Earning Money Online - The Secret to My Success
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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 from my profile page. 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.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
Cash in on someone else's hard work.
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CommentsLoading...
This was very helpful, LWR. I learned a lot just by reading this. You make it sound very possible to make money doing what you do. I still have much to learn and hope that I can make even half of what you make. I did sign up with Wordpress by haven't really done anything with it just yet. I just got back into writing for Ezine Articles just as a backlink to my Hubs, but aside from that, I'm a bit hesitant to really try anything else. Thanks, LWR. I look forward to learning more from you.
Great hubpage!
Although I haven't been online as long as you have, I am earning a part time income from all this, mainly adsense and affiliate marketing income, but I hope to try out some of my own ebook products in the coming year to see if they work and hopefully get my article directory off the ground to realise a full time sort of income and I do agree about the multiple income streams and that's something I've been looking at for awhile.
What's interested me about all this online earning stuff is that you can find out all for free online how to do it, although it takes time and trial and error, but that's the way I prefer!
I bookmarked this Richard, I have several of your help hubs. Thanks for another one. I have a lot to learn.
I had exactly the same path getting into the online world, ebay -> sites to promote my ebay -> affiliate marketing ->web design-> hubpages and content writing
now, i do all of them. i enjoy the variety, plus lots of freelance web design and a small web hosting business
I also experimented with freebie sites BUT unfortunately i cant disagree more about their usefulness, yes can be very profitable as the referrer but people get screwed all the time, either forgetting to cancel or legitimately canceling just to find out the business is disreputable and charge anyway, some of the businesses make it down right impossible to cancel by never picking up their phones etc.. its a nightmare, isnt something that should be pursued by anyone without great organizational skills, poor credit and tons of patience on the phone
This hub is fantastic. The information is raw, thank you for being so open and honest. It's a change.
Nice hub with some good advice. I really like the honest way that you have presented the information. I'm sure it will inspire others to emulate your success.
Very informative. Thanks for the information. Really help a lot, as I'm new to hub pages. Like others, I think I have so much to learn. Thank you again.
You break it down so clearly. Thanks!
Funny thing - we've never thought of selling stuff on ebay as earning money online. And of course it is!
We have been working on various online projects for 2 years. Ebay sales has been our biggest (or least small, to be honest) earner.
This is a fantastic hub. I've been bumbling around online for too long. Your residual income streams would very nearly pay my living expenses. I'll be back to research how to do this from your other posts as well. Like the other commenters, thank you for your post!
Thanks for writing this hub. I learned alot. The key secret to a living making money online that you told here and no one else will say is that it takes diversification (multiple streams of income) to the monetary results you want. Excellent hub here!
Hi Richard, I book marked this and will sign up for project too. I have to tell you that I have learned from you, this is a great hub for us, beginners and more experienced. Thanks so much, Teri
Numbers talk. That's the best thing in make money online world as a guidance. Useful info. Thanks on introducing project payday as well
Good hub Richard, as others have said its nice to have someone openly and honestly tell it like it is. Will have a look at some of your suggestions. Cheers.
In regard to making money online, this is one of the best hubs that I've ever read. Great job! I'm a fan.
Hi, Richard... You do well! I'm going to bookmark this and come back to it after work. I'm in the same position - have a regular job, but this additional income would be nice. Nicely done.
Hi Richard; Very interesting and informative for a newbie like me. More people all the time are looking for ways to make money. What your making can make a difference in most of our lives.
Great hub! You write very well and there is a lot of good and honest information here.
It is amazing that you maintain 6 active blogs. How often do you post on them? Do you find that it is important to stay active to maintain readership?
I like CJ a lot more as well. I really could not find anything I would want to write about from ClickBank.
Nice hub! Richard, I have learned quite a bit about HubPages and just getting started making money online from you, Mark Knowles, Darkside, Sunforged, and others, but I surely appreciate the honest info. It is tiring to try to determine if who you are reading out there telling you how to do it is actually making anything themselves.
With regard to affiliates, I recently found Linkshare as well. It was by accident because a product I found and wanted to promote happened to have their affiliate set up through them.
