Monday, April 11, 2011

Make Online Money By Writing Articles Or Web Content

What is the one thing that everyone is looking for when they go online? You've got it – information. And if you can supply it in all kinds of shapes and forms then you will be paid for doing so, which could lead to a whole new career as a web writer.

Of course it isn't just online markets that need content; there are hundreds of other markets you could break into as well, including magazines, but overall it is the internet which offers the best opportunities, especially for the beginning writer.

So why should you start online when you want to earn money writing? The reason is simple – it isn't just editors that need your work. Website owners, people with newsletters that need writing and countless others all have writing jobs that they can't or won't do or don't have the time to do themselves.


That generally sends them scurrying to websites like Elance and Get A Freelancer to find people who will write the articles and content they need for them. There are plus points and negative points to writing for the internet; you won't often see your work published under your own name as you will usually be ghostwriting it for someone else, but you will get a lot of work since jobs quite often come in batches. You won't often get just a single article to write for instance – you might get a half dozen, ten, twenty or even more, so the money can soon mount up.

The best places for finding work are the aforementioned sites, but you should also look on classified ad sites such as Craigslist for jobs in your own country and in other places around the world. There are also plenty of writing related websites that can easily be found via the search engines if you look for 'online writing jobs' or something similar. Don't forget blogging jobs as well; if you have your own blog then you already have experience in blogging, so apply for as many as you can. Ongoing blogging jobs are great for bringing in a regular stream of income.

Getting started and building contacts is the hardest part. Go for jobs you feel confident in doing to begin with; after a while you will pick up speed and complete them faster and much more easily. You will soon learn to juggle your work as well in order to meet all your deadlines before they fall due – this is an essential skill you will need to develop in order to position yourself as one of the best in the business.

You could also work for a ghostwriting team if you prefer; these can also be found via the search engines and a simple email should reveal whether they are accepting new writers at any time. This can make life easier since you don't have to go looking for work all the time – it is generally supplied by the team leader, depending on how that particular team works.

But can you really make a full time income by doing this? The answer is yes you can, but speed and quality are of the essence. If you produce good work then people will naturally come back to you for more of the same. They will also pay more for work of a better standard, so make sure you don't put yourself down with the $2 an article crowd.

It will take time to build up enough work to be able to leave your current job and start a brand new career as a web writer, but there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to do this if you persevere and keep checking the classified ad sites and job boards every single day. Don't wait to apply for jobs either – do it as soon as you see them appear. Getting in early can make all the difference in some cases.

So do you think you have it in you to be a writer? If you do there is a huge market out there just waiting for you to dive in. Just remember where you came from, and leave us a comment by using the form below before you go and begin your new career!

How to Make Online Money with Network Marketing or MLM


It has been said that 10% of new millionaires in the US over the past ten years have done it by building businesses through network marketing.

Even well known authors and business people such as Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad Poor Dad), Donald Trump (Trump University) and Tony Robbins (Robbins Institute)  have all stated that Home Based Businesses and particularly network marketing, direct sales and MLMs will be the biggest growth industry of the next decade.

The highly respected Forbes Magazine forecast that an incredible 79,000,000 new home based businesses would start over the next three years.  That's over 500,000 a week – and just in the U.S.

Now that's certainly not to say that the MLM business model suits everybody. There is always a rather large drop out or failure rate, but then that holds true for pretty much any business, online, offline, MLM or whatever. Most Businesses do tend to fail in their first 4 years, but out of the tens of millions that are started each year, there are plenty that do succeed.

Entrepreneur Magazine estimates that the US home-based business industry may be worth over $420 billion a year; that's more than pharmacy; food; and consumer goods combined; with an average home office household earning of 65,000 US dollars a year.

With increasing financial uncertainty; job lay-offs and a shift in thinking to create a better lifestyle, home based businesses as either an additional part-time income or replacement of primary income can only grow massively over the coming years.

