How to Make Money Online Without Spending a Cent

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Top 10 Ways to Make Money Online Without Spending Anything

How often have you thought, "There must be a way to make money online without having to spend any money"? Well just like you I figured there had to be ways to do it that wouldn't cost me the earth.

I was only interested in good solid legitimate methods. There are so many scams out there and often it is difficult to figure out what is legit and what isn't.

Well, I did the research and came up with 10 methods to make money online.

Some of them require a bit of work on your part but the benefits are that you can work in your own time, you can work from home and you don't have to spend anything to get started.

These techniques are often referred to as bum marketing but they all come under the banner of affiliate marketing or internet marketing.

Want to know where we learn to make money online? Head on over to Wealthy Affiliate University for all the latest info.

#1 Create a Squidoo Lens

If you don't know what Squidoo is then just take a closer look at the page you are now reading. This is Squidoo!!...or at least one page of it.

Essentially, Squidoo is a website that allows you to create your own webpage or 'lens' as it is called. There is no limit to the number of lenses you can create but each lens is specific to a topic.

The lens you are looking at now is about How to Make Money Online Without Spending a Cent but there are lenses about almost every topic you can think and they are all written by people just like you and me.

Sign up for our FREE 7 Day eCourse Today and Learn How to Make Money Online With Squidoo CLICK HERE FOR A FREE SQUIDOO ECOURSE

Squidoo is one of the easiest ways to make money online without having to spend any money. It is user friendly, very easy to learn and you can have a lens up and running in a very short space of time.

There are many ways to make money from your Squidoo lens:

1. Add an Amazon module.
2. Link to your own website which sells a product.
3. Become an affiliate for a product or company and link to their websites.
4. Sell your own products.
5. Add an Ebay module.

A good majority of the people creating Squidoo sites haven't any idea how to optimize their site. They believe that 'If you build it, the traffic will come'...but unfortunately that just isn't how it works. Some work needs to be done to get traffic into a site.

And as anyone who is into affiliate marketing or wants to monetize their website will tell you, you must have traffic coming in to make money.

Once you know what to do then the traffic will flow and the more traffic you have, the more likely you will start making money.

If you'd like step-by-step instructions on how to create a Squidoo lens AND learn how to make money from it then sign up for our FREE SQUIDOO ECOURSE

#2 Create USFreeAds

USFreeads is an online free classified ads site. You can place free ads on this site with a link to products (they don't have to be your own products). When someone reads your ad and if they see something they would like to buy, they simply click a link in your ad which takes them to another website(this doesn't have to be yours - it may go directly to one of your merchants) and if they buy a product from that site, you get paid a commission.

So the first thing you need to do is find a product to promote. The best place to start for this is Clickbank. This site deals with digital downloadable products like eBooks and software.

How this actually works:

1. Go to Clickbank and register - it's free!
2. Search through the Marketplace on Clickbank to find a product to advertise.
3. Go to Wordtracker to find keywords that relate to that product.
4. Find a keyword phrase that is searched for at least 100 times a day.
5. Go to Google and type in that keyword phrase surrounded by quotes. If the keyword has less than 10,000 competing sites then it is a good keyword to use in your ad.
6. Go to UsFreeAds and create an ad. You can do this for free although I recommend paying the $9.99 a month for the upgraded version if you can spare the money.
7. Create an ad using the keyword phrase in the title and in the description of the ad. Try and use an image if you can.
8. Go back to Clickbank and grab your hoplink code for the product you are going to promote and place it in the ad.
9. Save the ad and that's it!

Usually within a day or so Google should have crawled your ad and it will be up on the search engines. If you have chosen a good keyword that has little competition you will find the ad on page 1 or 2 of Google. To get it ranking higher you need to work on getting links to that ad.

#3 Article Marketing

Article marketing is the process of writing short articles and submitting them to article directories.

How Does it Work?

You write an article on a particular topic and add a byline at the end of the article that links to a website (not necessarily your own website) that sells a product. When someone reads your article and if they click on the link in your byline and buy a product at the website that the link goes to, you will be paid a commission.

Or alternatively, if you are linking to your own website, they may buy something and then you will benefit from the sale.

So how do you do it?

