There are legitimate ways to make money online and illegitimate ways. How do you tell them apart? Legitimate ways require learning some skills as well as providing a service. For example; enticing people to fritter away their food money in an online casino could make you significant cash. It might have taken skill, but you did not provide a service. Do not mistake merely making money with being legitimate.

You can end up making a lot of money if you study and practice internet marketing. Here are some potential areas you might work in: MLM, list building, product creation, Adsense, eBay, cost per action marketing and many others. Few people start out making a lot of money from day one, but with persistence, there are no limits.

The cynically minded might question how selling adds value. The answer can be found in what you choose to sell. If the service or product is not harmful to the person, and they are looking for information to help their buying decision, which you provide to them, then it is a service and you have added value to them. This is not volunteering for charity. It is an equitable business situation with pay offs for both parties.

Not everyone wants to start a business or be in marketing. What are some other legitimate ways to make money online? Working for a company or an individual business owner as a virtual assistant might be a viable choice for you. You could work for one person or company exclusively, or there might be room to juggle more than one employer.

There are companies which pay for data entry work, but most of the ads you see are scams. Do not pay for information to find out where to apply for these jobs. What you end up with is a page informing you that the “data entry” consists of buying ads like the one you answered, so you can get people to send you money. (The Pay It Forward principle in reverse.)

Some companies do hire data entry workers. Be prepared to supply real references and endure a thorough background check. You might be required to pay for the criminal record search. Save your money if you have been arrested.

There are no such investigations at outsourcing websites that work on a reverse eBay style bidding. Instead of the price going up, your price will go down. Your first job may work out along the lines of a dollar, an hour, but with experience comes positive feedback on your website profile. That can lead to higher pay and ultimately, it could lead to you creating your own business getting outside work and decent pay.

The best chance of making a lot of money, though, is in internet marketing. It tends to be slow to get started but it is cumulative by nature, meaning it keeps increasing as you keep working. Lots of technophobes who started out clueless went on to achieve six figure incomes.

Article marketing, a free way to be an affiliate marketer, is unique in that it is free, and the sky is the limit. You get to piggy back on Google, without paying them a single nickel.

The bottom line is, no matter which of the many legitimate ways to make money online that you decide on, you will need to persist. Do not get discouraged and quit. Just keep learning skills and persisting. It will pay off.