How to Use Your Home Computer to Make Money
Using your home computer to make money gives you the flexibility to decide how you want to make money and how much you want to work. Many people choose to work part-time from their homes on the computer using the Internet, while others work entirely full-time from home. Virtually limitless opportunities and methods exist for the ways in which you can make money on the Internet using your home computer; a couple examples include blogging and starting a freelance career.
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Instructions
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Establish an Internet connection. Pay for services from either a dial-up, broadband or satellite Internet service provider. Internet services allow you to go online to work and make money.
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Purchase a domain and a website hosting plan. Domain names---the URL for a website---can be purchased from the same place you get your hosting service. Examples of places you can buy domains Web hosting include GoDaddy, Host Gator and Just Host. Think of topic in which you want to start a blog or website. Select a name for the domain that goes along with this topic. Choose the "basic" or smallest level of hosting---which costs anywhere from $10 to $20 per month---as this is all you will need to make money with your site.
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Set up a basic website on your domain. Install a content management system to make setting up your website user-intuitive. Content management systems include WordPress, Drupal and Joomla. These systems "hold" all the information you place on your site and make it user-friendly to edit. Ask your Web hosting company for help; many hosting services provide CMS systems and can help users install them free-of-charge.
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Begin creating and posting a "blog" on your website. A blog is the "type" of website you're setting up which helps you share your opinions, experiences and knowledge to the entire Web community. Start by making introductory posts about the topic you've chosen to "blog" or create a website about. Upload and add multimedia to your website---such as pictures and videos---to make your blog website more interesting and engaging to site visitors.
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Install a pay-per-click (PPC) program on your blog website. Pay-per-click programs---examples include Google AdWords, the Yahoo Publisher Network and Microsoft adCenter---display text advertisements on your site. When a site visitor clicks on one of these ads, you earn a small amount of money ranging from a few cents to dollars depending on the specific PPC program you join.
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Promote an affiliate product or program. Affiliate programs pay you a set commission rate if you garner sales for the product. Visit an affiliate marketplace website such as Commission Junction, PayDotCom or ClickBank. Sign up as an "affiliate" for the marketplace you choose. Select a product which you want to promote on your blog website. Obtain your special affiliate link---the URL that you can promote which keeps track of all the sales and commissions you earn. Write a blog post---or several of them---to promote the product, explaining to visitors the features and benefits of it. Include your affiliate link in your blog posts to give readers a chance to click-through to purchase the item.
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Sign up for an online payment processor such as PayPal. Many affiliate programs and pay-per-click programs pay your earnings through PayPal, bank wires or by mailing a check.
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Promote your blog website. Promoting your blog gets your website traffic, which ultimately helps you earn more money over the long run. Post announcements about your blog on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Join forums related to what your blog is about, constructively contribute to the conversations and place your blog's URL in your forum "signature."
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- Photo Credit Woman working on laptop at home on the couch. image by Andy Dean from Fotolia.com
