5 Golden Rules to Make Money at Home Online

The growth in the number of people who have made the decision to make money at home online is huge, and I certainly can only see that number growing as time goes on. There are various

factors that influence this growth – the loss of full time jobs due to the downturn in the economy in many places, the need for supplementary income and the desire to get a better work/life balance. However, I have developed 5 Golden Rules for anyone who speaks to me about going down this route and I advise anyone contemplating this direction to really consider them seriously.

Golden Rule No 1: Be sure it suits you.

Why do I have this as my number 1? Well, it takes a certain type of personality to work from home and for two main reasons. Firstly, you need to be someone who can work without any supervision, and do not need the company of others, and not everyone can tick those two boxes. Secondly, you need to be very organised and disciplined – if you are not you will waste an enormous amount of time and probably fail. If you cannot answer positively, and honestly, to those two questions, you may have to reconsider your decision.

Golden Rule No 2: Do something you enjoy.

Your driver to work from home may be financial, but unless you are doing something you enjoy you will soon burn out. To make money at home online can be quite a solitary occupation, without the stimulation of others around you. So, unless you are doing something that really motivates you and you find engaging, it will be difficult to get through the difficult times, which you will have, if it is not something that you have a passion for.

Golden Rule No 3: Find a Mastermind group.

Because working at home is a solitary occupation you do need to find like minded people who you can share your thoughts and difficulties with, and who come together to brainstorm ideas to grow your business. These groups are everywhere so you just have to find them – and they meet either in person or online. Trust me, you will need this. I have always had my own version of a mastermind group – don’t be put off by that title, it is simply a group of people that have similar needs and are willing to share their experiences.

Golden Rule No 4: Determine your resources

Simply decide what resources you will require to run the business. For example, you will need the internet with a decent connection, email, an online shopping cart if you are selling products, and an online payment process like Paypal or something similar. If you are building an email list then you will need to source your auto responder provider like Get Response or Aweber. For your website you will need a domain name and a hosting provider. So, be clear about whatever resources you need.

Golden Rule No 5: Make a plan

I am not going to harp on this – any readers of mine know how passionate I am about planning. The old adage is true – if you fail to plan, you plan to fail! I will not elaborate on this, but it is absolutely critical that you make a clear plan, particularly for your first year, so that you can track your progress and ensure that you have not missed out on anything critical.

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Posted in: 5 Golden Rules to Make Money at Home Online

3 Methods To Submit Articles To Multiple Directories

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Author: Cynthia Minnaar

It is not uncommon to come across people asking if they should submit articles to multiple directories. As article marketing is one of the most effective ways to build back links, increase search engine rankings and drive targeted traffic to your website you will want to make the most out of every article your write.

The way to achieve good results with any online marketing method you choose to implement is by being consistent. Whilst article marketing is a long term marketing strategy it produces long lasting results.

Don’t for one minute think that you are going to achieve these results by submitting just one article. To achieve maximum results you need to consistently write and submit articles on a regular basis.

Having completed the writing of your articles you need to decide how you are going to distribute them far and wide on the internet. Are you going to submit articles to multiple directories or do you plan on submitting your articles manually to a few directories? Are you going to make changes to your article so that different versions are sent to each directory or are you going to submit the same article to every directory?

It is not unusual for those who have time to choose to submit their article to a few article directories manually. It is still highly effective if you do it consistently although it is very time consuming.

Something to remember is that if you submit the same article to multiple directories the search engines will filter out most of them in the search results. Certainly Google will not show every identical article from different article directories.

You can overcome this problem in a few ways.

You can rewrite your articles to produce different versions if you have the time.

You can use article spinners to spin different versions of your article. It is important, if you are going to use a spinner, that you choose a good quality one otherwise your articles are likely to make very little sense. You don’t want to jeopardize your reputation as an expert in your field by distributing low quality versions of your articles.

You will find article distribution services online that will submit articles to multiple directories for you, however most of them will submit the same version of your article to each directory.

