Other Online Money Making Strategies

Making money online used to pretty much require you to have your own Web site, products to sell and some marketing savvy. But a new generation of dot-coms have arisen that will pay you for what you know and who you know without you having to be a web designer or a marketing genius .
But it's hard to tell hype from the real deal. I did a search on "make money online" and "making money online", and much of the information out there is just promoting various infoproducts, mostly about Internet marketing. I see why people sometimes ask, "Is anyone making money online besides Internet marketing experts?"
So I put together a list of business opportunities with legitimate companies that:

In the interest of objectivity, none of the links below are affiliate links, and none of them have paid or provided
any other consideration for their presence here. These are legitimate companies with business models that allow
you to get paid for a wide range of activities.

Help friends find better jobs.
Sites like ReferEarns, Zyoin, Who Do You Know For Dough?, and WiseStepp connect employers with prospective
employees, many of whom are already employed and not actively job-hunting, via networking - the people
who know these qualified candidates. Rewards for referring a candidate who gets hired range from $50 on up to
several thousand dollars - not chump change. If you know a lot of job-seekers (and who doesn't these days?),
this is a great way to break into the recruiting business with no overhead.

Connect suppliers with buyers.
Referral fees are a common practice in business, but they haven't been used much in online networking sites
because there was no way to track them. Sites like Salesconx, InnerSell and uRefer now provide that. Vendors
set the referral fees they're willing to pay (and for what), and when the transaction happens, you get paid.
uRefer also allows merchants to set up referral programs for introductions and meetings, as well as transactions.

Write.
A growing number of sites will pay for your articles or blog posts. Associated Content and Helium will
"pay for performance" based on page views for just about anything you want to write about.
Articles on specific topics they're looking for can earn direct payments up to about $200.
The rates are probably low for established writers, but if you're trying to break into the field
and have time on your hands, they're a great way to start. Also, a lot of companies are looking for part-time bloggers.
They may pay per post or on a steady contract. Our Weblogs Guide posts blogging jobs weekly in the forum.

Start your own blog.
You don't have to have your own Web site, or install blogging software, or even figure out how to set up the advertising.
At Blogger you can set up a blog for free in less than five minutes without knowing a thing about web design, and Blogger
even automates setting up Google AdSense so you can make money off your blog by displaying ads and getting paid when people click on the ads. To make even more money from it, set up an affiliate program (see below) for books, music, etc., and insert your affiliate links whenever you refer to those items. You'll have to get a lot of traffic to become a six-figure blogger, but pick an interesting topic, write well, tell all your friends, and you're off to a good start.

Microstock photography.
You don't have to be a professional photographer to sell your photos for money. People are constantly in need of stock photography for websites, presentations, brochures and so on, and are willing to pay for the right image. People generally search for images on stock photography sites by keywords, not by photographer, so you have the same chance as anyone else of having your image picked. Just be careful that you don't have images of trademarked brands, copyrighted art or people's faces that are readily identifiable (unless you have a model release), but just about anything else is fair game, and I promise - you'd be amazed what people need pictures of, so don't make any assumptions. If it's a decent photo, upload it. Some sites to get you started include Fotolia, ShutterStock, Dreamstime and iStockphoto. The great thing about this is that it's truly "set it and forget it".
The above list is by no means comprehensive, but it highlights some of the new and interesting ways to make money online without investing any money, without having a product of your own, and without having expert sales and marketing skills. Most of all, unlike taking surveys or getting paid to read e-mail, the potential return on your time investment is substantial.