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.