So exactly what does it take to succeed with a network marketing business. Most experts tend to agree on the following attributes:

  1. You must be prepared to "network" with likeminded people. People who join network marketing companies and do nothing never get anywhere. The only way to succeed is to get involved and build your business. Now this doesn't mean you have to become a leech to your friends and family and sell them stuff, or join them up. On the contrary, most successful MLMs run proper businesses, they learn the value and develop the skills needed to generate quality leads to their business. People who are already looking for the products or services they are selling and offer their products.
  2. You must have some marketing knowledge, or be prepared to learn some. The internet has been a godsend for people looking to generate leads to any type of business. Gone are the days when you had to run newspaper, classifieds, radio ads or letter box drops in order to generate leads. Nowadays anyone looking for pretty much anything is looking online. So all you need to do is know how to get your message in front of the people who are already looking for it. Most good network marketing companies offer some kind of basic level marketing support, but it's always a good idea to seek out those who are willing to go the extra mile and teach you everything you need to succeed.
  3. You must be prepared to do some real work. A lot of people join network marketing companies looking to "get rich quick". But the reality is, most of them are not prepared to do the work it takes to be successful. Yes there is a lot of money to be made in network marketing, but it's not a sure thing, you still have to work hard, especially at the beginning if you want your business to take off. (just like you do in any business venture, or anything else worth doing for that matter)
  4. Believe in the products you are selling. This should be obvious, but needs to be said anyway, make sure you choose a company who sell products that you actually believe in, use and are happy to recommend other people use. To be success in your business you are going to be spending quite a bit of time talking about your products, so make sure it is something you can relate to and get excited about selling.

So if that sounds like you, then perhaps you have what it takes to build a successful network marketing business.

So the only question you have to ask yourself now, is which company will you join…

Here is a list of some of the more popular network marketing companies running today:

If you think network marketing might be for you, don't forget the points above and make sure you find a company with a good support network that can help you get started.

How to MakeOnline Money with Twitter


Every time we turn around we're hearing about another social networking site offering users unlimited possibilities. Twitter is just such a site. Twitter is a very popular site that's gaining more popularity every day. Members are constantly "tweaking" their friends, family members and even work associates! It seems like almost every one of all ages has a Twitter account today and many are making money doing it. Yes, you can make money with Twitter. Join the thousands of others that are doing that very thing. While you won't become a millionaire overnight, Twitter offers you a great chance to earn some real cash!

Twitter Offers Many Money-Making Opportunities

There are several ways you can make money with Twitter. Before you can begin making money on Twitter, you will need lots of contacts the better. It's been shown that Twitter users are getting as many as 20,000 followers within just the first month or two of joining. Imagine if you made a sale to just 1% of these followers: you'd have sold to 200 people. The opportunities to make money are endless with Twitter. So make as many friends as you can on Twitter and develop a good trusting relationship with these users. The more Twitter friends you make, the better your opportunity to make money.

Become an Affiliate on Twitter

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online while doing very little in the way of work. Most online companies offer an affiliate program to anyone interested. Find a company that offers affiliate marketing (it will be on the bottom of their website). Sign up and wait to hear from them. They'll check out your Twitter page and make sure it offers good opportunities for sales. Once they've accepted you as an affiliate, you're all set to go.

Put up an attractive ad for the business and promote it to all your followers. The more of your followers you can get to purchase the product, the more money you'll make. Since Twitter is such a large social networking site, the possibilities just keep getting bigger and bigger. Some companies will even pay if a person just clicks on the ad without making a sale, although these are rarer. Affiliate marketing is a very popular way to make money and if you have a Twitter page anyways (who doesn't?), you may as well make some money at the same time.

Make Money on Twitter with RevTwt

RevTwt is a platform that deals with CPC (cost per click) and allows you to make money from your tweets. For those unfamiliar with Twitter, tweets are messages and posts you put on your Twitter page.

