Check out the new discussion forums here at 20smoney - perfect for those looking to make money online or discuss the economy or seek out dividend income!

If you’re like me, you’ve read countless blogs or articles about the golden secret to making money online.  What none of these magic authors tell you is that in the real world, making money online or through some sort of website is hard.  Real hard.  I’ve been working on 20smoney.com since April 2008 and although I had a couple nice months at times, my average income off this site is under $100 a month.  Now, if you’ve noticed, my blog is fairly well established.  i have about 600 subscribers and decent traffic.  I’ve made some mistakes and I think I have potential to grow that income, but my point is, it’s not easy at all.

There are thousands of “how to make money online” blogs that are just stupid.  Ignore them.  Just about all of them don’t make money online so what the heck do they have to offer you?

Is Blogging The Answer?

For most of you, no, it’s not.  Just about all of you won’t make any money from blogging at least enough to justify the time it takes.  If I did this blog only for the money, I’d have quit long ago.  Can you make money from blogging?  Yes, but you’ll be in the very small minority and it will probably take you a few years to get to a good income level.  Because I write about income and investing (two passions of mine), I’m able to continue blogging.  It’s an interest of mine.  Maybe at some point, it’ll be a nice income.

Other Approaches

What I really am exploring is the variety of ways to make money off the web, especially other than blogging.  I am documenting this journey as I go, so that I can help you find real, valid opportunities for you to make money online yourself.

Two of my experiments (one complete, one in progress) can be seen in the following articles:

• Article Marketing Experiment: Does It Really Work? (in progress)
• Writing for Examiner.com Experiment (complete)

Look, I’m not trying to sell you on something, nor am I trying to convince you to make money online one way or another.  Frankly, if you have a “real world” opportunity to invest your time, you’re probably better off.  But, if you’re curious as to whether or not you should try and make some money off the web, or if you’re looking for new ways to do it, I encourage you to keep reading my blog.

I will continue updating my readers on my income experiments as well as new income experiments that I have in the works once I’m complete with the current one.

I encourage you to subscribe to my blog so you can get continuous updates.  Also, be sure to check out the Income Streams page for all the latest income stream posts here at 20smoney.com.  Good luck to all of us.  Hopefully, my potential success will also mean success for some of my readers!

One More Thing…

I will also start posting detailed income accounts in the near future including the methods of online income (advertising, affiliate sales, etc.) and the various channels (20smoney.com, other niche sites, etc.) each month.  Be sure to stay tuned!

I’m looking for feedback!  If you work at online income streams, leave some comments detailing what you do!