It’s not all that difficult to make a few dollars each month from your online activities. Most affiliate sites pay in U.S. dollars and a quick $5 to $10 is just fine for those who live in countries where there is a high conversion rate. This can actually work out to a couple hundred or more in local currency. However, this amount really isn’t worth the time or the effort for most people. That’s why you need a plan. Here are some of the key money making tips that should be included in your strategy.

Open A Payment Account:

There’s no point to joining a whole lot of programs without giving them somewhere to send that hard earned cash, now is there? Payment differs by program but, by and large, there are a few common methods.

1.  PayPal is one of the more recommended payment options and is accepted by most online merchants. While it is quite easy to access, you should note that users in some countries are not allowed to withdraw their money. If this is you, you can still accumulate your cash in your account and spend it online.

2.  Moneybookers is being lauded as the European alternative to PayPal. There are a number of ways to fund your account, from credit cards to wire transfers, and they are available worldwide so there are no limitations on withdrawing your funds.

3.  E-Gold has been around for a while and is still accepted by many online merchants. The downfall of this program is that, while you can easily transfer funds between users, you need to go through a third party to withdraw funds as cash. E-Gold is only recommended if you plan on using your earnings online

There are other online payment methods, such as AlertPay, but it may be worth your while to stick to the main players. Some affiliate programs will offer to pay by Check or Money Order. If you want access to your money ASAP then this may not be for you, but it’s a good option for those who prefer to see concrete evidence of their earnings. However, the associated fees might make it more profitable to look into another payment method.

Get An Email Address:

Once you sign up for any online program, you are going to start getting a lot of emails. You may be given the option of having your own Site Inbox but I would strongly suggest having your emails sent to your own mailbox. That way you can have everything conveniently in one place. Of course, you don’t want your personal email address being cluttered by endless messages. Get an address that you intend to use strictly for online earning activities.

You’ll need one which offers a huge mailbox, such as Gmail, and the ability to filter your incoming messages, such as Yahoo or Mail2World. Small accounts tend to fill up very quickly, and the last thing you want is a bounced money-making email.

Join Only As Many Quality Programs As You Can Handle:

The most common mistake you can make is joining too many programs. I understand…it’s easy to get overly excited in the beginning. You’re convinced that you can keep up, but eventually there’s just too much to do. The end result? Complete frustration and a profit of exactly $0. The key is to join only a few recommended programs.

If you’re online very often, you might want to consider a “Paid To Surf” program or two. You’ll undoubtedly have to download a mildly annoying toolbar, but you won’t have to do anything else while you surf normally. If you don’t mind a little work, you can go for a few “Paid To Read” or “Paid To Click” programs. This won’t make you the big money, but you can make enough in a month or two so that you won’t have to pay for the rest of your efforts out of your own pocket.

Construct A Spreadsheet:

How are you planning to remember each and every program that you’ve joined? The best way is to construct a spreadsheet. Include the name of the site, your user ID, your passwords (especially if you have a different one for each site), what the program involves (reading email, clicking links, etc.), the value of each action, payout levels and your referral link. It’s also a good idea to update your current earnings at the end of each month.

Re-Invest Your Earnings:

If you’ve been following the steps so far, you’ll have quite a little list of high quality programs going. You would have joined these as a free member…which is how it should be. However, once you’ve actually started earning some cash, you’ll want to put at least some of it back into your memberships. Why? Paid memberships often come with benefits, from no minimum payout levels to higher earning opportunities. Simply put, you can earn a lot more as a paid member and it’s usually quite cheap to upgrade.

Build Your Own Site With Your Own Domain Name:

Remember when I said that you should include all your referral links on your spreadsheet? Well, you’re going to need them now. Yes, you can make a decent amount from just participating in the programs you’ve joined, but the real money lies in building your downline. What does this mean? Your downline includes all the people who have joined using your referral link. You then earn a small percentage when they actively participate in the programs.

You’ll want as many people as possible joining under you and that’s why I keep emphasizing that you join only quality programs. You’ll only make money from your downline for as long as your referrals stay active, and they’ll only stay active if the program is good. But how do you get the word out? You build your own website of course, and you can do this in a number of ways.

If you have a program such as Macromedia Dreamweaver, Microsoft Frontpage, or any free alternative, installed on your computer you can construct your own pages from scratch with minimal difficulty, or you can download free templates from the web and just add the content. If not, a number of hosts offer at least a basic editor that you can use online. One of the better online editors is offered by Yahoo Geocities.

