A reader wants to know: What is the best, honest, no scam online business there is?

And, another reader says: I need some suggestions for ways to make money on or off line. (Don’t say job!)

Truth be told, I’m not sure how to answer questions such as these ones. Especially since this blog is filled with advice and tips on different online businesses and ways to make money.

Somehow, when someone asks me this type of question, it makes me feel as if I’m being asked for a magic potion or something. A miracle. A one-size-fits-all answer.

And, I just don’t think I have the answer that will suit everyone who asks.

So, if someone asks me: What’s the best online business there is? What can I suggest to make money online?

Well, my answer is always the same: Start with one that you’d love to do. Or one that you know about. I don’t what that is. You can go in to auctions or sales. Or you can go in to affiliate marketing. Or perhaps, blogging or content writing. There are so many options.

The thing is, they all do require work. There’s no easy way around that one.

And I think anyone who’s ever made money online (or offline) will say that they do have to engage themselves in a job. It just depends on whether it’s a job they feel excited about – or not.

What about you? Have you ever been asked similar questions? What advice did you (or would you) give?

Image Source: sxc.hu; edits, mine

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Money Chat: Is There Such a Thing as The Best Online Business?

Many people find it a challenge to get started with online money making ideas and plans. Dolph, a JMMO reader who wishes to make money from blogging recently posted this comment and plea:

Hi. I’ve been wanting to start my own blog and try to earn a small amount but I could not decide on what to start about. I mean, does it have to be personal or some other stuff? Help me please. And please help me on what to do to set it up for the earnings.

It is quite an overwhelming prospect, this thought of starting to make money with blogging. I come from a point of view though, that it’s best to start blogging just out of sheer passion. Just because you want to blog something. Anything that you’re interested in. Be it a personal blog or hobby blog. Once you get the hang of it, think of ways to monetise it.

I truly believe that if you’ve never blogged before and you get in to it just to make money, you’ll probably find yourself very disappointed. There’s already a lot of bloggers out there with passion, with great content, and with a lot of readers. And yet, they are still not making that much money from it.

Blogging for money is highly competitive and there’s so much to learn in order to become successful.

Having said that now, let me address Dolph’s two main specific questions –

1) Does a blog need to be personal in order to be monetised? Or, does it have to deal with other subjects?

There are different ways to look at this subject. Most of us will probably say, no, it doesn’t have to be a personal blog. In fact, most blogs that make decent income are probably niche blogs that cater to a specific audience. Yet, at the same time, in order for any blog to be successful (no matter how niche or product-specific, etc it might be), there must be some kind of personal element in to it.

In any case, this brings me back to my earlier suggestion of starting a blog that you’re interested in. What do you want to talk about? What do you like to read about?

Working on a blog can be real hard work if you end up with topics that you’re not really interested in. Bad enough when you already like a topic. Imagine if you end up starting, say, a celebrity blog and the thought of watching Awards shows and such repulse you?

So, yeah – start a blog that you like. Something that you’d love to read yourself.

2) How do you set a blog up for earnings?

A whole book can probably be written on this topic. I’m trying to build up resources on this over the last 2.5 years since I started JMMO. Some suggestions may be found in the category, Blogging for Dollars. You’ll also find many blogs dedicated to making money through blogging.

I’ve also covered a quick guide for other beginners like Dolph in a previous Q & A session I wrote here at JMMO: Making Money from Blogs in the First 6 Months.

Your Turn:
Are you making money from blogs? What did you do to get started? How long it did take for you to make money? Any other tips you’d like to share with other problogger wannabes?

Image based on photo by Pierre Amerlynck
From sxc.hu

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Money Chat: Helping a Problogger Wannabe