Are you interested in making money online? Before some people ever get started they find themselves running the other way. With so many misconceptions regarding the internet and making money, it can be difficult to get on the right path.

Here are five misconceptions to avoid:

1. There is only one way to make money online. While this is what many people believe, it is far from the truth. From affiliate marketing to private ad sales to freelance writing, there are many great ways to make money using the internet. If you only consider one option you may find it difficult to make any progress. In many cases, making money online is a trial and error process. If the first thing doesn’t work, try another and so on.

2. It is simple and fast. If you believe that making money online is a “get rich quick” strategy you are totally off-base. It is easy to believe this when you look at how simple it is for some people to earn big time money. But remember this: they started at the bottom just like you. Those who are making good money online did not do so early in their career. If you want to reach the top you need to put in your time.

3. It takes a lot of money to make a lot of money. While it doesn’t hurt to have money to invest, you do not need thousands of dollars to become a success. In fact, if you have enough money for a domain name and hosting you have all you need to get started. As you begin to make money you will have more to invest. When it comes to getting started, though, you do not need a lot of financial backing.

4. It is all about luck. There is no denying that luck plays some part in achieving online success. This may be the case, but you cannot fully rely on it. Instead, you need to make your own luck through hard work, patience, and determination. If you stick with your plan long enough, you will find that you are making your own breaks.

5. The internet is too crowded – there is no room for me. Although this sounds silly to some people, others believe it with all their heart. Even though there are millions of people attempting to make money online, there is always room for more. With so many ways to make money, as well as many different approaches to each method, you can carve out your own niche in no time at all. Don’t let anybody tell you that the internet is saturated. There is enough room for anybody who wants to get involved.

If you believe any of these misconceptions you are holding yourself back. There is no better time than now to make money online. Don’t let anything stand in your way.

After much consideration, and several weeks of comparing traffic sources, I decided to run a “test campaign” on Facebook. The results were just about what I expected from my first attempt using Facebook advertising on a new site.

Here are the details:

1. I decided to run the campaign with my auto insurance quotes service. While this is a competitive niche, the ability to target specific users allowed me to focus on those who would be most interested in my offer.

2. Although I went back and forth on my daily budget, I set it to $25 and let well enough alone. Since I only planned on running the campaign for two days as an experiment, I didn’t want to get out of control with my spending.

3. I targeted both males and females in 10 states between the age of 18 and 25. Why 10 states? The affiliate program that I run pays more for some states than others. To ensure the highest possible profits, I opted for the highest paying states – each of which pays $13 or more per zip submit and subsequent click.

4. Within a few hours, my budget had been reached and 41 clicks were registered. Now that Facebook had done its part, it was time to see how well the traffic converted. After all, the whole point in buying $25 worth of traffic was to earn more than this in the end.

5. After giving my stats a few hours to update, the results were in: I earned a total of $42 and change from the Facebook traffic. This worked out to a profit of $17. When compared to the amount of money earned by “big time affiliates”, this is nothing. But for a small test with a “difficult to crack” niche, it was quite promising.

Of course, one question remains: would the campaign scale if I decided to spend $100/day or more? If so, and the numbers hold true to those above, a daily budget of $100 should lead to a profit of $68/day.

With such small numbers it is difficult to say if this plan has long term sustainability. When I find out, you guys will be the first ones to know!

Are you interested in making money online? While there is tons of information and advice available, many people never consider the power of “print” books. Even though you may not have enough time to read an entire book in one sitting, picking up tidbits here and there can go a long way in achieving long term success.

Here are five of the best books on making money online:

1. Make Money Online: Roadmap of a Dot Com Mogul by John Chow

- John Chow earns more than $40k/month with his blog – and this is just a small portion of his income. Learn how he does it, and what you need to do to follow in his footsteps.

2. The Recession-Busting Guide To Making Money Online From Home by Clark Covington

- Does the recession have you down in the dumps? This book is a great pick-me-up!

3. ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income by Darren Rowse

- Darren Rowse is known as one of the top “make money online” bloggers. With this book you will learn his secrets to success, plus much more.

