Here’s the deal. I signed up for InboxDollars’ paid emails program back in 2006, mostly out of curiosity. I figured that making a few cents by opening an email here and there isn’t much different than launching a new Web site with Adsense ads on it. Nor is it much different than looking down when I walk through parking lots, in hopes of finding a penny or two. Being a self-employed entrepreneur, I believe that very small amounts of money add up over time; if I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t survive being self-employed.

Addressing scam claims

I have read articles and reviews that characterize InboxDollars as a scam. After my experience, the only explanation I have for this claim is that those individuals were somehow misled (by themselves or by InboxDollars) about how the paid emails program works. You’re not going to experience that same disillusionment, because I’m going to tell you the whole story right now.

Money made

Since 2006, InboxDollars has paid me $122.23 in aggregate. I received four checks, approximating $30 each: two in 2007, one in 2008 and one in 2009. Clearly, this is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s also not for people who are impatient and tend to give up on things quickly when they don’t see results.

The primary parameters of InboxDollars’ paid emails program are as follows:

• You get 2 cents for opening an email and clicking on a confirmation link.
• You will probably receive seven or eight emails per week.
• You have to accumulate 30 dollars in your account before you can request a check.
• InboxDollars assesses a $3 check writing fee, which is deducted from your account balance after you request a payment.
• You can refer your friends and receive credits when they open their paid emails.
• You can increase your earnings substantially by using the Cash Shopping program when you need to make purchases; some of the merchants in the InboxDollars mall will give you discounts on top of rebates back to your account.
• There are survey opportunities that can add to your earnings; I have not found these to be worthwhile however, because they are time-consuming.

Consider these factors and decide for yourself if InboxDollars’ paid emails program is worthwhile. It’s definitely not for everyone. Personally, I view the earnings as free money, because I don’t have to do anything but read my emails and buy printer cartridges—two things I do anyway. Sure, it’s only about $30 a year, but that’s better than a sharp stick in the eye.

Everywhere you turn these days, you read about membership sites. You read how easy they are to set up, and how lucrative they can be. That should naturally lead you to the question, “Should I be operating my own membership site?” Are they really that easy to set up and maintain?

First of all, a membership site is nothing more than a system for password protecting some “content,” and a system for handling recurring billing of members. So they can be very simple, and in fact can be set up using all free resources.

You could even think of a membership site as another type of list, only one where you don’t have to contend with email filters. You communicate with your “list members” inside the site instead of via email.

In deciding to set up a membership site, the first question that you should answer is what niche or topic would the membership site be focused on. Are there enough people interested in that topic to make it profitable? Do people interested in that topic spend money on it?

The simplest way to answer the above questions is to ask yourself, “What phrases would people interested in my proposed topic type into a search engine?” Come up with a list of keywords they’d likely use.

Your research shows you how many searches are done on your keywords each month, and indicates if there is a large pool of potential members for your new membership site. There is no hard and fast rule for how many searches there should be. This just gives you a feel for if this is a viable niche for a membership site.

How many members do you need for a successful membership site anyway? If you have a site that has 200 members each paying $20 per month, would you consider that a success? What if that site only took 2 hours per month to maintain?

The secret to making a site easy to maintain, by the way, is to have your members interact a lot with each other, and generate most of the content!

There are many successful online entrepreneurs who have a dozen or more small, simple, memberships sites, each with only a few hundred members. Most of these sites don’t generate a fortune, but collectively they afford a very comfortable lifestyle.

There is no reason that you have to stop at one simple, easy to maintain, membership site. You could easily launch one a month, and in a year have a dozen. If each produced just that $4000 in our example above, that would be $48k per month.

If your goals aren’t that lofty, you could stop with just one simple membership site producing just that $4000, or you could go for a lot more members. If you set your site up properly, you’ll have to spend very little time actually maintaining it.

So, are you missing out by not having a membership site?

Probably.

About The Author:

Willie Crawford has been marketing goods and services on the internet since 1996. He operates numerous simple membership sites. To learn how you can set up your own membership site in under six minutes, using all completely free software, visit: http://YourNewMembershipSite.com Read more articles written by: Willie Crawford

In today’s economy, it’s quite likely that you are either facing the possibility of getting laid off, or you are disenchanted with corporate America. Maybe you’ve had your 401(k) contributions yanked, your pay frozen or your benefits cut. It’s happening everywhere.

Given these circumstances, it’s more important than ever to learn how to make money on the side. Your goal may be to leave corporate America forever, or it may be to lessen your dependence on that corporate job. Either way, you have to start somewhere. And if you have moderately good communication skills, writing for the web may be your ticket to greater financial freedom.

Know your options

Do me a favor. Type “how to make money online” in a Google search. Spend three hours picking through those search results and write down what you learned. Chances are, the exercise will teach you to be discouraged and confused about what lies ahead. Sorry about that, but there is a point here: learning how to make money online takes practice as well as a little basic knowledge. I can cover the basic knowledge part here, but only you can do the practice part.

Let’s start with the basics. There are several avenues you can pursue to earn money writing for the web. Each of these provides a different type of revenue; you may feel comfortable specializing in one area, but many freelance writers dabble in all of them.

