I’ve been reading Darren Rowse’s Problogger.com for years now, and I still have no idea how these people can actually make their living blogging. We’ve all heard the names of people doing it—Karen Armstrong’s dooce.com is now covering her mortgage. Andrew Sullivan is periodically the subject of bidding wars among top publishing companies. Ariana Huffington is The Goddess of Online News, and we, the little people, are the “peasants” who are trying to just get started. These guys are proof you can make money doing simple activities—but it takes work to get there.

            Some of you have read article after article about how to make money online, have gone through all of the necessary steps and are still not able to pay for your own gas. Don’t worry or lose heart just yet: online money making is generally a self-sustaining business and, as such, will take time to build. You might find a handful of writing or programming gigs here and there at first, but eventually you will find a rhythm and, once and for all, be able to wave that terrible phone service job you’ve been working since college a final “good riddance”.

            The get-rich-quick guys shouldn’t deter you from your course. The ads claiming to make you into a millionaire from clicking on some surveys or reviewing ads are really working you towards their own ends and, as such, should be avoided. There are, on the other hand, a handful of legitimate work-from-home and online writing search engines and job boards that get good results for the aspiring online moneymaker. That’s really just to get you started, of course, but eventually you’ll find your own way.

            Of course, you might be the sort of person who’s just looking to supplement your income with online ways to make money. Lucky you! You will, after having read this, learn to avoid these click-to-pay sites and look to places that have genuine need of content. There’s also the eBay route, but that’s a long slow building process as well, and at least this particular writer has no idea how you’d start seeing profits off of that.

            So, yes, there are multiple ways to make money online, but you have to keep in mind that nothing comes quickly. Also note that, considering there is such a wide array of choices in terms of what you can do to make money online, you should carefully consider each that you find to see whether there’s a match for you.