Now, you may choose to go with a free host and the decision is entirely up to you, but there a few disadvantages to this approach. Firstly, most reputable free hosting companies offer packages which include extensive advertising (banners or pop-ups) that may detract from your site. Secondly, some free hosts are not reliable and you stand to lose your site when they either fold or switch to paid packages with no prior notice.

If you prefer using a free host, use a host that has been around a while and has a good reputation. We would recommend either Geocities or Tripod but you can do a simple search on Google to find one that may be more suited to your needs. Whatever you decide, a domain name is a must. You want a name that people can easily remember. If you have any experience with website design or you’re a quick learner, we would highly recommend that you purchase a domain name from a registrar who offers free hosting such as GoDaddy, download free design software (and maybe a simple template), and build your own pages. A major point to note, search engines don’t like link farms (read more in the last section).

Get Some Products:

So you’ve followed the above steps…now what? Well, if you’re satisfied with what you’ve gotten so far then you don’t have to read any further. If you want to boost your earnings significantly then you’re going to have to learn how to be a salesperson…and to be a salesperson, you’ve got to have something to sell. You can try to come up with a product of your own. For example, I could have taken this information, made it into an e-book and then charged you for the privilege of reading it.

However, it’s often easier to just sell someone else’s product and keep a share of the profits, i.e., become an affiliate. To do this though, you have to know your own capabilities. While you may be tempted to go with bigger brand names or very high-paying affiliate schemes, you must face the fact that everyone else is going to think just like you. This is where the concept of niche marketing comes in. Determine your target audience and join selected programs that would be of interest to them. For instance, if you are targeting webmasters, you would want to affiliate yourself with sites which offer domain names, hosting, software, etc.

Marketing e-books is also a good starting point. There are a number of sites that offer free e-books which you can either give away as an incentive or resell and keep all the profits. However, many of these have a minimum price at which you can sell the e-book individually and this can be quite high. Our best advice… put together a package. This will make it more attractive to potential buyers and you can be more competitive with your pricing.

You should always give your visitors as much information as possible about the programs/products you are referring them to. You will have a better chance of someone following one of your links this way rather than just having a pretty, but uninformative, banner or ad.

Promote Your Site:

Congratulations! You’ve made it to the final step of your journey into the world of online earning. All you have to do now is promote your site and you can do it without paying a cent in advertising if you so choose. How? Well:

1.  Most of the bigger Search Engines will allow you to add your site to their directories for free. There are a few things you must do first though. Remember when I said that Search Engines don’t like link farms? A link farm is essentially a site that has no actual information and just a list of links. If you have a site like this, Google (and other major search engines) will very likely refuse to add you. If you’ve followed my advice and given your users enough information then you’ll be safe. Now, I want you to look up these terms online – Meta Tags, Keyword Density, and robot.txt. You need to know about these things and correct any mistakes in your site before you submit it to the Search Engines. Note that the time it takes for your site to be added to each directory varies.

2.  Traffic/Hit Exchanges are one of the most popular ways to get traffic to your site. You can upload your website URL to the ‘Paid To Surf’ sites you’re a member of and assign the credits you’ve earned. Don’t bother to do this with Autosurf sites. No one actually looks at the ads on these (would you if you were given the option?). You’ll want to use Manual Surf sites so that there is at least the possibility that a visitor may be curious about your site and visit it. A variant of this is the Banner Exchange where you place a banner on your site and you earn credits each time your banner is viewed. This can bring in additional traffic but it’s not one of my preferred methods.

3.  There are quite a few sites that allow you to post Classified Ads for free. Remember though that your link will go down as one of many and there may not actually be a lot of people visiting the ads site.  Seriously, when was that last time you visited a free classified ads site online? You may bring in a few visitors but don’t let this be your main method of advertising.

4.   There are so many E-zines out there now that it’s becoming a really cost-effective way to advertise. Ad space is often cheap and, in some cases, you may even find an e-zine owner who is willing to post your ad for free in exchange for a service or reciprocated ad space on your site.

5.   Paid to Read Sites: Huh? That’s right…you heard me. You can use the same sites that you’re a member of to advertise your referral links to other members. This is especially effective if you’re advertising other paid opportunities. After all, the members are there for the same reason that you are…to make money.

Well, that’s it. I sincerely hope that you’re successful in your online earning ventures. What’s my final piece of advice? If you want to reel people in to your site, it’s always a good idea to use bait. Offer some free stuff. It can be anything, as long as it’s free….and it’s good. Don’t offer anything that you yourself wouldn’t like to have.