Sign up for an account with RevTwt and they'll check out your Twitter profile. After doing this, they'll allow you to put ads for different products or services on your Twitter page. Each time someone clicks on these ads, you can make money.

As you can see, there's a lot of money to be made off of Twitter but the key is to get as many followers as possible so make all the friends you can!

How to Make Money online With Marketing CPA Offers

With the internet such a large part of our lives today, more and more individuals are looking for opportunities to make money online. While some are doing it to bring in some extra cash, others are looking for full-time careers and are being quite successful with their endeavors. Many are doing this by becoming marketers of CPA opportunities. You, too, can make money marketing CPA offers.

What is CPA?

CPA (no, I don't mean "certified public accountant") stands for "Cost Per Action" and it is when someone is paid for an action resulting from a lead. CPA has been around for many years, but has become much more popular in recent years by mainstream marketers that saw the opportunity for profit.

When you're marketing CPA offers, you don't necessarily have to sell anything to get paid. For instance, if you're making up advertisements for a product and a sale is made because of your advertisement, you'll make money. CPA has become so popular because you can make money without having to actually make the sale yourself. Collecting leads such as names, email addresses and locations is the most effective way of marketing CPA offers. Becoming a marketer for CPA offers is easy, fast and can provide you with a lot of fun and money!

Becoming a CPA Marketer

Becoming an online CPA marketer is not as difficult as one might think. You will need to have either a blog site or quality website set up before you can sign up as a CPA affiliate with a company or a CPA network (many are available on the web). Once you sign up, the companies will check out your site to ensure it meets their requirements.

Once this is done, they'll contact you either by email or phone to ask you a few questions to make sure you know what becoming a CPA marketer entails as well as what your plans are as far as promoting their product or services.

They'll want to know that you are aware of the rules and regulations regarding search engine and sale strategies. If you have any questions, this is the time to ask them so you're well aware of what's expected of you and what you can expect in terms of sales and money.

Know your Company

I know this is the internet and you can't be expected to know every company that's out there but, if you're planning on being a CPA marketer, you want to make sure they are a legitimate company and will play by the rules and pay you.

Do some research about the company you're considering working with. Make sure they are what they say and are legitimate. There are many sites where you can check on the legitimacy of internet companies. Do your homework and get reviews on these companies. Only agree to market CPA offers for companies that you're comfortable working with. Once this is done, you'll find you're well on your way to a very promising and successful career as a CPA marketer.

How To Make Online Money With ClickBank


ClickBank is just about the biggest website on the internet today as far as affiliates are concerned. If you want to make money online but you don't have a product of your own to promote, what better solution could there be than to promote someone else's in exchange for a slice of the profits?

ClickBank is a no brainer if you want to get started on no cash at all, and you have your choice of products to promote as well. It's also a great chance to experiment a little and get to know what niches are profitable and which ones have the best products that you make the most sales on.

As far as an introduction to affiliate marketing goes, the best place to head to is definitely ClickBank.

Affiliate accounts are free at ClickBank, and once you have got yours you will need to take a look at the huge number of opportunities you have to promote products – mostly e-books – to your chosen audience.

Now you might be wondering how you can do this without having a website of your own or a blog you are hosting yourself, but all you need to do is get a free web page (or in fact as many as you like) from Squidoo. Check out the separate blog entry on that very subject to see how you can combine the two for maximum benefits.

If you do have a site of your own you can easily promote ClickBank products to your existing audience by searching for items that are likely to appeal to them. Use the search facility on ClickBank to help narrow down the number of products to sort through, and pick an appropriate category as well, to make sure you find the most suitable items.

You will get a dedicated link (called a hoplink) that will ensure you get a portion of the proceeds if someone clicks through to buy a product you have recommended. You can cloak this if you wish for extra security on your part by visiting one of the many free shortened URL sites online today.

The best way to profit from ClickBank is to focus on providing more than just an affiliate link for your customer to click on. The idea is to almost pre-sell the product before they even reach the sales page. You really need to be able to recommend it to them by stirring up some enthusiasm first.

