Making Money on the Internet
The Internet is the money-making miracle of our age. Many people world-wide are making money on the Internet. The Internet was started by technical people who wanted to share information. The physical structure of the Internet was generated by the pornography businesses who wanted more and more band space. As despicable as that industry is, it was that industry that put the money into the physical structure of the Internet which made Internet services available to almost everyone who lives on this planet. The purpose of the Internet is to distribute information. Search engines generate income by helping people find the information they are looking for.
Google is the prime search service. MSN and Yahoo follow. Many other services are available but some have been gobbled up by the “big boys” and others have not been profitable and have died on the vine. Making money on the Internet involves using the search engines so knowing what the search engines are all about is very important. If you follow the search engine rules, you can use them effectively in building your company.
Many people think the Internet is not there to provide specific information to searchers. Those who think that must pay the piper. It works like this:
- A computer owner is looking for information. He or she types a subject or even a question into a search engine search box or simply puts it into the address bar of his browser. If he puts quotation marks around the inquiry that means he wants the search engine to find web sites that have those exact words on the page.
- The search engine looks at the “keywords” the patron has put into the search box. It looks over its list of sites containing those keywords. It puts them in order of usefulness to the searcher. The most relevant-information-containing sites are placed at the top of the search result lists. That means that those sites are the ones that give the best information and also have the best links to other sites.
What this means that when you submit your site to a search engine or when the spider find your site as it cruises the Internet, it reads your site. It is looking for what content your site has. It looks for the keywords in your site. It looks at your links and reads them too. It looks for your URL on other peoples sites too. It looks at the traffic to your site. If your site has relevant information it will be visited to more people who have that specific interest. The more popular your site with the best information and linking, the higher it will be listed in the listings. Now some people pay the search engines to put there site over the normal listings. However, even these sites are read and checked so an advertiser may not get the top listing by money alone.
The Internet as an Extension of a Storefront Business
We have a neighbor west of our little town that raises Lavender plants. She boils them down to their essence and puts that essence into lotions and such. At first she sold to people she knew by word-of-mouth. Next she sold to local stores and gift shops. She has a Lavender Fair every year on her farm. Some time back she also started to sell on the Internet. She had to tell everybody she knew that she had a web site. She put her web site on her business cards and in all advertising she ran. Now she makes a very good living with her lavender and it is good she does as her husband passed away not too long ago.
I know a couple who sell doll parts. They started with their little store and then spread to the Internet. They are very successful. There are many of such businesses on the Internet. These people have an advantage. They know what a business is and they run their Internet businesses like they run their storefront business. They are very aware that them must advertise their site just like they advertise their storefront. They don’t expect people to just drop in on them. By promoting their sites they raise there rating in the search engines. When that happens, they do get “walk-in” business. That is why optimizing your web site is so important.
Of course big companies have web sites. They are mostly anxious to promote their brands. They seldom sell anything on the Internet but they will tell you where the local outlet is.
Selling Other People’s Products
Another way of making money on the Internet is to sell other peoples products. You might be a dealer like I am at for flagpoles where I ship or have products shipped to customers that order at my web site.
You might be an affiliate marketer that promotes other peoples products and gains a commission when a sell is made, usually from the vendor’s site. Such marketers learn their craft and then write articles that lead to a page on their web site where the reader is “warmed up” to clicking on the marketers affiliate link. The link takes them to the vendor’s site where the sale is made. The object of the successful affiliate marker is to supply good information in their articles and on their web page.
Finding Leads for Companies
Some affiliate marketers get paid when a reader clicks on a site that was referred to them by an affiliate. Sometimes a sale is required to get the commission but not always. It often is easier to get a person to click on a link for more information that is not binding in any way. Maybe they are going to get a free product. The object is not to sell these searchers anything. You just want to get them to the referenced site. The site may not sell anything at all. It may supply a free service. But you still get paid for the click or for the action required.
Filling Out Surveys and Such
I’ve tried this. It was not for me. But some folks enjoy filling out surveys for free products or for click fees, etc. Some gurus promote such programs. Stay away from the gurus.
Writing on the Internet
There is a great demand for writers on the Internet. Writing sites bring writers to the marketplace where they provide the needs of clients. It may be hard to break in but after you are established, you can make a very good income.
Ebay and Such
Some folks make a good living selling products on Ebay and other such sites. They often start by cleaning out the garage but then they add products that they supply or have dropped shipped. It can be very lucrative. You also can sell books on Amazon and Alibris.com and other book sites. I had a good business doing this which I left to a needy person when I left Arizona some years ago. I sell a booklet on how to do this.
Other Methods
Some people blog to earn income. They sell advertising on their blogs. They may have a newsletter to generate more income. They send emails to their readers with ads place by themselves or others. Some people buy domain names and then flip them. If a good site is generated, the profits can be staggering. Some help other people get on the Internet providing web content and design, etc.
Conclusion
Making money on the Internet can be very frustrating. If you want to be an affiliate marketer then you will need some training. Just stay away from the gurus and their get-rich-quick schemes. They will bleed you dry. There are many sources for earning money by writing. Also many books are available on selling on Ebay. The main thing is to realize that an Internet business is a business. It is not a quick way to make money unless you are very lucky indeed.
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