Making Money Online
95Making Money Online
Whoo boy. If I have seen this title for a blog post/hubpage/website once, I have seen it a million times. We all have. To be honest, I am sick and tired of reading it and very nearly didn’t use this title. But, guess what? Someone else has already used this title ☺ I have , of course, flagged the hub in question, because this is what it looks like and this is ALL of it:
Once again, I am selling nothing. Nothing sold here.
Garbage
There is no other word for it. I do not blame hubpages for allowing this – It is VERY hard to keep this stuff out. One of my popular blogs gets as many as 600 spam comments a day – which pretty much means I do not have time to go through looking for the comments I want posted to it.
Anyone who has visited any of the many websites etc that advertise a way of teaching or selling you the skill you need to make money online is probably already cringing at the title, but rest assured, I am not selling anything.
Due to a change in my life, I decided to start making money online about six months ago and have decided to share my experiences in this hub. Six months in seems a good landmark to me. I do make money online, but it’s about 1,000,000,000 times harder than you would think it is from all the get rich quick schemes offered.
Plus, I have a personal code that won’t allow me to put empty garbage out in to the world or rip people off, which means I won’t be creating any out and out affiliate sites with nothing but links to sales on them, which in turn probably means I am not making as much money as I could. And ,though I need to eat - making money is not my only driving force.
Falling for the scammers and con people
Having had more than enough unpleasant experiences in the real world, I was fairly sure the internet could only be worse and have managed to avoid being ripped off or conned by signing up for any of the get rich quick schemes you see advertised on the ‘net.
I am not naïve enough to fall for the “I need you to send me $400 cash by Western Union and here is check for $1,000 that I can’t cash but YOU can and you can keep the difference.”
Although one of my nieces recently fell for this one. She will spend the next five years paying off the $5,000 it cost her and was lucky to avoid a criminal prosecution. If I ever find the bugger who did it, he will wish he had made a different career choice, but there are an awful lot of people named “Mike,” in England. ☺
I did fall for a few people’s advertisements for writers and either they didn’t pay me, or there was no job actually on offer.
These are a couple I wrote about on my personal blog
Eiuoo.com They were apparently doing something like hubpages, and advertising for writers. But when it got down to the nitty-gritty, they wanted to pay me in an undisclosed sum of eiuoo dollars. This is an excerpt from the last email I had from them:
CGO Benefit:
Eiuoo starts one creative plan for the group. Each CGO can get the prize every month.
The plan, named as “CGO Plan”, is quite simple.
- Every eiuoo group is involved in CGO Plan while the group is established.
- At early of every month, eiuoo.com calculates group’s cost at previous month, 15% of the cost is the prize and is transited to CGO account.
- The prize is eiu dollar, precise in 0.01 eiu dollar.
- CGO can charge the prize, and distribute the prize to group member.
- The prize is started to calculate at 00:00 first of every month. CGO receives the prize before 00:00 sixth of every month.
Now, you may be laughing as you read this, but I was one disappointed bunny when I discovered I was to be paid in this fashion. I did write back and offer to translate their webpage into English, but so far no response….
And this one:
Cornetta Enterprises. After several emails to and fro proving my writing skills and generally being interviewed, I received this email:
“Bloggers,
Do to the overwhelming response for people wanting to blog for our company we are going to send out an email to all of you at once.I need to reiterate that there is no monetary compensation for this position. We will be offering opportunities to meet porn stars, discounts at our stores and various other perks or forms of compensation.
Anyone that is still interested please get back in touch. I will be considering different levels of admins, moderators, and bloggers.
Thanks
Josh”
Holy Shit! Take it from me that I was not overly excited to be given the opportunity to meet porn stars. In fact, these are probably the women I am least likely to want to meet – I know where they’ve been and - thanks, but no thanks…...
I know, you are laughing again, but really, I spent an awful lot of time applying for this job and felt compelled to send them this:
The dictionary definition of reiterate is:
”To say or do again or repeatedly.”
Sorry, but this is the first mention of no monetary compensation. What on earth makes you think I am interested in working for free?
At least these two only cost me time – not money. I have plenty more like this that I wasted time on and if you want the details, feel free to send me a personal messge.
Online Money Making Schemes to avoid
Pretty much, if it seems to good to be true – IT IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. Here are a few that I have researched and can almost guarantee will end up costing you money, not making it.
Forex Trading
Read my Forex Trading Guide. You cannot make money as a day trader on the foreign exchange market. But there are hundreds and thousand of websites, forums, discussion groups etc saying otherwise. I am finding it all but impossible to get any traffic to my forex hubs – because there are so many people competing for the keywords – Why? Because there is so much money to be made from people who think they can make money doing this.
MLM Schemes
I don’t think I need to spell out why these cannot work. There is more than enough information about them on the ’net. But, just remember the sort of sales pitches these companies were using a few years ago. If you see a sales pitch anything like these – avoid them.
And on and on – Seriously, if you believe that you can make a good income writing from home two hours a week, you need to get a reality check. It has never been that easy, and never will be.
Making Money Online - What works for me
Hubpages
I make money writing at hubpages. I have 134 published hubs, and with the money hubpages pay me to write, my google adsense income and other affiliate earnings, I will make roughly $350 this month through hubpages. It is fair to say that my earlier hubs were not as good as my later ones and I expect this to continue to rise. My early ones were recipes, and while I love to write them and share my cooking experiences, they are a very low paying subject. Unless you are Gordon Ramsey, do not expect to make a lot of money from these.
So, what does make money on hubpages?
I have been experimenting and some of you have noticed I write on all sorts of topics. I experimented with this hub, Five Best iPhone Cases. Within the first 3 days, I made 4 Amazon sales. I will do more of these.
Getting rid of the spammers on hubpages
I did not join the recent discussions on this in the forums – I have no wish for another argument. There were two sides to this discussion. Some people are of the opinion that we should “live and let live.”
Sorry – NO. We need to get rid of these people. If hubpages gets a reputation for allowing much of this type of content, they will lose credibility – both with google and the readers. If that happens, we will all lose traffic, which means we will all lose money. Why should I allow someone to take some of my income away?
