You CAN make money with no money!

Is it possible to start making money online with no money to start? The answer is YES... Absolutely. And I am going to tell you how in this post and others to follow.

We are laying the foundation for making money by first creating a website. In my previous post I outlined some steps to get a website started for making money for people who had a small budget to work with and could afford to register a domain name and get a hosting account. Everything that I talked about past this will be applicable to you too even if you have no budget.

The two things from the previous post that you would not be able to do without money is buy a domain name and get a hosting account. The solution to these two issues lies in one place - get a free hosting account! There are many hosting providers out there that will offer you a free hosting plan that is limited in some sense. Most free hosting plans add advertising to your website that you almost always have no control of. You need to be careful to read the terms of service before signing up for a free hosting plan to make sure your options are not too restricted.

Ideally, you want a hosting plan that will:
1. Support PHP/MySQL, in case you want to install a CMS or blogging platform.
2. Give you a few MySQL databases
3. Has a script installer that has the most common scripts - like Fantastico
4. Allows you to run scripts, such as you need for installing ads and such.
5. Allows you to put your own ads on your website.

I have the last one in bold for a reason, this is one of the best ways to make money, by selling advertising space on your website.

One of the best free platforms, if you want to start a blog, is Blogger, which is where this blog is hosted. It offers you many themes to choose from, and with a little tweaking and a little knowledge you can add your ads to your content and page, as you can see from the sidebar of this blog. While Wordpress.com also gives you completely free blogging space, they do not allow you to put ads on your page for free, so stick with Blogger.

If you don't want to use a blogging platform, then do a Google search for free web hosts to see what your options are. Make sure to carefully read their terms of service and make sure you have as many options as possible. I am going to be scouring the web to bring you a list of the best free webhosts, but I do recommend that you consider getting a low-cost hosting plan such as the ones offered by Hasty Host, and invest in that domain name as soon as you can (www.GoDaddy.com
), because then you have so much more control over what you can do. IF you buy your domain name at GoDaddy, you can also get hosting from them, and get your domain name at a much lower cost. So check out GoDaddy.com Hosting Plans
.

So if you really want to start with no money at all, find a good free host to work with, make sure your understand their terms of service, register for your free account, and then follow the steps from my previous post. Find something you enjoy talking about and start creating content.

In my next post I am going to start talking about the different ways you can start monetizing your website, making money off of it.

Get a Website - Make Some Money

In the last post I listed some things you would want to have to get started making money. As you read through the web you will find many websites that tell you how to make money, and most, if not all of those websites are making money by telling you how to make money! As I mentioned in my blog disclaimer, I too hope to make some money telling you how to make money. In fact, someone has created a blog about blogs that talk about making money, it's called Money Maker Blogs!! This blog is the first one listed over there, so if you enjoy what I write here, please go over to Money Maker Blogs and rank this blog.

So, based on this knowledge, the first thing we should do is set you up with a website, or blog, whichever you prefer. Don't worry if you feel like you don't know where to start, we are going to go step by step.

The first thing any serious website has is a domain name. Websites that have their own domain name are taken a lot more seriously than those that don't. But if you can't afford one, don't worry, I will be following this post up with one about what to do if you have no money. But read on, because a lot of what I write here will apply to you too.

Get a Domain Name
Think of what you would like to name your website... what domain name to use. Find something relevant to what you want to talk about because it makes it easier for people to correlate and remember you. One of the best places to get yourself a domain name is GoDaddy (www.GoDaddy.com
), one of the most established domain name registrars out there. And they accept PayPal too! So the PayPal account that we talked about in the last post will come in handy here. Once you get your hosting plan, which I will talk about next, you will need to point your domain name from your registrar to your host, and your host will tell you how to do this. If you have any trouble, leave a comment here and we'll discuss it.

Get a Hosting Plan
The second thing you need, now that you have a domain name, is a hosting plan. This is the place where you will set up your home on the web to start making some money. There are numerous hosting providers out there, and I can recommend two because I have used them for some time now with no issues. Depending on yout budget, you can go for a cheaper host, like Hasty Host, or a more costly one, like Hosting Zoom. Hasty Host has low budget hosting plans that still offer you great features, lost of hosting space, and the most important thing, great support. This, for me, has always been the best feature of Hasty Host, that they have great support and will walk you through any problems fast and efficiently. If you want to shell out a little more, Hosting Zoom is another excellent hosting provider, with great deals, stable systems, great support, and a friendly useful user forum. So consider one of these for your hosting needs. You can get onto Google and find many more, but these are the two that I have used consistently with no problems. Again, if you have no money, I have recommendations for you in the next post that I will write, so stick with me.

