few minutes of your time, not only can you earn money, but you can also help people. If you think like me, you can also answer ‘affiliate-friendly’ questions as I call them. These are questions which should immediately trigger alarm bells in your head… for example, if someone asks

• “How do I set up a site and make money on the internet?”,

you could give an answer like this

• “I make x amount per month from my domaining blog. To set up a site all you need is a good host like Lunarpages pages or Thinkhost, a domain name (I get mine from name.com because they’re the cheapest) and an idea. That’s how all websites start.

And despite that answer giving out 2 affiliate links and a link to my own site, it is in fact a useful and legitimate answer to the person who asks the question. Hopefully he/she might sign up with some of those hosts and also check out my site…

You can see how this can be profitable after a while… If you answer loads of questions like that, it won’t be long until you start earning as an affiliate. Just Answer is another.