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The UK Times Online recently discussed its ideas for the top ten ways to make money online. Most of these are not going to bump you up into he next tax bracket, but it offers a good survey of how many folks are making money online. A couple do offer the ability to make you the next multi-millionaire, but I think it best to think of these as throwing some extra cash your way instead of the key to hitting it rich.

My comments on the methods they picked are below, but here is the original article on 10 ways to make money online - Times Online. Most of these are self-explanatory, but I had never heard of getting paid for frequenting message boards and social networking:

1. Social networking- Apparently Yuwie will pay you a proportional percentage of its advertising revenues, so the more page impressions you receive for your page, the more money you receive. Interesting concept, but I wonder if the rewards make it worthwhile. On the other hand, if you’re already a big social networker it might be worth checking out.
2. Blogging- The best way to make money blogging is probably telling other bloggers how to make money. Aside from that, most bloggers are probably only meeting their hosting costs, if that, and earning little other money. If you do want to earn money by blogging, you need to be prepared to post at least daily (if not more often), and commit to a solid year of quality posting before you start seeing any real returns. Some subjects will pay better in advertising dollars than others, especially ones with "money" in there somewhere.
3. Message Boards- I had never heard of this, but some start-up message boards pay ringers a few cents for each post to get the ball rolling. The article says popular recruiting sites are webmaster-talk and Digital Point.
4. Stock Photography- The article mentions sites like iStockPhoto and Fotolia. I discussed this with a professional photographer who did not think the hassle would be worth the effort. If you are a Flickr junkie though, constantly uploading pics to your account, it might be worth it to give it a try and see what happens.
5. Surveys- Most people I’ve seen comment don’t seem to think completing surveys is worth it. The ones who tend to make money succeed in pyramid fashion, where they get paid more for referrals signing up and filling out surveys rather doing so themselves. If you try it out, make sure to use a junk email account, keep calendar track of any trial offers you sign up for and cancel on time, and download a free form-filler software to save you a little typing.
6. Games- Second Life and Moola were offered as examples. While I always see articles about the possibility of making money on Second Life, I am skeptical. I suspect it takes a great idea and likely a bit of programming knowledge to achieve any success. I also wonder how much longer Second Life will be around, I thought these games tended to have a half-life of only a few years. Moola looks like a home version of a game show. If you successfully win thirty games in a row against other opponents you win a million or ten million or something ridiculous. Not surprisingly, no one has claimed the prize yet.
7. Freelancing- Probably the best bet of all the ideas in my book. You do need a skill, though, so it may bar entry for some. Probably best if you are in a field that doesn’t face overseas competition. The best part about this is that it can become a job
8. Poker- It is a gamble. Literally.
9. Selling- Yes, of course selling online could make you money. The devil is in the details, but they do mention the classic "buy retro thrift shop items and eBay" suggestion. My personal suggestion is below, that of combining selling with blogging or social networking.
10. Doing Something Crazy- Discusses the pay-for-pixels way to become a millionaire and like ideas. Not exactly a blueprint for making money online. I think the point is to be creative.

Bottom line is that most of the ones listed are relatively low pay and the ones that have better potential are not much good unless you really put some time and effort into producing a good product. One area where many successful bloggers could earn a better income is by combining a couple of these ideas.

Niche bloggers (or even social networkers), in my opinion, should consider selling niche products if they have a broad reading base or even a decent base of people interested in that market. Directly selling products, rather than relying on advertising or affiliate links may turn a much better profit while providing readers with legitimate value in purchasing a product recommended and sold by someone they trust. More work, perhaps, but everyone who has done it knows that blogging is a heckuva lot more work than it looks.

Recently Argonautica was honored to be granted an interview with well-known B-movie actor Carl Weathers. During the interview, Carl Weathers expounded upon his own brand of personal finance.

*    *    *    *

Arg: Hello Mr. Weathers, it’s a pleasure to meet you.

CW: The pleasure is all mine. First things first, do you have the honorarium? (Arg. hands Mr. Weathers the envelope). Excellent! Next, there’s no need to call me Mr. Weathers, that’s my father. Just call me Carl Weathers.

