10/12: Make Money Online Part 3

This dilemma is faced by many new webmasters if they don't have any real idea about exactly what they want to build. If you're main aim is to make money online, the choices open to you are now quite bewildering. However, before exploring these options any further, what about those who refuse to register a domain, are not prepared for even the smallest capital outlay and want to avoid building any kind of website?

I suppose it can be argued that all is not lost for this group. There are plenty of free programs out there that will help people to build some form of online presence. I'm thinking of free blogging platforms, social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace et al, and places like Squidoo. These are all valid avenues of enquiry for those who don't wish to spend anything, but you have to consider exactly what your plans are in terms of how you hope or intend to make money.

If you don't think you have anything of your own to sell, the obvious answer to many would seem to be affiliate marketing. It stands to reason that affiliate programs are the most attractive option for the financially challenged entrepreneur - nothing to buy, no money down, just set up an account and collect the monthly checks - that's how simple it is. You will hear this argument time and time again, and it's not entirely spurious, but success with affiliate programs is not the foregone conclusion so many people seem to think it is. In recent years it has definitely become more challenging to make money with affiliate programs for a variety of reasons.

The internet is a numbers game. The more eyes you can get on your services or products will increase your chances of making sales or commissions. Stating the obvious maybe, but I think many people are sorely deluded about the actual numbers involved. A hundred visitors to your landing page, affiliate site or blog for example is nothing - the people making big money with affiliate programs are often hosting tens of thousands of pages (oops, there's that hosting obstacle again) or spending money on advertising to drive thousands of visitors to those thousands of pages. The law of averages works in a scenario like this and you will generate sales. By the same reasoning, a blog in one hundred million is far far harder to monetize. Even if you are getting several thousand uniques a day, there is no guarantee that you will make much money - sure you might make a sale or referral here and there, but you probably won't be making anything substantial.

Getting paying customers to your affiliate programs is especially difficult if you are unable or unwilling to make any kind of investment in advertising or promotion. As we're sticking with the free theme, we'll leave paid advertising on the back burner for now. 

Most bloggers will tell you, if they are honest, that making money with a blog is actually not that easy. Having said that, a great deal depends on the theme of a blog - some niche blogs can be very profitable and ironically, making money with a "Make Money Online" blog is probably one of the most difficult challenges to set yourself. Lucia is probably as good an example as any and my guess is that her niche knitting blog is a better earner than her make money blog, but I could be wrong! There are countless blogs populating the MMO arena and you are often marketing ideas and services to other marketers who are often already pretty savvy. Your general audience are therefore less likely to be buyers, or are far more conscious of being "sold to".

If you wish to monetize a blog, you will probably spend countless hours experimenting with affiliate programs before you find things that work. If you don't, you should. Just try to tailor your affiliate programs to your readership - the more relevant they are, the more chance you stand of making progress. Advertising a high paying program won't do much good if it's irrelevant to your audience. What might also increase your chances of earning some commissions is using programs that pay you for leads - if something is free, people are usually more inclined to give it a try, so, if you can generate leads and get paid, even if it's only small commissions, they can soon add up. It's easier than selling a high ticket item to someone who is reading your blog to learn or gather information - they are not in the right frame of mind for an impulse purchase of a flat screen TV for example.

If your plan is to do no more than put up a few banners, you won't see very good results. If you can, it's a good idea to promote services and products of which you have personal experience. You can write a thorough review and maybe spice itup with screenshots or video demos. We all tend to be a little suspicious of blatant advertising or hard sells. Recommendations with substance tend to be far better received, particularly by people who regularlyread/contribute to your blog and feel that you are worthy of attention. Blogs, as you probably already know, enable us to build these kinds of relationships and relative trust. 

Many affiliate programs offer free software downloads, followed by a trial period of use and then a point where the user has to choose to buy, or give up the use of the program. These can often convert really well if your customer finds the tool invaluable and doesn't want to give it up. Try before you buy - it's a common practice because it works. The principle that you never miss what you've never had, is used regularly in marketing - once you allow someone to use a service, they often find themselves loathe to be without it and become a buyer.

All these things mean nothing without traffic of course. Marketing and promotion is a huge subject in its own right, so more of that later. The thing to remember is that many blog monetization strategies are hugely dependent on generating visitors and hopefully targeted visitors and regular readers. So, you can begin this process without investing money, but it is going to take work, determination and much experimentation before you see any returns. When it comes to blogs, this is true whether you host your own blog or use a free platform, but most would agree that it's preferable to have control over your own blogging work of art, particularly if you are in business and aim to keep blogging in the long term.

Blogging will eat up a lot of time. Writing, and maintaining a blog is no stroll in the park, particularly when the initial rush of excitement wanes, and rewards are slow to materialize.

For the free seekers, affiliate programs can be promoted in other ways - you don't have to blog, but I think most would agree that a blog is still a great tool to have in your marketing arsenal. Building relationships with fellow bloggers and regular readers is just a part of it - that's a long term goal, but it is definitely a great way to get yourself into the SERPs without spending a fortune on SEO. Despite the recent slaps, Google does like blogs and indexes blog content very quickly, enabling you to rank for chosen keyphrases with just a little thought and application. Just as an example the term "Kiosk.ws Hosting Review" sees me in first place in Google's organic results - that's worth a lot to me as an affiliate and cheerleader for the company!

Let's face it, most of my readers are already bloggers and know much of this already. If blogging isn't working very well for you, aside from the occasional sponsored post and some miserable PPC cents, what else can you be doing?

It surprises many people to know that they can often make money simply by utilizing something they could well already be doing. If you're writing, why not get paid for it? There is an insatiable demand for good quality writing on a huge variety of topics. Just  because there is a lot of competition doesn't mean you can't profit from writing. Try places like Associated Content who offer payment for your articles (provided you are a US resident). Seek out places online who offer payment for your contributions - one example would be a site like Constant-Content..............that pays for stories of all shapes and sizes. Searching for "we pay for stories" or "we pay for content" should give you a  whole host of services to consider.

If you fancy yourself as a wordsmith you could always try your hand at Ghost Writing and this article will give you a good overview of what is involved in becoming a Ghost Writer.

Having recently launched an article directory myself, it has become painfully obvious to me that there is not enough talent to satisfy the demand for quality writing on almost any subject. I find myself rejecting and deleting far more articles  than I accept because I want quality and don't have time to proofread and rewrite poorly constructed drivel and adverts. You can take advantage of this in a number of ways if you're prepared for a little work and research. Even writing articles and submitting them to free directories can be hugely beneficial to your marketing efforts, but that'a a subject for another day. 

Aside from the written word, there is always photography - provided you are half way competent and have a decent enough digital camera, sites like iStockPhoto will pay you for contributions to their online digital image library. Quality standards are high, but once you have an account with them, you will get paid royalties every time someone downloads one of your images. Residual income for anyone who can take a good picture that others want to use. Think about this if you regularly upload photographs to places like Flickr etc. - these could well be making you money.

The more things you do - the more money you stand to make. Experiment, diversify, discard what doesn't work and try new things. It's often disheartening when things don't go as you hope, but if you quit, you've no chance at all. Multiple sources of small amounts can add up surprisingly quickly, so even if the returns are not huge on your zero investment ventures, if you have enough of them you might still be making some reasonable additional income. Think about what other things you might have to sell, and research ways of capitalizing on them.

The list is pretty endless - I could mention online surveys, currency and stock trading, and countless other ventures which may or may not work for those seeking to make money without a website of their own, but I think  that's enough for one blog post. The series will continue, and there's lots more to come!