If you see this stuff, flag it – aggressively and complain to hubpages team until it’s gone. I do not want to see a bunch of empty, pointless hubs in the “Related Hubs” capsule on my hubs. Spammers begone.
Flagship hubs
I have written several of these lately:
- Top Ten American Recipes
- Forex Trading Guide
- How to buy stocks online
- Stop Foreclosure-How to Avoid Foreclosing on Your Home
- Foreclosure Listing Sites Where to find Pre-Foreclosure and Foreclosed Homes
- Where to Find Bank and HUD Foreclosures
- 2008 Motorcycle Guide
And while they certainly generate some decent traffic, in and of themselves, they are not going to be good earners. They do more to raise hubpages’ profile, and to a certain extent my own, but there are too many reasons for a reader to leave the page to make much money on their own. I have also tried another experiment and with the motorcycle guide, have written a bunch of smaller hubs around and linked to it. I will be reporting on the overall performance as time goes by.
As far as hubpages goes, they seem to be under attack at the moment. As their popularity has increased, so have the spammers. I myself have had an awful lot of people join my fan club, leave me a comment and post one hub.
I have probably flagged 75% of the people who have joined my fan club recently. So, if you arrive at hubpages, join the fan club of every one of the top hubbers and write one lousy rotten self promotional hub – I will be doing my level best to get rid of you by flagging your hub and ridiculing you in the forums when I stop sulking and return to them.
Writing other people’s blogs
I write other people’s blogs. There are an awful lot of people out there who think $3 is a decent amount of money to pay for a blog post. To these guys, I pretty much say the immortal words, “F*** Off.”
And - I suggest to you, if you are new to making money online and see these jobs advertized, you do the same. No way is it worth the effort. Let some person who can live on $20 a day have the job. He needs it more than you do.
I write here:
- Overseas Property Mall
- JobSchmob
- here or there?
- Global Construction Watch
- Tech blog
- Blogging Tips
- Overseas Property Blog
And usually make about $2,000 a month from these and a few others.
Writing Your Own Blogs
Once again, there is so much crap being bandied around, it is very easy to believe, all it takes is a free wordpress install and away you go – instant money. What a joke. Not that easy ! Even some of the so-called authorities are writing things that tell you how easy it is.
About.com has a guy called Scott Allen who wrote an article recently entitled, “How To How to Really Make Money on the Internet With an Amazon.com Affiliate Site”He starts off by saying, “Well, here's the hype-free way to really make money with an Amazon.com affiliate site. And it'll only take a day to make the site. The secret? Low cost, low effort.”And proceeds to regurgitate all the rubbish everyone else has written on the subject – Nothing new, and according to him, it will only take ONE DAY of your time. Clearly, this person has never set up a successful, money-making blog. As far as I am concerned, About.com now SUCK as any sort of information provider. I am not putting a link to this one either – they do not deserve any traffic from me.Smorty
These people will give you something that you can use to convert into goods and services. They give you this something based on the fact that you scribble you own opinion on a website and link to that site. This is a link to my personal blog where I wrote about this. If you decide to use them, please sign up through the link on my site ☺ That way I get some of this stuff every time you do whatever it is they ask you to do. LOL I make as much as 200 of these exchangeable items a month - no messing around, they send it at the end of the week. It does not apply to hubpages.
My Blogs
I have set up several blogs. Apart from the failures that I have let disappear into the graveyard that holds all the probably millions of uncared for blogs these are the ones I still maintain:
My cubicle culture blog makes money from used office furniture ads, my personal blog does not make a fortune, but will help you learn how to make money blogging and I also write a property investment blog which makes money from a variety of sources. Writing my designer tote bags blog turned out to be more of a challenge than I anticipated, seeing as I hate all things hand bag related. :) Plus I have about 2 dozen other, boring blogs that I never update and are just "set and forget," adsense earners.
I will make about $1,200 from these blogs this month.
I will leave it to you to decide which ones you think make decent money, and which do not.
Conclusion
It is possible to make money online. I have been doing it for six months give or take and if my income continues to grow as it has, I will eventually be making a decent living. I also write in some offline publications – these gigs are harder to find, harder to get, but pay A LOT more than online writing – I get an average of 45 cents a word offline.
I have no doubt I could make more money if I chose to start selling weight loss products or “money making advice” or forex trading advice – My personal code of ethics will not allow me to do this. If yours does, I suggest these are good places to think about making money online – just don’t pay anyone for anything except webhosting and domain names.
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My Advice
- Arrange several different streams of income. Some of them may not be huge, but at least you are not going to go broke if the one and only source you have gets cut off. I have a few other sources of income that I have not put here and I am not going to kill myself if I lose any one of them.
- If you want to see how easy it is to make money from a blog – Set one up and see. Several of my blogs, I set up to learn how to do it. How to place ads in a WordPress template, how to generate traffic from social network sites – all the things you need to know to make a blog work. When you realize you have spent 15 hours a day, 7 days a week for three months and have made 14 cents, you might start to think it’s not as easy as some would tell you.
- Do step number 2 and use all the things you have learned from not making money to make money.
- Do not give anyone any money for anything except web hosting space. Every thing else you need is available for free.
- Do not believe 99% of what you read, see or hear regarding making money online.
Here’s and example of some utter bollox. Some one is trying to sell something that apparently allows you to run your car on water. They are even here on hubpages, touting this “invention.”
Just think about that for a few seconds – Do you really believe you can run your car on water? Seriously?
Exactly. Take it from me, the day it is possible to run your car on water is the day you discover that the governments and corporations own all the water and it is now $100 a barrel.
More Money Making Ideas
Comments
My pleasure Mr. M - I will get back to you on the other thing as soon as I can. :)
Hi Mark,
this is a well research hub, you have raise the bar in hubbing, i have bookmark this hub for future reference. thanks for sharing your experiences to us...
My pleasure. Glad you liked it.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the insight. I have only just started hubbing, and will be writing in another blog soon as well.
