The idea of making money online is attractive
to many, primarily because of the benefits it offers. Two
main incentives are motivational factors here: The lucrative
potential of the internet as well as the personal freedom
that comes with working without a fixed schedule or geographic
location.

One doesn’t need to suffer through monotonous day
jobs which offer poor returns for the time invested.

Indeed, why make $7 an hour selling coffee behind a counter
when you can easily earn the same amount by spending 10
minutes to write an article on your blog?

Even if you’re not looking to work full-time at home,
the internet offers a viable source of money which can help
to supplement your regular income.

Cataloging the Different Ways to Make Money Online

A basic search on Google will reveal many ways to make money
online and most of the websites listed in the search results
pages all seem to focus on the same methods of making money.

I thought it’ll be a good idea to categorize and compile
a list of the online money making methods available so that
future visitors to Dosh Dosh will have a reference point
which provides them with all information they need.

This list uses a rather broad categorization, which I believe
covers most of the ways to make money online. More methods
and examples of how to make money online will be added to
this list, which can be considered a work in progress.

1. Set up a Blog or Website for
Profit

One of the best ways to make money online
is to create a website or blog which allows you to earn
money from the display of advertisements or the sale of
products and services.

There are many different types of money making blogs which
will help you to make money and you’ll need to pick
a model that suits your interests, schedule and skill levels.
A simple no frills blog will allow you to easily pull in
at least several hundred dollars in a month through the
use of paid blogging websites alone.

For more information, check out Dosh Dosh’s archive
of articles on how to make money blogging. Apart from blogs,
other websites can easily help you to generate passive income
as well. These can range from e-commerce websites, social
communities and information portals to basic landing pages
for affiliate programs.

2. Learn about Affiliate Marketing
and The Art of Selling

This involves promoting a specific product or service and
earning commissions whenever the referred user makes a purchase
based on your recommendations.

Affiliate marketing is a big and profitable industry that
covers a wide spectrum of topics and fields. If you’ve
got an interest in fitness, you can make money promoting
fitness videos or courses. In terms of fashion wear, you
can earn commissions by recommending friends to clothing
or t-shirt companies with affiliate programs.

The amount of money you make depends on what you are selling.
Done correctly, affiliate marketing is one of the most powerful
ways to make money from the web. Amazon, Commission Junction
and ClickBank are three of the biggest affiliate marketplaces
you can use if you’re branching out into affiliate
marketing.

3. Start an Online Business

Starting your own online business or company allows you
to make money off the provision of specific services or
products you may have. Some examples of popular online trades
include web design, copywriting and internet marketing.


It isn’t difficult to start a business. It’s
all about hiring the right people or having enough knowledge
and connections within a specific industry. You should do
some in depth research before you decide to settle on a
specific niche for your business. Entrepreneur.com has a
good collection of tips on how to start an online business.

4. Try Out Domaining
and the Online Real Estate Trade

This is the business of buying, selling, developing and
making money from domain names. A domainer purchases many
domain names and sells them to interested buyers. This is
similar to real estate investing offline and domainers also
make money by developing websites and reselling it to a
buyer.

This practice is known as site flipping and can make you
a tidy sum of money if you know how to build an attractive
and profitable website. For a rough estimate of how much
money you can earn from site flipping, check out the SitePoint
Marketplace to browse through the collection of websites
for sale.

5. Participate in
Get-Paid-to Websites

There are hundreds of websites out there which you pay you
to read emails, do surveys, sign up for trial subscriptions
and surf the web. Websites that pay you to complete offers
are worth examining because they usually include affiliate
programs with recurring commissions to be earned.

The benefit of get paid to websites is that you don’t
need to have your own website or any personal skills at
all. The downside is that there are a lot of get-paid-to
scams around and finding websites that are legitimate can
be fairly difficult. Scam.com is a forum you should visit
to learn if the get-paid-to website you’re interested
in actually pays its members.

There are also several Web 2.0 or social media websites
out there that will pay you to participate in their community.
This collection of social media websites usually operate
via a revenue-sharing system, which allows you to earn a
share of the overall ad revenue. How much you earn depends
on how much your submitted article, video or image is viewed.