Tuesday, June 3, 2008

How Do You Make Money Online?

If you learn how other people make money online, I mean really study how it’s done and ask a lot of questions, there is no reason in the world you cannot make money on the internet as well.
How do people make money with websites? There are literally tens of thousands of things people make money on from the net. From hard goods of all kinds (anything that can be shipped, including cars and boats!) to information and memberships.

People make money selling insurance, car parts, reports on every imaginable topic people want to know more about, selling affiliate products, and even fundraising for charity!

That’s right! People make money helping their favorite charities raise money. By creating an in-demand product for a charity to sell to their members, and letting them keep at least 50%, you can make money as a professional fundraiser.

I know someone who makes money selling a dog biscuit and dog food cookbook! That’s right, a cookbook for dog lovers to make treats for their pets. I told you! Anything goes on the net as long as there are buyers looking for what you sell.

It’s truly mind boggling how some people make money online. You just have to be creative and understand how the net works and how people shop online. You have to know how to get into the search engines so people can find you.

And most of all you need a couple good ideas, or find other people with great ideas and sell THEIR stuff for commission! There is no excuse for failure – the world of internet marketing is your oyster!

There are tons of resource sites that can help you understand every single minute detail of making money online from setting up a website to choosing a hosting service to taking credit cards and filling orders. There’s nothing else like it in the world.

I have a site that helps people find ways to make money online. I make money with information products, and help others learn how to make money online doing the same thing.

Some people make money on Ebay auctioning things people are searching for right now all over the world. Still other people sell their time as Virtual Assistants helping busy executives and other business owners complete mundane but important tasks the business owner has no time to do.

With some referrals, over time you can be busier than you ever imagined with clients beating down your door because they heard you do great work at reasonable rates. All this without ever meeting ANY of your clients face-to-face. Working online makes working for people in other countries a snap, as long as you speak the language, it’s no different than if the person you sell to or work with lives right down the street.

Bottom line: You CAN make money online if you are the type of person who is a self-starter and motivated to work toward your goals even when the going gets tough.

The KEY To A Winning Internet Marketing Strategy Is To Master ONE Technique First

New to the Internet and Internet Marketing?

Looking to stack your claim of Internet "RICHES" by starting up a online business of your own?

Aren't we all.

I remember when I first got started online... I didn't have a clue where to start, how to start, let alone, how to market my business online.

It was so overwhelming because everytime I typed in the keywords "Internet Marketing" into a search engine I would literally receive hundreds of thousands of results about "How to market your business on the Internet".

Where do you start when your getting that many results?

And... more importantly, who do you believe when you start going through them?

I'm sure some of you experienced the same feelings and thoughts I did when you first got started and/or are feeling right now if you are thinking of setting up shop online.

It's Very easy to get caught up in all the HYPE on the Internet about how easy it is to Make Money online, but, the truth of the matter is, it's not as easy as you think simply because you First have to earn the trust of your potential customer through the words you speak, and more importantly, you have to know how to reach them via the Internet.

This is where alot of newbie Start-Ups fail because they get so caught up in all the HYPE on how to promote there business online that they end up suffering from what is called... "Information Overload" and end up pulling the plug and never looking back.

Well, I'm here to tell you that it doesn't have to be that way.

Don't give up so easily on your dream of being independent.

There are many ways to promote your business online. Some are FREE and some are not.

There's Pay-Per-Click search engines, Permission Email Marketing, RSS, Banners, Viral Marketing, MLM, Traffic Exchanges, Search Engine's, Blogs and much more.

This can at first seem Very overwhelming for someone new to the Internet and Internet marketing.

I know from experience.

Now, with that said, for the remainder of this article I want to focus on HOW you should approach marketing your business via the Internet so this doesn't happen to you.

It's really not that difficult if you take your time and not jump into every marketing tactic available that's being thrown your way or cluttering up your Inbox.

Your first step should be to get your website up and ready to take orders.(The most important step)

Your next step is to pick ONE marketing strategy that you think will drive the Most targeted traffic to your website and MASTER IT!

I'm going to say that again...

"first, get your website up and ready to take orders, then pick ONE marketing strategy that you think will drive the MOST targeted traffic to your website and... MASTER IT!"

Did you get that?

I hope so.

By doing this ONE step, by mastering ONE technique before moving on to the next, it will save you from suffering from what I and many others did when they first got started...

Which was... "Information Overload".

(Note: To clarify what I mean by "Information Overload", I mean... having to know everything and anything about Internet marketing and online business.)

By just mastering ONE technique first and testing its results, you will grow your Internet business much faster and with less confusion and time wasted.

I've been marketing my online business by this one principal for quite some time now with great results.

It works for me, so... maybe it'll work for you.

To Make the Most Dollars, Make The Most Sense

The world of Internet marketing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, it can be a brutally cold one. Believe me, I learned the hard way.

