10 New Ways to Make Money Online

So you want to ditch your corporate cubicle and join the ranks of web workers? But you have a mortgage, maybe a dependent or two, and a taste for Venti Mochas from Starbucks? You can make money in the new economy, though it might not be […]


I’m not talking about advertising or affiliate  marketing or selling your junk on eBay. Those are so last millennium! I’m talking about the new new economy.


1. Offer your professional expertise in an online marketplace.These days, you can do more than just sell your old books via Amazon and your old Coach handbags via eBay—now you can sell your professional capabilities in a marketplace. No longer are you limited to looking for a permanent or contract job on Web 1.0 style job sites like Monster or CareerBuilder. The new breed of freelancing and project-oriented sites let companies needing help describe their projects. Then freelancers and small businesses offer bids or ideas or proposals from which those buyers can choose.


Elance covers everything from programming and writing to consulting and design, while RentACoder focuses on software, natch. If you’re a graphic designer, check out options like Design Outpost or LogoWorks–you don’t have to find the customers, they’ll come to you. Wannabe industry analysts might sign up for TechDirt’s Insight Community, a marketplace for ideas about technology marketing.



2. Sell photos on stock photography sites. If people regularly oooo and aaaaah over your Flickr pics, maybe you’re destined for photographic greatness or maybe just for a few extra dollars. It’s easier than ever to get your photos out in front of the public, which of course means a tremendous amount of competition, but also means it might be an convenient way for you to build up a secondary income stream. Where can you upload and market your photos? Try Fotolia, Dreamstime, Shutterstock, and Big Stock Photo.



3. Blog for pay. Despite the explosion of blogs, it’s hard to find good writers who can turn around a solidly-written post on an interesting topic quickly. GigaOM is alwayslooking for bloggers with great content ideas and solid writing skills. How do you get noticed? Comment and link to blogging network sites. Write blog posts that are polished and not overly personal (although showing some personality is a plus).



4. Or start your own blog network. If you like the business side of things–selling advertising, hiring and managing employees, attracting investors–and have the stomach to go up against the likes of Weblogs, Inc., GigaOmniMedia, b5media, maybe you should make an entire business out of blogs. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’ll get a lot of time to write yourself though.

5. Provide service and support for open source software. Just because the software is free doesn’t mean you can’t make money on it–just ask Red Hat, a well-known distributor of Linux that sports a market cap of more than four billion dollars. As a solo web worker, you might not want to jump in and compete with big companies offering Linux support, but how about offering support for web content management systems like WordPress or Drupal? After getting comfortable with your own installation, you can pretty easily jump into helping other people set them up and configure them.



6. Online life coaching. Who has time to go meet a personal coach at an office? And don’t the new generation of web workers need to be met by their coaches in the same way that they work: via email, IM, and VoIP? You could, of course, go through some life coaching certification program, but on the web, reputation is more important than credentials. I bet Tony Robbins isn’t certified as a life coach–and no one can argue with his success. For an example of someone building up their profile and business online as a coach, check out Pamela Slim of Ganas Consulting and theEscape from Cubicle Nation blog.



7. Virtually assist other web workers. Freelancers and small businesses desperately need help running their businesses, but they’re not about to hire a secretary to come sit in the family room and answer phone calls. As a virtual assistant, you might do anything from making travel reservations to handling expense reimbursements to paying bills to arranging for a dog sitter. And you do it all from your own home office, interacting with your clients online and by phone. You can make $20 and up an hour doing this sort of work, depending on your expertise.



8. Build services atop Amazon Web Services. Elastic computing on AWS is so cool… and so incredibly primitive right now. Did you know that you can’t even count on your virtual hard drive on EC2 to store your data permanently? That’s why people are making money right now by offering services on top of AWS. Make it easier for people to use Amazon’s scalability web infrastructure like Enomaly has withelasticlive, a scalable web hosting platform built on AWS.



