Online Money Huntress: How I Earned my First Online Money

First of all, I should warn you that making money online is not a piece of cake. There are lots of sites which promise instant cash once you join them. I bet those sites are scam so beware! Don’t easily believe in quick-rich schemes especially those where you need to pay for registration, kits, membership or any other stuff. I am not saying that all pay-something-then-earn methods are scams, but if you are a newbie in online money-making, better stay on the safe side. The first thing you should concentrate on is to research on legit ways of earning online without taking out any penny from your pocket.

In this blog, I will share my personal experiences as a newbie. Back when all I do in the internet is Facebook, I came across an advertisement saying that I can actually earn money through Google AdSense. I bet you have also heard of it, right? Well yeah, it is true that many web people make money from it, but it is not that easy. Upon learning that you can apply for this when you have a blog, I immediately searched for sites which supports free blogging. I registered to HubPages and made 3 hubs for the sake of applying for AdSense. I thought it was just as easy as that! Boy was I wrong, it turns out that Google AdSense rejects applications.

I have experienced rejection from AdSense thrice. Two were due to insufficient content. So I made more posts only to be rejected again because as per Google, my blog’s topics are not applicable to AdSense. Great, isn’t it? So I tried other stuffs aside from AdSense. I tried answering surveys, rating articles, and being an amazon and ebay affiliate trough Hub Pages. For the complete details about my adventure with these methods, read my other blog about this. Anyway, the end result was that I haven't earned any cash. This is not surprising for a beginner like me since I still don't know much about the rules of the game.

Though, I did not stop and researched on other ways of making money through the internet until I came across sites such as oDesk, Elance, and Freelancer. These sites are basically the same - people looking for services post the job at these sites and people who think that they can accomplish that job can bid for it. The employer (project poster) can then select the bidder and contact him through the site. Among the three sites, I found Freelancer.com as the most newbie friendly. The available projects there are not too complex for someone who is new in online freelancing. So I focused on that site and here is what I did to gain my first online income:

I registered at Freelancer - the basic membership is free so don't worry. However, this free membership only offers a limited number of bids so choose the projects carefully before bidding.
I selected categories which I think I am capable of - After registration, you will be asked to select categories on projects you want to bid for. If you're like me who's not a computer whiz but can write a document, I suggest you choose article writing, article submission, article rewriting, and blogging.
I narrowed my choices to projects with more specific details that pertain to me. - for example, I prioritized bidding in projects such as "Wanted Filipino writers" since I am a Filipino. -By doing so, you limit your competitors and increase your potential of being selected for the project.
I bid for the lower rated projects -Obviously, high rated projects have more bidders than lower rated ones. More bidders mean more competition and as an inexperienced freelancer, you'll be easily devoured by those competitors who have already gained a lot of reviews.
I placed a competitive bidding statement and backed it up with a writing sample . - Assure the employer that you are capable of doing the project successfully by pointing out your skills. As proof, attach an excellent sample of your work. But beware, some people post fake projects just to fish out free articles. Give a sample which you have already used or you can also give a link to one of your blogs instead.
I was selected for a project that has the rate of $1 per 300words article - Yeah I know this is low. But just for the sake of immediately earning something online, I eagerly went on with the project.
I researched about the job assignment - The project was about writing LED-related articles for the purpose of SEO. I had no idea what the heck is LED or SEO so I researched about it. After learning various things about LED and SEO, I wrote 5-6 articles per day and submitted those to the employer on a daily basis until I completed the assigned 30 articles.
I revised articles that need corrections - Of course you must not expect to deliver perfect results as a newbie so you must be willing to edit your work for corrections.
I opened a Moneybookers account to receive my payment - You can actually receive payment through Freelancer itself but some employers prefer to pay through other ways such as Moneybookers (Skrill) or Paypal. You can open an account online for free, but in order to withdraw the money, you should attach a debit/credit card to your account.
I then got my first online money amounting to $30 right after the transaction was settled! :)