SubmitYourArticle, a high quality distribution service, has an Article Leverage option which enables you to enter different versions of your title, paragraphs, sentences and resource boxes. The result of this is that each article directory that they submit to in their network receives a different version of your article.///

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Adwords Keyword Suggestion Tool – Using It Right

The adwords keyword suggestion tool is used by most internet marketers, even if they aren’t running a pay per click campaign. This tool is recognized as one of the premier keyword tools around. I mean after all, Google is pretty much top dog when it comes to search engines so who wouldn’t want to get keyword information directly from them?
Picking the right keywords to target for your pay per click campaign is one of the most important elements you will have to consider.  There is a fine line when it comes to choosing which keywords to use. If you use a one or two word keyword you will likely see that they get a ton of monthly searches, but they will also be very, very difficult to be competitive with. For most of the smaller online marketers the bid prices for those keywords will simply be too expensive to be profitable.
For most of us, the ‘long tailed’ keywords will work much better. These are actually keyword phrases that have 3 or more words in them. They can still get a great number of monthly searches (though not as high as the one or two word keywords) but they will usually have much less competition.
By using the keyword tool you will have access to a lot of helpful information. You will not only get a list of the top keyword phrases and the average number of monthly searches they get but you will also be able to find out what the average cost per click (average CPC) price will be for those keywords.
Obviously, the cost per click will just be an estimate since the popularity of the keyword is only one of the elements that determines how much you will pay for each click, but it’s a place to start. You’ll know right away that if you have a daily budget of $50 that a keyword with an average CPC of $10 will probably be out of your budget even though it might not really cost quite that much it’s more than likely still going to be too expensive for you.
The keyword tool will also give you an idea (it’s just a rough estimate, don’t expect it to be exact) of the amount of competition a given keyword has. That can come in very handy when you’re planning your campaigns.
Another cool thing about this keyword tool is that you can type in your base keyword and be provided with other keywords phrases that are relevant that you may not have even thought of. It’s virtually impossible for us to think of all keywords associated with our niche market, so it’s nice to have a keyword tool that makes suggestions to give us more ideas.

Besides the sheer volume of potential customers online the neat thing about the internet is the vast array of free tools you can use for your business. When it comes to finding good keywords the adwords keyword suggestion tool will work very well.. and it won’t cost you a dime. Use these tips to get the most out of it for you.

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Posted in: Adwords Keyword Suggestion Tool – Using It Right

7 Ideas To Get Backlinks Without Asking

If you work with backlinks to construct your site, you realize it’s very time intensive. There needs to be a different way to obtain the links without you investing time asking to make use of the hyperlinks in your site. There’s a method to do that process. There’s a method which has ten steps you should use.
To make use of backlink building, you discover target websites. You review to determine if you feel it’s worth adding the website to yours. You investigate the person’s website then send them a request to make use of their link. You sit and watch for their response. You will find a lot of things you are able  to complete to construct your link recognition without delivering out direct demands.
Below are great tips to get the hyperlinks:
Join a web-based discussion group and forum. Start to be an energetic participant. Whenever you join the city you’ll have the ability to place those who are creating a productive business. Whenever you produce a strong relationship with one of these people, they’ll request to connect to your website. They may wish to be related to another lucrative business.
Create a notice in your website in which you state that you would like more links. Within the statement, request for those links and give a place for that person to create the connecting code for their site that utilizes key phrases within the text. Make use of a statement much like “If you discover this website useful, add your link so others may also take advantage of this website.”
Create a regular e-newsletter. Publish this content from the e-newsletter in your site. Incorporate a statement within the e-newsletter “If you’ve loved the e-newsletter, please incorporate a connect to your website.” Incorporate your URL within the statement.
Publish articles on other sites for example ezines, educational sites, article banks, and media sites. You will find many article websites so simply Google “article submission sites” and employ the websites to broadcast your message within the article.
Use well crafted content on the website and with your guides. It’s an old method but it’s extremely effective. The greater this content then you’ll attract individuals to your website where they’ll answer your message about adding a hyperlink for your site.
Submit your website to legitimate award sites. Whenever you share your website with one of these sites you’ll be amazed at the truly amazing reactions because you have great content in your site. They may wish to connect to your website.

Volunteer being an editor for many sites. After this you write reviews for that site or of your sites where you’ll have possibilities of dealing with knowing the market better. When you know the marketplace better you develop a better network of peers.

