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If you're like me, every time you turn around, you find an e-mail in your inbox telling you how you can make thousands of dollars online with little to no effort. Unfortunately, there are far too many scams out there telling folks this fairytale of how to make money online with no effort.

The good news is that there are legitimate ways to make money online. All of them will require effort and work on your part, though. In fact, this is one of the main ways you can recognize an online money making opportunity as being false'if there's a claim that you can make thousands of dollars while you sleep, it's a good bet that the offer is a fake and will usually cost you money that you will never earn back.

One legitimate idea for how to make money online is to look into affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a good idea if you don't have your own product or service, as you are marketing for someone else. This type of marketing is usually done by having a link on your website. When a visitor clicks and then makes a purchase, you receive a commission on or a percentage of the sale. Some merchandisers will also pay you a commission on the visitors that don't make purchase, but do sign up for newsletters and such.

Drop shipping is also a great option if you don't have your own product or service to sell. The wonderful thing about drop shipping is that you can sell products without having to keep an inventory yourself. You basically serve as a go-between for the buyer and seller. You can easily find wholesale companies online by doing a quick search. Just make sure the company is reputable and has a good track record before you sign up for them, or more important, hand over any cash.

Online auctions such as eBay are also wonderful ways to make money online with little to no risk to you at all. You simply sign up with the auction, paste a picture and product description on the site, and let the bidding begin. You will have to arrange for shipping, but this is a great way to make money on old items you have in your home or garage that you no longer need or use. Think of online auctions as cyber garage sales and have fun with them!

You can also develop your own product or service to sell online. Services are sometimes easier to create and sell online because you already have the skills. Freelance writers, graphic artists, and personal coaches are just a couple of services that can be used to help you answer the how to make money online question for yourself in a very profitable way.

Freelancing is also a great way to make a part-time income while you develop your online business ideas and work on your business plan. This gives you the advantage of having an idea of what it takes to run your own business and provides you with a chance to see if you can make a go of it or not before you leave that cold, gray cubicle for a home office.

When considering options for how to make money online, remember to do plenty of research into them before you sign anything or pay out any money. While there are certainly many legitimate ways to make money online, there are twice that many that aren't. Choose carefully, though, and you can use your Internet connection to make extra money and perhaps even eventually earn a full-time income, all from the comfort of your home PC or laptop.