Make Money Online (Without Spending a Dime)
Even with no product and no Web site, you can get paid for what and who you know

Making money online used to pretty much require you to have your own Web site, products to sell and some marketing savvy. But a new generation of dot-coms have arisen that will pay you for what you know and who you know without you having to be a web designer or a marketing genius.But it's hard to tell hype from the real deal. I did a search on "make money online" and "making money online", and much of the information out there is just promoting various infoproducts, mostly about Internet marketing. I see why people sometimes ask, "Is anyone making money online besides Internet marketing experts?"So I put together a list of business opportunities with legitimate companies that:* Pay cash, not just points towards rewards or a chance to win money* Don't require you to have your own Web domain or your own products* Don't involve any hard-selling* Aren't just promoting more Internet marketing* Give a good return on your time investmentIn the interest of objectivity, none of the links below are affiliate links, and none of them have paid or provided any other consideration for their presence here.These are legitimate companies with business models that allow you to get paid for a wide range of activities.
Help friends find better jobs. Sites like karmaONE, JobThread and H3.com connect employers with prospective employees, many of whom are already employed and not actively job-hunting, via networking - the people who know these qualified candidates. Rewards for referring a candidate who gets hired range from a few hundred dollars to as much as $5,000 - not chump change. This is a great way to break into the recruiting business with no overhead.
Connect suppliers with buyers.Referral fees are a common practice in business, but they haven't been used much in online networking sites because there was no way to track them. InnerSell provides that. Vendors set the referral fees they're willing to pay, then when a deal happens, you get 70% of the referral fee.
Provide business contact information.One of the greatest challenges in sales is getting accurate contact information about prospective customers. A growing number of services have launched in the past couple of years to help address this, but most rely on members to maintain their own contact information. Jigsaw, on the other hand, pays members to help keep information up-to-date on the people they know, not just themselves, and pays them to do so ($1 for each unique new qualifying contact you put into the system). According to Jigsaw, in their first payout after launch, the top ten point-earns each received more than $750.
Become a semi-pro reporter.Creative Reporter is a new program from Creative Weblogging that lets just about anyone become a paid reporter/blogger. They're looking for people to create original, but non-exclusive, blog posts / articles of 250-500 words on topics including parenting, celebrities, travel, mobile technology, and more. Pay is $10 per 1,000 page views on your posts (that's excellent pay for Web writing, although there's no telling how much traffic/money you'll actually get).
Write your own blog.You don't have to have your own Web site, or install blogging software, or even figure out how to set up the advertising. At Blogger you can set up a blog for free in less than five minutes without knowing a thing about web design, and Blogger even automates setting up Google AdSense so you can make money off your blog by displaying ads and getting paid when people click on the ads. To make even more money from it, set up an affiliate program (see below) for books, music, etc., and insert your affiliate links whenever you refer to those items. You'll have to get a lot of traffic to become a six-figure blogger, but pick an interesting topic, write well, tell all your friends, and you're off to a good start.Related: Blog Profit Tips - Make Money From Weblogs
Advertise other people's products.If you already have a Web site or a blog, look for vendors that offer related but non-competing products and see if they have an affiliate program. Stick to familiar products and brands - they're easier to sell. To promote those products:* Place simple text or graphical ads in appropriate places on your site* Include links to purchase products you review or recommend in a blog, discussion forum or mailing list you control* Create a dedicated sales page or Web site to promote a particular product They all work - it just depends on how much time you have to spend on it and your level of expertise with Web design and marketing. Related: How To How to Really Make Money on the Internet With an Amazon.com Affiliate SiteThe above list is by no means comprehensive, but it highlights some of the new and interesting ways to make money online without investing any money, without having a product of your own, and without having expert sales and marketing skills. Most of all, unlike taking surveys or getting paid to read e-mail, the potential return on your time investment is substantial.