A lot of affiliates get to the stage where they build a free web page (on Squidoo) or even a whole website on a specific subject, and write (or have someone else write) material that the visitors will find useful and interesting. In this way you are building a relationship with your visitors and projecting an image of someone that can be trusted and who knows a bit about what they are saying. It's ironic really, but if you come across as an affiliate people will assume you are just out to make money and won't even take a second look at the sales page you are trying to send them to – even if that product is really worth looking at.

Less is more when you are an affiliate trying to make money from ClickBank, and the more you remember that the more sales you are likely to make over time.

The good thing is that no matter how many different products you can promote, all your earnings will go straight into the same account, ready to be paid to you once you hit your payment threshold.

The best way to start with ClickBank is to find your way around the site and get to know how it works. Once you have done that start researching a few choice niches and develop things from there. Slowly but surely you will start to see results.


How To Make Money online By Selling E-Books


Make no mistake – e-books are big business online. No matter what you search for there will be someone out there selling an e-book on it.

But the best thing about them is that they provide one of the most potentially lucrative businesses you could ever hope to start online. So long as you do your homework and don't try and cut corners you can start making inroads into this business within days of deciding to get started. There is plenty to learn but none of it is beyond you – and even if you don't think you're up to the job there are plenty of people you can call on to help you.

If you're thinking of selling e-books to make money online, your best bet is to write your own.

But why do that when there are plenty of affiliate e-books around that you can promote and earn a cut from?

The answer is simple. If you write and create your own e-book no one else will be selling anything quite like it. You've got a unique product that will draw attention since no one will have seen it before. As long as you do your research first, you could make a lot of money from one e-book alone.

So first thing's first – how do you decide what to write an e-book about?

Think about what subjects are currently popular online. Making money will always be a great subject (look at this blog for example!) so anything that taps into this field which doesn't cover the same ground as loads of other e-books could do well. Try and focus on a specific niche to get the best results; you could start by thinking about what you personally find interesting and see whether any of your hobbies might provide fertile ground to explore.

Once you've got some ideas see whether there are already any e-books doing well online on that subject. If there don't seem to be any around you'll need to dig a bit further to see if your subject is going to be popular enough to attract a lot of sales. A spot of keyword research and simply looking up related search terms on Google can help reveal the answer to this.

Okay – so let's assume you now have an idea for an e-book you think will be popular. Next up you have to plan the contents and think of a great title. Titles are very important since they will give the potential buyer an idea of what to expect from the e-book itself. It needs to be specific and intriguing – and full of promise. Don't worry if one doesn't occur to you straightaway; quite often you will only think of it once the book is almost written.

The biggest problem when it comes to writing the book itself is staying on topic. It's very easy to veer off course if you're not careful, which is why having a pre-written outline to follow will keep you on track. If you plan this out before you begin writing you'll find the whole process much easier to manage. If you don't feel confident enough to write it yourself you can hire a ghostwriter to do it for you; there are plenty of sites online where you can hire a freelancer for a fixed fee that you decide on. This gives you complete control over the project.

Incidentally the word 'e-book' can be somewhat misleading for newbies to the business. An e-book can indeed be a hundred pages or more long, but it can also be no more than a dozen pages or so. The price for a shorter e-book will of course be lower, but it is still more than you might think given the length of the book itself.

Of course you need to think about more than just the e-book if you want to sell plenty of copies of it. You need to get the word out, and you need to have a great mini website to show it off. These mini websites are really single page sites which promote your e-book in a long sales letter. You would do well to spend as much time writing the sales letter as you did the e-book itself, since it has a very important job to do.

First off you need a stunning headline that will grab the attention. You need to really sell this to everyone who lands on your website so don't be afraid to shout about the benefits of your e-book! You'll notice I said benefits there and not features; that's because the benefits will tell your readers what your book will do for them. That's a very important point to understand since it could make the difference between getting a reasonable amount of sales and being buried under an avalanche of them!