1. Go to Clickbank and register. It's free!
2. Search through the Marketplace on Clickbank to find a product to advertise.
3. Go to Wordtracker to find keywords that relates to that product.
4. Find a keyword phrase that is searched for at least 100 times a day.
5. Go to Google and type in that keyword phrase surrounded by quotes. If the keyword has less than 10,000 competing sites then it probably a good keyword.
6. Write an article about the product or something related to the product eg. Top 10 Tips for blah, blah, blah. You get the picture!
7. Add a byline at the end of the article about you or your website and add a link in that byline that goes to the website with the product you are promoting. Use your Clickbank hoplink or your website url if you have one.
8. Submit your article to article directories - eg. Ezine Articles or GoArticles.

Hopefully within a few days your article will have been approved and within a few days after that Google should have found it and be listing it in their search results.

One thing you really need to remember when writing an article is to make sure that you write quality content, use dot points and break up the paragraphs with white space, create a list in the article if its appropriate.

Make it interesting and snappy so that the reader wants more.

Note that some article directories like Ezine Articles for instance, won't accept affiliate links in the article or the byline. In this case, you will need to create your own website or blog to link to. See below for how to Start Your Own Blog.

#4 Start Your Own Blog

Blogs are a great way to make money and Google loves them because the content is constantly changing. If you keep your blog updated on a regular basis with at least 3-4 blog posts a week, Google will love it even more.

You can create a blog for free at either Blogger.com or Wordpress.com.

The best way to make money from a blog is to pick a niche and although it isn't really necessary it often pays to make it something you are interested in. It makes sense that you will be more likely to keep updating the blog if you are passionate about the subject.

Just keep adding unique content. Google will love you for it and rank your blog highly in their search engine. That in turn leads to traffic and sales.

Add Google Adsense to your website. You can place these ads on each page of your site. Whenever anyone clicks one of those Google Adsense ads you get paid. (Note: Don't ever click Google Ads that are on your blog. Google is pretty smart and knows that you are clicking your own ads. You will most likely get banned.) You should only add a maximum of 3 lots of Google Ads to a page. Any more and you will most likely get banned. Just be careful to follow the rules when using adsense, and you will soon find that you will have a good revenue stream.

You can also add product links to your site and start earning a commission. When visitors click on a link on your blog and purchase a product from that website then you get a commission.

Writing personal reviews for products is a great way to make sales. People love reading reviews before they make their purchase. If your review has value and is an honest and unbiased then you are more likely to have people coming back to your site for more.

You can get product links from the following sites:

- Commission Junction
- Linkshare
- Clickbank
- Shareasale
- Google Affiliate Network

There are also a number of sites where you can make money by writing reviews on behalf of advertisers. You can read our full review on each of these programs at Affiliate Blog Online.com

The first of these sites is Sponsored Reviews.com.Once you sign up with them and your blog is approved you can set about taking opportunities to make money. You can also become an affiliate of theirs to make extra money when other bloggers or advertisers sign up through the link on your blog.

I find Sponsored Reviews easy to use and I like the fact that they pay promptly.

Pay Per Post also brings together advertisers and affiliate bloggers. Again it is a matter of submitting your blog for approval and once this is given you can bid on any of the advertising opportunities that are available to you. Opportunities will be presented based on your blogs page rank and alexa rank.

I did find that a number of the opportunities available for our site were insurance or loan related but there are other opportunities once your page rank rises.

Review Me is another site that you can submit your blog to. With this site you have to either have to wait for advertisers to find your blog and decide if they want you to write for them. Or you can see if there is anything available in the Advertiser Clearing House. I have submitted blogs and be approached to write a few posts but work offered through Review me is few and far between. Not my preferred option for making money.

#5 Copywriting & Authoring Content

Do you have a bit of flair for writing? If you can string together more than two words then you may find that you have a talent for writing up content for other website owners.

Unique, well written articles are loved by Google and website owners are often looking for people who can write the content for them.

You can charge anywhere between $5 and up for an article. Usually the price is based on the number of words in the article. For a 500 word article for instance you could charge around $10-15 - maybe more, maybe less depending on your ability. If you are starting out, you might charge less just to get customers but as your reputation and good feedback develops you can start to charge more.