9. Write reviews for pay or perks. If you blog for any length of time on a particular topic–parenting, mobile phones, or PCs, for example–you will likely be approached to do book or product reviews. You can get free stuff this way, but are you selling your soul? Is there any such thing as a free laptop? These are decisions you’ll have to make for yourself, because no one agrees upon what ethical rules apply to bloggers. Even less do people agree on services like PayPerPost that pay you to write reviews on your blog. Check out disclosure rules closely and see whether such a gig would meet your own personal standards or not.

10. Become a virtual gold farmer. A half million Chinese now earn income byacquiring and selling World of Warcraft gold to gamers in other countries. If you’re not a young person living in China, this probably isn’t a viable option for you. But what’s intriguing about it is the opportunity to make real money working in a virtual economy. People are making real-world money in Second Life too.

What Kind Of Online Business Model Best Fits Your Needs?

So you want to make money online and you want to do it quickly. After all, there's nothing better than rolling out of bed when you want and firing up the ol' computer to see how much money you made overnight. Whooaaa.... not so fast...

Before you can get to the part where you actually make money, you need to decide exactly what to sell. That's right, in order to make money online you'll need to sell something, usually a product or service. I'd like to help you decide what that something should be. After all, there are lots of choices. Unfortunately many of them lead to a dead end, wasting your time and money in the process. The following plan will help you avoid all that. When deciding what to sell online, you need to consider the three basic online business:

Buying and Selling
2. Creating and Selling
3. Selling Existing Products and Services
Each of these three options have successful models and unsuccessful models. So let's run down each of the options above, starting with choice number one...

1. Buying and Selling

You could use the basic retail model, where you sell like a retail store, except with less overhead than a brick and mortar store. But that's an expensive endeavor. Perhaps that's why the most common strategy for buying and selling on the Internet is starting an Ebay business. In this model, you purchase items, usually at wholesale and then sell them at a higher price by auction.

There are two keys to success in this strategy... finding the right niche and finding the right wholesale sources for products in that niche. An eBay type business can be a lot of work. However, if you like this business model and have your heart set on trying it, there are still some opportunities for new players, if you are clever.

Here's an example of what I mean by "clever"...
A couple years ago I met a neighbor of mine who makes his living buying things locally and selling them on the web. He specializes in antique furniture and other old items from my geographical area. He spends a few hours a day visiting flea markets, yard sales and local auctions. With a knack for spotting deals, he snatches up anything he considers grossly underpriced then markets it internationally, via the web.

OK, "market it internationally" may be a bit too fancy of a description for what he does. Basically, he takes a couple of snapshots of each item using his digital camera then sells the items at auction on ebay.com - the number one meeting place for buyers and sellers across the world. And believe it or not, he makes quite a comfortable living doing this. It works for him because he has a unique selling position.

His unique position happens to be his location. The region where he lives a great place to find many undervalued antiques and other authentic items. He's simply finding a new home for the items and filling a need at the same time. After all, where else would someone from say, Australia, find an authentic antique table from another country?

This is the path I chose to make my own living online. (I also mix in choice three below, buy I'll get to that in a minute.) I prefer the "creating and selling" strategy above all others, since I have complete control over exactly what I sell and how much profit it yields. I sell information and services. I create my products and services using my computer and then mold them into many different marketable formats including print books, ebooks, software, consulting and advertising services.

If you have, or can research and gather information on a niche topic, you can make money using this model. For centuries, people have been making money selling information and related products and services, and it will continue forever. It all boils down to helping people save time and money avoiding learning something the hard way -- through research. Basically, you do the research and sell the results. The better the information and services, the higher prices you can demand.

With a global audience online, you can create and sell just about anything! If there is a market for it, you can build a business around it. And therein lies the equation... Before starting ANY business you must consider carefully, WHO you will be promoting to. Think hard about the people who might be interested in what you plan to sell. And beware... if the answer is "everyone", that's usually a BAD thing.

Identifying a niche market gives you the ability to target ONLY your prospects you spend FAR less marketing and advertising. So do some market research BEFORE you start creating your product. I'll list some good research sites at the end of this article, that will help you determine if there is a need for your product. Finally, let's consider a third angle for those of you who do not have the time or inclination to "create and sell"...

