Net Hustlin'

Gather.com is a free site where you earn points for posting comments, posting pictures, making groups, and inviting friends. It's just like any other social networking site except it pays you money. Currently each point is worth .02 cents. The amount of points you receive for each activity depends on the popularity of your posts. Right now they have a promotion where you can get a $20 gift card just for getting 5 friends to sign up.

Your points are redeemable for gift cards unless you get over $50. If you get over $50 you can redeem them for cash via paypal.

A writer on Associated Content wrote an article saying that after creating an avatar, making a group, and posting three articles she had already written she had over 200 points when she checked her account the following day. It took her about an hour to do, and the points keep accumulating as long as her group and articles receive traffic.

Gather is also surprisingly easy to use. The layout looks clean, it's easy to navigate, and it loads fast. Earning points definitely doesn't feel like hard work on the site.

Guitarvids.net is a site with free guitar instruction videos.

Guitar vids allows you to put your own ads up on the page with your instructional video. You can put up anything - from adsense, to an affiliate program, or even a banner for your own site. You keep all the profits you generate from the clicks on your ads.

Right now their Alexa ranking isn't great (120,000) but they just started in December 2006, so they have been growing pretty quickly.

I think this site is a good idea and I expect it's traffic to keep growing. Since it is new this is probably a great time to post your videos. They don't have a lot of videos up yet so by posting just a few videos you can receive a lot of exposure. I have seen some videos on the site which have over 10,000 views. This also seems like a fun way to earn some extra money.

This is their page that explains how you make money on their site:
http://www.guitarvids.net/?id=206

Constant Content is another site where you can get paid to write articles. Web publishers use Constant Content to find articles for their sites and blogs. They pay a fee to use your article on their site.

There are three different ways that the article can be bought: full rights, unique rights, and usage. Full rights articles are usually sold at around $30. Basically the publisher can do whatever they want with the article, including calling it their own. Usage rights sometimes go as low as $10, but they can be resold an unlimited number of times and you receive a byline when it's published. Authors set their own price for each type of use of their articles.

Here is a graph on their site that explains the difference between each:

















To start selling your articles you first need to register at their site. Anyone can register as an author, but they have the option of rejecting an article if it is poorly written. They'll usually accept it if there are no major flaws.

Constant Content gets 35% commission on each article that sells. It's important to keep this in mind when pricing your articles.

Parking domains is big business in 2007. Almost every good domain name is either taken or parked. To find a good name for your site you either have to be really creative or have a lot of money to spend in an auction. Although I don't like parking domains since it makes it harder for small webmasters like myself to find good domain names, I can see the income potential. That's why so many people are taking a part in the trend.

Here are a few tips on how to park domains effectively:

Registering a Domain Name

To park a domain you must first come up with a name for your site. A good domain name is short, simple, and keyword rich. Having a good keyword will determine how easily your site is picked up by search engines. An excellent keyword can bring traffic to your site just from being typed into a URL bar (I.E. "beer.com" or "sex.com").

To find keywords related to your site you can use this webmaster tool. Type in any keyword you are looking for and it will show you how many times it has been searched for in the past 30 days. It will also show related searches based on your keyword.

You can also find and register expired domain names. The upside to parking expired names is they usually have a steady flow of traffic, a Google page rank, and incoming links. You can go to Godaddy to find domains that are about to expire. If there is a site name you want but it is already registered, a search on the site Verisign will tell you when its due to expire.

After finding the name you want I recommend registering it on Godaddy. They are cheap and reliable, especially if you are looking to buy in bulk. Right now they have domains for $1.95.

How To Park Your Domain

Parking a domain is relatively simple. You can park a domain while your site is under construction, while it's being sold in an auction, or just for a little extra money. Parking your domain will give you extra money for the ads that are clicked on your site. Most of the people I have talked to park their domains with Sedo. It's completely free and easy to use.

All you have to do is register with Sedo or a similar site. Once you register, you will be given a DNS address (Domain Name Server). All you will have to do is change your current DNS to that address. Once that is done the site will automatically appear with relevant ads.

www.freefonetones.com is an example of a parked site.

How Parking Domains Will Make You Money

Take my old blog for example: two years ago I had a blog that made around $10 a month.
It had a page rank of 2 and a few incoming links. It also had a small but steady flow of traffic. I wasn't able to keep up with the blog so I let the name expire the following year. Most of the links to the site are still on the internet and it still shows up in Google search results.

