How to Make Money Online for Free

There are three aspects of the Internet that makes it the perfect vehicle to generate income.

1. It is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

2. Its reach is worldwide.

3. It is accessible to everyone with a computer and an Internet connection.

Large retailers like Walmart, Best-Buy and many others have discovered and embraced those facts in a big way. Most of us know that they have web stores in addition to their traditional stores. Others, like Amazon, have completely eliminated the brick and mortar store relying entirely on the web. Even warehouses are going away as web orders are shipped directly from the manufacturer to the consumer.

Could we regular people somehow get into the action? The answer is yes. Is there a learning curve? Yes, there is, but the threshold to getting in is far lower than most people realize. Does it cost a lot of money? No, at the entry level most of the things you will need are free. What you will need is time, a lot of time.

The goal here is to help you get started without spending any money. Your only investment will be your time learning the trade. Later on, once you have a grasp of how it works, it may make sense to make monetary investments to do things faster or better.

We are not going to talk much about the various business models and strategies you can use to make money on the Internet. To do that, follow the link below. Here we are mostly focused on the technical aspects.

If you have been around the Internet even for a little bit, you have no doubt heard it said that content is king.

Just about every web page you visit has some sort of advertising on it. For many, this is their primary source of income. The bait they use to get people to visit their web sites is content. Content that answers people's questions or solves their problems is likely to show up in search results along with the advertising surrounding that content.

An important aspect of making money is to match the advertising with the content so that it becomes an integrated part of the content. Do this well and people will click on the ads and buy the things they advertise.

A really easy way to get started with that is to write articles for article repositories.

Most article repositories, indeed most other partners you will encounter, have some sort of minimum pay-out threshold you will need to pass to actually get paid. At the beginning, it may be a bit of a struggle to get past that threshold, so limit the programs you sign up for, but do investigate a few to determine what works best for you.

The next step I want you to take is to sign up for Google Adsense. The beauty of this program is that Google automatically figures out what advertising to display on your pages. All you have to do is write great content.

One of the prerequisites for getting a Google Adsense account is that you must have your own website. Do not worry. This is much easier than you think. There are several options, but for the beginner, I recommend Blogger.

With your own website, you get far more freedom to do what you want. What makes Blogger, Wordpress and similar web publishing tools so great is templates. Templates are basically pre-made great looking web pages. All you have to do is fill in the content.

Again, do experiment with which platform is best for you, but as a Google product, Blogger integrates really well with Adsense.

The next thing I want you to get involved in is affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing allows you to sell products without making them, buying them or even storing them.

Again you have several options, but for the beginner, I recommend starting with Amazon. The great thing about Amazon is that they have just about every conceivable product under the sun. No matter what you're writing about, Amazon has a related product for your readers to buy.

Once you have a basic online presence, it is time to think about how to maximize the return. It begins with forgetting about your own interests and preferences. Learn to figure out what people want, then go give it to them. Then you will make money.

Information and product seekers

Some people use the Internet for entertainment. It is no coincidence that the focus of the MSN home page is entertainment, sports, money and life style.

Some people use the Internet for research. They might be looking for information about medieval Italian architecture. Others use it to find things to buy. If they are looking for number 12 white Nike sneakers, you should be interested in them. You're more likely to be able to make money from people who are already looking for specific products.

It is not impossible to sell to information or entertainment seekers. It is just much harder. First, the information you have to offer would have to be so good that it keeps them on your page long enough to become interested in the products advertised alongside the information. Go for the buyers directly. It is much easier.

You want to find people who are ready to buy something. How do you figure out what they're looking for?

Well, Google's long history as the leading search engine provider has provided them with a virtual goldmine of information about what people have been searching for for the past decade or so.

Do not sign up for taking surveys online, ad clicking, tutoring or providing a service like dog walking or selling your own art work online, especially not if you have to pay to get started. At the very least consider them temporary. Yes, they may begin to produce income quicker, but they all require you to be personally involved. Once the involvement stops, the pay stops. I want you to stick with programs that continue to pay even when you stop working. This is especially important if you are young and have a lifetime ahead of you to build a passive income stream.