One of your best points here is that you have alternate sources of income. Do you have any tips for someone who doesn't have much money? (Or maybe a new hub ^^)
Thanks again for an excellent hub!
hehe. I didn't spend any money finding these other sources - only time. I guess it depends on what you are good at. I write - Maybe you sing, or teach, or something else?
I'm working on the writing angle myself :) Thanks again for all the tips and inspiring advice (not just on this hub!). No-one said it would be easy... I'm just working on it when I can, and hoping.
I certainly wish you luck. To a certain extent, it comes to you once you have got going. There are many places to write - some of them more profitable than others. As I sadi, I suggest avoiding the very low paying ones - even if you are desperate. I would rathe collect aluminum cans and sell them to a recycleing depot than write a 400 word article for a dime :)
Great information Mark! Thanks for an article about this that isn't full of crap.
My pleasure Stacie - I am fed up of hearing it and I am sure everyone else is as well.
Mark - I prefer your idea: write from the heart, and write where it will be seen, not where someone gives you a cent for it. I do have a job for the time being, and this is meant to turn into a secondary source of income (ideally primary, but maybe a few years down the road).
Thanks again for your advice. It's inspiring.
My pleasure - good luck.
As always, Mark, you are honest, helpful, thorough, inspiring -- and indefatigable! I don't expect to make any money online, but I would like to have more people read my scribbles. You, and others on hubpages, have been instructional. I don't know where you guys get all the time and talent to do all the things you do. I'm just enjoying it here on hubpages.
Mark,
You mention, you would rather gather aluminum cans.
Don't laugh I did that once for three months a very long time ago, down at the local tip
It is funny, It was little like Hubbing. There were always the same people when I went there on Saturdays and Sunday mornings.
One got to know them and even after a while call them by names.
There are wonderful people in all walks of life.
Actually I was making pretty good money on those precious trips.
Thanks for the memory
You're the man. I get a kick out of some of these MMO scams and frauds. Page rank 9 FAST, makes you wonder why they're stuck at 0 really.
About the hub.
1)I'll stick to what I consider to be quality, and wouldnt mind reading had someone else wrote it.
2) If something hasnt BOOMED overnight, I'll keep at it. Rome wasn't built in a day (hey hey hey)
3) Don't quit the day-job.
4) Expand, progress, trance-out looking at the stats and figures
5) enjoy myself.
Opps almost forgot (sorry)
6) Learn. Trial and error, and listening to people who say it how it is (you).
Great information you've shared here. I've also tried lots of money making systems online for the last few years and only last year I've started to make real profit and that's through online publishing and affiliate marketing. I'm not earning much yet but I believe, the harder and more time and effort you put in doing this, the more you'll be compensated. Once again, wonderful information mate.
DanNY:)
Thanks for the info !
Great hub Mark. You are indeed a mastermind and I adore you for your wisdome. :)
Thank you all - I appreciate the input and time taken to leave me a comment.
Good information Mark! Thanks for sharing your know-how. Especially the help your giving us inexperienced would like to earn-on-liners
Great HUB regards Zsuzsy
this is reallly a helpful huub. i'm definitely in need of it. a saviour for me. thanks lots.
Yep..good stuff. Never work for free. Great Hub. No surprise there. :)
I don't have a child to name after you, so I named my ham and cheese sandwich Mark. I will have to eat you one day, hopefully before you turn green. Keep up the good work and send me the link to the job that pays me with porn stars
I usually taste better before i go green :)
There is a link to the porn stars job in the article. It's all yours if you want it LOL
Sensible advice, Mark, and very well put.
PS I joined your fan club, please don't flag me!
Thanks Caspar. No, I won't be flagging you. LOL I only flag the people I mentioned for the reasons I mentioned. You are safe from my wrath LOL
Lots of sound advice here for new hubbers (like me) - also loved your example of the 'make money online hub' (what is all that computer junk for?) - perhaps we should all start our hubs with an example of a dire spam hub! Keep on telling it like it is!
Thanks Rik. My pleasure.
Mark,
As you have probably guessed from my one and only Hub, I am totally new to this. I am very interested in learning how to get better at "blogging" and earning money along the way.
I found your article very helpful and interesting. I will need to go and read more of your articles! I am sure I could learn a lot from you. I am a total novice and still trying to learn how to set up a blog website. Any help and guidance that you can give me would be appreciated.
Thank you for setting me straight!
momsims22
My pleasure. I hope it helps.
great article! am actually new to all these and in fact just activated all these affiliates only a few days ago. Still i seem to be too dense to understand them. However, you were able to awaken my interest at the prospect of earning something. Likewise, the wisdom of seeking varied income rivulets as to essentially amount to a torrent of blessings is an eye-opener indeed. My thanks to you for sharing!
Great hub, Mark! I actually was one that joined and put a few "skeleton" hubs up, not to spam, but more to try&play with a new toy. I agree that spammers should be banned but please consider also that some people just try to find their way around and are not always successful/ very skilleed with their first hubs. Writing more quality hubs is certainly on my list of things to do for this year! BTW, you mentioned in one of your other hubs (the one about kodak printers, I think) that you have a "photographic past" send me a pm and I have some tips for you, if you want to, how to earn money on line with images ;-) SY
Thanks Sybille. I wouldn't flag any one because they only have a few hubs - I do flag them if they only have one that promotes something outside hubpages and I think they just joined my fanclub to promote their outside tiff. I have not flagged you LOL
I would never flag someone if I saw they were doing their best - I have also left comments back on some of my commenters/fans giving encouragement. :)
I think I left a comment on one of yours a while back? I loved your pasta hub.:)
I'm actually starting to see this title go away and replaced with "tired of seeing work from home titles?" much like the pop ups that say "tired of pop ups"! but that title brings so much traffic right? So ahhhh hint hint!
LOL - I will try that one next time. Thanks.
Sorry Mark, I "know" that you never flagged one of mine! And yes, I remember your kind comment! SY
maybe you could find some use from http://hubpages.com/hub/Work-From-Home-Scams-What-
Excellent - Looks like we are on the same page. LOL
It ain't that easy.
Mark, you crack me up! Too bad you're married.
