Web design

Website design is one way of making money on the internet that often seems to get overlooked. This is probably due in part to the fact it requires a bit of time and effort to learn. Although long term it can prove very profitable and gives you a range of skills that can benefit you and others online.

The best way to start learning to design your own websites would be to invest in a good all round web design book. I would recommend Web Design in a Nutshell by Jennifer Robbins. The book covers in-depth, a wide range of topics including:

• A complete guide to html and xhtml
• Ten chapters covering all aspects of CSS
• Working with images and multimedia
• Introduction to JavaScript

There is also online websites that offer a variety of information as well including http://www.w3schools.com/ which is the most popular free site.

Another reason people are put off by web design, is the mistaken belief that expensive software is necessary to code a website. This is untrue and it is possible to design a site using software as basic as Notepad, a quick search on Google and you can find plenty of other free web design software packages.

Once you have mastered the basics of web design and learn new skills, it is possible to branch out into many different fields including, graphic design, affiliate marketing, etc.

Cashcrate

I have recently started using a survey site called cashcrate. Its free to join and all surveys are free to complete, with the exception of one or two that require a credit card payment. You are however under no obligation to complete any survey or offer you don't want to.

Each survey pays roughly between $0.25 - $1.50 and take only a couple minutes to complete at a time. The best thing about this site though is the referral program. You can earn 20% on whatever the people you refer to the site earn and a further 10% on whatever the people they refer to cashcrate earn.

With free competitions for site members and an active forum, cashcrate is alot more user friendly than any other survey site that I have come across. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think.Cashcrate.com

Keystrokes 4 Cash scam?

Keystrokes 4 Cash is a relatively new site that appears to have been set up in September 2007. The idea behind this site is that you type advertisements for selected companies in Google AdWords and Yahoo search marketing. Everytime an Internet user clicks on your ad and buys a product from the company your advertising, you make a commission.

Sounds like a pretty simply idea so why Keystrokes 4 Cash is charging $49 to train you is abit of a mystery to me. You are also offered a discount on the special $99 VIP sign up, this is just rubbish designed to make you think your getting a better deal. Oh and remember what I said before, be very skeptical of any company that requires a sign up fee.

Truth is, you probably can make money using this system, however after your initial payment of $49 to join, you then need to pay for your adverts, just like if you were using Google AdWords on your own website. Unless you are an extremely good and persistent marketer who can afford high advertising costs, then you are probably doomed to lose money on this system.

I researched Keystrokes 4 Cash on the BBB.com (Better Business Bureau) website, and found that the site was registered under a company called Synergy Investments Inc. A total of 653 complaints were made against the company in the last 36 months for a number of reasons. Look here and read the full report on them. I would recommend extreme caution before joining any website that is associated with this company.

Online scams

When looking to make money online, you are very likely to come across Internet scams, some of which are more obvious than others. Before you sign up for any online money making site, you need to ask yourself a few questions;

• Does the offer sound to good to be true?
• Do you have to respond very quickly before the offer runs out?
• Do you have to pay money upfront for a service or to buy your way into the "scheme"?
• Are you pressured into making a purchase before the sale price goes up considerably?

If the answer is yes to one or more of these questions, then there is a good chance that you are dealing with a scam. Online scammers, often under the disguise of a legitimate looking business, lure their victims in by promising untold wealth in return for very little work. The scammer's website will often have testimonials and pictures of people looking smug, in order to further convince you that they are genuine.

Before committing yourself to any online money making scheme, type the website address of the company followed by the word "scam" or " fraud" into Google or any other search engine. Look carefully through the results and read all reviews of the site carefully. Some of the scammers have caught on to this tactic and have now set up fake review sites. If you are in any doubt then email the website owner and also look up the domain hosting information on whois.net for further info about the site.

In my next entry I will dig a little deeper into online scams and look at a few particular sites in more detail.