Thanks for this!
I wish my hubs could earn as much. I would stop worrying about paying my rent. Trouble is I tend to write about what I know and like rather than being commercial...at least I think that is where my problem lies.
Thank you - I will read your hub and look into things. I do have a blog and an email ezine with some thousands of subscribers. Just need to pull it all together. Thanks again.
I haven't got any idea about all this and found your hub great because it gives it all in plain English with very good advice. Thank you very much. Many a time I was tempted to sell books on Ebay and always shelf it but now knowing a lot I will. Thank you again
Thanks for writing so explicitly and honestly, your theory of multiple streams of income is thought-provoking, I can't wait to start make several rolling snowballs. I am curious whether people can really make a living online, huh… we'll wait and see.
Thanks Richard. Will bookmark.
Thanks for your honest and useful hub, it's a good reality check for most people here including myself!
Wow, cool. You know your stuff!
I can't thank you enough for this information. I have been researching all aspects of making money online for several months. Most of the information is hard for a beginner to understand and can be confusing. Your insight is encouraging. I have been forced into being a sahg(stay at home grandmother), lol. However, after leaving my job we have been in a definite financial strain and I really need to be able to generate some income from home while I care for my grandaughter. Thanks for your honesty, Lisa
Thanks for the tips, still trying to master the art of niche blogging. I first discovered making money online with Project Payday. It really does work- I made $350 in one day- that tickled me to pieces. Going to check out your other hubs.
Thanks for this. I've always enjoyed your hubs and am glad someone had the gall to put some real dollar amounts on what they're earning. Great inspiration to ewbies like me.
Richard - Again I love reading your Hubs - You offer great advice and information. Thank you so much for sharing. I am getting there. I have about 40 hubs, 3 blogs and one website and I am earning money not quite a dollar day yet... like you said it is alot of work, time and energy but I hoping it will pay off in the long run!! Congratulations to you on a job well done
Great Hub! I think you were honest and straight up about what's going on. Looking forward to reading more of your stuff.
nice tips hub... thx 4 share..
Thank You, I am new to this! I joined HubPages because I love to write, but making money while doing what I love would be really terrific! I have only been online for 4 weeks, and joined Adsense, but have earned zero! I can't thank you enough for the wonderful article.
I've been on the Internet for years and have made some Income from some of what you said to do, but find it is very time consuming and you can not expect to make money fast. Thanks for the info.
I believe that you have given the most detailed information on what you do to make money online than anyone else. Thanks.
you are so right on the money when it comes to making money online, I have been in the online business for sometime now.. and it will take sometime for the money to come in.. but like have said if you keep it the money will come...all of the online that you have list I'm a part of them!!!I ebay will work if you work at it....I have been with the hubpage for about one year... and I have made 11.00 dollars
it cool for me...because I know that it take time to make online online... I wish people would stop lying about make so much... I like what you had to say about online business and making money form them.. Thank you!!!
Good information. You've got to have good strategy and great information if you want to have succeed on the web. I know I found the best for me after almost two years trying earn some money on the Internet.
nice tips... but Project Payday only available in the usa :(
Great Info. It really helps to know all the things I could be doing, how to go about getting started and knowing that there actually are people out there making a living on the internet. Thanx!
This is good hub, thanks
Lots of great info here, I have spent a lot of time reading hubs, etc...to try and learn about this. So I have neglected writing. Think its time for me to jump back in and try some of your ideas. Thank for the great hub. Dixie W
thanks for your encouraging advice
it is a nice hub , Thanks ?
Thanks for the info and laying it all out for me/us. Good strategy. Nice layout. Keep up the good work.
Nice hub. Good content and well explained. Multiple streams of income is the key.. Neil
If I may add...I have learned that patience is vital to earning money online. This doesn't happen overnight, and as written, multiple streams of income is very important.
Great Hub; I'm looking forward to reading more of your writing. You always provide great tips.
Great Hub with great info! Thanks for sharing.
Sometimes, Honesty is hard to find in the IM world but I found Richard's article enlightening because it really put some reality into the IM business when around us there is so much hype. Thanks for sharing.