Thanks Dafla. Sorry LOL
Man, so many comments already. seems redundant to place mine. Like most of them say "u r the man'. Very helpful hub from a very kind person. Thank u.
Thanks. All comments are appreciated.
You need a good hub/website/blog to get yourself some real money. I make over 1k per month online through my stuff, not much via hubs but I enjoy writing them.
Hi Mark,
Have enjoyed this Hub more than you know. I want to say that making money online IS NOT EASY. If you are looking to sit on your ars and watch the money flow in, then you had better think twice before quitting your day job.
On the other hand, there is not a job in the world that is more enjoyable. To wake up in the morning and have your business be the very second thought in your mind ( the first one being "thank you God for another day" ) is a thrill that I can not describe.
Answering all your client's e-mails, redesigning your site, writing articles, appplying all the important research you have just absorbed and retained, is what makes it all worth it. To be honest, I don't care if we ever get rich, because working online is one of the most enjoyable and gratifying activities one can do. In our business we help many people in the trucking industry NOT to MAKE POOR CHOICES. Just knowing that you saved one poor trusting soul from a possible trucking scam is an uplifting feeling.
Some people like videos. Some people like sports. Others like porn. I myself love my internet business.
Allen
You got game buddy, I'll give you that. You're information is an excellent guide. I myself just started writing online. I'm enjoying it so far and hope to slowly build up to some 'mad money' as my mother in law likes to call it. I wonder what your opinion of triond.com is?
Thanks for the info Mark - I'm the same as you - keep it real, help people, give good content. Just new to the hubpages thing and see that you're flagged as someone who's good at it! (learn off those people I reckon).
Thanks,
Dave
I like the comment from ask the trucker - I too love working on the internet but always tell people that it is hard work and there are no real short-cuts - really it is much like any other business in that you decided how you are going to generate sales and then you develop a marketing plan to achieve those sales - quite boring in a way.
Anyway, another wonderful blog as usual - I'm learning
Louisa
Thanks guys. There really is no easy, quick way to do it. But it's fun :)
Mark: You are my role model of hubs, one day, one day, I will learn to create the perfect hub. I got a kick about the opportunity to meet a porn star. LOL!
Thanks Violet Sun. I hope it helps and there is a link to the porn star "Opportunity" if you want it LOL
I think I am going to call you Sensae. I found this page to be very informative. I have only been on Hubpages for a couple days now but this hub will help me push forward.
Thank You!
I'm honored.
Thank you, you are one of the few people on here that explains things honestly about making money on the net
My peasure. It's not as easy as some would have you believe.
Lots of good information here. Common sense rules the day, it seems. Your hub reminds people that there really is no such thing as a free ride, no matter what the web tends to say.
Good to see someone with their feet on the ground.
Nice hub...As far as online marketing methods go, PPC advertising and affiliate marketing are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of effective ways to make money on the Internet...
Hi MARK,
There are HUGE differences between "making money" and building a profitable business.
Making money is short-term and the income stops when you stop working. Building a successful business is long-term and your income can continue long after you stop working. Making money is something that you can do alone. Building a successful business requires the participation and cooperation of other people. just like any business that you run, You can make money on the internet you have to do your homework just like any business that you get into you do your research before you invest your money, right? and you're right there are lots of scams and internet crooks as i call them on the internet,
Myself I enjoy working the internet and makine money and building my business...
Thanks for the informations you gave.. I really learned a lot from your posts... Im still a neophyte on this thing but with your advices, i think someday i will also rise up like you..
Thank you all.
iceman - Quite agree. Good luck.
Thank you Mark for painting a clearer picture of online blogging :)
Ahhh, life online. Ain't it grand. Great hub, Mark.
Mark, Thanks for the great info and inspiration. It has definetely inspired me to strive for quality in my Hubs. I have to admit I have seen and fallen for many of the IM scams, but I am learning..Thanks
Mark this is great stuff, thanks, except it would tend to keep you awake at night, well me anyway since I have all this output scattered here and there and none of it making money.... ok.. so back to the drawing board... *laughs*... thanks a lot... really...
Drax
Thank you so much for the insights. I'm a newbie. I found your article very helpful.
i have lost a fortune. i might recover some money this week.
thanks for the article
Thanks guys.
Very, very impressive. Thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge. This hub was a breath of fresh air. Thank you!
My pleasure.
One of the best hubs I have read yet on making money online! There is just so much utter crap out there. I teach my students that all it takes to make money online is a blog and an imagination and they are both free!
MLM or network marketing is not a scam. Many people have made good money with network marketing companies. Companies such as Avon, Mary Kay, etc have are still around today because they are helping people make money.
shesagpgetter -
Thanks,
PlaneJane -
I never said it was a scam. I said it was unlikely to work, and would not produce results with a small amount of effort. Yes, there are a few MLM companies that have beem successful, but by far the majority have ended in failure for the company and losses for the members. Not every products has the sort of massive mark up that cosmetics does. Although I am having trouble thinking of a successful MLM co that sold something else. If you think of one, let me know.
Well I have to tell you Mark - it's 2:06am where I am and I have just published my first hub and was wondering around getting to know the neighborhood when I came across your hub - the title caught my eye - and you brought a few smiles to my face. Your story about earning money from writing is of particular interest and I appreciate your sharing specifics.
Regards
Kevin
This is great info.. Thank You so much Mark for sharing it to us. I'm new here in hubpages and had made 3 hubs for now.
Great article Mark..you are a sound advisor for all the hubbers..
Hi Mark
before you start critisizing you should spend some time researching. If you have basic knowledge in chemistry you will understand why it is possible to convert and run cars on water (hydrogen). Fuel Cel technology is available and Honda is developing it for some time now. There are many honest and genuine people out there fighting against petrol business for you and me so we can drive our cars cheaper and without poluing environment.
LOL - OK I have a question for you - How much pollution is created in the manufacturing process? i.e how much pollution does it create to build a car?