3. Selling Existing Products and Services

You can start a new business online selling existing products and services. You simply earn a commission from each sale you make. The commissions can be one-time or recurring depending on the product or service you sell for the merchant. There are affiliate programs on just about any niche product or service you can imagine. Whatever niche you plan to develop your business around, you'll more than likely be able to find affiliate programs you can join.
And that is the key... choosing a niche that interests you. Something you enjoy doing or talking about. You may be surprised to find out that you can make money in just about any niche imaginable. Selling existing products and services is not just for new businesses.

It is also a great strategy for established businesses who want to grow their bottom lines. When done properly, it can yield income growth of more than 30% literally overnight. How can I make such a bold statement? Simple, I've experienced just that, by simply selecting existing products and services carefully and then introducing them to my current prospects and customers. The common thread in all three strategies...

In case you didn't notice, all three money making strategies above contained one common component -- proper niche selection. While you should choose a niche that interests you, you also need to choose a niche that can be profitable. To determine if your niche can be profitable, take a few moments and visit the following websites.

1. Ebay's Pulse lists popular searches as well as most watched items.
You can also search through just about any category imaginable.

2. Google's Zeitgeist shows weekly, monthly, and annual trends based on the millions of searches done at Google's search engine. Zeitgeist by Country is also available on a monthly basis.

3. Google Adwords Keyword Tool is a free tool that gives you reports on keywords and keyword phrases that you enter into the search box. Statistics show how many users search for you keyword on Google.

4. WordTracker Free Tool shows you the daily searches being done on any keyword or keyword phrase.

How to do Keyword Research the Easy Way

Keyword research is one of the first things that most internet marketers should learn. Whether you’re doing PPC, SEO, article syndication, or anything else- keyword research is a good, good thing.That said, I’m amazed at how complicated people can make it sometimes! I see it all the time; a new marketer goes through the follow stages-

1)Learn about IM
2)Get excited about making tons and tons of money
3)Jumps in without really learning the basics
4)Fails
5)Comes back to learn the basics
6)Gets confused (sometimes about keyword research, sometimes it’s something else)
7)Tries again (maybe)
8)Gets frustrated
9)Quits

Does that sound about right?

Now I know that some parts of IM are confusing and require constant learning. But keyword research isn’t one of those things. When it comes to selecting good keywords, here are the 3 principles I live by:

Principle #1: Look for Buying KeywordsThis is probably the most important of the 3 principles. You can make money without buying keywords, but it won’t come as easily.
So what’s a buying keyword? There are a few things to look for:
Product namesProduct name + review, reviews, scam, discount, coupon, cheapBuy, cheap, discount, best + product type (best vacuums, cheap washers, buy red high heels, etc.)The people typing in these keywords often have a credit card in hand, ready to spend some money. They’re either ready to buy, or doing research right before they buy. These are the visitors that convert like crazy! If someone is looking for a Fat Burning Furnace review, they’re thinking of buying Fat Burning Furnace. It’s as easy as that.

If you focus on buying keywords, you really don’t need many visitors to your site every day. Your visitors will convert much better than most, so making good money won’t take thousands and thousands of visitors.

Principle #2: Look for Desperate PeopleI know that sounds bad, but I don’t know how else to put it!When you’re desperate, you have a problem that you want fixed now. Doesn’t that sound like someone who might buy your product? After all, your product does solve problems, right?Let’s say that someone’s having marital problems, and things are getting bad. They might go to Google searching for something like:
I need to save my marriage
My wife is leaving me
My wife left me
My wife doesn’t love me anymore

Anyone typing in those kinds of things is asking for help. They have a severe problem, and you can help them fix it with your product.**HINT** Most desperate buyers will either have health, finance, or relationship issues. People don’t get desperate about World of Warcraft or shoes.