How do I get known?

There are websites that connect freelancers like yourself with people who are looking for writers to outsource some of their work to.

Some of more reputable ones include:

- Elance - This site is one of the best for finding work.
- RentaCoder - Note that although RentaCoder looks like it is only for software coders, it is also a place for content writers.

#6 Write an eBook

Do you have a bit of knowledge about a particular subject? You might be a great at scrapbooking or know everything there is to know about German Shepherds or maybe you are interested in the great outdoors and have a lot of experience bush walking and camping. This type of information is gold to other people with the same interests and they are willing to pay for your tips, techniques and knowledge relating to the subject.

Writing your own eBook doesn't require you to be an expert writer. You just need to know a bit about the topic and be able to explain it in a way that makes sense to someone who has only a little knowledge and wants to learn more or perhaps doesn't know anything about it.

The trick is to write your ebook as if you were trying to explain the subject to a friend. Then get your family and/or friends to edit the ebook for you. Or if you can afford it, get a professional writer to edit it for you. This will cost less than you think if you use a writer from a site like Elance.

Once you have the content of your eBook finished you can go to an affiliate network site like Clickbank or Commission Junction and and find products that relate to your eBook. Once you have joined an affiliate network you can add affiliate links for products that relate to your subject,into your eBook. So when someone reads your eBook and clicks on any of the affiliate links and makes a purchases a product that you are promoting, you will be paid a commission.

You can also sell your eBook through Clickbank but doing this will require you to spend some money on a domain name and hosting for a landing page. However, if you don't want to do spend any money then distribute your eBook around the internet for free. For instance, you can offer it to other webmasters and let them use it as a bonus eBook when people sign up to their newsletter.

Remember that your affiliate links are in the eBook and anyone who reads the eBook might click on these links and this will mean that you will get a commission if they purchase a product from that website.

If you want to see one of the most unique methods for developing an eBook then Download this FREE Guide - You don't even have to sign up for it!

#7 Directory Submission Service

The Internet is full of directories. One of the biggest is Dmoz. Website owners will often submit their sites to these directories in order to get traffic and boost their rankings and they may submit to hundreds of these types of directories.

However, website owners generally don't have much time so they will try to outsource as much as they can. In respects to directory submissions this is one of the most time consuming tasks so they are always on the look out for someone else to do the job for them.

This is where you come in. You can offer to submit their website to the directories for a fee.

Now this is not the most exciting work in the world as it can be very repetitive. But on the other hand, you can do it at home and in your own time.

The task involves finding directories and filling in the site submisssion forms with the details of the website.

Their are plenty of directory lists available on the internet so you don't have to go searching for individual directories yourself. It is just a matter of searching for them in Google. Type something like 'directory list' into Google and you will find that there are plenty of them to choose from.

Once you have a list you need to figure out how much you are going to charge. The best way to do this is to see what others are charging and base your fee on this. Do a search on Google for 'directory submission' or similar keywords. Check out a few sites and see what the average rate is to submit manually to say 100 directories or 200 or 400.

You will also need to have a Paypal account up and running so that your customers can easily pay you.

Next, you need to find some customers. To do this, you need to start promoting yourself. Here are some ideas:

1. Find some webmaster forums and start posting to them. Add a signature to your posts which indicates the services you offer and how much you will charge and link it to your email address. (Note: If you are going to post your email address on the net you will receive a lot of spam mail so go get a free email account, different from your personal email account, from Yahoo or GMail for this purpose.)
2. In those same webmaster forums you will often find a section where you can advertise the services you offer. Some forums have a criteria where you have to have a certain number of forum posts before you can submit an ad.
3. Place a classified ad on sites like USFreeads. Find as many as you can.
4. If you have a Facebook, MySpace or similar account then get the word out that way.

Get the idea? Just keep advertising anywhere you can.

#8 Forum Marketing

What is Forum Marketing

Forum marketing is where you sign up with forums that are relevant to your subject matter and start posting. Pretty simple really but the way to make money with this type of marketing is to place a link in your signature to promote products.

The most important part of this process is that you don't spam the forum. There is nothing worse than someone who is only in a forum to make money and nothing else. People generally belong to forums in subjects they are interested in and ask questions and share information. First and foremost, only leave comments that are valid and relevant to the subject and the readers of the forum.