I almost passed up on this hub because I've almost become immune to "Make Money Online" as a hub title, because you're absoluetly right: 99% of "make mone online" articles are either crap or a scam. Your article falls into that 1% of quality articles though.
zhighlander,
if you think that hydrogen cars are going to run on cheap abundant water, I have a bridge to sell you. Unfortunately, even if it is technically possible to run a car off of water, it will never happen on a mass scale, because then those bastards at the oil companies won't have anything to sell to us. In the long run, oil companies will benefit from the sale of "hydrogen fuel" (i guarantee it won't be water), because they're the ones who currently have the infrastructure to distribute and deliver this fuel.
(takes off tin-foil hat now)
Way to get us off topic at the end of your hub Mark! :) haha
Alot of the content you've written here makes sense. But I personally have been earning online for 4 years now. I have fallen for some scams, but I've also found legitimate opportunities where the potential for financial freedom does exist. I am currently earning, and have been for a while, from several MLM programs, traffic exchanges, and online investment programs. I've been burned in the past, but have learned from my mistakes, and have also made it a point to keep an open mind no matter what. I never prejudge something that I might be interested in simply because of the way in which it is advertised. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is? That is usually true. But once in a blue moon, the exact opposite is true. Over the years I've developed a knack for spotting the diamonds in the rough. One example of this is an investment program that I invest with which pays me 2% for 30 days, with principle retuned. That's 60% profit per month! Such opportunities exist if one knows where to look, and how to spot them. It is true that you probably do not need to pay for anything more than hosting to make money online. However, if one is looking for a true path to financial freedom, the fact is that it takes money to make money :)
How pleasantly deceitful. I came to the hub to make a bunch of money and all I got was some good advice. I hope some people that read your hub get a reality check about earning online, whether it is writing or scamming or whatever, it takes work. Good job!!! By the way I will change my "money making" hubs, ( I have a few) to more baited titles like yours. My Hits4pay review site is now "Wooden shoes and the Dutch Jogger" My hub "Earning online" will now be " Whiskey Pete and the Mississipi Corn mash, a musical review".
Thanks for the great hub once again. And congrats on the 350 a month.
inthemoney - of course, there are exceptions to every rule, but if you lose all your money in the scams to find the "diamond in the rough, where are you?"
I am not sure how you brand of maths turns 2% into60% either?
But if you can GUARANTEE me a return like that, I can make both of us very rich in a short space of time. You will of course have to be prepared to offer up EVERYTHING you own, which must be a substantial amount of collateral ?
email me and I will tell you the details.
mortimas - LOL, thanks, good luck, :)
Thanks Mark for putting some sense into my mind.I really didn't believe I could make money online by blogging.But love to write, so landed up blogging.The worst - typing is far more difficult than penning everything down on paper.I didn't know anything about blogging and earning money a few months back and now that I am into this I feel all that have I learnt is not even a drop in the ocean.
Great hub.No wonder the hub has a score of 96.Thumbs up!
I came to this following the link in the hubber's forum.
My pleasure - I hope it helps.
Mark,
Great Hub! As I read your hub, I started thinking I made a mistake in choosing my Hubber nickname... Even though I did choose that name, I certainly intend on providing quality content :-)
Did you turn me in? ;-) he he... once again great Hub!
Peter
LOL - Nothing wrong with your name :)
nice post dude
its sad that people are falling prey to scams
there is no shortcut to success.
HI Mark,
This is a great hub. Observing your hubs tell me about the possibilities at hubpages. I am new here but not new to blogging. The community is great here..
thanks and keep posting...
Mark
Several comments, I truly agree with your comment on writing for 3 dollars an article. Actually I love that. Also I'm new to hubpages but so far I like it. I've mostly checked out your hubs here and they are the most informational I have seen. Once I've plodded on a bit more, figured out Hubscores and the like, I may comeback and join your fanclub. Not that you need it from me, but good job on your hubs.
Thx
-e-
Nice Hub again Mark,
I checked your football blog being afraid of seeing American Football but after seeing your words about American football I'm relieved :) Football is played by foot..
Hubout yer UpBage, Marque... Heet maeks a lit uf cents.
Mark, I think you have outdone yourself on this one....I really really like this hub and it has helped me alot....one of my fav's so far on hubpages. I am going to try and implement some of your ideas...thanks.
Mark,
Great article, and for anyone looking for insightful advice....this is it. There are so many hucksters offering get rich schemes on the internet it is refreshing to see advice from someone who has actual experience rather than someone simply copying and pasting worn out content.
Thanks!
Wow - great stuff!! I know nothing, so this is EXCELLENT info for me. I am still really green and trying to learn - I came here from your "self promotion" in the forum. (See, it works to self promote!) I will keep reading your stuff and visit a few other places you write as well. Much to be learned from you. (And others on Hubpages) Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge in all your Hubs and blogs.
You said, "When you realize you have spent 15 hours a day, 7 days a week for three months and have made 14 cents, you might start to think it’s not as easy as some would tell you."
That's it, in a nutshell.
LOL - yup :)
Well, this is as real as it gets. :-) Mark, thanks for putting up this hub. It has a lot of insights and information. May my hubs get better in the long run...and earn too. Keep up the great work.
What a fantastic hub... definitely resonated with the Spam blog comments. Its gets to the stage now where i don't even bother log in to delete them. I started off deleting them as and when they came in, moved onto once a day, once a week and now it is when I can get to it!
Spammers... god luv 'em
My pleasure ladies. :)
Mark,
Thank you very much. This is the best and most candid piece I've read about making money online. I've got some crazy blogs out there, too, and altogether they only make about $300 a month. I've given up on them because the work that went into them was like you said 24/7/365. Bullsh*t.
thanks for sharing your experience and I look forward to learning more.
No sweat. Unfortunately, it's much harder than you would think. And much of that is down to the FUCKING LIARS out there LOL
Amen!!!
Telling it like it is, Mark. I like that. Too bad I can't give it more than one thumbs up. =D
Thanks - One is enough. LOL
For a newbie like me this is good advice to learn from.
Thanks
This is a great hub Nichael..^^ thanks for the tips on how to avoid scams on making money online.
I've learned a ton in a short time reading Hubs like this. Like everything else in life learning takes time, patience, failure, and perseverance. Thanks Mark. You have great things to say!
