Ways to Make Money on the Internet

Become an Affiliate

This is the only way I've ever made money on the Internet and one of the most convenient. As an affiliate you refer your audience to various company websites, and when a sale is made you earn a commission.
You are the middleman (or middlewoman) so you don't have to deal with customer service, taking orders, etc. The companies you become affiliated with provide you with a tracking link to use to link to their site. That's how they track how many sales you've generated.
Almost all affiliate programs are free to join. Most cases its just filling out a sign-up form and the company sends you the links you need to use on your site .
The key is to choose a subject you love hobby, passion, topic, etc. and build a content-rich, informative site or blog about it.
Finally, you can go to sites like AssociatePrograms.com to search for related affiliate programs to join and promote from your site.
Here's an example. Say you love fishing. You could create a "how to" site on fishing that provides all the tips and techniques one needs to become a successful fisherman.
you have to do research on SEO search engine optimization to learn how to get your pages ranked high in Google, Yahoo, Live, etc.
Then you'd make money by joining affiliate programs that offer fishing related products. Link to these products from your site and earn commissions when your visitors buy through your links.
You can also earn money from programs like Google AdSense or having other Webmasters advertise on your site. The possibilities are endless! Tens of Thousands of people make a living from affiliate marketing.

Getting Listed in Google, Yahoo and Bing

Getting listed in Google and the other popular search engines is one of the best effective ways of directing free, targeted traffic to your website.

Below you'll discover what the search engines look for when determining your page rank so you can optimize your pages for best results. This is often called SEO or search engine optimization.
To this day, A lot of my traffic comes from the major search engines.

How Search Engines Determine Your Rank

Before you try to add your site to the search engines, you should understand what they look for when they decide how to rank your site. Just because you're listed doesn't mean you'll get traffic. You have to make sure your site is search engine ready.
The general idea is that most engines use a technique to determine keyword relevancy. The technical term is called an "algorithm", and each search engine has its own unique algorithm that it uses to rank pages.
Generally, this magic formula consists of your page title, overall body content and the number and quality of links pointing back to your site, how long people stay on your site, etc.
It's important to note that every engine is different. Some may look at inbound links (number of people linking to you), others may place more emphasis on your body content.
You also need to know about meta tags. These are hidden descriptors that appear at the beginning of your HTML code, inside your <head> tag. They may be invisible to your visitor's eyes, but search engine spiders can read them.
many search engines no longer use these tags to help rank pages, but you should still include them because they do use them to display information about your site.
For example, whatever is inside the <title> tag is what the search engines will use as the title of your site in the search results. You want to use keywords that describe your page and entice visitors to click.

Sell Your Own Product (Hard Goods)

This is often the most common method people think of when it comes to making money online. In fact, many people think it's the best way to earn a long-term income. Since having your own product means you directly control how much profit you make. You are in charge of everything. Selling your own product means you are responsible for customer service, collecting orders/payments credit cards, developing and shipping the product, etc.
Thanks to companies like PayPal, the "collecting payment" is easier.
In addition, it's usually a good idea to setup some kind of business name,
Selling a product can be a lot of work, especially if you're new to marketing. However, once those sales start rolling in, you can build a steady, long-term income. Sell Your Own Product (E-Goods)
(short for electronic good) is a digital product that can be easily transferred or downloaded via the Internet.
No need to worry about running out of inventory because the digital format rewards you with an unlimited supply of your product!
Lots of Entrepreneurs sell e-goods because they are much easier to manage. You don't have to ship the products. Customers can either download the product immediately after ordering, or they can be sent via e-mail.
E-books are the most common type of digital good sold on the Internet. They are often created with software like Adobe Professional (PDF) and then uploaded to the Net with ease.
Jim Edwards created a useful guide that shows you how to create your own e-book in 7 days.
When I bought the book, I had to admit I was a little surprised. I am normally very suspicious of these "how to" books because they often contain regurgitated facts you can find anywhere on the web for free.
Jim's book is different. There are over 180 pages of useful information and even interviews from other authors sharing their experiences with selling their own e-books. So you can learn and get ideas from them.
Jim also gives you excellent advice on how to pick the right topic for your e-book. So if you're thinking, "I don't know enough about anything to write a good book." Think again. I bet Jim will change your view and fill your head with ideas.