Hello, i like your hubs,very interesting. I joined your fan's club, and want to invite to visit my hubs and join my fan's club. Thanks!
Great hub! good information for all of us that are trying to make a living online.
Excellent post! I really enjoyed reading it. I will be back for more!
It was very generous of you to be so open and honest about your experience. I will check out your wordpress blogs. Your niches sound interesting. Congratulations on all of your success. You deserve it.
yeah,good
it is great !
I will keep you posted!
This is really fact, based your personal experience. Wonderful hub. thanks my friend.
Great read, thanks.
Thanks for sharing and making it so even I can understand. I really don't think I'm slow under normal circumstances until I try to read some of these help hubs and then I go WHAT? Thank you for making sense.
Richard
Thanks for your candor on this hub.
Many hubbers that write about making money online don't give details on the amount and what effort it takes to do it.
hi there LWR, I like reading and learning on you hub. I was so excited to know more how i can start earning money online as a newbie here in hubpages and adsense. I'll follow your links then so i can learn more.
Its a shame project payday is only available in the US.. BOO HOO!
Thanks for the hub though x
Hey Richard,
Thanks for the post. It's nice to see an honest 'no hype' article about making money online. I've been doing it for about 2 years and I totally agree that you just have to stick at it - like life, there's no real short cuts.
I'd like to share a bit of advice from one of my online heros, Steve Pavlina. Regarding earning a living online, he says to just concentrate on 'creating something of value for your readers' . With a little bit of luck and a prevailing wind you will eventually start attracting the right kind of traffic to your site!
Great Hub! Thanks for sharing your methods of earning money. Everyone wants to make some extra money!
Very interesting hub. Very well written and down to earth, if the term is correct. I have to read all the others now.
Thanks for the hub and the details on the amount of money earned.
Your aggregate amount of money earned would be around $10 an hour if you put in a regular work week of 40 hours.
This is above the minimum wage but way below earning a real living. I wrote a recent hub on hubpages and your hubpage income confirms it.
I am trying to seek out the successful make money online people with my hub, please take the poll and contribute a comment.
Thanks
Great hub, LWR. I can definitely see why it has such a high ranking.
Just found you today, but am looking forward to reading more. Really agree with the idea of multiple streams of income. Speaking of which, how do you feel about craigslist?
Thanks very much for sharing this important information with us. You are so right about all the scams out there turning people off.
Thanks for helping me to re-focus. :)
Greg
Thanks for sharing such a compelling hub. Congratulations and keep up the great work!
Really interesting stuff. Can't wait to try some of it out.
Hi livewithrichard,
I'm getting my continuing eduction for earning online from your hubs. Thanks a lot! More power to your writing online!
excellent, 'real' post. I loved the reminder to have multiple streams of income.
Thanx livewithrichard the raw truth is always better rather then those make a million in 1 hour scams...
i have a lots of ways in making money online..but i don't have an idea which is the best.????
Thanks again I can't tell you how glad I am that I found you.
I've been messing around on the internet for just over a year now and apart from ebay (which I've got the hang of now) I haven't earnt a penny. First thing I'm going to do is go to my email account and unsubscribe from every single get rich quick guru that keeps filling up my inbox and scrambling my brain. Then I'm going to focus on following your advice.
Thanks for the info. Much appreciated. Clear and concise. Precisely what I needed. Voted up.
Great well planned out hub. I see how you placed pertinent information for your readers as well as pointing to your own interest which allow your readers that opportunity as well. This really helps a person like myself to develop my own niche here on the web. Thanks :)
Earning money has online never been this easy and transparent. You would find great tips on how to make that dream amount every month. So go ahead and click here for more details and open floodgates to your online income. All the best.



































































Don Simkovich 2 years ago
Thanks for writing so honestly and spelling out everything quite well. Btw, I haven't heard a blessed penny from Amazon here and eBay turned me down. I'll try again. I do earn consistently with Adsense and I've learned a lot about it the past two years. Thanks for writing this.