Use Your Unique Skills to Make Money Online

How does an individual make money on the internet? When I was a novice online, I must have tried every “opportunity” presented to me. Many were classic scams; however, there are legitimate businesses available. It is true, though, if you are going to operate a business the accepted adage is: you have to have money to make money. Most businesses will require some investment in order to advertise and be seen. These businesses require sales, and let’s face it, most of us are not salesmen.

My working background is in clerical work. I have always typed and provided customer service in my professional life outside the home. I began seeking work I could do on my personal computer after I had extensive spine surgery. After I had recovered enough, I wanted to feel productive and work again, but I needed a flexible schedule in order to rest or exercise as needed. I also did not drive and transportation was a problem. I wanted to “put my personal computer to work!“ as it says in the ads. I quickly discovered I do not have the patience nor skills to be a successful internet marketer.

There are many companies which now employ home based workers. However, I soon found that most of them require cold-calling and commission only work, or else need to train their employees in classroom environment first. This would not have worked out in my case.

One day I was casually surfing the internet using a traffic exchange website. I happened upon a site for a free discussion forum called myLot (http://www.mylot.com/?ref=cremechese) which pays its members for participation. The members create discussion topics and responses and get paid monthly for their entries from the website owner’s advertising revenue. This did not mean a huge income for me, but it became a valuable resource within which to network with others in similar situations.

Because of the input of others at the discussion forum, I discovered that there are many other opportunities to earn online, using your individual skills to draw traffic to the owner’s website and be paid from the owner’s advertising dollars.

Do you have a talent for writing articles, stories, reviews, or poems? You can be paid for them at Associated Content!

http://www.associatedcontent.com/join.html?refer=42339

At this time, Associated Content only accepts participants from the United States. However, another site, Constant Content does pay internationally.

http://www.constant-content.com/?aref=8289

Constant Content operates more like a clearinghouse, where they receive requests from website owners for content and match authors and articles with site owners.

There are many sites online who will pay for your original photos or graphics, as well as reviews or articles. Some have pages which you can also incentivize with Google Adsense or other advertising programs which will pay directly to you. Those sites will provide instructions for you on signing up for Adsense. Here are some suggestions:

Hubpages:

http://hubpages.com/_8xn3gb7mp55u/hub/Choosing_and_Training_a_Pet_Bird_to_Talk

Gather:

http://www.gather.com/inviteLanding.jsp?parentMemberId=237886&tc=13

Helium:

http://www.helium.com

Suite 101:

http://www.suite101.com

If you use your favorite search engine to do a search, you will find many other sites that will afford you a chance to display your freelance writing and/or photography and graphics, and be paid for it.

Your expertise may be in woodworking, candlemaking or in some other kind of craft. In that case, consider selling your item online through E-bay:

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-1751-2978-328/1?aid=10366503&pid=2428293

You may also wish to explore paying a small fee for a domain name of your own and becoming your own webmaster. You could sell your own items from your own website.