Well Mark, I am at the bottom and I guess it has all been said. I like the honesty. Very refreshing. Donna
Hi Mark,
Excellent article if somewhat depressing. I see you've got 144 hubs, surely that's got to be a lot of work, do you find the monetary reward is worth the effort, and do you find hub pags have an advantage over just a plain vanilla blog ? Thanks Vic
Worth the effort? It depends what your monetary needs are I guess. There are non-monetary benefits to writing here. And you can certainly make more money from a blog. But you really need to find a good niche and stick to it. Here, each page stands alone. Horses for courses.
Hi Mark,
Your posting on FOREX trading guide was excellent , and it will clear all the doubts and fear about forex, you really rock.
www.managed-forex-accounts.info
As Always, Well Done Mark. Good sound advice. Time to get rid of scammers. If it wasn't for the scammers , it would be a lot easier to get people to trust the internet and do more business on the net. I think we all have fallen for scams at some time or the other.
Great hub! It's frustrating to me how often I hear "well that must be easy" or "it must be great having an easy job" when I tell people I write on and offline. I must be more patient than I used to be, because I haven't punched anyone yet :) Thanks for the good info, it's good to find hubs like this when you're just getting started like I am.
Thank you Mark for giving us all a reality check. It is so easy to become seduced by cleverly written copy. Most of these sites are selling a (pipe) dream.
wow..it's the longest hub i've ever seen.
let me read again, mr M
Nice hub. Got a lot of tips from here.
Thanks
mark
exceptionally good writing and god advise. i will be tuning in to more of your pages. i am getting my feet wet by writing for ezinearticles and my blog. i know exactly what you mean about the fluff and how difficult it is to get traffic. but hubpges ia crown jewel so long as we protect the integrity of the writings. to your success!
Thanks for the information. I hope to learn much from you and others, in the Big Wide World of the Internet. Seems to me, the cyberworld is paralell to the real one. Honesty and deceipt, coexisting, with each of us trying to navigate the "straight and narrow" path.
This is awesome--easily the most honest thing I've read on this topic, anywhere, ever, hands down.
I joined Hub Pages 10 months ago and just hit my first $100 Google Adsense payout. I also write other people's blogs for money and write web content for people who slap up websites to make money. I make between $75 and $300 a week on that kind of writing, but it gets old. I write for one blog on a regular basis that pays well, the others I've tried have been high-effort, low-return. I'm still learning to put up my own websites. It's not going that well. This week I spend about 15 hours on a 5-minute Wordpress installation and still haven't installed it. I have a brother-in-law I will be bothering soon about this...
This past year I've made maybe $5K or $6k writing. I think that's not great. I do think that I can increase my ad revenue here by writing more general hubs, doing keyword research, and promoting my hubs with backlinks and so forth--none of which I've been doing.
I really appreciate this hub. You're right on on all of it I think. Congrats to you for making it work. It ain't easy and not many people can do it. (o:
Thank you all. Good luck in your own endeavours.
I am in awe when I read your hubs. Your words continue to astound me, make me want to work more than my 17 hours a day and above all else you make me laugh.
I've been blogging for a couple of years, and online for the past 13 years. I have seen a LOT of junk out there on the 'Net. This is the best "how to" article I believe I've ever had the honest pleasure to run across. I've just written my third Hub, and looking forward to writing quite a few more. Great hub. Thanks for the advice.
Nice hub. Got a lot of tips from here.
Hey Mark, excellent information.I´m looking for ways to diversify my income and I´m going to implement some of your tips.
Like your Hub,great tips.
I totally agree with your comment that you do not need to buy much to make money.
You do need to buy domain names along with web hosting.
Good article,
Rick
About getting rid of worthless spam hubs I agree with you also. Google watches the spread of spam. The spam posters are always looking for easy places to place spam for free. When it is easy to post spam on a well rated site then it will get overrun with spam.
Making it harder to get a Hub approved is good for the whole community.
Rick
Thanks for the good info, it's good to find hubs like this when you're just getting started like I am.
Mark, this particular hub you wrote is extremely helpful to me as well as informative. I am going to definitely implement some of your tips and we shall see what happens. Thanks Again!!
Hi Mark, Thanks for your insights..well put..have not written my hub yet but have it reasonably got it in my head..would appreciate your input.
My plan was to tell of the last 9 months experience's into 'earning on line'
title 'Geru' versus 'Newbie'
sorry if this seems like promo, but your comments would be appreciated ,thanks
Great advice here - I can see that I need to choose what i write about with care. It's fun to share things I love (my recipes) or have a personal concern in (fibromyalgia) but already after 3 weeks I'm finding that certain Hubs are getting more traffic (and therefore more potential clicks) - chocolate and film reviews for example. I have some idea for topics. I have a site for screenwriters at the moment which gets a few clicks and am jotting down ideas for more blogs as I write this response - thanks for the inspiration.
There are A LOT of ways to mmo. There are hard ways and easy ways. Just because something hasn't worked out for you doesn't mean its a "scam". You are definately taking the harder road. And for the record, MLM companies are not scams. Its one of the fastest ways to become "financially independant". I'm saying this from someone who has made a lot of money in network marketing. I'm not currently involved in it as of now. I'm on to other projects related to internet marketing.
Hubpages, Squidoo, weebly etc will always be a target for spammers. Due to the rankings they produce and the SEO benefit. The article you mentioned as spam is debatable. Yes its low quality, and yes its a shitty article but it's not spam. Its just low quality. At least the person took the time to write unique content. If he were to automate the process and (ie: pull in text from RSS) than it would be spam.
Should low quality articles like these be allowed on hubpages? Define low quality.
I make a ton of hubpages, squidoo, weebly, blogspot, etc. I post short 500 word articles. Not high quality or "flagship" but not low quality and rubbish. Just because people don't spend as much time on their hubs as you do does not mean they are spammers.
Instead of spending 2-3 hours on a single hub I'd rather do 2-4. There is nothing wrong with that.
