In today's world, it takes real work to create something of value that consumers will want. Most people who fail at Internet marketing only fail because they are not willing to put in the time or effort required to be successful.
Also, it does take some capital to create a product or service. Content is not cheap unless you plan on writing it yourself and even if you do, you still are spending time writing when you could be doing a hundred other things. If you want to sell software or a service, you'll need someone to code it and coders are expensive. Essentially, you'll need money to do almost anything online.
It's essential that you realize to make a legitimate income online; you need to treat it like a real business and dedicate your heart and soul to make it happen. The simple and easy answer on how to do this is spend time in a niche you enjoy and dedicate yourself to becoming the authority website or product in that niche. You can do this by providing the best value for customers and visitors to your website.