Up until this past year, I have been merely doing small things online to make money.
Last week -- I made almost $27 using one site I have and then another $8 from a second site I play with. It's a good thing I still have a regular job -- $35 in one week isn't about to buy more than one tank of gas or maybe a couple bags of groceries. So from now on I am planning on stepping up the online work and actually create a few sites that will make more money.
I think one of the simplest ways to get started making money online is simply to start writing about what you want to do and then start learning and as you go along write out everything you do. If you start to make money on something and you can re-create those steps exactly then you should be able to do it over and over.
