by Gordon Hamilton

Created on: January 28, 2009

If we are serious about the business of wanting to make money online without investing anything beforehand - and I mean real money, not pennies - we have to first of all realise two things and learn some very important up-front lessons. For every genuine site that will pay as promised, there are at least 999 scammers. Also, just like in any other walk of life, unless you are very, very lucky, making money online takes hard work - and lots of it.

This article is a "how to" one, not a "what to avoid" one but before we embark on the road to success, please allow me a moment to blow some myths out of the water.

Paid to click sites, survey sites and all of those sites which promise great wealth for little work are either scammers or robbers - every single one of them. They either don't pay as promised, don't operate as promised or pay you an equivalent - if you sit down and work it out - of around ten cents an hour for your time. If this is the sort of income you are looking to generate online, fine - there is no point reading any further. If, however, you want more, read on.

Let us begin with the obvious and that is Helium, the site upon which you are reading this article. I would have no hesitation whatsoever about naming Helium as the most reliable income generating site on the Web. Others certainly have more potential but with Helium, there are fewer ifs, buts and maybes and more likelihood of a decent payout every month.

Helium pays its writer in several ways. Royalties are paid on articles, quality writers can earn stars through an in-house rating scheme and receive up-front payments, weekly competitions are held for cash and the "Marketplace" allows writers to write to titles which publishers are looking for in the hope of being chosen and paid. It is entirely conceivable to actually earn a living on Helium alone if you have enough time and are a good enough writer.

Squidoo and Hub Pages are Web 2.0 sites which allow the individual to build pages on the Web constructed from a series of modules. The pages can be on any subject of the person's choice - within the law, of course! - and the text of the article can be supplemented with such as Amazon and eBay modules, selling products for commission. Squidoo pays its best performing members on a tiered level from the monthly AdSense pool while Hub Pages allows members to use their own Google AdSense account.

Cafepress is a site which allows people to build their own online store. It features all sorts of products from

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