Online Money Making Methods  

There are many ways of making money online, however the the main methods are:

1. Affiliate programs- not sure what they are see affiliate programs
2. Website ads like Google Adsense  and Yahoo publishing - not sure what it is then see Google adwords.
3. Referral fees/finders fee
4. Subscriptions.
5. Resell rights.
6. Donations.
7. Online stores.

Affiliate programs

The affiliate mechanism was first popularized by Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon as an Internet marketing strategy. The affiliate promotes the products offered by the company (usually via website) and in return receives a commission from the company for sales or leads.

See understanding affiliate programs.

Google Adsense 

Website owners agree to provide Google with advertising space on their websites, for Website owners this is free. Google then places adverts (Google Adwords) which match what the visitor originally searched for... Content based ads.

If a website visitor clicks a link in the advert then the advertiser is charged a fee which is then split between Google and the Website owner. See Understanding Google Adsense.

Subscriptions

Some websites charge subscription fees. Usually this is for a newsletter which is then emailed to them, or even a paper based newsletter that has an online component for updates etc.

The most common method of collecting subscription fees is through PayPal.

Resell rights

You will come across many sites offering resell rights to various products like Ebooks, software tools etc. Often you need to purchase the product before you are allowed to resell it or you need to join a subscription site offering resell products. See resale rights.

Referral fees/finders fee

Referral fees are popular for making money when promoting offline businesses.

Many offline businesses don't have and never will have an online presence but would happily pay if you would refer customers to them. This method is probably the most difficult to set up as you have to contact the business owner personally and come to some form of arrangement.

It is however a common method used in travel related sites that refer local restaurants, shops etc to their online visitors.

Donations.

This is a very popular mechanism for making money for freeware sites. It is also used by non commercial information based sites. Donations are usually made through a Paypal account.

A more recent variation of this idea has been started by Amazon. You need a very large traffic website to make money with this method.

Online stores

Usually the first thought of anyone starting on the web. It probably is the more difficult choice for a beginner. It is however the only choice if you are selling your own non digital products. Fortunately setting up an online store has become much easier and there are many store providers.

Turnkey websites generally come under this category. The turnkey website provider providing both the store and the products. 

Which Method do I use?

Most Websites use a mixture of affiliate programs and Google Adsense or equivalent with the others being less common. The decision then comes down to the mixture. One of the most common questions people ask is should I mix affiliate links and PPC advertising on the same page?

Unfortunately there is no clear answer to this but I would err on side of caution and leave those pages that are written to promote a particular affiliate product free from Contextual  Advertising or place the advertising at the bottom of the page.

Your choice of other methods will depend on what you are trying to promote. If you have an area that is mainly targeting local businesses then you will need to concentrate on referral fees.