4 ways to make cash online |
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How much is Kennedy earning from her blogging?
"It still adds up to more than I made selling books for 40 hours a week," she says.
Not every blogger is guaranteed to make good money. However, bloggers who truly love what they do are the ones who
flourish, Kennedy says.
"I think the people who really succeed and last in this just really enjoy writing and taking pictures," she says.
If you'd like to try your hand at blogging, the Web sites Blogger, WordPress and LiveJournal offer free blog templates.
If you'd like to sell ad space on your blog, check out sites such as Google AdWords, Text Link Ads and the BlogHerAds network (for women only).
Selling books, music and other products
Amazon.com and eBay revolutionized e-commerce in the 1990s. Since then, countless
individuals have made money selling books, movies, clothes and every other commodity under the sun.
E-commerce is becoming easier than ever, and the complications of arranging payment over the Internet are disappearing
fast, Spector says.
"A lot of the uncertainty is taken out of the equation thanks to the technology," he says. "You're going to get paid
before you send out the product."
Spector says sites like Amazon can help small-volume sellers reach a wider audience.
"(Amazon) makes it easier and more beneficial for small book collectors who obviously have either rare or out-of-print
books to do business ... it's worth it for them to give Amazon a little piece of that business in order to be in a very high-profile
space," he says.
Mick McClain has been selling music on the Internet for nine years. He sells everything from rare and out-of-print
compact discs to new releases and used albums.
McClain uses eBay and Amazon.com to market his products. He also operates a Web site where potential customers can
peruse his collection.
The San Diego resident says his startup costs were minimal. He had to spend to buy a "little bit better computer" and
to build up his inventory, 90 percent of which comes from brick-and-mortar stores.
For newcomers to e-commerce, McClain recommends sticking to something you know.
"Your mind has to be a database," he says. "That's why I have never gotten into anything other than music because I
would get eaten alive by the people who were the authorities on (other products)."
Spector offers two tips to aspiring e-merchants.
"First of all, have a unique product," he says. "There needs to be something separating you from your competitors."
Spector's second tip is to make sure you can deliver on your product promises.
"Live up to what you promise," he says. "If you promise a book ... in a particular condition, at a particular price,
and guarantee it to arrive on a particular day, then do that."
Marketing your hobbies
Crafters, photographers and artists also are tapping into the Web's potential as a marketplace for their goods.
Notley Hawkins, a fine art photographer from Columbia, Mo., started selling online by uploading his photographs onto
Flickr, a popular digital photograph storage Web site.
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