Once my domain name expired it was parked by someone who probably paid $1.95 on Godaddy to register the site for a year. Even if they only make $5 a month, they are making that money for doing literally nothing. It's also important to consider that someone who jumped that quickly into parking my site is probably a professional with hundreds of other parked sites, all of which bring in small amounts of money that can add up quickly.

Even sites that haven't been established can get traffic if they have good keywords. They will be easily picked up by major search engines like Google.

Selling A Domain

Auctioning a good domain name can also be really profitable. If you have a great name that is keyword rich you can make hundreds or even thousands of dollars from it. Here are a few sites where you can auction your domain name:

Ebay

Domain Name Aftermarket

Afternic


If you can think of a great domain name, there really is no limit to how much money you can make. You may have heard about sex.com selling for over 14 million in 2006. As thousands of sites are being registered every year webmasters are willing to pay a premium for a good name.

There's a game site called moola.com that gives you a penny when you sign up. You then play games against other people for their penny, double or nothing. If you win, you will have two cents which you can double by playing another game. You keep doubling your money by playing games until you reach $1,000,000, or until you lose. If you lose you get another penny to start again. You can cash out at any time as long as your account is over $10. Hypothetically, if you won 20 games in a row, you would have $10,485. The only thing they ask is that you watch a 20 second commercial before playing the game.

To date I have only made 28 cents. If I had won all the games I have played I would have well over $40. If you think you have more luck than I do you can sign up and try your hand at it.

You need an invitation to sign up. I have three left that I can give out. You can get one here

If my invitations have run out by the time you read this you can get an invitation by posting in their forums on the main site. Invitations usually arrive within a week.

Second life is an online virtual world where players can get together to chat, play games, buy clothes, even attend real-life schools. Second Life currently has over 8,000,000 online "residents", 1,548,131 of which have logged on in the past two months.

Second Life also has its own currency, called the Linden, which players can exchange for 3D products such as clothes, jewelry, weapons, and more. Almost anything you can buy in real life is being sold in Second Life.

The current Linden exchange rate is 240 Lindens per 1 US Dollar. Most clothes and smaller products sell at about that price, although depending on where you shop, prices can rage from 1L - 2,000L.

Although it's not guaranteed that you will make money owning a store in Second Life, there are people who have been successful. Jennifer Grinnell, owner of the store Mischief, quit her job as a dispatcher when she began to make more from her virtual store than she did at her full time job. You can read more about it in Wired Magazine. There have also been many others who found success owning virtual stores, including companies such as T-Mobile, Sony Ericsson, and Playboy.

You need to have a basic understanding of graphic design before creating items in Second Life, but being an expert isn't required. Secondlife.com has free modifiable templates to start you off, and you can buy modifiable textures in many stores.

If you are interested in owning a store without doing graphic design, there are warehouses in Second Life that sell bulk items which can be modified, transfered, and copied. SLexchange.com lists items like these and more.

Creativity is one of the most important aspects of being a designer and store owner in Second Life. There are hundreds of stores that buyers can choose from. You should have an original idea that will make you stand out from the rest. If you can get people talking the money will follow.

Second Life Insider is a blog that discusses everything that is happening in Second Life. While not business-oriented, I recommend reading it because it will give you an idea of what is popular in SL and what buyers are looking for.

There are plenty of ways to make money online, and you can even pay off credit card debt in the process. Many people will look for a low interest credit card if they're not able to pay off their charges quickly, and student credit cards are a great option. If you're charging more than you're making, maybe you should try a Second Life shop!

If you spend a lot of time on sites like myspace and facebook, you may be happy to hear that there is a similar site that will pay you to network.

Mylot offers incentives to it's users for taking part in discussions, uploading new pictures, and for referrals. The pay out is pretty small. It averages around 4 cents for a comment and 10 cents for a new topic. The minimum payout is $10, so you could expect to get paid every month by using this site. Although this isn't much money, if you enjoy doing it, it can be worth while.

One thing I like about it is that they have a good hold on spammers. A lot of people who use Mylot seem genuine, not like they are trying to make a quick buck. Therefore if you are looking to network and meet new people, using Mylot can be a way to do it while getting paid. They are ranked 6,000 on Alexa, which means that there is usually a lot going on and a lot of members online. They currently have over 100,000 members.

