Earning Money Online - The Secret to My Success

You Can Earn Money Online

I’ve been earning money online since 2002.  The amount I earn varies from year to year but has never surpassed my earnings from my real job as a permit consultant.  And it’s not because the opportunity is not there, it’s because earning money online takes just as much effort as a real job, sometimes more.
Now many people don’t believe you can earn money online because they have been desensitized by the constant bombardment of spam emails claiming that “you can make $50,000 in just 60 days, all on autopilot so you never have to lift a single finger.” 
Such claims are bogus and the only ones that are earning money like that are the ones selling those bogus hype dreams.  Those claims detract people from reality and when they don’t make the kinds of money promised within a few days they quit, which is probably a good thing, and move on to something else that will further disappoint them.

Primer on Multiple Streams of Income

What You Need To Know

If you really want to earn money online then you have to understand a few things.  First, it takes time and patience for money to start rolling in.  At first it may come in as a few pennies a day but if you keep at it, it will snowball into a few dollars each day.
Second, to earn money online you cannot rely on just one method.  Remember the term Multiple Streams of Income (MSI). Simply stated, MSI is having several sources earning you money at the same time, the more source the more potential for money.  The trick is not to spread your self too thin at first and get disappointed with the results.  If you can create a source that earns you a steady $1 a day, you can mimic that source as many times as you like until you are earning an amount that is comfortable with you.
I can see the wheels spinning, so slow down.  It may take several weeks or even months for one source to start earning you a dollar a day but once you learn the ropes to earning that dollar, it will be easy to clone it.  In a few moments I’ll give you some tips on how to get started.
Third, you have to enjoy what you are doing or you will quit and someone will move right into your space earning that dollar a day that you should be earning.  Only work with sources you feel comfortable with.  Only promote products that you would or have used.
Have you ever heard of the Beardstown Ladies?  Several years ago a group of senior ladies in Beardstown, Illinois started an investment club. Each lady would contribute a few dollars each week into the investment fund and then they would sit around together and discuss what they would invest in.  It was unanimous that the ladies would only invest in companies that produced the products that they themselves used regularly. As it turns out, this was a very wise move because soon their few dollars a week investment was worth millions in mutual funds.  The reason it worked for these ladies is because they stayed within their comfort zone. Stay in your comfort zone and it will work for you too. You probably won’t have the same results but at least you can feel good about your self for promoting quality goods instead of snake oil.

How I'm Earning Money Online

I’m going to tell you how I’m earning money online.  I’m not going to tell you how much I’m earning but I will give you a range because it’s never a standard amount each month. Plus, I don’t want to discourage or encourage anyone to mimic me based on what I’m doing.  These are only meant as examples and you should only choose to work with what feels right to you.

Ebay

The very first dollar I ever made online came from selling items on Ebay back in 2002. It was by accident that I even got started with Ebay but once I did, I was hooked. I had a bookshelf full of paperback books that I knew I would never read again so one day I decided to give it a go and try selling them on Ebay. I was already a buyer on the site so I was familiar with how things worked. My first listings were very plain, no templates or much of a description. I would always go with a 5 day auction and always started them at .99cents. I listed 20 books and all but 5 of them sold for more than what I listed them for. I went back to my bookshelf and started listing everything I had. Ebay was a boom for me. When I ran out of books, I went to the thrift stores and flea markets and purchased more. I could get them for a quarter and sell them for a dollar all day long. Eventually, I moved to other products, like clothes and toys, computer items and collectibles.
In my first year selling on Ebay, I earned roughly $1,200 and that’s only because I started in October. Every year since then I have earned between $3,500 and $6,500. I could earn more but it takes time to locate products and list items. I don’t want to have an Ebay store because I don’t want my house or garage cluttered with inventory that may or may not sell. Ebay is and has always been a consistent earner for me and adds between $200 and $400 every month to my Paypal account.
Learn more about how I earn on EBay here.