Arg: Uh, okay, Carl Weathers. The public first discovered that you had valuable lessons to offer on frugality by your appearance on the first season of Arrested Development. You suggested such tips as taking advantage of overbooked flights, saving leftovers for stew, and utilizing free drink refills at Burger King. Was that frugality an accurate reflection of your philosophy or was it just your character talking?

CW: Oh, no, that was all me, baby!

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Between prior commitments and wet weather, I haven’t been to the flea market lately, so I don’t have much of an update on my idea of buying something and eBaying it. I did go the other week and snap a picture of a near miss, though. Let me start by showing you the place I frequent:

It was an interesting day. First aisle, first booth, I saw a gigantic gaudy box that had a two foot tall singing bobble head of “Bocephus,” otherwise known as Hank Williams, Jr. My apologies if you own one, but it was the most gloriously god-awful thing I have ever seen. I craftily continued on, surreptitiously pulled out my camera, and then casually sauntered back, camera in hand, expecting to bag a picture of the craptacular beast. To my horror/amusement, a couple was in the midst of purchasing the monstrosity, so unfortunately I could not obtain a photograph in situ. I did snag a shot of the bad boy off an eBay listing, but it really just isn’t the same without the box. Even so, here’s the contents:

Even without my Hank trophy shot, I soon cheered up. Making my way down the first aisle I came across a marvelous old candlestick/crank phone. It was in great shape and would have cleaned up nicely, but the seller wanted $125. Even assuming I could have bargained him down to $100 or so, I think I would have taken a loss without doing a complete restoration, which is not a project I was willing to take on. The seller let me take a pic for your appreciation, though, and here it is:

Next week I’ll elaborate on the essential tools in your flea market bargain hunt, and hopefully display some treasure I picked up for a song. Maybe even a Hank Williams, Jr. song.

Not exactly groundbreaking advice, but I saw this over at MARSHALL LOEB’S DAILY MONEY TIP today.

Those store gift cards seem to be ever more popular for workplace gifting, and the tastes of co-workers rarely reflect our own, so I thought this was good advice. He offers a roundup  of three ways to ditch the unwanted card and sell or trade it for something you do want.

Basically it boils down to two services that specialize in this (I’m sure there are more) and the perennial favorite of eBay. The two that specialize in exchanging these cards for others you might want (or cash) are:

• Cardavenue.com
  

• Swapagift.com

Can your hobby make you money? Of course it can! In fact, your hobby could make you a millionaire. Just look at what David and Andrew Whelan, father and son hobby metal detectorists, discovered one cold afternoon:

Nothing like becoming a millionaire one afternoon after stumbling across a cache of Viking treasure a thousand years old.

But let’s be more realistic. Most folks wielding a metal detector are not going to be able to retire off of their finds, but even so, they still get the health benefits of being outdoors and the stress relief in addition to the finds they do make. So they’re happy because they are doing something they enjoy while pocketing the occasional valuable. That sounds win-win to me.

Not everyone has a hobby that can easily segue into a money maker. However, if you try hard enough, you are sure to find ways to begin making a little back from doing what you enjoy. Obviously arts and crafts can be sold, collectibles can be traded, and I even have a neighbor that got into painting and bodywork on the side and now charges many thousands for paint jobs, but what if your hobby is something goofy less obviously marketable, like medieval folk songs.?

Esoteric knowledge can be a money maker as long as you can figure out who wants it and how to deliver it to them. There are undoubtedly online groups into that sort of thing where, with a little participation, you could quickly establish yourself as a source of knowledge. If not, start a group yourself or even a website!

From there, you can write books (self-publish on Lulu.com, for example), book speaking engagements, get hired at the local Renaissance festival, become a resource for aspiring writers to add authenticity to their tales, etc. Don’t think it’s possible? I’ve seen all of these happen in a different context.

If you think your particular hobby is not one that can somehow make money, well, maybe you just aren’t being creative enough in how you are pursuing it. Get out there, become recognized, make contacts, and opportunities will show themselves to you. How can you beat a work at home business opportunity (depending on the hobby, of course) that is something you already love to do anyway? You can’t! Maybe one day you’ll hit whatever the version of Viking gold is in your hobby.