Associated Content: Write and Earn!

There are an overload of websites that raise your hopes of earning large paychecks for sitting at home in front of your computer or participating in other activities you already frequent in.

Take Surveys and Earn: Marketers Pay for Consumer Feedback.)

(After you complete 50 sponsor offers and buy a membership for only $39.99 you can start taking surveys until halfway through you are told that you 'aren't eligible for this study but thanks anyways.)

Work as a Secret Shopper: Get Paid to Shop and Keep What You Buy!

(Membership for a one time charge of $69.99 will give you full access to our list of 5 companies always looking for secrets shoppers in an area states away from you.)

If you are like me, then you are fed up with these 2 'opportunities' we encounter on a daily basis while working on a computer.

Even if you are not a stay at home mom like me, with piling bills and an unrealistic hope to ever someday have the extra money (extra money?! what's that?!) to buy a snow mobile/clothes that fit/new car that will fit the whole family/house... Even if you work a full time job or are okay with the money you have, you still find false hopes raised by these and other similar ads.

It is not possible to make a live-able income by any of these pleasurable activities. Although we know things are too good to be true, we are still hopeful enough to day dream that someday, just maybe, one of these sites will lead to a very profitable future.

No such luck. And if you are a day dreamer... tell your spouse to hide your credit cards from you (if your spouse is a woman, she will have no problem with this!)

There is nobody earning any money in those situations other than the site that gets yours.

However, there are a few real ways to make online money for doing something you enjoy... if you enjoy writing (like I do.)

Associated Content is a website that is free to join, and even better you can publish anything you want to write about for the whole world to see. (If you truly enjoy writing, this idea can be very scary/ motivating/ rewarding.) Once you have signed up and created an account, all you do is click on 'publish', select a category, and either type away or copy and paste something you have already written in a Word program.

It will be published immediately... if you select non payment. If you would like to be paid, select the payment option and within less than a week the editorials will have reviewed your article and either rejected it, or made a monetary offer.

If you accept the offer, your article will instantly be available for anyone to read, and within another week Associated Content pays you via Paypal. (A paypal account is easy to set up, reliable, and very important to have because most of the sites that pay for your writing pay through paypal. Just go to http://paypal.com to sign up... it is free)

Although I wouldn't expect a big fat paycheck from publishing articles on sites like associated content, every $5, $10, even $20 payment for something you wrote can feel truly rewarding!

It can be easy to learn to make a 'living' (freelance writing may not produce a reliable income, but it can produce a valuable paycheck) using these sites; but you really have to take things one step at a time.

It could get very confusing if you tried to sell articles to numerous sites for nonexclusive rights, or try selling anything for usage until you have really found your strength in media writing. If you get swept away with seeing your work published, then do your research on how other writers make their work produce a valid compensation. You will find more advice than you can handle, all of it very helpful. You will find lots of sites this way as well.

First things first though! If you like to write, and you wouldn't mind earning some 'free' cash, then stop reading this article, click the following link, sign up for a free account, and start publishing!

http://www.associatedcontent.com

If you are interested in writing online more for money than as a hobby that compensates, Constant Content is a site that works as an agent. When you submit an article, you set the price you want to sell it for. The editors review your article, and if it not approved they are always good about telling you why. Their constructive criticism is always helpful in strengthening your work.

http://www.constant-content.com

Helium is a great site to check out if you are more interested in writing as a hobby, and publishing it for others to read. On this site you are paid a reward if your article is rated as most 'relevant' than other articles in the same topic.

http://www.helium.com