Niche WordPress Blogs

In 2005 I decided it was time for me to give it a try with my own websites.  After learning how to promote my Ebay listings, I was fairly confident I could promote items on my websites.  Boy was I wrong.  At first, I was using a website to promote my Ebay listings and my own products. My links consisted of one mention on my Ebay “About Me” page and a link on a couple of my free blogger sites and a few friends sites.  It took that site almost a year to start earning a dollar a day from Google Adsense, but I continued.  I made a couple other sites too that were promoting niche products from Amazon, Commission Junction and Clickbank. Those were a little better at earning money but not much.  In 2007, I sold all 5 of my sites to a friend and decided to work only on blogs. When I sold the sites they were earning maybe $100 a month all together.
Since then I have been creating niche Wordpress blogs for other people as well as myself.  I started a series of hubs on how to start a blog and get it ready to earn money.  You can check them out by going here.  Wordpress is the perfect medium to promote products.  They are completely in line with the new dynamic web 2.0 and very easy to work with.  I prefer using self hosted blogs because of the SEO value that comes along with owning your own site.
On these sites, I only promote Commission Junction products and a few Clickbank products.  I’m more comfortable with Commission Junction because I feel their products are more reputable and the companies they represent are well respected and trustworthy.  Some people like to set up Wordpress blogs by placing a few products on them and adding an RSS feed aggregator to automate the postings, but I don’t do this.  I write my own posts and product reviews.  I try to keep the same voice in everything I write. 
Right now I have 6 active niche Wordpress blogs earning anywhere between $1 and $8 a day.  I also own several domain names for future blogs.  I explain how and why this is important in this hub. A rough guesstimate would put my total earnings for my niche blogs at about $800 a month.  Some months are lower and some are highe

HubPages.com

I was looking for a way to promote my niche sites and I came across hubpages.com. I only read a little bit about the site and jumped right in. Of course my first hub was shot down for being overly promotional and with several re-edits I finally got it right. I received a lot of help on the forums from some great hubbers and decided this would be a great place for me to plant some writing roots. I learned the ropes real quick and started producing quality hubs. I’ve hit several milestones which always inspires me to do even more. I participate in the forums, welcome new hubbers, and offer advice to anyone that asks. I write articles about whatever interests me. How to articles and top ten lists do real well for traffic. Informational articles do well with Adsense. And product reviews and summaries do real well with Ebay Partner Network, Amazon, and other affiliates.
I brought along all my SEO knowledge and learned some more here. By putting it to good use, my hubs are earning between $4 and $6 a day from Adsense, $2 to $3 a day from the Ebay Partner Network, and $15 to $20 a week from my Amazon affiliate. I don’t even count the Clickbank or Commission Junction earnings since I can’t really track them as I promote them at various places online. That is roughly $240 to $350 per month here on Hubpages. If you’re not a member yet, then I invite you to become one and see how well you can do. I have a link to sign up for Hubpages membership at the bottom of this page.

Project Payday

Project Payday is a site where people help each other complete “freebie offers” and earn a commission for doing so. I started with Project Payday about a year ago just to see if it was legit and it is. If you surf the internet at all I’m sure you have come across some offering that says something like “complete our sponsor offers and earn a new 42” Plasma TV.” Well on Project Payday, people help each other complete these offers and share in the earnings. How? Every offering has a real dollar amount. I would find offerings that needed 15 referrals to earn $600 and then I would find and pay people $20 if they helped me with a referral. I would pay out $300 and make $300 all for asking for a referral. People could complete a free trial offer and get paid $15 to $60 for it. The catch is, in order to complete a free trial you have to enter your credit or debit card info. You could always cancel the free trial before the end date and you will still earn the money. Just make sure you take on the offers you want. I made several hundred dollars working with them but I had to put up the fees first. I made my profit with it in just a matter of a day or 2. I did this for a while but the time commitment it took for the site was too much for me so I found the next best way to earn money with the site is to just make referrals. For every person that just goes to the site and enters their email address, I earn a $1.50 commission. Now my goal is to just get 10 referrals a day to make a little over $300 a month. If you want to get in on this sweet deal then go here and give them your email address and you will automatically become an affiliate to start earning the same thing as me.

Recap

Recap:  Sometimes these earnings are considerably less and sometimes they are much greater.  These are just averages and before taxes…you are paying your taxes, right?
Monthly earnings from Ebay = $200 - $400
Monthly earnings from niche Wordpress blogs = $600 - $800
Monthly earnings from Hubpages.com = $240 - $350
Monthly earnings from Project Payday = $225 - $315
Total monthly online earnings $1265 - $1865