The downside is that their lay-out is bad. It's hard to navigate and it looks disorganized.

Here is a screenshot of their discussion page:



I wouldn't go to Mylot expecting a second income, but if you are looking for a way to network while earning a little extra on the side, I would definitely recommend it.

Trying to make good money is not as hard as it seems. Many people are able to put extra money into their savings accounts while still being able to pay off their bad credit credit cards. Many people don't realize that, much like airline credit cards, some sites will reward you for doing what you already do!

Brickfish is a site that offers prizes for user-generated marketing campaigns. According to the site, “Our platform enables consumers to engage with brands through user-generated content… Campaigns are designed to reward consumers for engaging with brands by creating content, reviewing, voting, viewing or propagating branded content to the web.”

Brickfish has already raised $11.2 million in marketing campaigns.

Brickfish campaigns support multiple types of content such as video, art, photography, and blogs. There are also campaigns that offer prizes for giving the best reviews and making the most comments.

The "I Need Hairapy!" campaign, which is running through August, gives you a chance to win a hair consultation and hair accessories valued at $2,000. All you have to do is upload a picture of your worst hair moment. You win by receiving the most votes.

There are six campaigns running right now, including "Show us your artwork!" for a 1,000 scholarship, "My favorite rock star is..." for a $350 gift card, and "What's in your handbag?" for a Be&D bag.

It's free to sign up and the contests are fun and generally easy.

Link:
http://www.brickfish.com

If you have a webcam and knowledge in any field, you can make money giving advice online. Giving good advice is a great way to make money, especially if it's about something complicated like credit card offers or finances. Many people have questions on, say, the validity of low interest credit card offers or how effective student credit cards are for young people.

Here are a few sites that are looking for help:

Kasamba
As an expert on Kasamba, you set a rate per minute for your live advice. When someone needs your services they give you a message and you set up a time to talk. They can choose to talk to you either through e-mail or webcam chat.

While looking through the site I saw a profile of an expert who charges $20 per minute. She had 240 ratings, which means that at least 240 people payed her $20 a minute for advice. Obviously there is money making potential in this.

Jyve
Jyve is also a site where you charge an hourly rate to give advice. The difference is that you get customers by answering questions in a chat room. If some one likes your advice, they can tip you or start a private session with you. When you enter a private session you begin to earn the hourly rate that you set.

Ingenio
You can list your services on Ingenio including your expertise, training, and the rate-per-minute that you charge. The difference with Ingenio is that it connects you with people who are looking for advice over the phone. Although this isn't an online opportunity, I think it is worth listing because it is something that you can do at home with the same relative ease as working on a computer.

Don't be discouraged from applying if you don't have an advanced degree. There are many things you can give advice about that don't require college degrees. For example:

Dating
Gardening
Collecting
Travel
Astrology
Numerology
Gift giving

and more.

So try it out, you might surprise yourself.

Here are ten ways to promote your site or blog that won't cost you a dime.

1. Post on forums and comment on blogs.

Posting your site on forums and blogs will both bring in traffic and help your search engine ranking. You don't have to spam hundreds of forums asking them to go to your site. Putting your link on a forum can be as simple as including it in your signature.

Keep in mind that you should never comment on a blog for the sole purpose of promoting your site. Spamming blogs could be potentially damaging to your reputation, which will cause you to lose traffic in the long run. Your credibility as a writer will take you a lot further than your Google page rank.


2. Add your site to directories.

This is one of the easiest ways to increase your link popularity, which helps your page rank on most major search engines. Here are some of the most popular directories:

DMOZ (open directory project)
DMOZ is one of the most popular directories online, ranking 368 on Alexa. Being listed in DMOZ means that you'll automatically be listed in Google's directory. It takes a long time to get listed because each site is reviewed by an editor, but it is well worth it.

IllumiRate
This directory is pretty similar to dmoz. It's free to submit your site and each site is reviewed by an editor not only for the quality but for the reliability of the information.

MavicaNET
A huge directory with over 370,000 sites and 31,000 categories. They also have 30 supported languages.

The Directory Guild
A directory with PR5 and PR3+ on almost every sub page. They ask for a reciprocal link when you post your site.


3. Issue a press release

If you have an article on your blog or news site that is truly newsworthy you might want to consider issuing a press release. Sites such as prleap let you submit free press releases to major search engines.


