The traditional way to make money is by working at a job. Now with the popularity of the Internet, people are making money online. And some even make more money online than in their previous day jobs.

So if that’s possible, why not explore ways to make money online? This might start out as a way to make extra money. And who knows, it may eventually become your full-time gig.

Some of these ways to make money take time to build up and to earn a real income. But the trade-off is that making money online means not having to leave the house.

There are so many ways to make money depending on your skill set. There are also a lot of scams online so I am only including legitimate ways to make money online.

1. Sell your photos.

Everyone wants to be a photographer these days. If you’ve put in all this time into getting the perfect camera, lenses, settings, and gear to get the perfect photo, why not make money off of it? If you have quality photos to sell, check out iStockPhoto.

2. Publish an e-book.

If you love to write and have always wanted to write a book, you can totally accomplish this without going to a publisher anymore. You can write an e-book, which is a book in digital format (pdf), and make money selling it online! You don’t have to bother getting it printed and published. And you can sell it yourself online through your own website or even get other people to help sell your e-book.

How do you get started? Check out How to Make Money Selling E-Books.

3. Write articles.

If your skill is in writing and you love to write short pieces, then consider writing articles for online hubs. Hubpages and Squidoo are some of the popular online article databases that accept new articles. The way you make money online with this is you share the profits from the ads placed on Hubpages or Squidoo.

It might be a small amount at first, but if you can build up a lot of traffic, over time it can make more money. The beauty of this is that there is no cap on the amount you can make.

4. Sell your handmade crafts.

If you handmade arts and crafts is your specialty, then you can sell your stuff on etsy.com. You can also sell vintage items and commercial and handmade supplies.

5. Make YouTube videos.

I used to be a videographer and if YouTube was around back then, I would be doing this. Online videos are so popular in this digital age, that they sometimes rival what’s on TV.

You can make money on YouTube by doing a regular video series on a niche topic. When you get a certain amount of views, YouTube contacts you to participate in the Google Adsense program. The ads show up on the videos and when someone clicks on it, you make money.

6. Sell affiliate products.

Selling other company’s products online is called affiliate marketing. You need a website and a lot of traffic to do this. What you do is embed affiliate links into your site. When someone clicks through and makes a purchase, you earn a percentage of the sale.

Popular affiliate marketing programs include LinkShare, Google Affiliate Network, and Amazon. Amazon was the best program but they recently cut off affiliate programs in certain states like California due to new sales tax laws.

7. Create something for $5.

Fiverr is “the place for people to share things they’re willing to do for $5.” Some people have offered to write messages on the beach, write press releases, tweet links to their followers, give makeup tips, etc. $5 may seem like a drop in the bucket, but if you sell a lot of whatever service or product you offer, it can add up. What can you do to get $5?

8. Sell your designs.

If designing artwork is your forte, then check out Zazzle. You can put your artwork on 350+ various items, like T-shirts, hoodies, shoes, iPod cases, and more. You create an online store through Zazzle and add your designs to the products you choose. Then you promote it on Zazzle. Zazzle takes care of manufacturing, payment, and shipping of the item.

Photo Credit: schrierc

Featured in the Carnival of Wealth Carnival #48 hosted by Personal Dividends.

Living Richly on a Budget was included in Money Hacks Carnival #102 hosted this week on Passive Income Now. The Money Hacks Carnival is a traveling carnival hosted on a different personal finance site each Wednesday. The carnival is a collection of the week’s best articles on personal finance, making money, and frugal living.

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I recently talked with a friend who is an Internet Entrepreneur. He makes enough passive income through several websites, to cover his expenses and make a living. I know it wasn’t easy or quick. It took him a few years to build it and make it happen.

Then he told me about this guy, who was 25 and was laid off last year. He ended up making $8,000 in his first month through selling his own product through his blog. See the link for smart passive income below.

The idea of passive income is very appealing. Imagine making money when you’re not working and even while you sleep! That’s what passive income is.

It’s setting up a system that basically runs itself to make you money and doesn’t require you to be there. Most of us earn an hourly wage or salary when we work. But when we’re not working, we don’t make any money. This is the same for entrepreneurs, who make money only when they have projects to work on. Otherwise, they make no money. =(

A simple example of passive income is Britney Spears recording an album. Once the music is recorded, mixed, and mastered, the record company puts the album onto iTunes and people buy it. Britney Spears doesn’t have to be there to sell the songs or album because it’s set up so that iTunes automatically sells it for her. When you download it, iTunes charges you and Britney Spears gets the profits. But what she does have to do is promote it through music videos, talk show appearances, magazine interviews, and concert tours. Once an Internet entrepreneur creates a product to sell, they have to promote it well.

I can’t say that becoming an Internet entrepreneur and making passive income is for everyone. You have to be the type of person who is business minded, enjoys learning, is not afraid to take risks, tries different things, doesn’t give up after failing, can look at the big picture, is resourceful about finding out how to do something, doesn’t have to be told what to do, and instead can figure out what to do on their own.

Here are some of the Internet entrepreneurs that I have been following:

johnchow.com

smartpassiveincome.com

problogger.net

entrepreneurs-journey.com