You will have more success with this form of marketing if you can provide value to the forum.

So how do you start?

First up you need to find a product to promote. Clickbank is a good place to start. Clickbank has a huge range of downloadable digital products on all sorts of topics.

Once you have your product you need to find related forums. For instance, if you have chosen a dog training ebook to promote then you need to search Google for dog related forums.

Once you have found a few different forums, then just sign up for each, start browsing to see if there is a category that you feel comfortable in adding content to. I find that most forums have a general section as well for off-topic subjects, so select your category and start posting.

Some forums will require you to make a minimum number of posts before you can insert a signature but once you have gotten past this go to your user settings page and add a signature that includes your affiliate link to the product you are going to promote.

And that's it really. Just keep posting and providing quality comments to as many forums as you can.

#9 CafePress & Zazzle

Cafepress and Zazzle are two online retailers that allow you to create products on demand. This can include t-shirts, mugs, mousepads, ties, buttons, magnets, hats, stickers, keychains and more.

You create an image and it gets printed on any of the above products which you can then sell. If you are a great graphic artist or even if you can think of some great slogans or logos then this is the place for you.

It costs nothing to sell on Cafepress or Zazzle. They set a base price and then you set a price for that item. Basically, you get the difference between the base price and your selling price. There are no upfront costs and you start making money online when you sell an item.

#10 Paid Surveys

I really wanted to avoid adding paid surveys as a way to make money on the net only because there are so many scams out there and it is easy to get ripped off.

Having said that however, there are also a number of legit organizations that you can join and start making money with paid surveys.

The online paid survey system involves you providing your opinion on a product or service. You can get paid in cash, prizes or products. Big corporations are interested in finding out what people think of their products and they are prepared to pay for it.

Paid Surveys are a great way to make some extra cash but it is not likely that you will make a full-time living from it. It is possible but it would take a bit of work and some dedication.

Firstly you need to join as many companies as possible - up to 100 if you can. The more you join, the more surveys you will receive. This is a good site to get started - WhichSurveys.com

Set up a separate email address that you only use for survey emails. This will allow you to easily manage all the emails you receive.

It's important to remember that when you receive the surveys in your email box you should complete them as soon as possible. Companies will send out the surveys but since they know that most won't be completed they send out more than they actually require. This means you have to get in first and complete the survey before the company fills their quota. If you leave it too long, it could be rejected.

You also need to be aware that the companies that you sign up with will want to know everything about you and your family. So you must be prepared to share all your private details with them, and some people find this just a tad off putting.

Like everything, do your research and go online to find out what experiences other people have had with a particular Survey company, before signing up.

Who you need to sign up with to make these methods work

Most of the methods listed above require some sort of sign up process. There is just no getting around it but fortunately they are all free and once you have signed up you can just get back to working on your free internet marketing techniques.

1. Clickbank

Clickbank is the number one affiliate network for digital downloadable products. In other words products like ebooks, software, website memberships and so on.

They act as the middleman between you and the merchant. If you take a look at the Clickbank site you will see a link at the very top titled 'Marketplace'. If you click on that link you can search for all the products that are available for you to promote and earn commissions on.

Once you sign up to Clickbank you will be able to select a product and then create an affiliate link (aka hoplink) which is just a piece of code that you then add to your articles, classified ads or Squidoo lens.

Be aware however that Clickbank has a comprehensive set of rules that apply to payments. For instance, Direct Deposit of payments is immediately available to US residents, International payees must have received 3 checks within a 90 day period before they can apply to have payments made by Direct Deposit.

Also Clickbank withhold payments until your sales meet the following criteria:

Sales are made with 5 or more different credit card numbers and

Sales are made with two different payment methods (either Visa, MasterCard, or PayPal).

You also need to know that PayPal purchases do not count toward the minimum 5 different credit card numbers.

2. Paypal

Paypal is one of the biggest online payment services on the internet. If you want to work online then Paypal is a must have because it is one of the most common systems for making payments. It is how you will get paid particularly if you use Clickbank.

It may take a few days for your Paypal account to take effect so register as soon as possible.

Got some extra money to spend?