Think about your price carefully too. Don't be greedy – but at the same time don't go too low either. You want to give an impression of quality. Do some research and see what similar titles in your subject area are selling for.

You can also sell more copies by offering bonuses along with the e-book itself. Could you write a number of special reports as well, each one a few pages long, which relate to the subject of your main book? Anything like this will encourage still more people to buy from you rather than going elsewhere for a similar title.

The ultimate goal for you should be to write a series of e-books which each have their own website to sell from. When you write each sales letter be sure to include plenty of keywords and phrases to attract a greater volume of search engine traffic to your site. Pick a good and relevant domain name too – it will help to draw in more people.

The hardest step is in writing that first e-book. Once you've got going and you've had some experience you'll start writing them faster, picking better titles and subjects, and selling more copies as a result. Before you know it you'll have a great business on your hands.

If you'd like to comment on this piece, please leave your message using the form below. Then get writing – your first e-book is there, you just have to get it out.

How To Make Online Money With Google Adsense Program


If you have a website or a blog, you should definitely sign up for Google Adsense. It's one of the few programs you can truly 'set and forget' – once it's there you don't really need to do much else with it.

But there are ways and means to maximize your income from Google Adsense, and as you get to know more about it you can start to generate a decent income from it that will keep rolling in month after month. It's a true passive income, which is why so many people are using it.

Most people have heard of Google Adsense, but not everyone understands exactly how to use it to its best advantage. So we'll start with how to use it in its most basic sense and then progress to the more advanced benefits you can get from the program.

Basically if you have a website or blog you can sign up for a free account at Google Adsense and start putting contextual ads on your website. What do I mean by contextual? It means quite simply that the ads which appear on your site will be relevant to your content. So let's say for example that your website is about tropical fish. The Google ads will then be related to tropical fish in some way. And because of the information that you give to Google, they will also display adverts that are relevant to your area. So if you are based in the UK the ads that appear will be relevant to UK buyers; if your site or business is based in Australia the ads will appeal to Australian buyers.

All of this is carefully worked out for you in order to attract the maximum click through possible for your website and your ads. Every time someone clicks on an ad you will get a few cents into your Adsense account, so it makes sense that the more attractive and relevant your ads are to your visitors, the more money you will make.

Let's have a look at the appearance of your ads now, since this can affect the amount of click throughs you get. You can choose the color and borders of your ads to fit right in with the color scheme on your site if you wish, but it's worth experimenting with having no borders at all around your adverts since this makes them blend in with your content more seamlessly and may encourage more click throughs in a subtle but effective manner.

However well you integrate Google Adsense into your current blog or website though, there is obviously a limit to the amount of money you can make from one site. If you get thousands of people visiting your site every day then you can expect to get a good income from it but many people don't get this number of visitors and that's where you need a separate strategy to try and up your numbers.

In this case you can go to the advanced level of Adsense income and think about starting several sites, all based around a different yet popular subject. You should think of these essentially as being content sites, since they are often chock full of articles and useful content which is carefully keyworded to attract plenty of search engine traffic on that particular subject. The Adsense ads are then placed in the optimum positions to achieve the best click through (the Adsense pages will give you ideas on where to position them but it's worth experimenting to see what works best for you), and the site goes live for people to find and read through.

You can also insert affiliate links for products into these sites in order to gain even more income if you wish, but they are often known as Adsense sites simply because they are set up to attract visitors and click throughs on a specific subject.

Some people end up with dozens of sites like this, and the beauty of them is that once they are built and you have bought your domain name and hosting plan you don't really need to do too much with them except for promote them. Updating them fairly regularly is good if you want to get to a higher position in the search engine results though, which will gain you more visitors as a result.

You can also keep your site updated more regularly (and encourage repeat visitors) by inserting RSS feeds of news stories related to the subject of your website. Anything that will get people returning to read more – and possibly click on more ads as a result – is worth a try.

