Before we look at how to make money online (which is not actually as difficult as some people make out) we need to look at what not to do. The internet is littered with articles on how to earn thousands of pounds / dollars online, but a majority of them are really just trying to sell you their product, which is part of a classic pyramid selling scam. Not a scam if you manage to meet the sales targets, but really almost impossible to achieve.
For example, in one recent email I received, offering to give me the chance of making USD1000 per month, all I had to do was to buy a web package for USD40. Now, I was far too sensible to buy the package, as I could see that it was a pyramid scam. On purchasing the USD40 package, the instructions would simply be to set up my own website, and then sell the same package on to another 25 people each month, thus making a tidy profit of USD1000.
There is nothing essentially wrong with this for of internet money making. If anyone chooses to buy the product without first knowing what is involved, it is greed that it driving them, and greed drives the whole process. However, the average newcomer to the internet will have no idea how to build go about building a site capable of selling even one package a year, let alone 25 a month.
Making money online is really a numbers game. The more visitors you get to a website, the greater your chances of making a sell. It is really just like any other business. Not everyone that visits a site will make a purchase. Building a site to maximise conversion rates – the term commonly used to describe the ratio of visitors to buyers – can help. Items and companies advertised have to be relevant to the content if you are relying on organic search to drive your web business. However, if your site is a social networking site, or general news blog, then generic advertising can work too.
We shall discuss the correct methods for making money online in the nest issue,
