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10 Ways to Really Make Money Online

It seems more people than ever are trying to get their start to a part-time or full-time income online.

In many cases this is because of all the economic problems and job losses occurring. For others though, they earn a good income already, but they’re looking for more FREEDOM in their life. They’re sick and tired of the daily grind of whatever job they’re in. In fact it seems like overall job dissatisfaction is a major issue today from people I’ve spoken with.

Here’s the sad news for the majority of those looking to make money online. Nothing is as easy or simple as some people make it out to be. There isn’t any magical system that instantly makes money for you while you sleep. You’re not going to get very far in an online business if you only want to work 4 hours a week starting out.

The reality is that you’re going to have to learn new skills…practice them constantly…and improve on them until you’re able to give real value to others.

That’s what this business is all about. Instead of hyping you up about how “easy” it is to to make money online, let’s cover some of the ways you could get your start online. And then I’ll make a few notes at the bottom for the key points I’m trying to share here.

1. Sell Information Products

Obviously I like this business. You have information others will be willing to pay for. I’ve heard the saying, “Everyone has at least one book in them.” Good saying, but that’s too much work for your first product. Instead I recommend for most they get started with interviews (either with someone interviewing them or them interviewing someone else).

For your first product, keep it simple. Often it is a good idea to sell at a low cost (such as $10) to build up a list of customers. At these lower prices, your copywriting skills don’t have to be as high of a level, and you find it a much easier “instant” purchase for many to make. Plus by keeping it simple, you can focus on several different markets creating items in each…until you find your BIG winner to push deeper in.

2. Blogging

When people hear blogger, they think a full-time writer that updates every day or multiple times a day. That isn’t required for this. When I think of a blogger, I think of a webmaster who uses WordPress to help build a content website (no matter how often they update it if they update it at all).

The key to focus on here is to use keyword phrases people are ACTUALLY looking for. While social media is fully hyped up and it’s what everyone is talking about, the best quality traffic comes from long-term readers, other people’s blogs, the search engines, etc.

While you can use a blog to promote ANYTHING you sell online, there are many who simply sell advertising or post Adsense ads to their site (with this method its very important to choose a niche where people are spending a good amount of money on their Adwords ads so you can get a decent paycheck).

3. Article Writing

Don’t want to put up your own site? Write articles for other people’s sites. This are multiple way you can do this type of business. You could start off by writing articles for the article directories where you promote an affiliate program in your resource box (key here is to write on popular subjects and link to very profitable affiliate programs).

You can also write articles for sites such as http://www.ehow.com/write.html and get paid (its a very small amount but it is an online income). In addition you could develop a service for writing articles (think about all those bloggers and content sites which need a regular writer).

4. Produce Videos

Similar to the above. Create videos to post on Youtube and other video sites. You can start off by promoting affiliate programs. In addition, some of the video sites will pay you a share of the advertising profits if you can generate a good viewership to the videos.

It becomes an even MORE needed service to produce videos for other sites. As you develop skills to produce your own videos, you then expand out and sell your services to sites who need videos produced for them.

5. eBay

I’d feel I was leaving out a major opportunity if I didn’t mention eBay. I’m not sure on the stats, but overall I would expect eBay has more part-time home businesses involved than just about anywhere else. Start off with selling some of your own stuff. Expand out to selling specialized items to your customers.

I’ll bet you were expecting this by now as well. You can even run a local service where you sell OTHER people’s stuff on eBay for them. It seems every city has a least one person doing this if not a large number of them (even the tiniest little places). Become an expert at emptying out other people’s garages.

6. Virtual Assistant

Every successful business owner needs a VA at some point or another. They need help with their customer support, website changes, shopping cart setup, etc. We could make a huge list of all the services a VA can provide for you in business. Basically many entrepreneurs are solopreneurs. Instead of hiring staff, they bring in VAs to help them.

Offer your services as a VA to others. The more skills you develop, the more you’re worth as a VA (for example copywriting, web design, and seo is often paid on higher rates than many of the basic services).

7. Become a Software Expert

Love software? Provide support for online business owners through either installing some of the popular software programs being the go-to expert for deeper help. For example, you could become an expert at a shopping cart system. Then create services where you help people set up their business and products, their affiliate program, or their mailing lists.

You could become a WordPress expert setting up WordPress sites and plugins for customers. Or perhaps you learn how to setup membership software to do the same type of service. Remember software can be a major pain to setup when you’re a beginner. Create services to do this for others.

8. Offer Design Help

Here’s another area people need help. You’ve heard me often say I’m graphically challenged. If I want any nice designs, they must be hired out. If you enjoy graphics, then this is a potential direction for you to take. Create the graphics for other people. You can even get your start designing for some of the 99designs contests (you only get paid if you win).

How could this service be turned into a product? Simply create a series of web site templates, wordpress templates, etc. and sell those as a product. Another “graphic” type business would be photography where you take photos and sell those on a site such as http://www.istockphotos.com.

9. Consult for Offline Companies

Anyone who has been online for a while has learned all kinds of information about autoresponders, seo, blogging, etc. While you may consider yourself a beginner, you’re an EXPERT compared to the average public. Many people find helping local businesses get online as a way to finance the beginnings of their own business.

