No Frills Guide to Earning Money Online

You’ve probably heard of people claiming to have earned money online through their websites. You imagine big bucks rolling in every month, and yet have you ever really asked yourself how it works?

I’ve had friends asking how they can earn money online, and believe me I’ve tried a lot of things already. The thing is, one must be very careful because cyberspace is crawling with frauds and get-rich-quick scams. These are some of my tips based on experience:

Tip # 1: Beware of bogus websites.

Transacting business online can be very tricky because laws have not exactly covered internet crimes. It doesn’t help that these scammers can disappear without a trace.

I once joined a site which promised to pay $7 per survey, which sounded very promising. I answered all surveys, which was supposed to have earned me $40 but the catch was, $75 was the minimum withdrawal amount. A month passed and there were no more surveys to answer, thus no more opportunities to earn except through referrals. But as I neared the minimum withdrawal amount my account was blocked.

When I researched about the website, there were a multitude of similar complaints as it turned out. We were scammed. The modus was that each time one answered a “survey” about a website (all owned by the scammer), your hits would increase the ranking and value of those sites. Then by referring others, they do the same thing which perpetuates the scam. In the end not one of you gets paid a single centavo.

Tip # 2: Blog about a variety of things and you’ll get a wider audience.

I started selling ad space on my blog by accident. I checked my mailbox one day to find several offers of text links. I was doubtful at first- one lady offered $75 for two text links for a year. All I had to do was to post those links on my sidebar. I did receive money through my Paypal account days after I agreed to put up the link. The other offers were for adult toys, so I declined (doesn’t go well with my content!).

Your site is usually ranked and its earning potential is affected by backlinks, hits, even Technorati authority. Forgive me because I’m not really that much of an expert on these jargons, but I do know touching on a wide variety of topics will attract more visits to your blog.

Tip # 3 Know the legit sites.

Here are my tried-and-tested money earning sites: Linkworth , Google Adsense, Payperpost, Blogsvertise, and Infolinks. I’ve actually seen the money I’ve earned from these sites so I know they can be trusted.

First off, I’ll give a bit of a background on how bloggers earn througn ads. Text links are ads which consist simply on a link which is placed on your sidebar- most advertisers, by the way, prefer that you place it in such a way that it is not an obvious advertisement. Bloggers may be paid to write maybe a 200 or 300 word post (depending on the specifications set) plus link on a topic that they want. Again, they prefer it that you do not disclose it is a paid post. Other sites like Infolinks does its work on its own after installation- it coverts the text on your blog to links that readers can click.

Linkworth is by far the company I’ve earned the most. They have a very responsive support team which can answer your concerns should you have difficulties. There are so many possible products you can come up with from banners to partnerships, but the ones I use the most are Linktext and Linkpost. I receive a decent sum of money each month for the text links, while the link posts are usually $25, so I try to accept as much as I can.

If you are using the Blogger platform, then installing Google Adsense is as easy as clicking “monetize” in the dashboard. Specify your ads then simply monitor your income now and then. You earn whenever someone clicks those ads, but be careful- cheating (i.e. clicking your own ads) may cause you to be blacklisted or banned.

Payperpost and Blogsvertise work in the same manner- once you’ve signed up with them, they usually alert you by e-mail when a client fancies your blog. Then you reply if you are interested in their offer. You create a blog post according to their specifications, then submit it for their approval. When it is approved, you get paid. Depending on the company, the payout is usually specified (you usually don’t get it the moment you submit a post) for example it could be at the end of each month. I’m not choosy because I want to maximize my earnings haha, anyway my blog isn’t exactly a literary beacon by any stretch of imagination, so might as well make money.

Regarding Infolinks, I’ve already explained how it works in the preceding paragraphs. So there, that’s about some of the basic information you need to start earning. Good luck!