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Posted in: 7 Ideas To Get Backlinks Without Asking

Adwords For Free – 3 Tips And More

While there is no such thing, legitimately at least, as adwords for free, there are many places online that will provide you with a lot of free tips and tricks to get the most out of your Adwords accounts.
But before you head off to Google to do a search there are a few things you need to keep in mind:
1. Adwords is a fairly complicated method for generating traffic. If you follow advice from someone who really isn’t qualified it can cost you more than money. If you disobey the terms of service Google has established you might well get banned and that would be very, very bad for business.
2. In order to really master Adwords you will need to find not only the training but you will need to be able to spend money while you are testing your ads. The truth is that no matter how good the training you get is, it will still take time for you to tweak and perfect your ads. During this time you will almost be guaranteed to spend way more money than you make.
3. Google is always making changes to their Adwords platform. In order to get the most out of any tips or tactics you may find online it’s important that you make sure that whoever is providing the tips has the most up to date information. You will really screw yourself if you follow outdated information.
Now,when it comes to managing your own Adwords accounts you need to keep some things in mind too. For one thing, you will need to track your results. Many people seem to think that this step is a hassle and they ignore it, but the truth is that you have to know where your clicks are coming from and how much they are costing you. If you try to guess, you will waste a ton of money.
It’s important to test all your ads to find out what combination of headlines and body work the best. To do that you will have to make changes to the ad until you can pinpoint the exact right combination.  Make sure that during the testing stage you only make one change at a time. If you change more than one element during your test you won’t have any way of knowing which change actually worked.
Don’t go into your Adwords account as if you were in Vegas. What I mean by that is don’t place all your eggs in one basket, don’t blow all your money on one campaign. That never really works. Since you will need to test ads and you probably will make very little, if any, money during the test it’s imperative that you set a realistic ad budget and don’t go over that budget. That way you’ll have enough money to follow through and find the ads that work.
If you really want to do an Adwords campaign the right way you’ll probably be better off skipping the adwords for free hype and find a legitimate course that can explain the complexities of pay per click to you.

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Posted in: Adwords For Free – 3 Tips And More

10 Real And Legitimate Mystery Shopping Companies To Make Money With!

Mystery shopping is a great and fun way to make some extra cash. You get to shop and get paid for it. The only problem with mystery shopping is actually finding a legitimate mystery shopping company to work for. Mystery shopping has been bombarded with scams of all kind, specially in the past few years. Many people have become victims of these mystery shopping scams, and instead of making money, lost money. Be careful when looking for mystery shopping work, so you don’t become another victim of mystery shopping scams. One thing to keep in mind is that no legitimate mystery shopping company requires a registration fee. If you come across a company or a website claiming to be a legitimate mystery shopping company, asking you for money, know that its just another scam. With that said, here are 10 real and legitimate mystery shopping companies you shop for and get paid doing so.



Beyond Hello  Beyond Hello specializes in mystery shopping and provides additional services that help clients measure their customers’ experiences.

Certified Reports, Inc. (CRI)  They evaluate theater and everything related to it, like Seating Capacity, Sneak Previews, Audience Reaction, Lobby and etc.

A Closer Look, Inc.   A company that documents guest feedback and specializes in the hospitality industry like restaurant, hotel, health club, spa and healthcare industry, like dental, medical markets. Your assignments can be found on their website.

A&A Merchandising Ltd  It is a marketing services company that specializes in retail merchandising, channel and back office corporate programs.

AboutFace   Anyone over the age of 18 may become a shopper. Pays all shoppers via PayPal.

Greet America, Inc.  If you are dependable and a hard worker, join the professional Greet America team as an independent contractor. They provide On-line training sessions for those who are new to mystery shopping or wish to learn more.

All-Star Customer Service In  An award wining mystery shopping company. project includes Shops in retail, banking, sales, hospitality, apartments, restaurants and other industries. Online training too. Site has listing of available jobs.

Ardent Services   Provides comprehensive evaluation services including Customer Service, Merchandise Integrity, Store Standards, Competitor Performance Comparison, Competitor Price Comparison, Associate Integrity and Associate Morale.

A Top Shop   Most shops pay $10-20 per hour. Some shops include benefits such as reimbursement for meals, movie tickets, merchandise, hotel stays, etc.

