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I actually don’t remember the very first $100 that I made online. I’ve had websites for over ten years now, first selling books and videos that my husband and I created regarding llamas, which we had raised. Then I expanded into creating websites on topics I care about even if I hadn’t created any products. For example, I have a site on dog training which focuses on positive, pain-free methods. Another is on living in Mexico (which I do at present), and another is on how to learn Spanish. I’ve got some more too. Some of them will never make enough to pay me minimum wage for my hours in them, but I learn something from every site. I make money from these sites as an affiliate — that is, I mention products and if someone clicks through on my link and buys the product, I earn a percentage.

Gradually I began making some noticeable money from my sites. Luckily, I didn’t have to survive on just that income, but it was a welcome addition to our little publishing company and my half-time job as a librarian.

I remember the thrill when I made $800 in one month after making much less up till then. Unfortunately, that didn’t last as I was using some software which the search engines soon noticed wasn’t really adding anything to the internet. Those sites fell way down in the search engine rankings, and my income plummeted.

But by then I had the bug. I was going to be an internet marketer, no matter what it took. I’ve read that only a tiny percentage of people who try to make money online actually succeed. I was getting stubborn and determined. Now I am not in any way a salesperson, but as a librarian — and, tra la, I was soon able to quit my job and be a former librarian, with more time to write — I do know how to evaluate quality in books. And that is where my best successes have come, from pages where I review books, ebooks, or DVDs, no sugar coating but real plus-and-minus reviews. I’ve also reviewed or recommended other products at times, when they were pertinent to my sites.

Probably the single most popular page on all my websites is one that gives really clear basic directions for how to do a particular task, with a couple of recommendations at the end of the page for further information. (I’m not saying what. You’ll notice if you surf internet marketing sites and forums, that people are often reluctant to tell you exactly where they have made money, for fear of the copy-cat effect.)

My husband got into writing websites as well. He is an expert on natural home building methods and his websites on the topic now gets thousands of visitors a day from all over the world. He spends hours most days helping people for no pay, but his site does have a lot of links to books he recommends, mostly at Amazon, and that’s where much of his affiliate income comes from.

We’re watching our internet income creep up gradually. Last year, it seemed our average affiliate income was about $1200 a month. Okay, this is not a get-rich-quick scheme as we do it, but there is something awfully pleasant about being able to rely on money coming in when the work you did for it was in the past and you are free to work on new projects — or go on vacation.

A couple of months ago, things jumped up for us. I launched a new site which took off, and Kelly tried something different with one of his sites. We set a record by making $1800 one month. The next month, it was $2200. Now we know about the economy tanking, but you wouldn’t tell it from our websites. In the past week, I’ve had four days in which I earned over $100 a day from affiliate income.

And so it goes. I learn more and try new things. Some work, some don’t. The key is to keep doing things, keep writing, keep learning.

You may be discouraged by reading this article… she’s been at this for years and isn’t making all that much! Keep in mind that I’ve never worked full time at this (well, except for short spurts) and that I’m more passionate about communicating my ideas than about monetizing my sites. I am frankly thrilled that my writings are read by hundreds of people a day on each of my main sites. My ideas on dog training (give me Ian Dunbar instead of Cesar Millan any day), on how to learn languages, on living abroad, on the science fiction of my father Cordwainer Smith, and more, are reaching people. That’s worth a lot to me.

Back in my llama ranch days, I wrote a book called “Llamas for Love and Money.” Notice the “and.” I don’t have llamas any more, but nowadays my theme is Internet marketing for love and money.

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Rosana Hart’s websites include www.training-dogs.com and www.mexico-with-heart.com.