3 best ideas to make extra money online in 2012

"Looking for the best ideas to make extra money online in 2012?" This article will show you three of the quickest and easiest ways to make money on the Internet.

The Web is a great place to make money quickly, without needing anything more than your imagination and a bit of hard work. Accordingly, all of the money making techniques discussed in this article are easy to implement, don't require any programming or technical experience, and, if done correctly, can earn a lot of money.

Also, if you're looking for plenty of great home based business ideas I recommend you also take a look at a related article entitled "Top 10 best home based business ideas to make money online in 2012".

How to make money online in 2012

2012 has seen a number of huge changes in the way the Internet works. This means that the fields of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), marketing, eCommerce, and content creation are all going to be in a state of flux.

One of the most important things you can do to ensure that your blog or website makes money is to understand what SEO, Google search and Internet marketing is all about. I've included a list of must-read articles and resources for small or home based Internet businesses at the end of the post, and I strongly recommend you browse through these before trying to make money online.

1. Make money blogging

Blogging is a great way to make money online because it is super quick, easy to start, and doesn't require any technical Web programming or development experience.

Large blogging platforms like WordPress offer a convenient place to start blogging.

In order to make money blogging, you will first need to get plenty of visitors (traffic). To do this, you need to:

1. Find a niche topic (i.e. "the best hamburgers in the world", "Training your goldfish", and so on)
2. Write great content
3. Learn about SEO
4. Learn about Internet marketing and social media
5. Be persistent and consistent

Many people fail to make money blogging because they don't properly focus their content, don't do adequate research into their niche market and readership, don't understand SEO or social media, and above all, they give up too soon.

With plenty of great traffic arriving at your blog, it is easy to make money in any way you can imagine. The most commonplace and easy to implement are:

• Embedding Google AdSense ads (or ads from other networks like Chitika)
• Using affiliate links for sites like Amazon or an affiliate network like Commission Junction
• Selling advertising directly
• Writing paid reviews

To learn more about making money blogging, I recommend you read the following articles:

• How to make money blogging
• Small business SEO tutorial: How to attract higher quality Google traffic
• Five top SEO tips for small business bloggers
• SEO basics: Increase website traffic with long-tail Google keywords

2. Make money from an online store

eCommerce, or online stores, are a great way to earn money for a home based or small business startup. With modern shopping cart software, setting up an online store is easier than ever and doesn't require any programming or development experience.

To make money from an online store, you will need:

1. A product, or products, to sell
2. A good online shopping cart software solution

Setting up an online store is the easy bit. Marketing and promoting it is the tricky bit. Without plenty of visitors (traffic), even the best products in the world, on the best eCommerce solution in the world won't make money.

Operating a successful online store is about having a great product, great marketing and great customer service.

Since so much of the success of an online store depends on marketing, I recommend you set up a blog as part of your online store (See Make money blogging). In addition, I recommend you read the SEO and Internet marketing articles presented at the bottom of this post.