4. Internet Riches: The Simple Money-making Secrets of Online Millionaires by Scott Fox

- Full of interviews with people, just like you, who have struck it rich thanks to their online business.

5. How I Made My First Million on the Internet and How You Can Too!: The Complete Insider’s Guide to Making Millions with Your Internet Business by Ewen Chia

- A step by step guide that teaches you how to setup your own internet business.

What do all of these books have in common? For one, they are all written by people who have achieved large amounts of success with their online businesses. Along with this, and most importantly, they are great teachers. Making money online takes time and dedication, but once you are done reading these books you will feel like anything is possible.

Rather than continue to rely solely on the internet for information, consider buying one (or all) of the books above. Soon enough you will have a better understanding of what it takes to make money online.

No matter what you are blogging about, there is a chance that you will run out of ideas from time to time. After all, creating regular content on the same subject can be difficult. Although this can be a major problem, there are a few things you can do to keep your blog fresh.

1. Find guest bloggers. With this idea you no longer have to be in charge of writing every last post. Instead, you can hire one or more people in your place to upload content. Not only will this keep your blog fresh, but it will give your readers a different point of view on your subject matter – which can be a very good thing.

There are a couple of ways to compensate guest bloggers. If you have the money, you may want to offer a flat rate per piece. On the other hand, some are happy to submit posts for nothing more than a link back to their site. Either way, both parties are benefiting.

2. Ask readers what they want. If you do not stay in touch with your audience it can be difficult to know what type of content they are most interested in. Make your next post something similar to “What do you want to learn more about?” or “Ask your Questions Now.” Not only does this serve as a post itself, but it will help to generate future ideas.

3. Look at your traffic stats to determine which blog posts from the past were most popular. From here, you can do one of two things:

• Write another post based around the same topic – just make sure you give it a different spin. If your audience liked it the first time there is a good chance that they will feel the same way the next time.
• Do a round-up post. This is when you simply list popular articles from a particular time frame or on a targeted subject. For example, you could do something such as “The Five Most Popular Posts from Last Month” or “Popular Posts on Freelance Writing.”

4. Write a review. When you are having a difficult time generating your own ideas you can always review a product or service. In addition to giving you an idea for a blog post, you may be able to make some money if you use your affiliate link. Of course, your review should be based on a product/service that serves your niche.

The next time you are out of ideas and think that your blog is on its death bed, turn to the four tips above. They will help you keep your content fresh while generating new ideas.

Are you looking for a simple yet exciting way to make money online? The more options you consider the better chance you have of finding something that works. One path that you do not want to overlook is freelance writing. Over the past five years, more and more people have decided that this is a good way to earn some extra cash. To take this one step further, quite a few people earn a full-time living by doing nothing more than writing online content.

Before you get ahead of yourself and proclaim this as a simple way of getting rich, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is English my first language? Most clients are only going to be interested in writers who answer yes to this question. If you don’t know the first thing about the English language it makes more sense to consider another way of making money online.

2. Can you write content that others are willing to pay for? Remember this: mostly everybody who is looking to hire a freelance writer has the skills to produce some sort of content. What they are looking for, though, is something more professional. Can you give it to them?

3. Are you willing to put in the time? If you want to make money as a freelance writer you have to work hard, day in and day out. Along with this, don’t expect to get rich after a couple days on the job – it can take several months or longer to land a few clients and receive steady work.

Does all this sound good to you? If so, you are probably ready to get started. To get a better idea of the types of jobs that are out there, visit these websites:

1. All Freelance Writing

2. JournalismJobs.com

3. Craigslist

4. FreelanceWriting.com

5. FreelanceWritingGigs.com

When compared to other ways of making money online, such as blogging and affiliate marketing, freelance writing may not seem that glamorous. That being said, this is still a great way to generate online income without many startup expenses.

If you are looking for some assistance, the following freelance writing blogs are a great place to start.

1. ChrisBlogging.com

2. Beyond the Rhetoric

3. Freelance Switch

4. Freelance Folder

As you begin to research the freelance writing industry you will find that there are quite a few resources to pull from. This is particularly true if you are primarily interested in writing for the web.

At the very least, consider the benefits of making money online as a freelance writer. You may be surprised at what you find!