Principle #3: More Doesn’t Mean BetterMany new marketers think that when it comes to visitors, more is better. While you might still make some sales, you always want to niche down at least 2 or 3 levels.For example, let’s say that you’re promoting Fat Burning Furnace. Do you think the keyword “lose weight” is good?The truth is that it’s okay, but it’s still not very great. You have no idea who is typing that into Google.
They may be 5 pounds overweight or 500.
It might be a woman who has never worked out a day in her life, or a guy who works out every day and just can’t shed that last layer of fat.
But really, you can’t even be sure if they’re trying to learn how to lose weight!
That is probably what they want, but it’s not what they typed into Google.
Now, let’s take the keyword “how to lose weight”. You’ll get fewer searches each month, but at least you know what they’re looking for. However, you still run into the fact that it’s not specific at all.Finally, let’s look at someone typing in “how to lose weight for new mothers.” This won’t get tons and tons of searches each month, but at least you know who is searching for a solution. Now you can really target your audience, explaining how Fat Burning Furnace is the best way to lose weight for new mothers because of X, Y and Z.

Conclusion
There is more to keyword research than this- but when you really get to the core, this is pretty much all you need to know.Now I admit that when you throw in SEO or PPC competition, you get into a whole new ballgame. Competition is fierce for a lot of keywords, but you can still find some gems out there.If your game is SEO, then I can’t recommend highly enough that you get a good keyword research tool. My personal favorite is Market Samurai but there are some other good ones as well.Thanks for reading, and I hope this article helped clear up some confusion about keyword research!

The 3 Secrets To Online Marketing Success

If you’re trying to sell products and services online, you’re probably looking for that one magic key to make your business work. You buy CDs and DVDs that will tell you the secret.
You subscribe to sites like Copyblogger to study the secret.
You look at mega-successful sites in your market and try to reverse engineer the secret.
After all of this searching, you may be tempted to believe there is no secret. But the secret is real.
Actually, there are three secrets that work together. To be blunt, these three magic success secrets separate the winners from the losers. Master them and you’ll start to move forward. Slowly at first, then you’ll pick up momentum and things will start to move amazingly quickly. No baloney, no tricks. These three secrets are . . .

Success secret #1: Take action

Every year, hopeful entrepreneurs buy millions of dollars’ worth of “how to succeed” or “how to start a business” products. The market isn’t limited to doing business online, but the idea of working at a computer making “six-figure incomes in our pajamas” is especially irresistible.
95% of the customers for these products will spend thousands of dollars, then turn around looking for the next magic pill before their credit card gets a chance to cool off. So are online marketing products all garbage? Are they just hype and spin?
There are some junky products out there, but the truth is that many of them are excellent. The “gurus,” as they’re (not always affectionately) called, have a lot of sound advice to give. Their advice can make you lots of money, if you know the success secret:
You actually have to do something with the advice.
Most customers for “business opportunity” products value the dream more than they do the result. They want to get out of the cubicle, out of their crummy apartment, out of credit card debt. They might even want it desperately. But they don’t take action.
I’m not saying this to be flippant or harsh. It’s not actually all that easy to go from advice to action. If you don’t have a good track record for that, if you’ve spent a lot of time or money on how-to products but never really done anything with it, you may believe you’ll never master it.
That’s BS.

Your new productivity methodology

Get a little notebook. This is your to-do list for your project.
If you’re a content marketer, most of your actions will revolve around creating content, creating products, or delivering services. Be sure and maintain a long list of content ideas, so you’re never at a loss when it’s time to knock out a post or a podcast.
Write down all the actions you must take to get you to the next step. Add more actions as you think of them. Cross them off when you’re done. When the list is a mess, rewrite it.
You don’t need an elaborate system that wastes more time than it frees up. Your system only needs to help you know what to do next.
Work every day (7 days a week, no exceptions), even if some days you only have 15 minutes. Working every day will increase your productivity by spurring your unconscious mind to come up with more ideas. This is helpful for entrepreneurs, and critical for content marketers.
Make a daily habit of one hour of action on your biggest goal. You’ll be astonished at how quickly you start to make progress. Ready, Fire, Aim author Michael Masterson recommends an hour of work on your dream goal every morning, as a way to start your day with a terrific rush of productivity. I’ve been doing just that for the past few months, and I’m starting to get used to the “whooshing” sound as the pieces fall into place. Not only does it work, it feels great too.
You can spend that hour all at once, or divide it into two or three pieces. Make it work for you. And once you develop the hour-a-day habit, you’ll actually find yourself making excuses to do more work on your project.
Success is built on lots of small steps. Start taking them. You’ve built this up in your head to be 1,000 times harder than it is. The fact that you have historically been terrible at getting stuff done is not relevant at all.
Just start taking action. It honestly is that simple.