Btw, I'm not defending the crappy article you reffered too. If I were Hubpages I'd delete it too. I'm just saying its not spam, its a shitty attempt at writing an article. Probably done in less than 4 minutes.
Oh, and one more thing. YOU CAN SET UP A SITE IN ONE DAY AND HAVE IT START MAKING MONEY! I've done it hundreds of times.
I don't know what the About.com article mentioned, but yes you can. The trick is to buy an already indexed domain for $13 off of TDAM via freshdrop.net
It will start getting traffic as soon as the spiders see the new content. Amazon's affiliate program sucks so I use ebay's affiliate program via BANS (Build A Niche Store). I don't do this anymore because I've found more lucrative methods.
For example. I spent 15 hours in March of 2008 setting up a 5 different BANS sites. First month I made somewhere around $100 and since than I've consistantly made anywhere from $200 to $500 per month. I through up a few backlinks and that was it. I haven't touched it since. If someone were to do this on a largescale you could made a shitload of money. In fact, you should try it. No affiliate links, not affiliated with them...try it. You will make a HELL of a lot more money than you are now for A HELL of a lot less work.
Each of my sites had a few articles on them but since it pulled in ebay listings most of the traffic came from people ready to buy. One of my sites was for used pinball machines. People would google the model number or something simlar, find my page, click through to ebay and buy. I'd get a commision + $25 per new sign up/bidder.
Just wanted to add this. I'm in a rush, so my spelling and grammer is shitty. I dont care.
peace
I never said it was spam - I said it was garbage. Not sure what the point of your comments were here, but if you have something actually useful instead of what you wrote, please feel free to drop by and leave it for everyone to read.
Although what with the hundreds of sites you have making money and the thousands you make from your BANS sites that take no time, I am rather surprised you could be bothered to leave a comment.
But - any time you have something specific to say, that might be of use, I will happily publish it as a comment.
I was pointing out the errors in your article and the biases of your opinion.
1 - thousands? I don't use BANS anymore but I make hundreds ( a month ), yes thousands if you were to total all of the revenue.
2 - Time? Yes I have plently of time. I work 4 to 8 hours a day, depending on the project. I don't leave comments too often but I found a good portion of your information incorrect and (again) subject to the biases of your opinion.
You're right, you didn't say it was spam. But when I read this below it:
"Getting rid of the spammers on hubpages"
I could see, and assume the message you were trying to convey.
Useful? This hub is titled "Making Money Online" and a good portion of it is a rant. If you want your readers to see something useful, that will actually make them money (in a short amount of time), than read what I wrote earlier regarding Build A Niche Store.
I am not sure I have any biases other than against the rubbish such as I pointed out at the top. All I was doing here is sharing my personal experiences with making money online.
I never mentioned BANS until you bought it up and my limited experience of BANS tells me that no longer works. That is not to say it didn't but there comes a point where there are too many people on the bandwagon.
I choose to make money in other ways and I have listed some of the ways I do it.
A good portion is incorrect? What good portion is that exactly?
And you haven't really been very specific. I mean - if you want to help people - please give some specific examples and I will publish it. A blanket "I make money online in a few days" doesn't really help much.
Point taken.
When I first read it I just got upset with the tone of the article related to MLM & making money "fast" in general. I didn't mean to direct it specifically at you. I come across a lot of people putting MLM down & other methods of making money online and it just bothers me (When I know first hand how much they can work...if a person is willing to put in the work)
There are a lot of programs out there that just plain suck. In fact most of them do (referring to any kind of internet marketing program or MLM). There are, however, some decent programs as well. I've wasted a lot of money on various "make money online" programs. Out of the thousands I've spent, only a few were worth while. I guess the key is to do your homework if you're going to spend a considerable amount of money on a program.
Some of the programs that cost $1k+ are actualy worth it though (such as Mass Control or Stompernet).
As for whether or not BANS works anymore. All I have to say is that it depends on what the person is doing and how much they know about SEO. My sites are still making money, and I'm confident that I can put 5 sites up tomorrow and have them making money within a few days. Again, the trick is to purchase OLD domains that are either still indexed in Google or have a lot of results in the Way Back When Machine (archive.org).
If you want me to publish something worhwhile I'd reccomend people check out the Thiry Day Challenge. http://thirtydaychallenge.com Its free & its a great intro. to internet marketing.
Anyway, I guess thats it for now. Seriously though, anyone can make a sh*tload of money on the internet. It just takes perseverence, determination, a willingness to learn, and being able to deal with emotions when something you've invested time & money in doesn't work out.
Hey Scott - Thanks for coming back and clarifying. I can only speak for my own experiences - and I have to say - I have approached making money online from a writer's perspective. As you have probably worked out. I make a pretty good living - not shitloads of money though LOL
And I would agree - dropping something that is not working after investing time and money is hard - Want to buy some well aged blogs? :)
I appreciate your cycisim on the matter, oddly enough. Like PT Barnum said, "A sucker is born every minute." Good hub on showing people how the rabbit wasn't really in the hat in the first place. This particular hub can be considered a coutner-hub to others on the same topic. As someone into online promotion myself (not of the scamming kind you stabbed here), I enjoyed this. Especially this line of yours: "It is possible to make money online. I have been doing it for six months give or take and if my income continues to grow as it has, I will eventually be making a decent living." Eventually. Good hub.
True. I work in online promotion and one is just so tired of reading variations on the how to make money online for free without shelling out money and with almost no real effort on your part. I got tired of that sentence before I even finished typing it. Good hub. I was half expecting that you'd post a screenshot of those parodies of landing pages of ebooks sold, one where a line appears under the parodied ebook: 'buy my useless ebook which you can download from other sites for free.'
LOL - I have been meaning to write that ebook. :)
Hey Mark,
You mentioned in the article that your first Hubs weren't that great.I haven't read any of those but this one is really a well written masterpiece.Thank you for sharing with the public.
When i started looking into making money online I was one of the many who was seduced by the google ads that claimed "how i made $2,000 in a week" etc. Even though you know it sounds too good to be true, a little part of your brain longs for the secret recipe to achieving such a goal.