Confero The Service Resources Group   Focuses on Retail, grocery, and automotive shops.


If you know of any legitimate mystery shopping company, please feel free to leave a comment and i will add it to the list. Good luck in making money as a mystery shopper.

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Make Money Designing Logos

Hundreds of new websites and blogs are born everyday. Most of them will need a logo, but not every site owner knows how to make a logo. If you have some design talent, you can make good money offering custom logo creations on webmaster related forums and classified ads sites. Don’t have a professional software? Use free imaging tools such as PhotoFilter to make stunning logos.
Make Money Flipping Website and Domain
Buy good domains and resell for a profit. Build a website or a blog, work on it for a while and get it going. Its Just like flipping houses, when you get the site to a good point, put it up for sale. People like websites that are ready to go, and they do pay good money for it. Hundreds of website are bought and sold every day on sites like Flippa.com

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Posted in: Make Money Designing Logos

12 Website Where You Can Get Paid For Your Photos !

This is a very interesting way to make some money. if you have a camera and think you can take quality pictures, this is a fantastic opportunity for you to generate a source of repeated revenue. people and businesses buy images for a number of different reasons, some need it for their website or blog, others need it for their ad campaign or their book or what have you. how many times you needed an image that you couldn’t find for free but there was plenty of it for a small price? well that’s the whole point and when you consider the number of world wide Internet users who might buy that image, it is so obvious that this is a simple but very effective revenue generating system.
Thanks to the numerous websites, today it’s easier than ever to earn money for your pictures and for the same reason there is a lot of competition of course. but remember, you ad your own style to your pictures which makes it a unique image and you never know what kind of work the photo buyers are looking for. best of all these websites wont cost you a dime to register with. upload your images and whenever one gets sold, depending on the specific website, you get a portion of the profit.
One of the best ways to maximize your revenue is the referral program. 80% of these websites offer referral reward, so take advantage of this opportunity to refer people both the image buyer and the image seller. don’t be shy to put your referral link in your blog or website or even in your email (please don’t spam others). i am a member of couple of the below sites and i am using my referral link to link to them. try to do something like that in your blog or website. there is nothing wrong with that. i belive as long as i am being honest and not referring people to the rip off sites or scamms, its ok to use my referral link in fact in a way you help others find the services they need.
Remember, claiming and selling images that are not yours is a crime and will have its consequences. ok, here are some of the most well known sites that you can use to sell your images.

1. shutterstock  There are three ways to make money with this program: refer photographers(earn 3 cents per photo sold by photographers you refer) , refer Stock Buyers (make 20% off their subscriptions), and submit photos for sale! (25 cents every time one of your images is downloaded. Once you reach $500 in earnings, your commission goes up to 30 cents per download).

2. istockphoto  Earn 20 % on prices ranging from $1 to $20 per image.you can make up to 40% if you offer them an exclusive on your images.you can also sell Audio,Video,Flash and Illustrations.

3. dreamstime  Earn 50-80% from each image sold. exclusive photos make you more money.

4. bigstockphoto  Make 30 cents to $3 per image sold. they have a list of photos that they need ,submitting photos in those categories will increase your earnings.

5. crestock    You will earn 20% commission with prices ranging from $5 to $15 per photo ,but as soon as you hit 100 sales, you’ll earn 30% commission . of course the more you upload the more you’ll sell. fast and easy uploading process.

6.  photostockplus   85% commission on all sales. you can host private galleries and you set your own prices. however, you pay 3.25%  processing fee on each  sale.

7.  123royaltyfree  Earn 50% on each photo downloaded. refer customers and earn 15% of their purchase or subscription. refer photographers and earn 10% of the price of each of their photo downloaded.

8. veer You set your own prices For every image that’s sold on a standard or product license, you will receive a royalty of 30%. If you allow your image to be downloaded on subscription, you will receive 30 cents per download.Once you make $10 in royalties, you will be paid in paypal.

9. fotolia  Get paid an average of 50% on each image downloaded. you get paid by pay pal and Money booker, however wire transfers are offered in countries where pay pal and money booker are not supported.

