About 36 hours after publishing my very first blog post in December 2007, I had already started down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out how to make money on the internet. My mission was straightforward: try to make money online in an honest way, part time, and blog about the entire experience.<\/p>\n
In the time since that first post, I had been surfing for information on websites, blogs, forums, and eBooks. What I found was eye-opening, and not always in a good way. The amount of total junk out there on this topic was staggering. The fundamental problem seemed to be that one of the primary ways people were making money online was by selling products that promised to teach other people how to make money online. It was circular, and it reminded me of those “Make Money from Home Stuffing Envelopes” ads you used to see in the back of weekly newspapers. Very sleazy.<\/p>\n
What actually kicked this off was a segment my wife saw on the Today Show. The story aired on November 27, 2007, and described how retirees, which they called “Gray Googlers,” were making money on the internet using Google AdSense. A similar story ran in USA Today around the same time. One guy calling himself “The Natural Handyman” claimed to be making $11,000 a month from AdSense. That was impressive, especially because his website was far from slick or professional-looking.<\/p>\n
Google was interviewed for the story and claimed they had paid out over $3 billion dollars to publishers in 2006. That number got my attention.<\/p>\n
The bottom line of the entire story boiled down to four steps:<\/p>\n
That formula is deceptively simple. In practice, every single one of those steps involves real work and real learning. But the framework itself has not changed much since 2007. The platforms and tools have evolved dramatically, but the core idea of creating valuable content around something you care about and then monetizing the attention it attracts remains the foundation of most successful online businesses in 2026.<\/p>\n
Looking back from nearly two decades later, the biggest thing I underestimated was the time horizon. Building something meaningful online takes years of consistent effort, not weeks. The get-rich-quick crowd has only gotten louder since 2007, but the people who actually succeed are the ones who show up, create genuinely useful content, and keep going when results are slow.<\/p>\n
AdSense alone is no longer the goldmine it was in 2007. Successful content creators in 2026 diversify across affiliate marketing, digital products, email lists, and community building. But the starting point, beginning with the end in mind and picking a topic you care about, remains exactly right.<\/p>\n