Finally figured out what the secret recipe is: Lots of reading, researching and writing with a very big pinch of motivation, perserverance and optimism. Mix this all together and allow to simmer for a quite a few months.
My pots still simmering. I am keeping an eye on it.
LoL.
YOU ARE MY NEW INSPIRATION!!!!!!
WOW!!! You put a lot of time into this HUB, it definetlyshows!!! I found the information extremely helpful! I became a fan of yours and rated you UP too, please join my fanclub as well! Keep up the excellent work! Barry ;)
I started out as a freelance writer since I wanted to do something from home. That is when I came accross all these other options to make money online. But the only money I have made online to date is what I get paid for my ghostwriting blogs.
I love hubpages as it allows me to express myself and share my knowlegde. I am yet to make any money here, but love the community and the sharing.
This hub is excellent. It puts online money making in the correct perspective.
Very good hub mate. All around solid information. Cheers.
Thanks for the article , like your style. I just joined so i have no hubs yet. I'll be checking your other recommendations also ;-)
i enjoyed reading your article so much i'm going to look up for your other hubs. don't worry, i'm not going tp join your fan page, and i'm not a hubber, so you can't flag me. you forgot - or deliberately did not mention - about academic writing/research sites. i wrote for one sometime ago and earned a few hundreds from it, but i couldn't live with the thought that i'm tolerating lazy college kids by helping them with their homework. at the end of the day, when they don't get an A for the paper they paid you to write, you're the one who gets branded as dumb.
@ bingcas - I had not even considered that one, but I am sure there are plenty of other ways I have missed.
Thanks Mark,
unlike most of publications with such titles yours is very sincere. I'm new to it and I'm lost. I'm trying to build my blog by being sincere...I'd rather make is as an art piece, and I want to learn how to make money...I might ask your advice...may I?
Irene
I just read your article. Very interesting! I just stumbled on this site and got me thinking about giving it try. I wish more people would warn and write about the many warnings of internet scams. I fell prey to that already in the past. I was wondering as well, do you think facebook and twitter are worth my time to advertise anddrive traffic to my site?
Thanks
Jen
I get those emails all the time; mostly from Africa! I get so sick and tired of them. I do still have some confusion as to how revenues are earned through hubpages. I list Amazon on my blogs with items about my hubs but nothing is generated. Neither with the click and earn sites. How do you make money with them? Am I doing something wrong? Thanks so much. Laura
This by far is probally thee best hub I have read yet. You are sincere and offer good, solid advice. I will definatly be keeping up with your hubs as I learn my way through this making money on line.
Very useful advice,it will worth to give them a look.
Making money online is possible but also a one type of job.
The best thing about online work is that you can choose your timeslot and no one will force you to work and this is the worst part also because we all want a boss which will force us to do things in time.
Great Hub, very funny and a good read. I really enjoyed it, thanks Mark!
Most honest and sincerely written words Mark!! Its an 'Eye opener' for all aspiring millionaires on the world wide web!! :)
Nice and useful information. That too for free........Thanks for sharing.
Great hub and great advice. Sincerely looking for your next hubs
Good honest information! Hard work equals success.
I hate spammers too, a majority of my "fans" are those fan all people.
very refreshing harry callahan type fish in an ocean full of untrustworthy sharks!
Mark,
Great Hub and fantastic writing. If more and more people on here could write like you do HubPages would be a better place. One other thing, money will come as long as you continue to write as you do. I can tell you that from first hand experience.
Very informative article mark. Thanks a lot.
Thank you from heart Mark
A very good read, i have bookmarked a few of your hubs as they are inspirational. Thanks
I just wanted to say "Thankyou"
After reading a Hub about 8 Millionaire Bloggers - It led me to your Hubs. Just checked out your Personal Blog and wow, you are very, generous with the knowledge you share and that's just from one. I haven't visited the others yet. The 12th August one was very enlightening but didn't give options for comments, so sorry for commenting here but couldn't resist. You are indeed a hive of info. Thanks for sharing it. Cheers.
I was recently introduced to a company that wants me to refer others to shop with them instead of local chain stores and I would receive commission on the monthly orders of those i referred. Does this fall under the MLM Schemes you write about?
My Pleasure Elena.
Jujenn - I have no idea what that is. All I can say is - if it seems too good to be true - it probably is.
Advice 3 is so authentic. pay not anything to anybody on net except for webhosting. everything is free on net.
I really think people should exercise due diligence. A lot of people are getting rich via the Internet, but be careful of scams.
Good advice though.
This is a very interesting read. I see people over an over dong the same thing. There are a few people ... most of which have no formal education who got in early and built up big email lists. They email their list every new product that comes out. The products are all hype... they have little substance. Then they list owners make money off the dreams of the seemingly endless pool of people who want to make money online. These new people do not realize the commitment required to make money online. It's a business and you have to treat it like a business. You can't just throw up a blog, write about something you have no expertise in and then go out and spam links. HubPages is a very good opportunity for people who want to make money... as long as they focus on writing about things they know about and understand.
There is so much information in this hub, I had to book mark it, only my second bookmark. Thank you!
Hi Body, Thanks for your informative hub on making money online. I wish I take time to read the guide before embarking on publishing my first hub. I am a natural skeptics to all these get rich schemes.
As a finance and economics major, I believe that: if forex is that lucrative! it will be kept secret. ie (outside of public domain). I am learning.
Marvelous Mark! Great to hear someone's got their head screwed on, fantastic advice all round, engagingly written, bookmarked. Hope to enjoy more of your work as I get my teeth into this HubPage malarkey. Thanks
Nice work Mark. Nice to see the honesty and being upfront about how you will not get rich in a day/week/month etc.. Just like anything in life, it takes hard work and commitment to the process to achieve your dreams.
Making Money
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MrMarmalade says:
2 years ago
I am getting wisdom slowly and certainly from a master.
I sit at your feet and listen. I did not approach you on the basis of what you have inform me now. I did think that you were very knowledgeable.
I have not made any links to achieve income as yet. I have been learning my apprenticeship to date.
Thank you for your knowledge, wisdom and ability to impart it.