Make Money Online: From A College Student's Perspective

Making money online is the goal or dream of many, whether a college student, working mom, or retired military soldier, but it's not always the end result. It's not exactly the easiest thing in the world to accomplish, but it's not an impossible feat.

When going to college, having a full- time job can be hard, so most students choose the part- time job route, but even still, it can be hard to get a schedule to suit your class schedule. And, sometimes school things come up that may coincide with your work schedule; what do you do then?

Working online to make gas money and play money may be a good solution, but it's not going to be an easy, quick fix for money.

As a college student, I've been playing around on the internet trying to make money online since August 2007. It's currently been about six months, a long sixth months, at that.

I started my search for online money when I quit my job at a retail pet store, and because I still live at home, I decided that it was ok to take a few semesters off working to focus on school. It didn't take long to realize that I needed money to help pay for my dogs' food. As I had purchased a new puppy before I quit my job, my parents weren't going to keep up her large appetite and medical upkeep.

I started my search for making money blogging, when I found ProBlogger. I looked around a little bit before I found the Job Board, and an ad left by HubPages, which soon introduced me to online Blogging and Squidoo.

I'm going to attempt to discuss a few tools to making money online from a student's perspective.

The HubPages team has created an easy database that allows you to write creative articles, called hubs. You can insert pictures, videos, and links to help make the hubs easier for readers to read and keep attention, as large blocks of pure text can be hard to keep up with.

But, how do you make money on HubPages? Well, easy. You can make money three different ways.

1. Google Adsense: Google ads are places strategically throughout the hub.
2. Ebay: You can add an Ebay capsule in your hub to show readers items for grabs on Ebay that pertain to your hub topic, by using an appropriate keyword.
3. Amazon: Like, the Ebay Capsules, you can add an Amazon capsule and choose relevant Amazon item by keyword o ASIN number.

Basically, in order to make money on HubPages, you'll need to sign up for a Google Adsense account, Ebay affiliate account, and an Amazon Affiliate account.

As for how you actually earn the money, it's simple. 60% of the time your codes are in place, 40% of the time HubPages' codes are there. Any clicks or purchases during your 60% are all yours! You get paid by the particular affiliate program, not HubPages.

Join HubPages Here!

You can choose a number of different blogging sites to start a blog; I happened to choose Blogger.

I like using Blogger to host my blogs in every way except the free, pre- fabricated layouts. You can easily fix this problem by either creating your own or higher someone to create a layout for you. Otherwise, I'm a big fan of Blogger.

You can add Google Adsense, so again, an Adsense account is profitable. You can add HTML to the layout as well, so signing up for an account with Commission Junction, can be helpful; you'll be able to sign up for various programs and affiliates that you can post clickable banners on your blog, just don't over do it.

The good thing is, that if you already have the Ebay affiliate account with HubPages, then you're already signed up with Commision junction. Now, you just have to go through and pick a few other programs to sign up with.

Squidoo is definitely different than HubPages; they both have their pros and cons, which vary between person. It's up to you to find your own pros and cons.

This site allows you to add text, Flickr pictures, videos, polls, dual modules, Amazon and Ebay modules, as well as a number of other affiliate program modules.

When writing on Squidoo, you don't have to sign up for any outside website, meaning you don't have to sign up with an accound with the Amazon Affiliate program, Commission Junction, or Google Adsense. You get 50% of your sales, while Squidoo gets the other 50%. As for Google Adsense, you get your revenue based on a tier system- let's say the goal is to have your Squidoo lenses with higher ranks in order to get the top tiers.

When receiving your payment, you recieve the payment from two months back, meaning you get paid for November sales in January. And, Squidoo actually pays you versus affiliate programs.

Join Squidoo Here!

Remember that when making money online the options are endless. Try to avoid scams and qet rich quick schemes, because they just don't pay off.

Other places online that you can make money include:

• Selling on Ebay
• Craig's List
• Writing on Helium

When writing online for blogs, HubPages, Squidoo, or other website services that allow you to write articles, remember to be original, unique, and have fun!

As a student, if you're looking to make money online, the options I've laid out are great ones to attempt, but don't count on making a living on the revenue. These sites are just great ways to make a little cash while you focus on your studies.