Set up your Website
The next thing is to find something you enjoy and love talking about, and set up your website. Creating content is important, and we will talk about that more. But let's talk about the website for now. You will need to decide whether you want to set up a standard website, or a blog. If you are good at setting up websites and know some HTML, PHP, CSS and all that other good stuff, then you're ready to go. If not, then you may want to consider starting with a blog. You can set up a blog fast and free using Wordpress or other blogging platforms on your hosting account, or as I will discuss in the next post, on a free blogging website such as this blog is hosted on. You can also decide to use a Content Management System (a CMS), and there are plenty of those that come ready to install on most hosting accounts.

Once you have your site set up and your content going, you can start to monetize your website or blog using different venues, that I will cover in the coming posts. So go on now and get yourself a domain name (www.GoDaddy.com
) and a hosting account, and set up a website. If you're totally broke, hang in there, I will be putting something up for you shortly.

Things you will need to make money online and offline

I am going to share some things that I wish someone had told me when I started venturing into the world of making money. In my posts I am going to be sharing with you how to make money from different sources. Some are obvious, like having a job, and others aren't too obvious, like having a website. I am going to cover all of them. But for all these venues of income there are some things that will come in handy and make your transactions that much easier and smoother.

1. A Bank Account
I'm sure this seems obvious, but better to mention it. You need somewhere to put your money, and to deposit checks, and to receive direct deposits. Banks are good because money in your hand is easily spent, and the faster you put it away the better.

2. A Tax Identification number
If you're in the US, an SSN or other tax ID number will be needed by a lot of the people you deal with. In some cases it may not, but it's good to have it so that you don't lock out any potential sources of income. If for some reason you don't qualify for a social security number you can get a tax identification number from the IRS. If you are outside the US you will need to check what your particular country requires for tax filing purposes.

3. A Website
These come in really handy when you're trying to make some money. Gone are the days when creating your own website was a big deal. Now you can set up a hosting account, and have your website or blog up and running in short order. I will be sharing with you how to make that happen.

4. A PayPal Account
PayPal is an online merchant system that allows you to accept and send payments online. Having a paypal account is almost indispensable today, especially if you transact online a lot. You can open a PayPal account here. PayPal allows you to accept credit cards, echecks, and other forms of payment securely.

In the next post I'm going to talk about getting yourself a website and why that's important. I will also explain in brief different ways you can use your website to make money online and offline.

Channels of Income Generation

Now that we've started thinking about making money, and convinced ourselves that every penny counts, and we can do it, it's time to start exploring the HOW. What means and methods can you use to start getting those pennies and cents, and eventually much more, flowing in?

There are MANY ways, and I haven't discovered them all, so feel free to share what you know by leaving a comment.

There are two main categories of income generation:

1. Conventional Methods - these include the traditional jobs and trades, employed or freelancing, onsite or offsite, telecommuting or not. Under here is also included the selling of products and services.
   
2. Unconventional Methods - these include intangible means of making money, and are mostly conducted online, and can be passive or active. Examples are affiliate marketing, ad networks, forum marketplace transactions, and others.

I am going to be expounding on these methods as we progress in exploring channels of income generation.

Starting out, things to consider

How does one go about making money online? There are a lot of guides out there, some clearer than others, some more extensive than others. As I go I will point out which guides I recommend you read, but we're going to start simple, to avoid overwhelming you with information. The first things is to note that there is No one definitive guaranteed way to make money.

All methods take time, and as you work your way through this blog and try different things you will eventually find the methods that work best for you. My aim is to get you to THINK. I want to get you to a place where you can think and critically evaluate all the suggestions that are out there, picking and choosing, and trying them out, and thinking about the principles behind the method.

Before you adopt a method, I want you to think about several things:

1. Why:

Why the person that is writing about this idea is sharing it.

• I want you to think about motives and intentions. Why is this author pushing method X or Y?
  
• Why is this person trying to get me to sign on for plan K or T?
  
• What benefit does the person get if I follow this method?
  
• What proof do they show that it works?
  
• Is it just words or can they validate it?
  
• Why?

2. How:

How does this method work?

• What principles are being applied to make this work?
  
• Is it logical?
  
• Does it make sense?
  
• Whatever I am doing, if I was the consumer on the other end, would I buy into it?
  
• Do I have to do what this guy is doing exactly as he is doing it or is it adaptable?
  
• How does it fit into my life?

3. What:
What do I have to do?

• Is it ethical?
  
• Is it something I would be comfortable doing?
  
• Will I have a clear conscience as I do this?
  
• Is it legal?
  
• Is it transparent?
  
• Does it involve scamming or lying or misrepresentation?

These are the kind of questions you need to ask, the thought process you need to engage in as you pursue ways of making money. Obviously this is not a comprehensive list, and my goal is not to give you comprehensive lists, but rather to stimulate you to think and find answers, and formulate your own questions.

If you want a no-brainer, you may find one, but the cost may be greater at the end. But if you're prepared to think through the process as you do it, you will learn more than just methods. You will learn principles and concepts that will carry you in good stead through your money-making ventures, and through life itself!