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Making Money Online – Separating Facts from Fiction

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Separating Facts from Fiction

How many of you have received emails where the sender claimed to have made thousands of dollars by working only for a couple of hours? Enticing, right? It is an old but very popular trick, nonetheless, to get people to open such spam emails and visit some bogus website. If and when you do that, it triggers a chain reaction where your entire contact list receives that very email with your accreditation.

More often than not, these bogus websites would not hesitate to use logos and names of big firms like Google, CNBC and CNN to trap people. Honestly, most scams are fuelled by people’s urge to make some quick bucks. There are legitimate ways to earn profit but people deliberately overlook them since hardly any of the legitimate ways come with a prospect of turning you into a millionaire overnight.

money fiction

Following are some of the well known and legitimate ways to earn money online.

Blogging

A blog is one of the best ways to market your knowledge, skills and experience. You can run a blog about things that interest you. Initially, managing a blog may seem difficult to you but you can get the hang of it with the passage of time. Some of the bloggers are so adept at writing that they operate multiple blogs. Almost all websites now rely on blogs for building content and generating traffic.

Writing Freelance

Internet revolves around content and less than 40% of this content is original and/or offers valid information. Webmasters need content to boost their ranking on search engines which is why freelance writing has evolved to be a very popular means of earning. There are certain websites which you can use to find freelance writing assignments and earn money by simply sharing your expertise.

Dropshipping

Of all the above mentioned ways of online money making, dropshipping is the most lucrative and perhaps the easiest as well. Drop ship retailing does not necessarily require any skill or expertise. All you need is some knowhow of online trading. There are certain dropship companies and wholesale suppliers you can register with and sell their products for them and earn commission for each sale.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing, like dropshipping, is easy and generates good profits. Without any initial investment you just direct customers to someone else’s online store and earn a specific percentage for each visitor or product sold. There are dozens of companies and websites which offer such affiliate programs. If you really wish to earn money online, this could be your thing.

Auction website

There are dozens of auction sites out there where retailers sell virtually anything. EBay and Amazon are two of the most popular auction sites. In return for a small cost, you can open up a virtual store on any of these auction sites and start retailing. You can choose to sell used products or you can make use of several of the B2B networks to source products from. You can sell in volume as well but for that you will need to get in touch with the relevant suppliers or wholesalers so that you can get items at good discounted prices so that you can generate good profits.

Offer services online

Experts like web developers, SEOs, programmers and marketing analysts offer their services online and earn big bucks. Instead of working 9 to 5, a programmer can work freelance and generate good income through independent projects. Similarly legal advisors and certain other professionals can generate extra income by offering their services online. oDesk.com, Freelancer.com, PeoplePerHour.com are some of the sites you can browse to look for freelance projects.

Ad Posting

Ad posting is not a scam but the amount people ostensibly make in a day (as per the advertisements) can definitely be misleading. If you are  internet savvy and do not have a problem with continuous “copy, paste and enter” then ad posting can help you make some money. The sum may be meagre but then again, the work itself is not that hard.

These are some of the legitimate, safe and well known ways of earning money online. You can research each one individually in depth to see which one of these methods would suit you best.

About

Susan Smith is a passionate blogger with expertise in B2B industry. As an entrepreneur and a businesswoman, she likes to share her extensive knowledge of wholesale industry and frequently writes on wholesalers business related topics.