• Self-publishing. Self-publishing involves writing for your own website or blog. You can obtain free templates for sites and blogs from a variety of sources online; your primary cost then will be the hosting. Hosting can be free, but working through a free hosting service may inhibit your ability to put ads on your site–and that’s how you’re going to make your money. As a beginning publisher, you’ll have two options for ads: a service like Google AdSense or affiliate ads. You can obtain affiliate relationships direct through the advertiser (such as NetFlix) or through a third-party company like Commission Junction. The third-party provider gives you access to a larger selection of advertisers, so you can more easily keep your site updated and optimized for your audience. The primary drawback of self-publishing is that it takes time, effort and skill to build a consistent readership.

• Work for hire. You can also obtain project work on sites like Guru.com. Most of these project board sites will allow you to have a free profile, but it might be worth a few hundred bucks to upgrade to a paid profile. Be prepared to bid competitively (i.e., work for very little) until you build your reputation. The disadvantage of focusing on work-for-hire projects is, like self-publishing, it can take a long time to start generating consistent revenue.
• Article sales. If you are prepared to churn out compelling articles, go ahead and set up profiles with Associated Content, Today.com and Constant Content. Associated Content pays you on a per-view basis, and will sometimes also give you an upfront fee for your articles. Today.com has a similar compensation structure, except that you are paid to write posts for a blog on the Today.com network. Constant Content allows you to set your own prices for your content, although the sale is not guaranteed. To maximize your earnings on Associated Content or Today.com, you’ll have to learn how to drive traffic to your articles. You don’t need to do this with Constant Content, but you should familiarize yourself with the different levels of ownership rights; this will help you set articles prices that are appropriate to your level of productivity.
• Revenue sharing. Still other sites, like Xomba.com, will pay you a percentage of the ad revenue generated by your content. You will generally have to set up a Google AdSense account and provide your publisher identification number. You then produce the content that attracts clicks and start making money.

Amp your earnings with referrals

If you’re still reading this, you are now officially my friend. Part of the reason I share this information with you is in the hope that you will return the favor by following my links and advice. In doing so, you will become my referral and I’ll get a little kickback for my troubles. You can then pass on the goodwill to your friends: recruit them, sign them up, have them write to their heart’s content for any website that’ll give you a commission. Generally, the commission comes out of the website’s earnings, not yours and not your friends’. So recruit those friends and, soon enough, they’re making money online, you’re making money online and the website’s making money. Everyone’s happy.

Oh, and about those keywords

I’ll leave you with some final thoughts about keywords. People find the information they need online by searching with keywords. If your content doesn’t contain the keywords that are being used in search, no one will find it. And if no one finds it, your revenue potential is zero, zip and nada. So choose your content topics wisely, and use keywords strategically. You’ll just have to squelch that compulsion for writing opinion pieces about geology. Trust me on this. We’re friends, remember? {sharethis}

Before you scratch yourself raw, try these brainstorming techniques to get the creative juices flowing.
Think in terms of problems and solutions

No doubt you’ve heard it a thousand times, but good business ideas involve solving problems. And the best business ideas provide solutions to relatively common problems, problems people already know they have.

Start training yourself to define your purchases in terms of problems and solutions. Say you ate a hamburger in your car last Saturday afternoon: ask yourself what problem that burger solved. Chances are, you didn’t eat it because it tasted amazing; you had some other motivation. What was it? If you get in the habit of analyzing daily problems and how you solve them, you’ll eventually stumble on a problem that has no readily available solution.

Here’s an example. Recently, I had a craving for Greek food while traveling. Using my phone, I located a few online reviews for a nearby Greek restaurant. I mapped the address and was on my way. Upon arriving, it was clear that the restaurant was closed and had been for some time. Frustrated, I asked my husband why so many webmasters have directories for businesses that are supposedly open, but no one has a directory for businesses that are closed. Now there’s your idea; the next step is to figure out if there’s a way to make money off of it.
Start analyzing your best and worst purchase experiences

Sometimes great business ideas aren’t built on the product—they’re built on how the product or service is delivered. You don’t necessarily need a revolutionary product idea. It might be enough to create a delivery method that is better, more convenient, sexier than what’s currently available. When you make purchases, jot down what you liked about the experience. Think about how you could apply those improvements to your own product or service.

Listen when you hear someone say, “you know what’d be cool?”

Good business ideas often crop up in random conversations. But you’ll miss out if you aren’t listening. Pay attention to the needs and desires of your peers, even if they seem ridiculous. Someone probably once said it’d be cool to have a table-top plant that grows in the shape of an animal.

Watch Internet search trends

Use Yahoo! Buzz and Google Trends to stay in touch with the masses. Apply your problem/solution mindset to analyze the types of information people want. Think about why they’re searching for that information and ask if you can create a product or service that would fulfill that same objective.

Pay attention to your own shopping habits

Have you ever gone in search of a product you can’t find? Years ago, I went in search of a bowed shower curtain rod that I had seen in a hotel room. Believe it or not, I couldn’t find one. But now those curtain rods are everywhere; even Target has them—indicating that unfulfilled demands don’t stay that way for long. The next time you can’t find a product or solution, ask yourself if others would have a similar need. And then be ready to take action.