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8 Different Ways to Make Money Online

Let’s face it - you’re here because you want to make money online. The internet has transformed from what was once a simple place to share and gather information into an entire economy where trillions of dollars are exchanged annually¹.  Lots of people are making money online, with a large portion of them relying on the internet for their primary means of income.

So how do you make money online?

There are several different methods to making money online, some of which can potentially be easier than others.  Your chances of success can be highly impacted by a lot of other external factors, however, and you must take into account as many of them as you can before deciding on any single method.

First we’ll cover some of the actual methods to making money online:

1. Sell Products

Putting an item up for sale online has never been easier with the advent of sites like EBay and Craigslist.  There are no limits to what can be purchased or sold online and the barriers of entry for a business such as this are minimal.

2. Sell Services

Another extremely popular new method of making money is now offering a particular service.  Whether it’s web design or consulting someone on how to lose weight, chances are someone may benefit from a service you can provide.  What better way to make money than doing something you’re good at?

3. Surveys and Item Offer Sites

Several sites utilize a pyramid marketing scheme to persuade surfers to take their surveys or try their products for either money or hot and trendy items (iPhones and Louis Vuitton purses).  While these sites, plagued with colorful, animated advertisements, may seem like a hoax and another way for someone to steal your credit card number, many people are actually making a lot of money off of them.

It turns out that people do click on those advertisements and sponsors often pay these companies a lot of money, enough that they can share a decent portion with their visitors.  There are many success stories of people making several thousand dollars a month from simply completing online surveys.

4. Informational Sites/Products

Another trend that has begun to take over the internet involves selling information regarding a particular product or service in order to make someone else rich.  A lot of times they ask for a one-time fee in return for consulting and an eBook.  Again, some of these businesses rely on pyramid marketing in which they explain to others that the secret to their riches is the actual product they are to then sell to others.

5. Blogging

There are simply way too many success stories of people making a ton of money online blogging.  Several of Technorati’s top 100 blogs earn well over $1 million a year, while others are basking in their six-figure income.  Advertisers have made it extremely easy for even the smallest of blogs to attempt to make some money, and with a little work and time, almost anyone can make a few bucks.

6. Build Something People Want

This is one of the harder ones on the list: “make something people want,” the infamous YCombinator mantra made famous by Paul Graham.  While there are an endless amount of online applications for a lot of different purposes, there is always the potential of making life for someone else just a little bit easier.  Building something online that people want and will use requires a lot of effort, a little bit of luck and either a developmental or business-centered mind.  You need to be an innovator either way, however.

7. Online Stock Trading

Another way to make money is to trade stocks using a web-based service.  As long as you have the minimum amount required to open an account, almost any one can now buy and sell stocks as they please.  With the rise of trading bloggers such as Timothy Sykes and forums like The Lion, getting information on how to trade wisely and receiving daily tips can help you turn a small investment into a big return.

8. Domain Trafficking

Several people have been able to profit off of buying and selling domains.  Some buy domains that are catchy and short, hoping it will be in demand at some point in time or place advertisements on the page to make money off of random traffic.  Others prefer a slightly more devious act of buying recently expired domain names (such as the famous Frank Schilling) and either profiting off the remnant traffic or selling it back to the original buyer for an outstanding price.

While new regulations by ICANN have made it more difficult for domain retailers to perform this act of buying expired domain names, individuals still have the ability to do so and profit.

These are just a handful of ways to make money online - I’ll cover a few more next week. If you have the time and energy to do so, try more than one method and your chances of success can increase exponentially. Blogging is probably the easiest to start, as you can use free, hosted solution such as WordPress or Blogger to start immediately. They include several basic templates and you can have your own blog up and running within minutes.

The best thing you can do for yourself in your journey to making money online is learn as much as you can from already successful sites. With a little patience and a lot of work, you too can make a steady income from the internet.