Source: Internet

Making Money Online with Google? Will you soon be able to make money online using Google’s

new online payment system?“Google has launched an online payment system in a head-on challenge to PayPal, the current market leader owned by eBay, the internet auction house.The launch of Google Checkout in the United States places the internet search and advertising company at the centre of the rapidly expanding online money-transfer business. Such a move had been widely anticipated, with many expecting the service to be called “GBuy”.Users of the Google service will be able to use it to pay for goods and services at participating e-tail sites. Google hopes that consumers will turn to the payment system after they trawl the web using Google’s search engine and its retail site, Froogle, to find the best prices.”
Earlier this year, Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive also suggested that Google's large lead in online search-related advertising would give an affiliated payment service a sharp advantage over PayPal.
"The precision of this targeting could be revolutionary,'' Jordan Rohan, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, recently said.
Salar Kamangar, Vice President of Product Management at Google, said: "By integrating the checkout process with search and advertising, we’re helping our users complete the cycle of searching, finding and buying.
"Many shoppers decide what they want to buy by using search, but in the end they often don’t complete the transaction online because they find the checkout experience complex, inconvenient and uncertain."
The launch of the system marks an all-out assault on a crucial part of eBay's business. The online auctioneer, one of Google's biggest advertisers, bought PayPal for $1.5 billion in 2002. It now claims 105 million user accounts and processed $8.8 billion in transactions during the first quarter of the year.
However, Jeffries & Company, the Wall Street broker, suggested that the risk to PayPal would be limited in the short term, noting that a large percentage of PayPal revenue comes from eBay transactions and that PayPal is eyeing growth in international markets.
Merchants will pay Google 2 per cent of each transaction, plus a fee of 20 cents - less than the amount charged by credit card companies.
Google will also waive the fees on $10 worth of purchases for every $1 a company spends on search advertising, in a fees system that will effectively offer advertising clients who use Google Checkout a rebate on their advertising spending.
PayPal charges a 2.9 per cent standard rate, plus a 30-cent fee, but offers discounts to users who sell more than $3,000 worth of goods in one transaction.
Yahoo!, Google's largest competitor in search related advertising recently announced a partnership with eBay in a tie-up designed to head-off the growing threat from Google. That deal allows Yahoo advertisers to use PayPal to process payments.
The move into payment services will allow Google to tap into an expanding area which is being driven by the growing willingness of people to spend money

Single-Stock Futures

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has teamed up with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Inc. (CME) and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) to create OneChicago, LLC, an all-electronic exchange for trading single-stock futures.
- For information about OneChicago, LLC, and single stock futures, please see www.onechicago.com
- To print a copy of the OneChicago Guarantee Forms (for CBOE Members), click here. (Acrobat .pdf format)
Security futures involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. The information on this website is provided solely for general education and information purposes and therefore should not be considered complete, precise, or current. Many of the matters discussed are subject to detailed rules, regulations, and statutory provisions which should be referred to for additional detail and are subject to changes that may not be reflected in the website information. No statement within the website should be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell a security or to provide investment advice. The inclusion of non-CBOE advertisements on the website should not be construed as an endorsement or an indication of the value of any product, service, or website. The Terms and Conditions govern use of this website and use of this website will be deemed acceptance of those Terms and Conditions.