Success secret #2: Have a plan

The down side of “just taking action” is that if you do a lot of random tasks, you tend to get a lot of random results.
You need to put together a simple, reasonably logical plan. If you want notoriety and attention for its own sake, put together a Paris Hilton sort of plan. If you want credibility and trust from your customers, make it more of a Copyblogger kind of plan.
There’s an old saying that when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem tends to look like a nail. Fight that kind of thinking as much as you can. Your plan may call for expertise you don’t have, or actions you aren’t very good at. So make some room in your plan to partner with someone else. If you’re great at connecting with customers but lousy at technology, find a partner whose strengths and weaknesses perfectly complement yours. Believe me, that person is out there and wants desperately to work with you.
Making too many plans can be the enemy of success secret #1. Be sure your plan has plenty of room for “actions I will take.”
For most of us, grandiose plans don’t get implemented. It’s great to have spectacular goals, if that inspires you. But put together plans for relatively simple, manageable projects. A dumb, simple little project that gets done is infinitely more valuable than an impressive one that gets 99% done.
The reason “back-of-the-napkin” project planning is a cliché is because simple, compact plans tend to get put into action, while 1,000-page strategies to create business empires tend to gather dust.
Keep your project plan in your little notebook. If your plan doesn’t fit into a small notebook, make a smaller plan.
If you want to make a million dollars online, start with a project to make $10. Figure that out, then scale it. It sounds simplistic and even silly, but it works.

Success secret #3: Your secret sauce is you

This is the one that’s going to take #1 and #2 to a completely new level. Success secrets #1 and #2 can make you a decent living. Add #3 to those and you’ll start to create an extraordinary business that supports a meaningful life.
As a content marketer, you’re going to need to create interesting, useful and compelling content pretty much every day you’re in this business. Your blog posts, free reports and email newsletters all contribute to one goal: to establish you as a trusted authority on your topic.
If you’re just going to regurgitate the usual stuff in a lame me-too blog, you’re not going to find too many customers. You’re betting off spending your time surfing or skateboarding — at least with those, you’ll get some exercise and you might meet somebody cute.
You have a unique view of your market’s problems. You have a unique set of techniques and approaches to solve those problems. You have a unique set of experiences to put the problems in a fresh light. Share those unique perspectives in your content.
If you need more expertise to establish yourself as a credible authority, get out and start asking questions. Be a reporter. Look for case studies. Look for real-life examples, even if they’re tiny. Look for lessons in your own life. Make connections no one’s made yet. Bring someone else’s expertise to light in a new way.
If you’re a Franciscan monk, write about the Franciscan monk’s guide to brewing better beer. If you’re a doting parent, write about the toddler’s guide to success. If you’re an indentured servant for a big corporation, write about how to avoid doing all the really dumb stuff your company does.
There will always be people — often thousands of people — who know more than you do. Acknowledge that so you stay humble and open. Then put it to one side and speak up anyway.
Keep whittling down your topic until you’re speaking with an authentic voice about something you genuinely know and care about. Stay curious and you’ll find the path that works for you and only for you.

The real secret

Nearly everyone will read this, feel inspired for about 45 seconds, then go off to hit Starbucks and check out what the hottie on the 2nd floor is wearing today.
But you’re going out at lunch today to pick up your small notebook. As soon as you get back, you’re going to scribble a simple plan and a good handful of actions that will make the plan happen. You’re going to put some thought into how you can execute this plan in your own inimitable way.
You’ll make 10 minutes and take an action today, even if it’s small. Tomorrow morning, you’ll start working for an hour every day, 7 days a week, toward your biggest goal. And just like that, you’ll be on your way to true, meaningful success, however you define it.