Here are some of the best products that we use ourselves and can totally recommend to you to help you on your way to making money online even if you are a complete beginner.

Wealthy Affiliate University: We are members of Wealthy Affiliate and it is a great place to learn how to make money online. They particularly concentrate on ways to make money without having to spend anything to do it but also include PPC campaigns and developing landing pages.
James Martell Affiliate Marketers Bootcamp: The James Martell Affiliate Marketers Bootcamp is another excellent way to learn how to develop a successful online business. James provides indepth instruction during the course and ongoing assistance through the forum and by providing inspiration to students with information from leaders in the internet business. We are members!
Legit Online Jobs: If you are interested in making money online doing paid surveys, data entry, eBay, creating classified ads and so on then we definitely recommend Legit Online Jobs. It is a wealth of information and they provide huge databases of paid online jobs.

And yes we are members so we have had first hand experience using their site.

Tips for Making Money Online

1. Don't sign up to anything that is going to cost you money without reading a few reviews first
You will find reviews on the internet for just about any product or service so take advantage of this and read as many as you can before you sign up for any type of money making scheme.

2. Create a plan and stick to it
It's important that you determine exactly what you need to do to achieve your goals and this involves creating a plan. Work out what you are able to do on a daily basis and keep at it. Consistency is the key.

3. Find a Mentor
If you want to learn anything you should learn from the best. Find someone who is already a success at making money online and listen and learn. We recommend Kyle and Carson from Wealthy Affiliate but there are plenty of other successful online entrepreneurs who are willing to give away their secrets.

Finding a mentor will speed up your learning and have you making money sooner.

4. Stop Making Excuses
If you want to make money online you have to work at it and you have to be consistent. Making excuses for why you can't sit at your computer and work on a regular basis just won't work. Be honest with yourself and decide whether your excuses are really just a way to get out of the work. Be consistent with your efforts and you will succeed in the end.

5. Don't Give Up
A good majority of people striving to make money online give up just before they are about to make it. If you keep going you will succeed.

6. Don't Spread Yourself Too Thin
Try not to work on too many things at once. Stick to one or two methods and give them your full attention. If you do too many different things then none of them will get the full atttention they deserve.

7. Learn to Outsource
As you start making some money, start outsourcing some of your work. You can use elance.com or rentacoder.com to get writers to write articles for you for instance.

8. Enjoy Your Work
This is not a business you should be doing just to make money. If you don't enjoy the work then don't do it. The more you enjoy the work the more likely you will keep at it.

9. Make Good Use of Social Bookmarking & Networking Sites
These can get you some good backlinks and a bit of traffic if you use them correctly. Some of the best sites are digg.com, stumbleupon.com and propeller.com. Twitter.com is another one we have had some success with.

10. Start Networking
Start making yourself known around the internet in your particular niche. Leave comments on relevant blogs and post in forums.

Add a Commment

I love comments!!

Lensmaster

poutine wrote...

Not easy to do online marketing but here you give a lot of excellent advice. Thanks.

Posted June 20, 2009

Lensmaster

waretare

i can't believe that i made more money on this website than going to work!
http://cashcrate.com/1330735

Posted June 05, 2009

Lensmaster

gnznroses wrote...

Very in-depth article. Good work.
My Squidoo page

Posted June 05, 2009

Lensmaster

pppaudio wrote...

Very nice lens. I love the thought of making money online. If you have a chance visit my site Make money online free

Posted May 27, 2009

Lensmaster

jimmyalfaro wrote...

thanks for this lens!

Posted May 26, 2009

1 of 18 pages

Want to Know Where We Learn to Make Money Online?

How to Make Money Online Without Spending a Cent

Top 10 Ways to Make Money Online Without Spending Anything

#1 Create a Squidoo Lens

#2 Create USFreeAds

#3 Article Marketing

#4 Start Your Own Blog

#5 Copywriting & Authoring Content

#6 Write an eBook

#7 Directory Submission Service

#8 Forum Marketing

#9 CafePress & Zazzle

#10 Paid Surveys

Who you need to sign up with to make these methods work

Got some extra money to spend?

Tips for Making Money Online

Add a Commment

I love comments!!

Want to Know Where We Learn to Make Money Online?

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