How to Make Money Online

Make money online with your own blog

You don't need to know a thing about web design, or have a penny in your pocket, to setup a blog. Start with Blogger.com or Wordpress.com. Pick a topic that interests you, register a free name (subdomain on their domain), and start writing. To get the traffic flowing, tell everyone you know about the pages, and start networking with other similar blogs by posting replies to their posts.

A couple tips:

1. When registering the blog name, try to pick a keyword-studded and catchy subdomain (such as "make-money-online-4u.blogger.com"). While this may not seem as clean or easy-to-remember as your own domain name, it can still be effective. Just do a Google search for "make money online". Two of the top results are both free subdomains on Blogspot (now Blogger.com)!
2. Blogger.com and Wordpress.com both provide easy-to-follow instructions for integrating pay-per-click ads into your blog. This is usually the best way to initially make money online with your blog. To increase revenue, also check for relevant affiliate products and services that you can mention on your pages. You can attach affiliate links to ads in your blog sidebars, or integrate them with your blog text as text-links.

1. Create a blog/website related to a particular topic.
2. Build your web traffic
3. Allow others to pay for advertising on your pages.

This is not a "get rich quick" approach to making money online, but it can certainly be a "get rich eventually" approach. Thousands of people make their living by managing websites and blogs where they charge for advertising.

I have some tips for anyone considering this as an option to make money online (and everyone should):

1. Choose a subject matter that you enjoy enough to write about a LOT -- even when revenue is low.
Start by making a list of all the subjects that you find interesting enough to write about regularly, and then...
2. Use a tool like KeywordSpy.com to research related keywords and get an idea of which subjects bring the highest CPC. When getting started, avoid low CPC (cost per click) topics.
3. When buying a domain, building your website, or designing your blog, do so with SEO (search engine optimization) in mind.
4. Along with writing new content regularly, continually increase your knowledge of, and efforts in, SEO.
5. Use all the free and low cost website promotion ideas you can find.
6. Once you've built a fair amount of traffic, experiment with different advertising mediums. Start with Google Adwords, but also search for "adwords alternatives" (examples are Chitika, Adbrite, and Bidvertiser).

Create an industry or topic-focused directory

Creating a directory of websites related to a particular industry or topic can bring income in various ways. For example, you might charge websites for inclusion in your directory, as an inbound link from a relevant website has SEO value. Or you might charge companies for "enhanced listings" (e.g. bolded ads, ads with photos, or ads near the top of the page). And you can also generate revenue by including Adsense advertisements.

Be sure that the directory you create is useful, focused on one particular topic/industry, and that it does not become a "link farm". Link farms are huge collections of unrelated links -- they are often blacklisted by Google, and sites listed on them may be penalized as well. This will certainly not help you make money online.

To become a valuable piece of real estate for businesses to advertise on, a fair amount of your efforts will involve SEO and other web promotion.

Make money online with your own podcast

This is similar to blogging, except that you're recording your voice, rather than writing. Podcasts give you access to several excellent marketing mediums -- most notably iTunes. Revenue strategies include occasionally mentioning affiliate products/services, accepting payment for product placements, and promoting your own services.

One of the more successful language instructors on iTunes provides all his lessons for free via podcast, and then offers "upgraded" written materials on his website for a fee. Regardless of your business/service/interest, the basic process will be to:

• Brainstorm the array of useful information you might be able to offer to others.
• Choose a topic and write your script (be sure to occasionally mention your website/service).
• Use the free Audacity software to record an MP3.
• Follow the iTunes or other publisher instructions for providing your content.