I started trying to make money online when I was 14. Like today, there were a lot of scams out there, and being so young I was especially vulnerable. I wasted hundreds of dollars.

The weird thing was I was a pretty smart kid. I knew the value of a buck. But when I came online I didn’t think that “real world” rules applied.

All too often people come online and lose all sense of reality like I did. I see two types of people who fail online.

The first type of person thinks EVERYTHING online is a big scam. They don’t think they should have to pay for information in e-books or for tools they will need.

If you have to put money into your Internet business, it’s a definite scam. They also may be freebie seekers and try to suck all your time and knowledge away for free.

Don’t get me wrong. You should always have your “Scam Radar” up when you’re online. But let’s think about this logically. Can you startup an offline business without investing any money into it? Even a small family owned business requires some startup capital.

So why would an online business be any different? Starting up an online business is a lot cheaper than starting an offline one, but the same principles apply. This is what economics is all about. People make money by providing a product or service to their customers. It works the same way online.

The second type of person thinks the total opposite. They throw all judgment and common sense out the window and usually dive headfirst into a whirlpool of scams.

They join downline clubs, gifting clubs, “Send $5 to everyone on this list” programs; they usually spam people and end up wasting a whole lot of money. I should know. I used to be a Type 2 when I first started out! I don’t know why, but I just figured the Internet was a magical wonderland where money fell from skies of gold. Then I woke up.

Type 2 people give legitimate online businesses a very bad name. In fact, they are usually the ones who turn people into a Type 1! After seeing all these scams, it’s no wonder some people look at the Internet as one big con.

Type 2 people usually give up eventually and walk away with a bad taste in their mouth. They also end up looking at the Internet as one big scam.

Then there is a third type of person, and hopefully you fall into this category. They see the wonderful potential of the Internet and online business, but also realize that the same universal laws of business apply. They are willing to learn what works, invest time and money in their business, and be patient and persistent.

I realized after awhile that you shouldn’t try to “make money” online. That’s too vague. You should start a legitimate business and treat it as a real one. And that’s what type 3 people do.

Don’t these people make the most sense? They also make the most dollars (Get the pun?! ;)

How To Make Money Online Without A Website

You don't need to have a website to make money on the Internet. Here is a proven strategy to make money online without a website:

Step 1: Find Affiliate Product

Find a product to promote where you make good commission on each sale. Generally, you will get the biggest commissions on digital products. Digital products are defined as something that is downloaded directly to a customer's computer after purchasing, like electronic books or software.

Since there is no extra cost per unit, no inventory and no shipping, the commissions are much greater than on regular "physical" goods. The most common commission on digital products is 50%. The best place to find such products is Clickbank.com.

Sign up as a reseller (also called affiliate) for a product that looks the most appealing to you. After you sign up, you will get a unique affiliate link where you need to send people to purchase the product.

Your affiliate link will have a special code that will tell the product owner that it's you who referred the customer. The affiliate link code will allow your commissions to be tracked correctly and assigned to you.

Step 2: Get Domain Name

Get a domain name to redirect to your affiliate link. A domain name is a .COM name (like yourproduct.com). You can get it for under $9 at GoDaddy.com. GoDaddy.com will allow you to redirect your domain name to your affiliate link at no extra cost.

So when someone types in your .COM domain in their browser, it will go to your affiliate link. The visitor will see the website with the product you promote, and the commissions will be tracked correctly.

The reason why you need a domain name is that it's memorable and it makes you look more trustworthy. Affiliate links tend to be too long and arouse suspicion. For example, most people would rather click on the link bestwidgets.com as opposed to abcwidgets.com?reseller=john

A domain name will make your affiliate link look like it's your own website. So basically, you will have a product to promote and a website to send people to and get commissions - without really having your own website.

Step 3: Drive Traffic

In order to make sales, you need to get visitors to your domain name (which will forward them to the website of the product that you resell). You can pay for advertising and hope that your profit will be greater than advertising cost, or you can use free ways to generate traffic.

The most effective way to get free targeted visitors to your domain name is by writing and submitting articles. You can write short articles on the topic related to the product that you promote. At the end of the article, you include your author bio and your domain name link.

You will then submit your articles to various websites, and allow them to publish your articles as long as your link is included. Your articles will get published in many places on the Internet, and will be advertising your affiliate link at no cost to you whatsoever. People will read your articles, like what you have to say and click on your domain name link ready to buy.

Once you start getting regular sales from your articles, you can go back to step 1 and find another product to promote using this strategy. After a while, you will build up a nice source of Internet income - without even having a website.

10 Ways To Create A Popular Online Community

An online community could be a chat room, e-mail
discussion list, discussion forum or other technologies
that allow groups of people to communicate at your
web site. When you have a popular online community
it will increase your traffic and sales. Below are ten
ways to attract people to participate in your online
community.


