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Applepie

Hi, I recently decided to earn money exclusively online, since situation in my country is such that it is extremely difficult to get any job and it has been like that for a long time. And even if by some miracle I could get a job it would just be too unstable not to mention all the traveling hassle and so on..

So I am absolutely dedicated now to try to find a way to earn money online. I already made paypal and moneybookers accounts and verified them so I can receive payment online.

500-600 dollars per month would be quite adequate for me since I own my apartment so I don't have to pay rent, I live alone and don't go out at all.

If you have any suggestions on how to start doing this please feel free to post it.

But what I was thinking is freelancing as a web developer and offering my services on various sites, the problem is I did this very long time ago and forgot about most of the stuff(html, css, php, javascript,etc.) and haven't really payed attention to new emerging standards and trends for a long time so I don't even know if the stuff I forgot is even relevant now.

This isn't a big deal since I'm a quick learner and am absolutely dedicated to making this work but I need you to, besides giving me general suggestions on how to earn money online, list all the specific things I would need to learn to be today's competitive web developer/designer in a wide range of services, starting right from the beginning.

Thank you

P.S.
If this is not the website from which I could learn how to make money online please post links to websites from which I could do that.

Applepie

LOL, not a single response to anything..

Applepie

Can anyone tell me why no one responded to this topic, I am confused.

lkeeney

Don't feel bad. I posted a simple question that almost 500 people have read and no one has responded.

rebelweb2007

If you know how to see up an easy to use site, and can review products & services and recommend them to visitors to your website and they buy from the retailer you are setup as an affiliate, then you make a percentage back on each transaction you send them. Sometimes it is a flat rate, not a percentage, but I think this is the answer you're looking for.

jedaisoul

Re The things you need to learn, I'd suggest that fluid design and media specific stylesheets should be high on your list. If the web developers who post here are representative, then there seems to be little appetite from the majority of developers to address these issues. Which suggests that those who do make the transition from fixed-width sites to fluid ones will be well positioned if the trend to using smart phones and tablet devices to browse the web continues to grow. Well that is what I'm hoping!

rebelweb2007

While I intially misunderstood the question. I was thinking you wanted a way to make 500-600 a month, not thinking of design (It was late here). If your talking about developing techniques, you have to make it easy for the company your are designing the website for easy to update. If it is not easy to update, then all the design work, style-sheets, mobile applications, etc. won't matter! While make a mobile site is important, you have to keep the update process easy and simple. I would also, consider finding a framework platform like Drupal, Joomla, concrete5, etc. and get know it in and out and how to develop mobile site with that platform.

khalidahmed

You may make a website ..... offer a specific service ....... promote you site ...... convince customer ...... earn money

The website should have a real service like designing...hosting..making apps and sooo on.

This is the basic formula ... in which you can earn money

Applepie

rebelweb2007;1220221 wrote:
While I intially misunderstood the question. I was thinking you wanted a way to make 500-600 a month, not thinking of design (It was late here). If your talking about developing techniques, you have to make it easy for the company your are designing the website for easy to update. If it is not easy to update, then all the design work, style-sheets, mobile applications, etc. won't matter! While make a mobile site is important, you have to keep the update process easy and simple. I would also, consider finding a framework platform like Drupal, Joomla, concrete5, etc. and get know it in and out and how to develop mobile site with that platform.

So basically, it is best to learn how to make a site that is easy to look at and update on PCs, tablets and phones? This is what you refer to as "mobile site", just a format compatibility issue?

Btw, I never heard of Drupal, Joomla etc. I thought all you needed is stuff like PHP, HTML, CSS, MySql etc. which you can do manually or with some software that incorporates it.

Are those then further extensions of such software?

Applepie

rebelweb2007;1220119 wrote:
If you know how to see up an easy to use site

Could you please reform this sentence in greater detail, I'm not sure if it's my English or your grammar...

n0x

php 5.4 is nothing like 4.3 and the code is alot cleaner
css3 has animations
jquery does it all, but just more tedius java to code

Gudlife

I would say the list is short and the content illimited.
PHP, HTML, CSS, JAVASCRIPT are the essentials to make a modern web site.
Only with those, you could spend a lifetime learning.
Now, to make an affiliate website is not complicated, but one will not be enough. Poeple who live from that usely count on multiplicity. So instead of making one site, they make plenty, with different contents, so they can attract a wide public. Thus the competition is rough. Tools like adwords are also used to make money.
Posting successfull content on youtube also brings in money, and there are many other sites who pay when you attract visitors.
I would say that in addition to the devellopment techniques you need to build a site, you should be aware of the SEO techniques that will attract your audience.
Are there other ways to make money on the web? Plenty! But as in real life, nothing is easy and getting your due is an everyday struggle.
The easiest is to find a job (freelance?) and build sites. This is sure income and if you do you job, a contract will bring another.

