How to Make Money Online

Making money online isn’t all that difficult, the key is making an amount that your happy with and consistently. Today the web is full of quick or easy money making schemes, some of which can work, but most that don’t. Finding good information that provides solid steps and quality instruction is hard to find.
 
As there are multiple ways to derive an income from the internet, below is a list of some of the most popular. Some are easier than others and it’s always best to try and combine a few techniques to potentially earn that much more and to hedge your bets against just one income stream.
 

 
Affiliate Marketing

This is a very straight forward commission based model where you sell or promote products and services on behalf of a business. Essentially you sign up to a third party provider whom facilitates and supports the relationship between an advertiser (the merchant or retailer) and a publisher (you). In addition, many businesses have their own affiliate program’s which do not require a third party. The benefit of a third party provider is multiple businesses to choose from in one place.
Once you have set up an account, you will gain access to a number of advertising resources such as; banner ads, text links, product links and tools to even customise the before mentioned.
These resources can then be used on your website, blog, newsletter, email blasts, etc…
The key here is to get people to click on your links and purchase or download items in which you will then receive a commission.

Commissions can range from a set price or percentage of sale. Depending on the industry you choose, payouts can be very high.

Here are some of the top programs:

Third Party Programs
Commission Junction
Clickbank
Commission Monster AU
CLixGalore AU

Direct Programs
Ebay
Amazon

In addition to these examples, you can find heaps more by searching online. Be sure to check credibility as the quality of different programs can vary greatly.

Banner Advertising

Banner advertising was very popular in the mid-2000s but slowly lost flavour. It has since rebounded and is quite popular again. With banner advertising there is essentially two main ways to generate income.

The first is with affiliate marketing where you advertise approved banners on a company’s behalf and receive a commission based on sales.

The other is by selling ad space on your website or blog. If you have a website or blog that receives a large volume of traffic, companies may want to advertise their banners on your site for a set price or based on terms that you negotiate. This only works if you have a large volume of traffic or in some cases, a smaller amount of high quality traffic.

There may be other variations of the above in terms of banner advertising but that pretty much outlines the main options with this form of advertising.

With regard to selling space on your website you need to be aware of the following. To drum up business, you can try contacting businesses that you think would benefit from your viewership directly. Alternatively, you can contact an ad-network to sell ad space on your behalf; they will ask for a commission.

In both cases, you will need to be able to provide analytics to prove traffic volumes. Ad networks and many businesses may also require you to insert tracking and ad serving tags on your site.

CPM Advertising (Cost Per Thousand Impressions)

This form of advertising requires a large volume of traffic as the name implies, you get paid per thousand impressions. CPM advertising is generally specific to banner ads but can be used with text based ads in certain instances.

Negotiations of the actual cost per thousand impressions are highly dependent on the quality of traffic and the industry in which you are advertising. In general, highly popular finance, insurance and real estate sites command a higher CPM.

Below is an example of how CPM is calculated:

CPM rate * number of CPM units

i.e. 1 million impressions at $5 CPM equals $5000 total price
1,000,000 / 1,000 = 1,000 units
1,000 units * $5 CPM = $10,000 total price

Similar to the banner advertising section, creating CPM deals can be done either directly to a business or via an ad-network to sell ad space on your behalf.

Again, in both cases, you will need to be able to provide analytics to prove traffic volumes. Ad networks and many businesses may also require you to insert tracking and ad serving tags on your site.

Pay-Per-Click (Google Adsense)

One of the most popular money making methods online is Pay-Per-Click advertising and more specifically Google Adsense. This is a fairly simple process that is quick and easy to set up. Adsense lets you provide a wide range of Google ads on your site. It is a very flexible service with a ton of features. In its simplest form, you show an ad on your site or blog and if someone clicks on it, you get paid.

Visit What is Google Adsense? For more detailed information and signup if you choose

Adsense advertisements can come in a range of formats from; display/banner, text, video, mobile and link units. Follow this link to see examples of Google ad formatting

In general, many advertisers incorporate the ads within the content of their sites or in the header, side columns or footer. There is no real secret; it comes down to a bit of trial and error based on your sites layout and how people navigate through your site.
 

 
Other money making ideas

Below are other popular online money making models that can produce very healthy revenue streams. Some may incorporate a bit of advertising, but are not pure marketing/advertising models as shown above.

As mentioned before, a combination of techniques is highly recommended as it provides more opportunity and helps safeguard against any unexpected issues against one method.

Online Contractor/Freelancing

One area that is increasingly growing in popularity, especially for mothers and students is contracting or freelancing via specialised third party websites. This gives you the opportunity to search out different contracts that fit your area of expertise.

It’s a very easy process where you answer proposals and get awarded jobs. Some can be quick contracts and others can be ongoing full or part-time work that you can do remotely from home.

Jobs range from content writing, web development, web marketing, programming, graphic design, administrative, accounting/finance, data entry and more. There are literally thousands of opportunities. These sites are also great places for yourself to hire great talent on things that you may need done.

One of the top global providers of this type of service is Elance. They are one of the industry leaders and have a very easy to use and professional setup.

Email & Newsletters

Email and newsletter marketing can be very, very lucrative. Especially if you have an active database with customers/clients whom look forward to your digital blasts and respond well to them.

Over the last couple of years, many businesses have become rich by creating or purchasing great databases and emailing them daily deals. Examples of these successful email marketers include: groupon, catch of the day, scroupon, oo, and many many more!

To be successful in email marketing you need the following:

– A quality opt-in database where clients are active
– A strong management, tracking & delivery system (Aweber or Mailchimp)
– Understand analytics
– Understand marketing or your customer base and how to segment data

Other tips include:

– Studies have shown Tues – Thurs generally yield the best results (open rates)
– Time of day should be between 10AM – 2PM (in general but can vary based on your industry)
– Have a very clever or catchy “Subject” line – to help with open rates
– Must have an opt-out function – double opt-out is better (to help get through spam filters)
– Provide great value whether its information, product or service.

Online auctions/classifieds

Over the years there have been numerous stories about ebay millionaires and the like. Whilst there are many instances of this, there are even more instances of people whom aren’t millionaires, but make a comfortable living through online auction and commerce websites!

There are a few ways to do this and some of the most popular include:

1. Create your own ebay store. Thousands of people use this option as it is quick and easy to set up with zero technical know-how needed. Simply create your own products to sell or source a great product to sell.

2. Another option, staying with the ebay theme but a bit more specific to affiliates, is to create your own ebay specific affiliate site. Through the ebay affiliate program you gain access to all the items sold on ebay and can create your own website specific to a product type or category.

This is easier than you think; there are many off the shelf website services that you can purchase with affiliate programs in mind. One of the top services specific to eBay is Build A Niche Store. They are a very easy to use solution and provide great ongoing support for program users.

3. Similar to making money on ebay, many online entrepreneurs also choose to utilise resources from Amazon.com and Overstock.com.

The above outlines some great ways to earn an income online or supplement an income. Please feel free to add comments on other ideas or even submit articles to Simple Living Australia in regards to other online money making ideas.