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{ 14 Responses }

  1. David Leonhardt says:
    If it sounds too good to be true... If it sounds too good to be true... If it sounds too good to be true... I suspect I could repeat myself until I am blue in the face, and people will still keep falling for these scams.
  2. Tinh says:
    Now, I stick myself to affiliate marketing and I feel in love with this niche too. So sweet even the challenging start :-)
  3. Shiva says:
    This is really a precise list of what stuffs will bring you money online. My favorite ways have been blogging and internet marketing. Have tried to do some freelancing stuffs in the past and that too generates quite a good income. Others I am yet to try. But yes, you are right it is not easy to make money online as opposed to what many of these scammers gurus say (the one who says one can earn thousands daily doing only few hours of work)
  4. Ryan Biddulph says:
    Hi Susan, Super insight without the fluff here. You can make money online with a number of ventures. The key is to do your homework first. Find a top notch opportunity and a great mentor by digging deep. Perform strict due diligence and when it's time to make a decision, decide! Jump in with both feet forward. This is a freeing and amazing way to earn a living if you can take full responsibility for everything that happens along the way. Thanks for sharing your insight Susan! Ryan Biddulph
  5. Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
    Though I had yet to go into drop shipping, but had heard that it is indeed a good business model, anyway, I still believe the best way to earn money online fast is to become a freelance and service what you are professional in, I had a team of people whom I outsource, believe it or not, some of them doesn't even had a website, they just sign up in forums or freelance site and introduce their professional skills. Especially writers and designers are not everywhere, is hard to even find a good one, though I already had and his simply not cheap but still his design is out of this world. Well, thanks for sharing this awesome post and I'm sure anyone who goes into learning the good stuff will always ended up successful rather then scamming and lying around...
  6. Ming Jong Tey says:
    I personally freelancing is the quickest and easiest way to make quick cash as you trade your time for money. I've seen lots of people asking for the best way to generate quick cash as they lot their job, etc...The fact is affiliate marketing, blogging, dropshipping, etc...they all take time to learn, practice, and master. They are definitely for long term business perspective but if you need cash in these few days, you might want to stick to provide service you are good at or at least have the ability to do :) Cheers, Ming
  7. Brian D. Hawkins says:
    Hi Susan, great topic. The term "Making Money Online" scares many bloggers from even bringing it up. So many have abused the term you can't even use it in an email, not if you want it delivered. I have a small ad tracking and short URL site so I get a little glimpse of what many people are tracking and I honestly believe the majority of people that want an online income but are simply unwilling to put forth the effort. You have some great money earning ideas there. Blogging is a tough one for a significant income but we all know that it's being done everyday, it just takes a lot effort and determination. Without mentioning any particular website, there are sites out there helping people earn money on small tasks. I've paid out $5 each several dozen times to people who will do things I'd rather outsource. Five dollars doesn't sound like a lot but there are members that have made thousands of dollars doing simple little tasks. I've never tryed to sell a service there but have had very good results from those I've purchased. What about niche websites such as Adsense sites, do you consider those legitimate? I'm just interested in your perspective when it comes to something like that.
  8. Matt says:
    there are many, many ways to make money online. the quickest way is to offer a service, the most passive way (which i'm going for) is to develop affiliate sites. i think if you take a moment to think about making money online, it really is quite simple - position yourself in front of people who want a product or service you are selling. too many look for really quick answers which may work but sure as hell won't be sustainable.
  9. James says:
    There are tons of ways that you can monetize your online business, and all of these are really great ideas. I agree there are a lot of scams out there, and some of the training programs teaching these methods don't really get to the heart of the problem. No matter what people say in their sales copy though, making money online takes work and commitment. it won't happen over night. Although a lot of people talk about their "overnight success" they fail to mention the months or even years of work that went into building their reputation, testing things and learning what didn't work, and failing to make money through their efforts before finally seeing that success that they did get.
  10. Erik says:
    Hi Susan, Indeed there are many ways to make money online. However, you're right that some of these are scams. I have been learning how to make money online for years now and I have my own share of being scammed. We need to be careful and diligent to know how these schemes work so that, in a way, we can stop the proliferation of these online scams. Nice post..
  11. Dave Lucas says:
    Hi Susan! People still fail to understand that "blogging to make money" is easier said than done - those who make a go of it devote more than 40 hours a week to online activities! Like anything else, there are superstars of blog monetization, but the stars of analog life, they are a very small per cent of the population! Great article! Blog on!
    • Dave Lucas says:
      Correction: skipped a word! (LIKE) Like anything else, there are superstars of blog monetization, but LIKE the stars of analog life, they are a very small per cent of the population!
  12. shan ali says:
    hi Susan, i like ur article..... well right now i m just considering blogging as my aim... gr8 job i recently converted my blog to dofollow
    • Susan Smith says:
      Hi Shan, Thank you so much for admiring my shared knowledge. Blogging is very much in to marketing and people are thirsty of gaining more and more knowledge for their businesses.