How can I do this?

Okay, let's face it: I'm flat broke. The economy sux. My online business profits -- what there is of it any more -- are eaten up with web fees, PayPal fees, Google checkout fees, eBay fees, and leave nothing left to replenish my inventory. My nice little income, albeit very small, has disappeared. Which means, I had to get a J-O-B.

Now, getting a job here in our small town is just about virtually impossible. There just aren't any. I did find a job which seems to be the only one in town -- $8-$9 an hour, and it's horrible. The people are okay, but the job just sux. I should be grateful.

But I don't have TIME for a job!! Hey, I'm a hockey mom. My son is on the State Competition team, and he has dreams of trying for the NHL. Do you know what that does to a mom's time? There IS no "mom time", let alone time for a job!

Okay, so I make for a PITA employee. "I can't work this Friday and weekend; we have a 3-day tournament 1,000 miles away." "Can't work overtime this week; have practice 100 miles away." "I can't work past 11:00 today; hockey practice 50 miles away." Yeah, my employer loves me... and it doesn't bode well for my paycheck, either...

So I've been thinking... (uh-oh)

I've seen all these ads and heard about all these people making money on the internet. So I started doing research.

Now, there are all kinds of ads out there to pay for shipping and handling for books and info about how to do this. After spending a couple of months researching and reading about all of these, I finally figured out SOME of what they do to make money. But not enough info. I ALMOST clicked on a $2.99 buy-it-now ad, but then thought better of it. And you know why I didn't?

My job is in a call center for credit card fraud. And let me tell you, MOST of the calls are about "I was not supposed to be billed for anything but the shipping and handling for a sample!" Uh-huh, I went back and read the really super teeny tiny fine print on that $2.99 pay-only-for-shipping book/info. Yup, you guessed it! I would be agreeing to $87.13 PER MONTH SUBSCRIPTION once I would have clicked that button!! So that's how THOSE people are making money...

That is NOT what I want to do! I want to not feel guilty making money on the internet. I want to make an honest income and not scam people. And these so-called "free" books are mostly about Google AdSense and affiliate marketing.

...of which those are just not in my vocabulary...

What the heck are those, anyway? I know I've heard people talk about them, ads you place on your web site or blog and people visiting your site click on them and you make money from the clicks. But how EXACTLY does that work?

I had questions. Can we do this on ANY web site or blog? How do I put them on? Where do I get them? What ARE they?

I've heard stories that people can make a few dollars up to quite a bit of income from just doing this. One girl on a forum I used to read said she was making about $100 after about six months. I had no clue what she said how she was doing this. So my memory and now interest is heightened as to what she did. She said she was soley using Squidoo.

So I've got seven Squidoo lenses (as they're called), and haven't had even one hit in about three months. So there's got to be more to it than just creating lenses.

I'm not interested in getting rich from this; I just want to bring in some money to cover some expenses. If I DO get rich, well... like I'd refuse the money? LOL!

I have to get serious about bringing in more money, so I thought I'd start with this blog and use it as an experiment and record my journey about how I do this. Maybe I can help other people, too, who are in the same financial bind as I am -- if I am successful.