How can you make money online?

You've probably seen the ads before, the get rich schemes and the guarantees of making thousands of dollars a month all while working online posting links. And usually someone wants to get some money out of you so that they can share their "secret" with you. Well I have done some research, and hope to impart on you what I have learned. And hopefully I can save you some time, and definitely some money.

What many people have probably heard of are all these Google cash kits and software packages you have to use your credit card to buy. Stuff like Google Cash, Payday or whatever else they are called are NOT affiliated with Google. They lure you in with claims along the lines making like $400 a day, and ask for your information and credit card number. It's an initial payment of about $2 to cover shipping and handling for some useless software(I think a book too). But here's the kicker, after a month they also start to charge your card around $60-$80. These "too good to be true," "get rich quick" schemes are in fact scams.

So what's all the fuss about? Well, it's something called Google ADSENSE(check the Links section to get there). It's FREE to sign up for. You should never have to pay for it. Basically you are given codes to put on your website, which display ads, in the form of banners, or text links. Both the aforementioned ads come in two flavors:pay per click(CPC) and cost-per-thousand-impression (CPM). The first one is where you are simply paid everytime someone clicks on one of the ads on your site. How much you get paid per click varies depending on the relevancy of your site to the ads as well as how much the advertiser is paying for those clicks. Now, according to Google's Adsense Terms of Service we are not allowed to disclose how much is actually made per click, so keep that in mind. The second, the CPM ad, is where you are paid 1/1000 of the price that the advertiser bids for a certain ad. Adsense will determine which is the best type of ad to place on your page(this paragraph has been revised based upon the information in this thread).

So how can you get money because someone clicks on a link? Well, it's advertising my friend. It's a big business, as is Google, so what better way to get some business than to advertise with Google. The companies pay Google to get the word out, in the form of Adsense, and then people will display those ads on there sites, and every time someone makes a legitimate click there's the possibility that the company can sell a product or service.

You will need your own web page, or blog to put the ads on. This could be a dilema for some hopefull online money makers. So if you're not so technologically inclined there are plenty of tutorials online, which is how I learned, and I'll try to throw a few sites up in the Links section for you. Also if you want to make a website, you'll have to either buy a domain or you can get free hosting. A free host is nice to get your feet wet and figure the whole website making deal out. Having a paid domain would have plenty of advantages though, like more bandwith and file space; you're URL would be easier to remember and domains usually rank higher in searches. This would mean more visits, and therefore more clicks/impressions.

Finally, if you do get set up with Adsense, DON'T CLICK ON YOUR ADS!! It's against Google's Terms of Service Policy. You're also not supposed to tell others to click on your ads, confuse people into clicking, or otherwise artificially generate clicks. You know, nothing to tricky or fraudulent, Google can terminate your account for any reason or no reason at all, so don't give them one.

Google requires websites displaying Adsense to have a Privacy Policy. There must be a link to one on every page on your site. Check out my privacy policy up above on the right to see an example of what one should look like.

Feel free to email me at:cdl216@yahoo.com