Having said that, most people tend to run into a maze of options and supposed opportunities that can be very confusing, and may end up being a waste of time.

It is important to mention that although there is a lot of money to be made online, one must know how, where, when and what to look for in order to profit from this huge market.

As a first step, I recommend looking for proven, sure-fire ways to work online, rather than chase the miracle offers thrown at you, because most of these only make money for their creators, and leave you hanging after draining your cash dry.

In this sense, the first, most efficient method to start making money online is Marketing, hands down. And I'm not talking about promoting or selling stuff directly, but rather learning how to use powerful tools and engines to promote others' products and drain a hefty commission for doing so in the process, which once in place becomes automated, with very little maintenance needed.

However, doing so requires knowledge of basic marketing guidelines, as well as mastery of the tools available to you as an internet marketer.

Make no mistake, there are people out there pulling in thousands of dollars a day with online marketing, and you can too if you learn how to use the resources available.

The secret behind online marketing is to know how to target a specific group, by age, interest, social standing, financial standing, location, creed, hobbies etc., so as to make your campaign as profitable as possible with as little as possible.

The main tools regarding online marketing are the pay-per-clicks such as Google Adwords, which allows you to place small, light ads on the most visited, targeted websites for a very small fee. This however, can be misleading, as people take it for granted and blow through their money in campaigns that are not optimized, leading to very little return on investment.

If you learn how to make it efficient, however, there is immense power in these tools. Targeting specific groups, for example, avoids your ad being clicked by people less likely to purchase the product you're promoting. An example is as follows:

Suppose you want to promote ringtones for cellphone. If you just spam your ads everywhere, your costs with ppc (pay-per-click) will skyrocket, and many of the clicks will not convert (the person wont actually buy it, generating no commission). If, however, you place your ads in lyrics sites for example, and target the 18 - 25 age group, your conversion will rise, and your costs will plummet, leading to a very profitable campaign (supposing the ad is good).

If you need a starting point, I recommend the link below, as it is the only place I have found that has step-by-step, video tutorials of how and what to use when promoting online, and has its first video lessons right on the first page, free!

Once you watch the videos you'll come to realize how vast the knowledge base is, and how simple online marketing becomes when you learn the best ways to promote.

If working from home is your dream, or if your job doesn't pay the money you know you deserve and you want to complement your income with solid, consistent income streams, this is the place to be.