One final note here – choose the subjects of your Adsense sites wisely. It's tempting to go for whatever is in the news at the moment, but once the stories die down so will your traffic. You want something that people will always want to know about – saving money, getting a better job, earning more, and various other more personal subjects such as skin care and successful dating for example. There are plenty of options to choose from; you just need to get your thinking cap on to find them.

In short the best place to start making money from Google Adsense is to integrate it into your existing website or blog. As you gain experience and discover the best ways to use it you can start thinking about adding extra sites into the mix. You might end up being an Adsense guru and raking in plenty of money for very little work indeed. That's the best thing about it – the 'set and forget' benefit that keeps on working even when you're not.

If you enjoyed this article or have any questions or comments about it, please leave them by using the form below. Once you've done that it will be time to visit Google's Adsense site to get started! Good luck.

How to Make Money Online Flipping Websites


Domain name flipping is the simple process of buying a domain name and then selling it for more money – so what exactly is website flipping all about?

If you'd prefer something a little more challenging (and potentially a lot more profitable) then website flipping might just be for you. It's a longer process but the time you invest in this particular activity can net you a lot of cash. And there is more than one way of doing it as well, as you're about to find out.

There is an ever growing band of people who have figured out that flipping websites is a great way to build up skills, knowledge and an impressive income at the same time.

he basic idea starts with you looking for a topic which does well online. Once you have a successful website on that topic (which you'll do in one of the following two ways) you can offer it for sale to someone else.

The first way to do this is to start from scratch by selecting a domain name, building a website around it and building it up until it gets a good amount of traffic and interest from people who are into that subject. This can take some time as you will need to get the site indexed in Google before you can take advantage of the amount of search engine traffic that can come your way.

The idea is to build a site that has real money making potential, as well as being able to generate a good volume of traffic. You can do this by integrating elements such as Google Adsense, affiliate links and paid advertising into the site – and in some cases, paid memberships as well.

The second route to follow is easier – but it requires a little bit more research on your part. If the idea of building a site from scratch doesn't appeal to you but you still want to sell websites for profit then this method should be the one to try. The trick is to look for a website that someone has built which is getting a reasonable amount of traffic. Keyword research will reveal those subject areas and keywords which are perennially popular online, and it is these kinds of websites you should be looking for – something that will always be pulling in traffic.

The fact is that you cannot simply pick a great domain name and stick a few articles and affiliate links on a website and expect it to make money. It takes time and effort, and that's why websites which have the potential to do really well end up failing. It's not so much the site as the owner in many cases.

So if you make a reasonable offer to that owner for their website, the chances are good that they will be only too pleased to get shot of the site. And that gives you the chance to get in there and really develop it in order to build on the traffic and potential it already has.

After a few months – when you are earning a dollar or more every day from your website – you can think about selling it. There are a number of websites and forums that have sections for flipping websites to other people, and depending on the profits you are making and the traffic you are getting you could make anything between a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars by flipping just one site.

And once you've done that and no doubt learned a lot from the experience, it's a case of 'rinse and repeat!' There is no limit to the number of websites you can flip at any one time, although don't forget you need a few months to go by before you make your first sale since you need your websites to develop before you can flip them. Once you get the ball rolling though you can expect to be selling one or more every week.

But before you become a 'pro flipper' for a living, why not leave us a comment in the box below? Then all you need to do is start scouting round for your very first flippable website!

How To Make Money Online With Facebook

If you always wanted to earn online income but didn't know where to start, why not jump on the most popular social network site and take advantage of their ad serving platform?


Believe it or not, tens of thousand of people are using Facebook every day to chat with their friends and have fun… while others are making money at the same time.

Would you like to know how to cash-it on this social phenomenon?

Would $5… $50… or $150 in additional income make you happier? What would you do with the "new found" money?

