Earning money online is a very broad topic, as there are
so many ways people can go about making money online. In
fact there are over 19 million pages on Google for the
exact search term make money online, and you can bet
the guy whose page is #1 for that search term makes a lot
of money online as a result!

At the most basic level, people make money online selling
various products. Some do this through sites like eBay,
where they sell actual products (whether second hand
products they already own, or things they pick up cheaply
from yard sales or flea markets, or things they make
themselves). Of course, there is a lot of work involved
in selling this way! Other people want something a little
more hands off.

It is becoming increasingly popular to sell downloadable
products online. These include eBooks, audio files, or
video files. Some people have a great idea for their own
product which they can then market online. It is possible
to write your own informative eBook, or create your own
educational audio or video files (using software that is
relatively cheap these days) which you can then market
online. If you do not know how to create a product of
your own, you can outsource through one of the numerous
freelancing sites that are now online. It is often easy
to find someone who will create a great product for you
for a very reasonable price.

What if you have absolutely no ideas for a good product?
Simple, sell someone elses! Again, there is more than
one way of going about this. Some people source cheap
goods from dropshippers or wholesalers, and sell them
online for profit. Others utilize the power of affiliate
marketing online, which is basically selling someone
elses downloadable product and receiving a commission
for doing so (often these commissions are quite good,
running as high as 75%, while others are somewhat lower
but have a great conversion rate). Selling affiliate
products removes you from having to actually create a
product yourself or pay someone to create it for you.

Another option is becoming involved in a MLM business and
marketing it online. MLM businesses have been around for
decades, and work because they offer several commission
tiers, and excellent products (look at a company like
Amway, for example, which has been around for decades and
is still going strong). The Internet provides a new way
for MLM business owners to find qualified leads and build
their businesses.

One of the biggest advantages of online businesses is
that they have much lower startup costs than traditional
bricks and mortar businesses. For a person who has
decided to market affiliate products online, all they
need to do is sign up with an affiliate company like
Clickbank, set up a free blog or two, and accounts on
several social media sites, and they can get to work
earning money. Sure, it does require quite a bit of hard
work before the money starts coming in, but many people
have made full time careers of affiliate marketing alone.
Others make enough money in affiliate marketing that they
then go on to create their own products and get
affiliates to help promote those products.

For anyone who wants to earn a little extra money, the
Internet is a great place to do it. There are many
avenues available for those who are willing to put the
time and effort into succeeding.