It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than 22 years since the Internet was first made available to the public in an official way.
Since the beginning of the 2000s, technology has come a long way. For example, dial-up connections to AOL gave way to the first cell phones. As a way to celebrate this momentous anniversary, I’ve chosen to go through the time and take a look at some of the most well-known and widespread internet moneymaking opportunities from the good old days!
- Games that use Flash
In the early days of the internet, the most popular type of online amusement was flash games.
Users liked that they didn’t have to download anything in order to play flash games, which helped the format become popular. Also, the people who made their games weren’t limited by hardware like graphics processing units or the amount of computing power of the central processing unit. Because of this, they were able to create high-quality games that could run smoothly without putting a significant amount of strain on the computers’ systems.
Armor Games, Newgrounds, and Kongregate are three important examples of flash gaming businesses that started up around this time and are still running today, even though they aren’t as popular as they used to be.
- Viruses
During the early 2000s, when there was substantially less emphasis placed on security, viruses were present almost everywhere. Their objective was straightforward: infect as many personal computers as possible with the intention of turning those computers into cash cows, typically by pestering the users with advertisements or persuading them to purchase anti-virus software, both of which earned the creators of the malware significant sums of money.
- Myspace
When I first started using social media, Myspace was the platform of my choice. Individuals went there to create their online brands and network with other people. It was a location where people could do both. In those days, there were no restrictions on spam, follow-for-follow exchanges, or any of the other practices that are frowned upon now. As a direct consequence of this, it was not unusual for users to make upwards of $10,000 per month through Myspace alone.
- Domain Parking
Domain parking refers to the process of acquiring a domain name but then not putting that domain name to use. Although there are some perfectly reasonable reasons for doing so, the vast majority of individuals did it for the purpose of financial gain.
For instance, if you still owned names like dog.com in this day and age, you would be given millions of dollars!
- Forums and discussion groups
In the early 2000s, community forums and chat rooms were common venues for people to congregate and converse with one another. There were many of them, including websites such as MSN, AOL, and Yahoo, and a lot of individuals earned money by selling advertising space in their forum signatures. In most cases, this was accomplished on a CPC or CPM basis.
- Torrents
When it comes to downloading files, nothing quite compares to the convenience that torrents provide. People who wish to receive anything for free while also sharing files with others will find that this is an excellent option to do both of those things.
Because they have a low barrier to entry, torrents have swiftly acquired popularity, which has made sites that host torrents a perfect location for generating online revenue.
Limewire, Pirate Bay, EZTV, and a few more firms are now making a name for themselves in this industry.
- Runescape
Runescape is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game in which players assume the role of a character and explore the game world in search of quests and other objectives. Because of its phenomenal popularity in the early 2000s, numerous third-party websites started to take real-world money in return for in-game cash. As a result, the website became a significant source of income for a great number of individuals.
- Idols and Ringtones
During the time of Nokia phones, ringtones were common sound effects that could be downloaded and played when making or receiving phone calls. These ringtones were known as ringtones.
Many high-level affiliates were making tens of thousands of dollars by selling sound effects and music on many different websites. (At that time, the typical cost of downloading a ringtone was $1.69.)
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