Can you really make money online? That has to be one of the biggest questions now-a-days. The internet is booming, so there has to be some way to profit off of it, right? Exactly. There are a number of ways to make some extra pocket change each month, without having to shell out a dime.

1. GPT (Get Paid to) sites: These sites usually consist of various offers. Some have you click on links and fill out forms with information, and pay you anywhere from $0.10 to $2.00 each. Others may just have you click links and view the site for 30 seconds, and will give you less than a penny per view. Some even have games for you to play, either to enter in sweepstakes or rack up “points”. Now this is a rough subject, because it’s honestly different for everybody. I know people who have made nearly $2000 in a month by doing a bunch of these sites. However, there’s a few problems.

First, you need to give out a lot of personal information: name, e-mail, address, phone number, etc. And trust me, they use this information. You get tons of spam mail, ridiculous telemarketer calls and junk in your home mailbox. If this is something you really want to do, though, there are ways around this. First, go to a place like http://2prong.com/ to get a free, one-time use disposable e-mail. Everytime you refresh the page, you get a new e-mail address to use for each form.

Using a different one each time will make sure your offers go through. There are also various places online that will give you a free phone number and online voice mail. Once you have that secured, download a program like CCleaner, to clear out cookies you don’t want. After completing an offer, it will go into “pending” until it is verified. Since many of the offers are from the same, or a similar, company, clearing out your cookies makes it seem as if you’ve never been to the site before.

2. Paid Surveys: Unlike GPT sites, which also claim to offer surveys (although I prefer to call them “offers” because they are very different), these sites are actually looking for your information for a reason. Said sites will e-mail you every now and then with a survey that you are eligible for. If you qualify, after completing the survey, you will be paid a certain amount – usually around $3-$5, although sometimes more. Some sites give you a certain amount of points for each survey, and points can be traded in for cash once you reach a set amount.

Sounds great, right? Well there’s one problem – they only e-mail you once or twice a week, if even that! Considering you won’t even qualify for some of the offers they send you, you’ll be lucky if you make even $20 extra a month. So how can you fix this? Easy. Sign up for multiple companies! If you’ve got 10 companies sending you surveys, you’ll probably have a new one in your inbox everyday, if not more! If may take a little while to build enough money (or points) in each account, but once you do, and cash them all out at once, it’ll seem worth it!

3. Paid Articles: If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already discovered paid articles. But let’s review anyways! If you’ve got something to say, there’s somebody out there that wants to hear it. Sites like AssociatedContent.com and Helium.com will pay for your articles – whether it’s a how-to guide, review, editorial, whatever! Associated Content pays you upfront, by offering a certain amount on each article between $3 and $20. It takes a couple days for them to make an offer, and then a couple days after that to receive payment, but they DO pay, and any article that is rejected is told why (it takes a lot to get rejected, usually only if it’s under 400 words or inappropriate in some way) and given the ability to edit and resubmit. Helium works different, by paying for page views.

Each article earns over it’s lifetime, so don’t get discouraged! After publishing your first few articles, you may not see over $0.05. However, the more you write, you more will earn. And the more you write on popular topics, the more it will be viewed. There are a number of other sites online that also pay for your articles (ConstantContent.com, Epinions.com, etc) that are certainly worth looking into. Here’s a few tips: Submit your articles as non-exclusive (meaning you retain the rights to republish it elsewhere) to each site. This way, you can submit the same article to every site you are a part of, and earn off it multiple times. Also, try creating a schedule for yourself. Do one or two articles every day, and you’ll see a good amount of pocket change in that paypal account!

4. Paid Blogging: Blogs are everywhere. You’ve probably already got one, so why not make some money off of it? Programs like Google AdSense will allow you to put ads on your site and earn money for each click of the ad. The great thing about AdSense is that it ads on your site that are relevant to the topic you’re blogging about, so it won’t be quite as annoying. Be sure not to clutter your blog with ads though, as that will likely turn away possible readers, and thus earn you less money! Do it in a creative way, integrated into your layout or in an area that doesn’t take away from your content.

5. Paid Reviews: Aside from being able to write reviews through paid article sites, you can also have companies pay you to write reviews of their products or services! If you have a blog, then you’ve got all the tools you need. Spend a few months racking up hits and ratings, and then submit yourself to websites like Reviewme.com or Blogitive.com. These sites let you list your blog so companies can find you, and pay you to write a review for them. It doesn’t have to be positive – just an honest to goodness review. Want to stand out? Do something unique with your reviews, go the extra mile, and with time you’ll see your price go up.

6. Paid Photos: Are you one of those people that just LOVES to take photos, but have nothing to do with them? Well sell them as stock photography! Many places need photos to accent their site, so they go to stock image sites (such as Crestock or Shutterstock) to get them. These sites need somewhere to get their content, and that’s where you come in! Normally, your photos will earn a set amount per download, and often that amount will increase as your downloads increase.

7. Greeting Cards: This one isn’t heard of quite as often as the others, but many greeting card companies are willing to pay for content to put inside their cards. Unlike many of the other ways I’ve mentioned, this one is definitely not constant. You could submit 20 ideas to companies, and not get accepted to one! However, if you are accepted, you could be payed anywhere from $50 to $300! So if you’ve got some little pieces or prose knocking around in your head, look up some companies (Try BlueMountainArts Greeting Cards via sps.com to start!) and submit!

There are probably a million more ways to make money on the web out there if you’re not satisfied with these – so go find them! Every website gets their content from somewhere or someone. That someone could be you! Best of luck!