1. Tell your visitors that you post a new, free offer
every day, week or month in your online community.
The free offers should be attractive to your target
audience.


2. Regularly schedule experts or famous guests to
participate in your online community. You could
design it to be a virtual class or a question/answer
session.


3. Post testimonials on your web site from people
that have participated in your online community.
The testimonials could be about what people have
learned or liked while participating in it.


4. Don't allow blatant ads in your online communities.
If people decide to visit your online community and
see a ton of ads they most likely won't be back.


5. Post all the benefits of participating in your online
community on your web site. You could write it like
you're writing an ad for a product you're selling.


6. Submit your chat room, e-mail discussion list or
discussion board to online community directories.
You can find them by typing " the community type"
with the word "directory" in any search engine.


7. Create an e-zine just for people who participate
in your online community. Allow them to subscribe
for free. When they receive each issue, it will remind
them to come back and participate in your community.


8. You (the owner of the online community) should
participate regularly. Post information that will benefit
the other people. This will show them you care about
your online community members.


9. Have plenty of people to monitor your online
community. They could remove postings that turn
away people like profanity, spam and other off-
subject postings.


10. Your online community should contain user
friendly features, like a search option for archived
discussions, easy posting or chatting options, email
updates or digests, etc.

Online Business, Where do I start?

BUSINESS. A big word. A big commitment. A big step.

Very quickly, we can round everything up about staring an online business in four very simple steps. Understand. Prepare. Do it. Sell it. There are no short cuts to working at home, let’s put it this way. If you’re looking for a short cut that you can use to start a work at home business, you may want to ignore this article. But in order to start your own online business, there are tons of things to be done. The best thing is for you to hold on to your day job (if you still have one) and take all four steps we recommend here and THEN you quit your day job.

Understand
Research the industry. That’s the first thing you should do if you are really serious about starting an online business. Starting the new online business is not difficult at all. In fact, it is relatively easy and needs minimal funding. Do your homework; look at what your competitors are doing. See how successful they are, emulate their good points and avoid their bad ones. Define your services or products by researching on the feasibility of your online business. Remember, working at home is a career, not a part-time job. Even if you’re still under employment, you’ll still need to know everything there is to know about your online business environment and industry. No two ways about it.

Prepare
Next, you need to write your work at home business plan. Even if you don’t have everything right down pat about your new work at home business, you’ll find that the fog of uncertainty will start clearing up when you write your work at home business plan. It’s when you’re sitting there, writing, preparing and planning your online business that the jigsaw puzzle pieces starts floating into place quite effortlessly.

Don’t copy other people’s online business plans. That’s one big mistake you should avoid. If you want your work at home online business to succeed, come up with your own business plan. This is the only way to go. You can use software or programs to help you write your business plan, but you don’t copy other people’s plans. The business plan should include information about potential expenses, income, advertising, promotional campaigns, projection of profit…..etc.

There typically isn’t much in the way of legal paperwork to be done for an online business but before you start working at home, you should check with a lawyer or a friend who has an online business to make sure you’re not flouting any rules.

Do it
I must say that this has to be the most trying steps of all. Getting your online business off the ground. Deciding on and registering the domain name, hosting company, designing the website, setting up the merchant accounts, shopping carts, uploading all the pages and images, checking links….etc. Time consuming but at the end of the day, when everything works out, there is a tremendous level of satisfaction….knowing that doing all that enables you to work at home.

Sell it
Now that the business is all set to receive orders and you’re all geared up about your new work at home business, it’s time to start selling the products and services. Find ways to advertise online and offline, tie-up with partners and affiliates, get others to help you promote your business, use autoresponders, set up your newsletters, write articles, exchange links with other websites, join forums, participate in message boards and groups related to your business….etc. All in the name of selling.

With lots of patience and persistence, starting your online business could be as easy and smooth as you want it to be. Just keep your focus and direction. And remember, nothing happens overnight, so, be patient and persist, and never give up.

How can you Earn Money On The Web?

Are you looking to earn money on the web? Let's look at 3 easy ways you can earn money using the internet. Affiliate programs, home based business, and internet marketing.

Affiliate programs:

Affiliate programs may be the easiest way to earn money on the web. Why?

With any online business you must have a product or service to sell. First you must create this product or service and then you must be able to fill orders or find people who will sell it for you for a hefty commission.

Affiliate programs allow you to sell another company's service or product and make a commission on every sale or lead. You do not even need to build a website, process the order, ship the product to the person, or anything like that. Your only job is to drive traffic (customers) to your affiliate link and hope that they click on it and buy the product.

An affiliate link is a special URL code that will identify customers coming to the company's site from your advertising. It will likely be the website address with a code attached to the end.