4. Provide testimonials.

If there is a product you own that has worked for you, you can e-mail the company with a testimonial. Ask them to put a link to your site underneath your testimonial if they put it on their page.


5. Use networking sites.

It's important to have an online presence if you want to create a name for yourself blogging, or even as a business selling a product. Social networking sites such as myspace, linkedin, and facebook are the easiest way to do this. If you spend time networking with other people in your niche it's more likely that they will bookmark your site and want to hear what you have to say.


6. Advertise on your car.

Advertising on your car is a very low cost, high exposure way to advertise. For a $2 sticker you can advertise to hundreds of people a week. This isn't 100% free but the amount of exposure your site will get will outweigh the money you spend. Most people on the road won't write down the name of your site and go to it later, but there are people who will, believe it or not. This is why big-name companies like Foxtons and Redbull have jumped on board board with this method of advertising. It's especially effective if you are selling a product and want to create brand recognition.


7. Run an e-zine or newsletter

Newsletters will keep people coming back to your site. Some people like a site but just forget about it over time. A newsletter will keep your site fresh in the mind of your readers. Feedburner allows you to e-mail your RSS feed for free to people who subscribe.


8. Exchange links

Ask bloggers and site owners for a link exchange. Most will be happy to offer one if you have the same type of site. This will give you more link popularity which will make your site more visible on search engines.


9. Join a webring


10. Create an award for excellence

Create an award for excellence that you issue either monthly or annually. E-mail the winners with a banner or button saying that they have won and ask them to have the image link back to your site.

Trying to promote your site or business can be an arduous experience...unless you get the right promotional products and strategies. People love getting free things, so buy a stress ball with your site's logo for all of your friends or personalized coolers with your URL. If you're creative, you'll find lots of ways to promote your site.

A drop shipper is a business that stocks merchandise, sells it to you at wholesale prices, and ships the merchandise directly to your customers so you don't have to. You keep the difference between the wholesale price and the selling price. The plus side to using a drop shipping service is that you don't have to have to keep an inventory and you don't have to buy any more than you sell.

What you need to do first is decide whether you want to sell your products through e-bay or through your own online store. Then you need to find a reputable online drop shipper and begin to sell your product.

Try to search through numerous shops to find the cheapest inventory so that you can have competitive market prices while still making a considerable profit.

You also should make sure that they have a large quantity of their product in stock. They usually don't list the number of items on their sites, so an e-mail to your dropshipper would be wise before you decide to list it on your site.

Try to determine the product's demand before you list a product. Just because a product is a good deal does not mean that people want to buy it, which could cause you to lose money in the long run. This is especially important on ebay since they charge a price for listing a product.

Don't sell too much of the same product or brand. For instance, a site that sells PC's doesn't need 25 different Dells. This can confuse and scare away potential customers who don't know the difference between the Dell Inspirion 1501 and E1705, and probably don't care.

Check sources to find a reputable supplier. There are many scams out there that try to take advantage of people who don't know much about the business. These sites usually charge a fee for their services or price their items too high for you to make a reasonable profit off of them. If a site is asks for money before you can see their inventory, then it is a scam.

Vume
Vume (pronounced view-me) offers an ad revenue-share for pictures uploaded on their site. The pictures have to be 100% created by you. The upside to using Vume is it offers you a lot more exposure with their easy interface. The style of the website is much cleaner than some other sites offering the same service. The downside is that Vume is ranked 57,000 on Alexa, which is low in comparison to the others. They have only been around since April 2007 so they may see a lot of growth in the upcoming year.

Share-a-Pic
Share-a-Pic lets you put your own adsense on your galleries which means you keep the profits from the clicks. They are also ranked higher - 2,700. The downside is that the layout is horrible. There are annoying pop-ups and there are no member profiles or comment options. To use the forums you have to have at least 5 successful galleries. I'm guessing this is to keep the people who haven't made money from scaring off new users. Here is their 90's looking public gallery:














My suggestion is to link your galleries to your myspace, blogs, and other sites if you want to make money with this site.


Flixya
It has similar features to vume only with more traffic. There are comment options, member profiles, and rating systems for the pictures. You put your own adsense on the site, which means 100% revenue. The only downside is flixya also has their own ads up so the site tends to look flooded with ads.


Places to sell your photography

Royalty-free stock photography sites are the easiest ways to sell your photos on the web. Many web designers use their services. These are the three most popular sites that are hiring photographers:

Shutterstock
Buyers subscribe for a period of time and get unlimited downloads.