10. shutterpoint  ShutterPoint offers the highest payout rate on the internet. 85% for Full Royalty-Free License. 70% for Standard Royalty-Free License. when you reach $50 you can get it in paypal or by check .

11. clustershot  Your free to submit any photos without the fear of not being approved. you can set a price or be open to offers. they get 12% of the sale price and you get the rest automatically  in paypal when your account reaches $100, however you can request payout earlier but they will charge a small fee for payments less than $100.

12. stockxpert  You get paid 50% of each sale,by paypal, money booker or check. which means you can earn $7.50 after each XXL size download and $10 after each super high quality vector download! you can even earn $50 per sale by offering extended licenses for your images.

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Posted in: 12 Website Where You Get Paid

A Beginners Three Step Guide To Affiliate Marketing

o a beginner, affiliate marketing may sound like a complicated and though to master money making method. But the truth is affiliate marketing is far from being complicated. In fact it’s one of the easiest online money making methods to understand and execute. Affiliate marketing is simply the middle man concept, that has moved from the brick and mortar markets to the digital online market, and found a new identity. It’s a simple yet powerful way to make money online, in which the affiliate (middle man) earns a commission in return for generating sales/leads.
 
Using affiliate marketing, the seller is expanding his chances of success by reaching more potential buyers through the efforts of his affiliates, and the affiliates make money by selling a ready product, without having to take any risk by investing any of his own money. While it takes some general knowledge and hard work to be a successful affiliate marketer, the one thing that set affiliate marketing apart from other online money making opportunities is the fact that it doesn’t require any special skills or years of training to make money as an affiliate marketer.
Just like any new job or skill, as a beginner affiliate marketer you will face many challenges, but if you truly follow these 3 simple steps, you are sure to succeed as an affiliate marketer.


Choose A Niche
The first step is to find a niche in which you are interested and/or passionate about. Like any other job, doing what you enjoy is an important factor in your success. You can use search engines and online forums to find what people are buying or taking about. Pick one and stick with it. Jumping from niche to niche will not get you far. An example of hot and profitable niche would be the diet and weight loss niche.

Find A Product To Promote
Now that you know what kind of market you are going to promote in, it’s time to find a high paying, easily marketable product to promote. This can be done by using affiliate marketing networks such as Clickbank,Commission Junction and etc. Register with some of these sites for free, and search their marketplace for the kind of product you are looking for. Upon getting accepted, you will be given a special link with your own affiliate id encrypted in it, which any time someone uses that link to go to the merchant’s sale page and buy the product, you will be paid a commission. Keep in mind that using more than one affiliate marketing networks, gives you a better opportunity for finding many different related product, since not all merchants use the same AMN to find affiliates. An example of a good product for diet and weight loss niche is obviously a diet plan, fitness program, e-book, gym membership and etc.

Promote And Promote
Here comes the last but most important step for making money with affiliate marketing, promotion. Now that you have your niche and product picked, you need to find ways to promote the product you chose. This can be done in many ways. You can either setup a website or a blog and start driving traffic to your site. You can also use a review site, where you write reviews and articles for a product is a simple yet effective way of promoting a product through your site/blog. Article marketing is another great way to promote products and services.
Another way would be to use sites like yahoo answers or e-how and such to answer or write how-tos related to your niche, and including your special affiliate link in it. Considering how many millions of people use these sites everyday, it is the easiest and fastest way to promote a product. In fact this is the number one way seasoned affiliate marketers use to make money. Because it’s a very targeted market. Meaning since you are answering questions related to your niche, the people who ask the questions are most likely already looking for such product. Plus it’s totally free, since you don’t have to buy your own website. Also, since these sites are already getting huge amounts of daily traffic, you don’t have to worry about driving traffic to them. Instead you can focus all of your efforts on writing good articles that will lead people to buy products your promoting.