Success,

Gudlife

jedaisoul

Applepie;1220374 wrote:
So basically, it is best to learn how to make a site that is easy to look at and update on PCs, tablets and phones? This is what you refer to as "mobile site", just a format compatibility issue?

A mobile friendly site is one that is designed to be viewed on a wide range of devices, smart phones, tablets and PCs. It is nothing to do with where it can be updated, and who by.

Applepie;1220374 wrote:
Btw, I never heard of Drupal, Joomla etc. I thought all you needed is stuff like PHP, HTML, CSS, MySql etc. which you can do manually or with some software that incorporates it. Are those then further extensions of such software?

HTML etc. are the basic tools that allow you to build and update web sites. They do not, in themselves, support update of the site by clients.

Drupal, Joomla etc are content management systems (CMS). They write the code for you, and generally get a site up and running faster than using raw HTML etc... Some are designed so that once you have built a site, the clients can update it. Sounds good, but there are drawbacks:

Droopal, Joomla etc. are complex pieces of software that you need to learn how to use to get the best out of them.
Learning Droopal etc. will not teach you HTML etc. Hence the code could remain a "black box" to you.

Don't get me wrong; CM systems are very good at what they do. But the bottom line is: What type of developer do you want to be? Someone who may make a decent living by churning out samey sites by the bucket load? Or an artisan who hand-crafts code, but may have difficulty competing on price terms with the bucket-load brigade?

Now, I must admit that the characterisation ("artisan" vs "bucket load brigade"), is an oversimplification, and no offence is intended. Using HTML etc. will not automatically ensure that you produce fresh original designs. Also if the client wants to maintain the site themselves, then CMS is probably the way to go. The point is, they are different skill sets that address different requirements.

Gudlife

jedaisoul;1220421 wrote:
Now, I must admit that the characterisation ("artisan" vs "bucket load brigade"), is an oversimplification, and no offence is intended. Using HTML etc. will not automatically ensure that you produce fresh original designs. Also if the client wants to maintain the site themselves, then CMS is probably the way to go. The point is, they are different skill sets that address different requirements.

I believe that a good developper will always be original, whatever he works on.
The point I fully agree with is that someone who only works with CMS (without true devellopment skills) will never learn. And we are busy with new technologies, that means our work is an everyday learning job.
If someone doesn't have the will to learn at least the basics, he's better off asking a pro to do the job than using a CMS to walk around difficulties and put another useless site online.
Think of it that way: there are more than 300 million sites online... how many are interresting and original?
You can do anything with a CMS like Drupal, after all it's only php. But the skills you need to make your site attractive are way higher than just 'import module x' and 'setup module x'.
About price, I experienced that with a good code snippet collection, it is possible to cut down production time to something very similar to that of Drupal. And time is money.
A CMS is way of working, not a way of "not" working like many seem to think ;-)

Applepie

Do you think earning 600$ per month online is expecting too much, let's say if you work 6 hours per day for 6 days per week?

Gudlife

I would say that if you manage to make 1€, then you know how to do and sky is the limit. Making money on the web is no contract job. It's about doing the right moves at the right moment. Even if you work around the clock, it will not guarantee you revenue. So work smart, keep informed, make experiences, and with time 600€ will be nothing to obtain.
Be aware that you main task, after all, is selling.
That means making money with the web is a salesman's job and not a developer's job.

And to give you a bit of courage, I know a guy who manages to round his income around 300 / 400 € a month with only a few hours of work a month (under 10h)... and no website ;-) ( but this was not from the first day. It took time.)

Applepie

Gudlife;1220475 wrote:
And to give you a bit of courage, I know a guy who manages to round his income around 300 / 400 € a month with only a few hours of work a month (under 10h)... and no website ;-) ( but this was not from the first day. It took time.)

Hi, could you please tell me more about how that guy started?

I'm really struggling to understand what is the best way to start here...
Also I realized that even making 5 dollars would be a huge boost to my confidence in this endeavor since it would break that barrier of making zero money online so far...obviously the sooner I start doing anything the better.

you can PM me if you want..