Let's make it happen, here are three quick steps:

Step #1

Once you have signed up to Facebook your first step should be to think about how you want to present yourself. You don't want to fake it, just be yourself and showcase your skill, your hobby or knowledge – that is what makes money from Facebook.

Don't forget that you want to attract the attention of a specific group of people here, so that you become known as someone who is something of an expert on one particular subject. So choose wisely!

Step #2

Go for a popular niche that you personally like and have an interest in. Develop your persona in that area. If you already have something of a web presence in a particular area then you'll use that in your advantage because — it will help you as more and more people become aware of who you, your skill/knowledge and how this can help them.

Step #3

Your first port of call, if you have anything second hand to sell which is related to your niche, is the Marketplace. It's free to place ads in the Marketplace and there is no limit on how many you can place.

EXAMPLE: you come across a bargain lot of books on your subject on eBay or at a yard sale you can list them all individually on Facebook and sell them on for a profit.

If you have a budget to spend on advertising and you have some external websites you want to promote, you can try out the Social Ads to see what benefits you get from them. It is well worth reading through the relevant help section to see what is involved though, as it is quite in depth.

FACEBOOK BEST ADVANTAGE:

The main benefit of becoming a Facebook member is that you can build and use any number of applications to perform certain tasks on your profile page.

The GREAT NEWS is that Facebook doesn't frown at users making money from their Facebook page, and indeed many people link in to other websites outside of Facebook itself.

People are constantly building new applications and often they are used by many other users to create pages that appeal to their own particular needs.

This is partly why you will succeed in making more money from Facebook if you brand yourself carefully before you get started on the site.

BRANDING YOURSELF?

Figure out what it is you want to do and what you want to achieve. If you already have a website up and running then you will be able to link into that, so keep the look and feel of your Facebook page in the same vein as your site.

But while you can link to other sites outside of Facebook, some people also sprinkle some affiliate links on their actual Facebook page itself. For example, some quick research revealed one person who links into a range of ClickBank products on their page and does well from doing so.

So long as you start from a strong position with a particular focus and brand in mind, you can do well by experimenting with all the benefits that Facebook offers (and they're growing).

Take time to build up a network of friends and make sure you become known for being an expert in your particular sphere of interest/niche.

Exposure is what you should aim for. The more people you make friends with and add to your network, the more money you should be generating. However, don't make the mistake to go after "friends" for money.

Put people first, money will follow. It's like in the real life, just a different medium, the same communication skills and principles apply though.

You should always sound, look and act real, don't pretend to be someone else. People feel it nowadays more than ever.


How To Make Money Online With Affiliate Marketing

How would you like to earn a little extra cash each month? Or even replace your income, working less to make more money… Think its a pipe dream? well, think again.

Most people know that there are millions of dollars being spent every single day purchasing products and services online. But did you know that you could be earning a % on every sale made by simply referring and recommending the products that you like to people.

It's one of the best ways to get started making money online – you don't need a website, you don't need a blog, you don't even need any cash to get started, although these things can help, you can certainly start without them. By helping consumers research and choose products they already want to buy, which could be as simple as writing a 500 word article (just like this one) you could be earning a nice little second income.

Or if you want to take it a little more seriously, you can earn a full income, even more than most "real world" jobs pay.

I personally make a full time living through affiliate marketing, and have been doing it now for about 5 years. Working from home, choosing the hours to suit my lifestyle, and making a lot more than I ever made working 60 hours a week in a job I hated.

But if you really want to achieve some success with affiliate marketing you need a plan that will get you the level of income you want. A lot of people I speak too love the "Idea" of making money online, they usually ask me a million questions, and tell me how serious they are, how they are going to go home and get stuck into it, read all the stuff I recommend and get started asap.

But then most of them never actually follow through on any of it. Then 6 months later I will see them again, some will avoid the topic completely, while others tell me again how serious they are, and they are really going to do it "this time".

It's pretty ammusing for me, watching people make up excuses as to why they havnt done anything.