Affiliate marketing requires a lot of time and effort, but if you are persistence enough and are willing to put enough time and effort into it, the rewards are great

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Posted in: A Beginners Three Step Guide To Affiliate Marketing

10 Ways To Earn On Internet

First Five

 

1. Offer your professional expertise in an online marketplace.These days, you can do more than just sell your old books via Amazon and your old Coach handbags via eBay—now you can sell your professional capabilities in a marketplace. No longer are you limited to looking for a permanent or contract job on Web 1.0 style job sites like Monster or CareerBuilder. The new breed of freelancing and project-oriented sites let companies needing help describe their projects. Then freelancers and small businesses offer bids or ideas or proposals from which those buyers can choose.
Elance covers everything from programming and writing to consulting and design, while RentACoder focuses on software, natch. If you’re a graphic designer, check out options like Design Outpost or LogoWorks–you don’t have to find the customers, they’ll come to you. Wannabe industry analysts might sign up for TechDirt’s Insight Community, a marketplace for ideas about technology marketing.
2. Sell photos on stock photography sites. If people regularly oooo and aaaaah over your Flickr pics, maybe you’re destined for photographic greatness or maybe just for a few extra dollars. It’s easier than ever to get your photos out in front of the public, which of course means a tremendous amount of competition, but also means it might be an convenient way for you to build up a secondary income stream. Where can you upload and market your photos? Try Fotolia, Dreamstime, Shutterstock, and Big Stock Photo.
3. Blog for pay. Despite the explosion of blogs, it’s hard to find good writers who can turn around a solidly-written post on an interesting topic quickly. GigaOM is always looking for bloggers with great content ideas and solid writing skills. How do you get noticed? Comment and link to blogging network sites. Write blog posts that are polished and not overly personal (although showing some personality is a plus).
4. Or start your own blog network. If you like the business side of things–selling advertising, hiring and managing employees, attracting investors–and have the stomach to go up against the likes of Weblogs, Inc., GigaOmniMedia, b5media, maybe you should make an entire business out of blogs. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’ll get a lot of time to write yourself though.
5. Provide service and support for open source software. Just because the software is free doesn’t mean you can’t make money on it–just ask Red Hat, a well-known distributor of Linux that sports a market cap of more than four billion dollars. As a solo web worker, you might not want to jump in and compete with big companies offering Linux support, but how about offering support for web content management systems like WordPress or Drupal? After getting comfortable with your own installation, you can pretty easily jump into helping other people set them up and configure them.

More Clicks

6. Online life coaching. Who has time to go meet a personal coach at an office? And don’t the new generation of web workers need to be met by their coaches in the same way that they work: via email, IM, and VoIP? You could, of course, go through some life coaching certification program, but on the web, reputation is more important than credentials. I bet Tony Robbins isn’t certified as a life coach–and no one can argue with his success. For an example of someone building up their profile and business online as a coach, check out Pamela Slim of Ganas Consulting and the Escape from Cubicle Nation blog.
7. Virtually assist other web workers. Freelancers and small businesses desperately need help running their businesses, but they’re not about to hire a secretary to come sit in the family room and answer phone calls. As a virtual assistant, you might do anything from making travel reservations to handling expense reimbursements to paying bills to arranging for a dog sitter. And you do it all from your own home office, interacting with your clients online and by phone. You can make $20 and up an hour doing this sort of work, depending on your expertise.
8. Build services atop Amazon Web Services. Elastic computing on AWS is so cool… and so incredibly primitive right now. Did you know that you can’t even count on your virtual hard drive on EC2 to store your data permanently? That’s why people are making money right now by offering services on top of AWS. Make it easier for people to use Amazon’s scalability web infrastructure like Enomaly has with elasticlive, a scalable web hosting platform built on AWS.
9. Write reviews for pay or perks. If you blog for any length of time on a particular topic–parenting, mobile phones, or PCs, for example–you will likely be approached to do book or product reviews. You can get free stuff this way, but are you selling your soul? Is there any such thing as a free laptop? These are decisions you’ll have to make for yourself, because no one agrees upon what ethical rules apply to bloggers. Even less do people agree on services like PayPerPost that pay you to write reviews on your blog. Check out disclosure rules closely and see whether such a gig would meet your own personal standards or not.
10. Become a virtual gold farmer. A half million Chinese now earn income by acquiring and selling World of Warcraft gold to gamers in other countries. If you’re not a young person living in China, this probably isn’t a viable option for you. But what’s intriguing about it is the opportunity to make real money working in a virtual economy. People are making real-world money in Second Life too.

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Posted in: 10 Ways To Earn On Internet