UPDATE: AT&T Purchase Of BellSouth Approved
By Jeffry Bartash
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- AT&T Inc. on Friday got its own gift for the holidays: final federal consent to acquire BellSouth Corp. in a massive $85 billion deal that will create the largest phone company in the U.S.
The Federal Communications Commission approved the deal after the phone companies agreed to extra concessions demanded by the two Democrats on the agency's five-member board. The vote was 4-0, with one Republican abstaining.
A combined AT&T and BellSouth will cater to 70 million local phone customers in 22 states, mostly in the South and Midwest but including California. It will also operate the biggest long-distance network in the nation, serve 10 million broadband users and employ more than 300,000 workers.
In addition, AT&T and BellSouth already co-own Cingular Wireless, the biggest mobile operator in the U.S. in terms of customers.
The company's total revenue will exceed $120 billion and an enlarged AT&T would have a market value of more than $200 billion.
With FCC approval in hand, AT&T closed its acquisition of BellSouth. The companies had already won approval from the Justice Department and all states with jurisdiction.
"AT&T will be an engine for innovation, competition, and growth for our customers at home and abroad," AT&T Chief Executive Edward E. Whitacre Jr. said in a statement.
Shares of San Antonio, Texas-based AT&T (T) rose 0.7% on Friday to close at $ 35.75. Stock of Atlanta-based BellSouth (BLS) rose by the same percentage to finish at $47.11, a 52-week high.
Winning the vote
To break a nearly two-month deadlock at the FCC, AT&T agreed to observe " network neutrality" principles; offer standalone high-speed Internet service for $20 a month to most of its customers; and cap prices on so-called special-access lines that serve big buildings with multiple business customers.
In addition, AT&T agreed to divest 2.5 GHz wireless spectrum owned by BellSouth and bring back 3,000 jobs performed outside the U.S. by 2008.
"We celebrate today not a triumph for huge corporate mergers but a modest victory for American consumers," said Michael Copps, one of two Democrats on the FCC board. "Would I have preferred to do even more? Of course. Am I entirely satisfied? No."
For AT&T, the concessions aren't likely to weigh heavily on its bottom line, Wall Street analysts say. Price controls on special-access lines would last no more than four years and the 30-month guarantee of neutral treatment for any Internet service that rides on AT&T's network could be voided by congressional legislation.
"We believe financial impact of the concessions will be minimal," A.G. Edwards analyst Kent Custer told clients Friday.
The company's acceptance of Net neutrality, however, was hailed by critics as a significant victory, especially in light of the failure of Congress to reach a consensus on the matter.
"This will be a win for the public," said Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America. "By holding AT&T's feet to the fire and demanding the Internet remain neutral, the FCC can maintain a level playing field for all."
The debate flared up last year after some phone-industry executives suggested that they should be allowed to impose a form of user fees on popular Web sites or to charge money for priority service.
Sites such as Google or Yahoo are heavily trafficked and take up more "space" on the expensive Internet networks of carriers such as AT&T and Verizon. They could soak up even more network capacity as they roll out new services that allow Web surfers to download videos.
Yet critics say a tiered approach could dramatically undermine how the Internet works. The absence of neutral treatment could increase access costs to users, allow network operators to favor some Web sites over others and potentially stifle the birth of innovative new Internet companies, they assert.
For at least the next 24 months, AT&T has agreed not to sell "any service that privileges, degrades or prioritizes" data transmitted over the company's wireline network "based on its source, ownership or destination."
The company's new fiber-based Internet-video network, however, may not have to operate under those guidelines. The fiber network is still in its early stages, however, and won't be fully operational across most of AT&T's territory for at least several years.
Lots of rivals remain
Despite its enormous size, an enlarged AT&T faces competition on a number of fronts. Small providers offering cheap Internet-based phone service are nipping at its heels while the cable-television industry has quickly moved into the phone business. At the same time, Verizon and Sprint Nextel Corp. (US-S) continue to challenge AT&T in the wireless and corporate-services markets.
AT&T and BellSouth have said they could offer better services at lower prices if they were allowed to combine. They are spending billions of dollars to upgrade their networks to deliver improved wireless coverage, superfast Internet access and pay-television service over fiber-optic lines.
The Democrats at the FCC, however, expressed concerns about the deal from the outset. Their resistance stiffened in early November after the antitrust division of the Republican-led Justice Department approved the deal without any conditions, saying it would benefit consumers.
Although AT&T and BellSouth do not compete directly in many markets, some Democrats and other critics argued that the sheer size of the merger would inevitably reduce competition and raise costs for homes and businesses.
To prevent such an outcome, Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein forced several delays on an FCC vote. Chairman Kevin Martin, a Republican, tried to get around their resistance by inducing Robert McDowell, the third GOP member, to cast the tiebreaking vote.
Almost two weeks ago, however, McDowell declared he would honor a prior vow not to participate owing to an ethics agreement he signed before taking his position in June. His decision forced AT&T to negotiate hard with the Democrats over the past week in order to wrap up a deal before the end of the year.
Still, the deal is unlikely to receive a warm endorsement from consumer groups and others opposed to the merger.
They especially worry that big carriers will obstruct the ability of Internet users to surf any Web site they like at the speeds to which they are accustomed. Phone companies, for their part, have insisted they will maintain a fair and open Internet and say no law is necessary since the problem is nonexistent.
Some members of Congress have sought to pass a Neutrality law but to no avail. Even if the incoming Democratic Congress approves such a measure, the White House is likely to veto any bill.
Major industry upheaval
The AT&T-BellSouth deal could represent one of the last big deals spawned by the historic Telecommunications Act of 1996, which partially freed the industry from extensive regulation. Phone companies have merged at a dizzying pace over the past 10 years.
The 10 leading phone companies a decade ago -- AT&T, MCI, Sprint and the seven Baby Bells created by the 1984 breakup of the old Ma Bell - have been reduced to four: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and Qwest Communications International Inc. (Q) A host of smaller regional players also exist.
Despite the wave of consolidation, pricing trends do not bear out the claims of opponents. Local phone rates are somewhat higher now compared to 10 years ago, but long-distance prices fell 40% from 1994 to 2004 while wireless prices dropped a steeper 80% in the same time frame, the FCC has found.
Internet-access costs have also plummeted in recent years amid heated competition between the phone and cable industries. (END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-29-061713ET
Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.