IStockPhoto
Photo prices range from $1-$15. Photographers make 20% of the profit.


Fotolia
Photo prices range from $1-$3. Photographers make from 33%-80%, depending on their rank


More information about stock photography is available at photosecrets.com

I have spent a lot of time searching the internet for ways to make money. I've seen a lot more scams than paying offers. I never gave my money to them but I did give my e-mail address out on a number of occasions to have it flooded with spam. I got off easy. Some people give their money to them unknowingly. Hopefully this will help you spot scams so it never happens to you.

I've been hearing a lot about forums that pay you to post lately. I did some research on various blogs and I see two forums getting good reviews. The first one, digital point forums, is good because it's been around for a long time and has many active members (#142 on Alexa). You get paid when you open a new topic and someone clicks on the ads on that page.
Here is a FAQ on their revenue sharing:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/faq.php?faq=dp_faq#faq_revenue_sharing


MoneyTalkPro is another forum that pays to post. They work on a point system - 4 points for each regular post and 10 points for promotional posts. Every point is worth $.005 each. Obviously you're going to need some dedication to make it work. I'm going to give the boards a try and i'll let you know how it works.
More about MoneyTalk's point system:
http://www.moneytalkpro.com/index.php?board=211.0

A word of advice: Just because these sites pay doesn't mean they pay good. I would only post in these forums if I were looking to post in a forum anyway, but I wouldn't go to these forums with the goal of having a second income. If you tried hard enough you might be able to make $2-$3 an hour, but you would have to work like crazy. A good idea might be to think of a good conversation starter and begin a new thread instead of posting like a madman.

Go to: Get Paid to Post In Forums II

To compete with youtube, there are sites that offer money to people who want to upload videos. Most of them allow you to make money with the embedded video you put on your blog, myspace, etc. Here are a few:

Revver
Revver inserts advertisements at the end of each video. They pay you 50% of the revenue from your video hits. If you share some one else's video and they get hits, you get 20% of the revenue for sharing the video, even if you didn't upload it.

Vume
Used to be eloof.com. They offer a revenue share for ads clicked on your video page. You can also upload blogs, pictures, and audio.


Lulu
"Get played, get paid"


MetaCafe
"Metacafe will pay you $5 for every thousand views your video gets on our site. Payment starts after your video reaches 20,000 views and has a rating of 3.00 or higher - which tells us that the viewers like the video. On top of that, the license to Metacafe is a non-exclusive deal - you retain ownership of your video. Metacafe helps build your brand by marketing your content and making you money.

What's the potential?

With well over 1 million unique users per day watching over 400 million videos every month, Metacafe is perfectly placed to deliver the most receptive audience to the most entertaining content. Whether it's something spontaneous in your home or something you've scripted, if it entertains, it has a place on Metacafe."

Any way you get an increase in income will help you get better credit. Avoiding unnecessary credit card offers and paying off your business and student credit cards can also help you raise your credit score. If you are able to control your spending, you'll never have to get credit cards for bad credit again!

Finding freelance writing work can be tough, especially for a beginner. Many would-be writers choke on the pressure to already have writing experience and an established blog before posting a resume or looking for work. There are sites on the web that are willing to pay you for your articles without a lengthy sign-up process.

Associated Content

Heres how it works: you sign up for free and you begin posting articles about whatever you wish to write. If they accept the article they usually pay between $3-$7. After the initial payout you make money with their pay-for-click system. In other words, you get $.015 for every hit your article receives.

Although it doesn't seem like a lot, there is money making potential. AC has a pretty good community of regular members with forums, commenting, and other networking tools. You also receive daily messages that tell you what the best paying articles are and how much you'll receive for writing a similar article.


Helium

Helium is also a community where you post articles for money. What separates it from AC is that Helium doesn't pay for an article upfront, instead it works entirely on a pay-for-click system. They are ranked in the top 10,000 on Alexa so the earning potential is there. They also have daily contests with incentives for writers.


Suite101

In short, a site where you receive a share of the adsense revenue on your articles, paid monthly.

This site is stricter than the rest, with performance reviews and a minimum article limit, but if you are serious about writing this may be the best site for you. Their featured writers receive a share of the adsense revenue not only from articles but also from blog posts, the topic homepage, and topic discussion. If you have the dedication to become a feature writer this can be a goldmine.