Basic moneymaking.

This post is for those players who believe they do not have the time/energy to make a lot of money, but would still like a quick way to make 100g. 



Gathering skills.
If you have not yet maxed out your skills - do so (and no miners - not by smelting).
The best gold for a short amout of time may not be the highest level areas.  On my realm at the monent:

• Icethorn 73s each
• Goldclover 1g each
• Stranglekelp 2g each
• Firebloom 2g 40 each

If you are gathering, keep an eye out for quests or dailies in the area you are in (even low level quests) , especially if you are in northrend or outlands.

Similar things happen for both mining and skinning

Crafting skills.
The easy ones:

• Alchemy.  Assuming you have a 450 alchemy skill, Transmute an epic gem every day. If you do not yet have a specialisation, and are after a quick bit of gold, consider becoming a transmutation master 

• Jewelcrafting.  Assuming you have 375 Jewelcrafting (and preferably be at least mid 70's), do the Jewelcrafting daily.  If you are not a recipee collector, turn in the token for a dragon's eye (sells for about 100g), on top of the quest reward.

• Tailoring.  Assuming you have a (I think400? ) tailoring, make the spellcloth, ebonweave or mooncloth according to your specialisation, as you get to make 2 cloth for one set of mats for that special.  Spellthread seems to sell very well.

• Enchanting.  This has a passive way to make money.  If in doubt disenchant it and sell the mats.

The harder ones - Effort may be required:

• Inscription.  This can be a reliable money earner but requires effort.  Seek specialist advice (This link from greedy goblin may be usefull). If all else fails and you can mill northrend herbs - mill them and sell them.

• Engineering: Umm.  Like all professions, you can make money here, but not the quick turn-around that the above have.  Really - you took engineering for the fun, convenience, or for the PVP options.  Get the Mote extractor, a specialisation, and make some pets and top end arrows/bullets.

The professions I only have at 300 (my toon is still levelling), Effort may be required.

• Blacksmith : Consider belt buckles and enchanting rods.

• Leatherworker : Buy scraps and convert them.  Convert Borean Leather into Heavy Borean Leather and then into arctic fur.  I assume that top armour kits should sell well.

Addons:
Any toon interested in gold should have an auction house addon - I use auctioneer
Gatherers love Gatherer (lets you see where you have gathered materials previously)
Crafters love LilSaprky's workshop - combined an auction house mod will let you know what should be selling for more than the mats.


Other bits and pieces
Any player interested in making gold should have a bank alt.
Once you are bitten by the basics, it is worth reading a little further.
The blogs listed at woweconmic review may prove profitable reading.

Request for comments.
With this post I am looking for low risk, quick return methods of making gold for those first entering the market.  There are posts out there talking about the higher returns, and things that come and go depending on the market at the time.  This is about 'sure bets'.

Edit: 11 Apr 2010.  I updated this to refelct the tailoring changes in 3.3.3.