There is much in the news about people making many tens of thousands of dollars from their blogs, signing book deals and going a the lucrative speaking circuit – the real question is it possible Joe or Jane Doe – can we make money from blogs?

Yes it is possible – but unless you are a genuinely talented writer and preferably already famous or at least with great connections – probably not the way that people make money in the news headlines.

Instead you should look at blogging and developing websites in general as a fantastic way to develop a legitimate online businesses but realize that you are going to have to put time and effort into making a decent income online. Although the cost of entry to an online business is very, very low compared to a real-world business – in fact you can easily get started for less than $100, that’s not to say its not going to take as much time and effort as getting online in the real world.

What you will find when trying to start your online business is that the Internet is still in the “Wild West” stage of development – the snake oil salesmen are prevalent and the sheriffs are hard to find – or in other words caveat emptor. If you see an offer that looks like it is too good to be true i.e. one that is promises that you will make thousands of dollars in a few days – probably while you are asleep and features attractive blonds, red sports cars and nice looking real estate – run away fast and keep your credit card buttoned down.

The sad truth is that its going to take a lot of time and effort for you to build your online business – but the good news is that its a goal worth pursuing. Legitimate online businesses really are location independent – you can login from anywhere in the world – so long as you can find an Internet connection. You can work at anytime of the day or night, juggle family commitments or vacations – all of this is true. The rewards are definitely worth it but be prepared to put a whole lot of work in upfront before you see the dollars piling into your bank account while you sleep!

One of my favorite bloggers who recently took a trip to a river and camped this past weekend mentioned something I have been looking into myself lately. Making money with photography on the internet. The fact that there are so many ways to make serious cash with a computer is mind blowing to me. Some of these guys are making hundreds of dollars in one day. I think my ticket to making it big is going to be photography.

One of the best places to start if you want to make money with images is Istockphoto which is probably most peoples favorite for buying and downloading images. The royalties vary depending on if you become an exclusive photographer for Istock Photo or not. They also have quite a few rules on photographing humans. In most cases you have to have a release. If you are shooting scenery, then you are fine. The hard part is getting into their good graces. They are very strict about the quality of images that are sold. If you are a beginner then this is probably not going to be the best option. You could start a photo blog or a photo website and try to sell images on your own. Once you become more experienced, then you can submit a few samples to Istock and see if you are able to get accepted.

I was absolutely amazed at how many people are making a killing doing this. Some photographers have thousands of images on Istock for sale. I have seen some photos downloaded thousands of times. You can imagine on a thousand downloads what a person could make at a dollar per image.

Next month a few friends and I are going to give it a shot and see how it goes. The guy I mentioned earlier said he is trying to get a friend to sell images. You can see some of the ones he posted at his make money online blog called Whatawookie. I’m not sure what his name is either so I will leave you with that.If any of you are already making some good money with your photos, let me know by leaving a comment. I’m curious to see how well others have done with actual figures.