Some affiliate programs also have tiers. That means if someone who is interested in SELLING the product comes through your link and signs up you will also get a small percentage of THEIR earnings. This is also called internet network marketing.

A home based business:

This is a business which is really described as a work at home business. The person reserves a room in the house and builts an office in it. There they have there own computer, telephone, possibly a secretery, and some nice furniture.

A home business can be anything from party plans, to mlm businesses, or any business based in your home and conducted outside of it.

Internet marketing:

This is the use of the internet to advertise and sell real tengible merchandise or services. This involves the use of someone's site and e-mail to inform his/hers customers about a product, answer their questions and feedbacks, and accept their orders directly through the online internet world.

Virtually any product or service can be sold online for a generous commission. This is a great way to earn money if you already have a product.

Internet Home Business Secrets That Payoff!

I can picture you exactly where I was just a few short
years ago --

Sitting in another useless meeting organized by a group
of senior managers that have a combined IQ less than your
own child at 3-months old.

Around in circles you go, no progress again today and
only those who play the game the best will collect the
bigger paychecks - but even they can't outlast this game
of roulette can they?

Listen - I get asked often, even by my own wife, "why are
you so driven!"

It's true, these days I am passionate about just about
everything I do - especially my internet home business.

Why?

Is it the thought of a new porsche sitting in my driveway
that motivated me to succeed with my internet home business?

What about cruising up and down the Pacific Coast in my
new yacht?

Maybe it's being able to take a dream vacation to Australia
and New Zealand?

Nope! You guessed wrong.

In fact, what motivates me everyday is the thought of having
my time, energy, health and family UNDER THE CONTROL of someone
other than myself scares the heck out of me.

I mean all out spiders on my face, snakes in my bed and lizards
in my pants scared!

When I hit 30 back several years ago - I was in a hotel, alone
on business in downtown London, England.

Incredible city, but I realized that after spending 29 birthdays
with my family - I was FORCED to spend this one alone thousands of
miles from home.

Every day after, I became incensed each time someone at my old
job controlled some aspect of my time, health, energy or family.

I don't mean a little upset - I mean DEEPLY ANGRY.

There's only two ways to deal with something like that in your
life - curl over and die a slow death or take action until
you change the circumstances

Trick was, to channel that anger in the right direction - postive
instead of negative.

Then I discovered something incredibly powerful --

Anger and Pain Are Part of the Formula for Success!

Name me any highly successful person and chances are I can find
a burning, gut-churning, unstoppable force within them that will
not let them fail. That force usually comes from anger or pain.

LET ME SAVE YOU 5-YEARS OR MORE....

Even with this incredible passion I had to control my own destiny,
success didn't come right away.

I tried opportunity after opportunity, scam after scam, UNTIL...

THE HOLY GRAIL - Internet Home Business

Ever since the beginning of business, the same principles hold
true - you must have;

1. Compelling product to reachable market
2. Competitive Advantage or Unique Selling Proposition
3. Operation plan that is profitable
4. Constant Plan, Do and Review process to increase profits

Whether you want to market other people's products online or
create your own products or services, you must follow these
fundamental business principles.

What's great about an internet home business is:

1. You can find reachable markets and compelling product
ideas sitting in your office in your underwear

2. You can easily discover and communicate your Unique Selling
Proposition without having to spend thousands on competitive
intelligence

3. You can develop very profitable operational plans taking
advantage of instant download, or build to order systems

4. It's easier, and less risky than ever before to continually
test and improve your internet home business.

So - snap out of it!

Stop settling for whatever it is that is eating away at you!

Take action - right now!

Find out all you can about starting and building your own
internet home business - turn your anger or pain into health
and happiness today.

Grow your Internet Business with Pay Per Click Search Engine

As you probably know, Google is the world largest search engine serving around 200 million requests of information a day at the time of writing this article. With such a large users based, no wonder many internet businesses are currently making use of Google Adwords (http://adwords.google.com) to GROW their internet business.

With a small activation fees of US$5.00, you can start getting high quality traffics to your website. Bidding for Adwords start from a range of US$0.05 - US$100

However, it doesn't mean that you should rush into Google Adwords without any proper plans.

First determined which MARKETS are you TARGETING and how you want to market your products or services. For e.g. if you are selling an affiliate product, first find out information like:

- is it a global products/services that is available and delivered for every country
- the Language of the Target market
- which countries are internet savvy and more likely to buy your products/services
- is there any payment restriction for e.g. clickbank and paypal both have their countries restriction where payment will not be accepted. You will be wasting your money if you include those countries in Google Adwords.

Next, with the above information collected, you can start to write out your Adwords bidding strategy.

You will burn a hole in your pocket if you just bid for two keywords like [home business]. To lower your cost per
click, try bidding for a combination of words.