The Best

Ironic as it may be, I think the best and most time-effective methods of earning money online are through article-writing sites.

Helium, Triond, and Associated Content are all well and good, but they are pretty indiscriminate in terms of what content they take. The closer you get to freelance writing, the better off you'll be. Look at it this way, even if an article that pays $60 (which is low for quality freelance work) takes you three, four, or even five times longer to write than an article for those other sites, you're still making over 100x what you would make on that other article, even if it were posted at all three sites.

I think paid posting is a nice middle ground if you don't want to put in too much effort and you like the blogosphere. You can increase your earnings as your reputation increases by writing on specific subjects, but a little more casually than if you were writing articles. However, since I've begun "the real thing," i.e., a blog about things that interest me, I've discovered how much more difficult it is to promote a blog that's not in this "making money" niche. I hope, though, that it will be easier to get regular readers, and I know that with a topic I'm more passionate about, I will be able to produce higher quality content.

Expect further bulletins as warranted, but on a less frequent basis.

What Now?

In spite of the things going on which I posted about recently, there is a distinct lack of things to do right now. No one has responded to my interactive comment challenge, Google AdSense has yet to approve me after close to three weeks since my application, and while I've gotten one sponsored post, there are no more immediately on the horizon.

My goal was to set up a blog and membership at revenue-sharing sites such that I would continually be presented with opportunities to earn and be productive, but I am beginning to realize that I need to keep myself busy, especially at these early stages. So what should I do with myself and my yet-to-be-famous killed time? I'm thinking ... networking. If anyone knows which of these community sites are best for actual interaction and networking with people with similar blogs, please let me know. (i.e., Technorati, Digg, MyBlogLog... you get the idea.)