Wonder how to get started with this? The easiest way is to simply mention your services to any business owners you normally do business with. If they need a website you can do it for them. And if you’re wiling to do it, you can generate a number of client leads by doing a How to Generate Leads On the Internet 30 minute speech for local business organizations (they won’t pay you but you’ll get the opportunity to find business owners who need your services).

10. Become a Life Coach

I could have said “become an excutive coach, business coach, career coach, etc.” I think way too many people get excited about selling ebooks and other low cost items online that they forget about businesses where you can earn much more for your time.

You might respond, “But I don’t want to trade hours for dollars.” Of course you don’t want to long-term, BUT don’t discount services that people are willing to pay a premium for. This leads me into one of the core points I want to make with this article.

Develop a Sellable Skill

Doing the service will IMPROVE your skills for products you may create. In addition you can generate the cashflow you need today to invest long-term in your business for the additional passive income streams.

Notice all the above ways to make money online involve you developing a skill you could sell. When I talk about writing articles, you could sell those writing skills to others. Doing interviews and “editing them” is a skill you could sell. Some of the most successful business people I know are definitely good enough copywriters they could sell that skill even though they have never done so.

There is NO such thing as “push button” profits online. Anything you to create profits is going to require work…and you’re going to become an expert at dealing with at least one element of that work. It could be the design, the content creation, etc., but you will develop a skill.

You may ask, “What about those who hire out everything in their business?”

The funny thing is I don’t know anyone like that. I know a couple of people who don’t know any of the technical details of their business, but they are very good writers (for their sites and their emails).

You’ll find that developing persuasion skills are one of the core skills you need to develop to be successful in a business. Even those who do hire out the copy for some of their sites write some of their own articles, emails, etc. They have the skill to do so.

The skills you’re developing can help you produce the income while you build the more residual elements of your business. So don’t discount “trading hours for dollars” in your business. And this is besides all the other benefits you’ll gain from doing services (such as how coaching clients can help you create better information products out of the training experiences).

Written by Terry · Filed Under All 

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Comments

14 Responses to “10 Ways to Really Make Money Online”

  1. David Stillwagon on August 10th, 2009 4:33 pm

    Good post I especially like the part of having a virtual assistant that sounds like something everyone would need.

  2. Twitted by rdille on August 10th, 2009 7:24 pm

    [...] This post was Twitted by rdille [...]

  3. CHEAPEST Minisite Design on August 10th, 2009 11:06 pm

    Hi Terry,

    Thanks for the list. Nice.

    It seems that most people only think of selling information products and blogging when they think of “make money online”.

    Your list would definitely prove very useful for these people and others as well.

    I like number 1 and 8, which is the business I’m currently running :)

    Cheers!

  4. cashmere lashkari on August 11th, 2009 1:42 am

    So far all my money online is the result of writing articles. Thanks for the comprehensive list!

  5. cashmere lashkari on August 11th, 2009 4:59 am

    So far all my money online is the result of writing articles. Thanks for the comprehensive list!
    BTW I love your blog!

  6. Adam Stott on August 11th, 2009 7:54 am

    Thanks for all the tips there are some really cool ideas here. I am also interested in selling other peoples products for them.

  7. Leonard on August 11th, 2009 8:14 am

    As always, I appreciate your counsel urging people to work hard. Daily I’m amazed at the people I try to help who have high expectations for big rewards with little or no work. All output requires a degree of input, but the world seems full of people who think online success is hitting a few keys, sit back and watch the money roll in. Sadly, too many IM “experts” have pushed that idea in the quest to sell their stuff. Deception characterizes too much of the IM space IMHO. Of course, that’s one reason why you are outstanding! Thanks for telling it like it is. Your Internet Retirement Lifestyle program was among one of the very first products I ever bought – and I recommend it to anybody who wants to learn what online info business is all about – and how much work is really involved. It’s not a dazzling, blow your doors off entertaining program, but it’s honest, straight-forward and educational. And it’s not overpriced either. I’m not even an affiliate – maybe I should be!

    LK

  8. Parth on August 11th, 2009 9:57 am

    Another great post! I like numero 2, – blogging is a beast.

  9. Darren Scott Monroe on August 11th, 2009 2:11 pm

    Thanks Terry. 11. Go Freelance bid on projects

  10. jon on August 12th, 2009 3:27 am

    You need to be very wise ppc ing, you can get ya fingers burnt quite easily..
    Great read though

  11. Nick on August 12th, 2009 4:59 am

    Excellent, fantastic and brilliant. Thank you very much dear terry for these killer tips.

  12. Mike Stenger on August 18th, 2009 10:08 am

    Great list! This pretty much sums it up for those looking at pursuing an online career. Sell information products is probably the #1 way as you have it to make money online and if you know how to do it right, you can make a killer living ;-)

    -Mike

  13. Ryan Crist on September 1st, 2009 8:32 pm

    Great post. I can attest that selling videos online works. We’ve been doing it for over 2 years and it keeps getting better. Start selling your skills via video now if you want to make money online.

  14. Casey Jhon on February 15th, 2011 4:03 am

    You need to be very wise ppc ing, you can get ya fingers burnt quite easily..
    Great read though.

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