Six Ways of Making Money on the Internet Without Quitting Yo

Martin Avis Not long ago, books, tapes and programs were all the
rage telling how easy it was to make money in mail
order. The ads are still running, and a few people are
still reaping the rewards. Remember the guy making
money from his kitchen table, wearing only his shorts?

Now the playing field has changed. Now it is the
Internet that offers the lazy way to riches.

Thousands of folks bought the books, and failed to get
rich. The Internet will also fail to deliver the
expected riches to millions of hopefuls.

But if you learn the closely-held secrets of online
success, YOU can be one of the few who profit.

Well, that is what they would have you believe. Truth
is, the secrets are easy to discover. So easy that I
will tell you some of them right now. And over the next
few issues, I will uncover all that you need to know to
really make the Internet work for you.

The Internet is a 24/7, 365 day shop, just bursting
with customers. Actually, it is more like a giant Arts
& Crafts fair. You've got to get the customer's
attention, while thousands of other stalls are doing
the same. Once you have attracted them, they look
at your stall. If they like what they see, you get the
chance to go into sales mode. At any time their
attention can waver and you lose the customer.

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If you do catch them, and they like what they buy, and
you were polite, helpful and courteous, then next time
the fair is held, they will head straight for you.
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The Internet is exactly like that.

The good news is that making money from the Internet
doesn't have to be a full time occupation. You can run
a business in a few hours a day without risking your
day job. Most of the hard work can be automated, and
there are hundreds of web sites offering free or very
inexpensive software solutions for problems you don't
even know you have got.

So why is it made to sound so difficult? There is a lot
of technical jargon out there, and it gets in the way
of developing a clear understanding of what you need to
do. Once you have progressed along the learning curve,
everything gets a lot simpler, but in the initial
stages, you just have to grit your teeth and read
everything you can lay your hands on. Go to
www.google.com and type '"internet marketing" ebook'
without the single quotes.

You will be presented with dozens, if not hundreds of
free or 'for sale' ebooks. Buy some. Get the free ones
and read, read, read.

There is no substitute for knowledge.

Here is a list of 6 questions that will lead you to
decide how you can start making money with your own web
site. It is not exhaustive: new ideas are being
developed all the time, but it covers the bases:

> Do you want to sell hard products or digital
products?

> Do you want to sell your own products, or someone
else's?

> Do you want to concentrate on selling one product
hard, or spread over a wide range of products?

> Do you want to accept payments online, or let
other people deal with the money?

> Do you want to capture email addresses so that you
can sell to them later?

> Do you want to run an affiliate program?

Let's look at these one at a time.

>>> Hard products, or digital products?

You can probably sell anything on the Internet.
However, if you are looking to run a business in your
spare time, digital information products are the
easiest to handle. Why? Simply because there is no
inventory to worry about, it is all in computer files
on your hard disk. Also, the products are delivered
directly to your customer, instantly.

>>> Do you want to sell your own products, or someone
else's?

Your own products can be the most profitable. If you
write an e-book and sell it for $25, who gets the $25?
You do. All of it. Every last cent apart from a small
commission to the credit card company. 'But I can't
write an e-book,' you say. Sure it can be difficult if
you have not written anything before, and you may think
you have nothing to say that people would pay good
money for. You are wrong! You do have a book inside
you. Almost everybody does.

Ken Evoy's outstanding book, written with Monique
Harris, *Make Your Knowledge Sell!*, will open your
eyes and get you writing anything from a four-page
report to a full sized book.

http://www.myks.sitesell.com/products43.html

>>> Do you want to concentrate on selling one product
hard, or spread over a wide range of products?

This is a very personal choice, and depends somewhat on
the target audience you will be aiming for and the
expected profit-per-sale. If you have a product that is
fairly high ticket, aimed at a niche audience, then you
are probably best off building a web site devoted
entirely to promoting that product.

Why waste your time diluting your efforts?

If, however, your audience is broad, and/or your profit
margin is small, then by all means try to cross-sell
them other products.

The choice has to be your own, but a lot of money is
being made at the moment from single product sites.

>>> Do you want to accept payments online, or let other
people deal with the money?

If you are starting out in business and have no
trading history, it will be difficult for you to
persuade your bank to give you a merchant account and
the so accept credit cards online.

There are ways around this, but they will cost you a
bigger percentage of your sale.

Don't even think about asking customers to send you a
check. This is the Internet: people just won't do it.

One good solution is ClickBank. If you plan to sell
digitally deliverable products only, ClickBank may be
the answer. Their setup charge and commissions are low,
and there are no monthly fees. Check them out at:

http://zzz.clickbank.net/r/?avisc

>>> Do you want to capture email addresses so that you
can sell to them later?

An increasing acceptable business plan is based upon
the idea of building a customer list and then selling
to them at a later date. To make this work, your web
site must be capable of generating a high traffic, and
must have content that is of real value to its readers.

Once you have established that, invite visitors to opt
in to your mailing list. This act gives you permission
to email them without risk of spamming (sending out
unsolicited email, which can get you into serious
trouble with your ISP). Then you set about building a
relationship with them through e-zines, newsletters,
special offers, tips, recommendations, site update
announcements and so on.

It can take up to seven communications before you make
a sale, so perseverance is required.

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This method is longer term, but virtually all the
Internet gurus agree that it is the most effective way
of making money online.

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>>> Do you want to run an affiliate program?

Affiliate programs are special relationships that you
create with companies that sell online. You advertise
their products and direct your visitors to their site.
They do all the work of selling, taking the money and
delivering the product and you sit back and reap the
commission payments.

With an affiliate program you can create a web site
offering one, two, or a million products. Create themed
sites (books, music, jewelry, art, you name it, there
will be an affiliate program for it). You can even
create entire department stores online.

And every time a customer buys a product, you will be
credited with anything from 2% to 60% commission. Just
wait for those checks to come rolling in!

Sounds easy? It isn't. Like any marketing method on the
Internet, it only works if you put in the effort. You
can design the best looking, hardest selling storefront
on the web and if nobody visits it, that is how many
sales you get. Zero.

Have no illusions, to make money on the Internet you
have to put in the work. Maybe not 12 hours a day,
seven days a week, but in the early days you will need
to devote some time to setting things up.

Like anything in life, the dream is alluring. But this
dream can, with hard work and perseverance, become a
reality. Then maybe you can think again about that day
job!

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"To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely
labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and
potatoes of life. The money is the gravy."
>>> Bette Davis (1908-1989), actress.
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About the Author

Martin Avis publishes a free weekly newsletter:
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