Personally I don't really care if they do it or not, it doesn't effect me at all. Although it would be nice to have more friends who arent working all week to play golf with and take the boat out. But other than that, it makes no difference to me.

I don't really understand it though, I believe its the perfect business, think about it, you can make as much money as you like, your income is a direct result of the amount of effort you put in. You can work whatever hours you like. (Which is very few when you have been doing it for a few years) Plus you can do it from anywhere you can plug in a laptop. So if you like to Holiday or travel around the world, its the perfect business.

But how do you get involved?

The best place to start is by going to a website that houses a wide range of affiliate products. This keeps everything together in one easy to access place and gives you plenty to explore. You can also get an idea of which particular areas you would like to concentrate on. The worst thing you can do in affiliate marketing is to use the scattergun approach.

This is when you try and promote a wide range of products that aren't connected with each other, all from a single website. In essence it isn't aimed at anyone – and you'll make fewer sales as a result.

Instead, do some research and come up with a specific group of people that you can find a wide range of products for. Or find a particular problem that people are searching online for solutions too, and direct them to the solution. Not only do you stand a much better chance of making a sale, But people will actually thank you for helping them find a solution, and be more than happy that you got paid to help them.

But if you don't have a website, how can you promote your products?

There are several ways of doing this. One of the best is to use article directories like EzineArticles.com or Web 2.0 sites like Squidoo.com, which allow you to build web pages for free on pretty much any subject you like. Once these get indexed by Google and you do a little promotion for them, then you'll start getting a steady stream of traffic – if you've picked the right topics and search terms to target.

At the beginning I mentioned the need to have a plan to reach the level of income you want. Not many affiliates actually do this and it's one of the main reasons why more people aren't making a lot of money with affiliate marketing. It's certainly not because the potential isn't there – it's because they don't plan to take advantage of it in the right way.

You should always look at how much you will get by way of commission for each product. Obviously the less the commission, the more units you will need to sell to achieve your desired income. You'll achieve this through a balance of products obviously, but it's worth bearing in mind.

You also need to think about the type of people you are marketing to. What kind of income do they bring in? How much are they likely to want to spend on the products you'll be offering? If you don't match these two aspects up properly you will struggle to make any real sales.

It's also helpful to set short, medium and long term goals to help keep things in perspective. A short term goal might be to sell five products a week continually, for example. A long term goal could be to make $100,000 a year from affiliate marketing. Goals will help you to decide where you want to go with your fledgling affiliate marketing business.

Another important point to be aware of is that it's wise to protect your income wherever you can. What I mean by this is that affiliate links can be rather obvious at times, and some people will actually delete your link and go into the site and buy something while denying you the commission.

The easy way to prevent this is to simply buy a domain for each product you are going to promote, and redirect it to the affiliate offer.  There are plenty of free tools that do this for you online, and it's really the safest way to protect your interests. It also changes a long ugly link into a nice short one – much nicer for the article directories!

Affiliate marketing is like any other business, once you start generating some income, then you can start to invest some of that money back into your business to ensure you enjoy ongoing growth.

In short, start slowly and keep those visions of a huge income in perspective to begin with. You'll soon get to know your way around the business and with each new experience you can build your knowledge and earn even more in the months and years to come.

When I was first starting out, I learnt the basics by purchasing a few books and e-books on the topic, but mostly it was left to trial and error. I had to make a lot of mistakes in order to find a few good ideas that worked and made money.

Fortunately these days there are some really good resources available for people looking to learn this business. So if you're serious about becoming an affiliate marketer, check out some of the resources on this page.

The most important thing to do though, is to just get started, do something right now, then follow it up tomorrow with something else… Try and do something every day towards your goal, don't put it off for a single day, and before you know it, you will have a nice steady stream of profits coming in.

Too many of the people I talk to, put things off until they have more time, but then they forget, and never end up getting started at all. So commit to yourself, take some action and get started today.