1. Sell your own product.

It has been said that everyone is an expert on something. Think about the things you know well, and ask yourself whether someone would be interested in learning that. Alternatively, if you feel you are not an expert in anything that people would pay to learn about, then spend some time doing research. Once you have the information on hand, put it into an e-book, or better still put it on audio or video files. Create a sales page for it, and a page from which people can download the product, then promote it and wait for the sales.

Pros: You have complete control over everything - product, price, sales pitch, the lot. You also have a unique product that is being sold by you alone (and your affiliates, should you choose to develop an affiliate program.)

Cons: There can be a great deal of work involved, not only creating the product but in testing the sales copy and promoting the site.

Tip: You don't have to do everything yourself. Outsource wherever possible.

2. Sell someone else's product.

For a relatively small amount, you can purchase a product with Resale Rights. This means that you can legally sell the product to other people. You still need to build a sales page and download page, and you still need to promote the site. The only difference from selling your own product is that you have not had to create it.

Pros: You do not have the work of researching and creating the product.

Cons: Potentially thousands of other internet marketers are selling the same product. However, this does not have to be as great a problem as it might seem at first. Think of it this way: if you were selling a physical book, would your bookshop be the only one selling that title? Of course not!

Tip: Often Resale Rights products come with a pre-made web site. Don't use it. It's ok for your product to be available in a zillion places on the web, but your salesletter should be yours and yours alone.

3. Affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketers drive people to someone else's product for a commission on the sales. There are thousands of affiliate programs available, in every niche from internet marketing to golf and from travel to pet care. One of the best ways to find programs, particularly for beginners, is through Click Bank. Use their search tool to find products that interest you, then create content sites around those products, using links to direct prospects to the product site. You can also promote affiliate products through article marketing, and some will allow you to promote them directly by Pay Per Click (but check their terms first, as some programs reserve certain keywords that you may not use for PPC.)

Pros: You did not have to create either the product or the sales letter. You are not responsible for returns or refunds. All you have to do is send people to the product site.

Cons: You have no control over the product or the price. Also, sometimes affiliate products are withdrawn, so you have to check regularly.

Tip: Don't try to promote a zillion products at once. Pick a few and work systematically to get them as much exposure as possible.

4. Google Adsense.

Adsense in the reverse side of the Adwords PPC program. You build a website with good content, and place a small piece of code from Google on the site. Google then serves up ads that relate to your content (sometimes the relationship is closer than at others). When someone clicks on one of those ads, you are paid a percentage of what Google receives for the click. The trick is to produce really good, relevant content that people want to read - remember, they are not coming to your site just to click on ads!

Pros: You don't have to find products to promote, Google does it automatically.

Cons: If someone abuses the ads on your site by multiple clicks, Google can consider it as spamming and disable your account. However, there is software available that allows you to avoid this problem.

Tip: Sites like Squidoo and HubPages allow you to create mini sites without having to worry about buying a domain name or web hosting, and they share with you the revenue from Adsense on the pages you create.

5. Build a list.

By far the best way to earn money on line, and one that combines some of the others, is to build a mailing list of potential customers. Develop a newsletter that offers regular, helpful and informative content, and make sure that you have a subscription form on every page of your web site. Within that e-zine, you can include links to your own product, a Resale Rights product you are selling, an affiliate product that you are promoting, or even a content site where you have Adsense. People may only visit your web site once, but as long as you provide content they want to read, they will keep receiving your newsletter every week (or however often you publish it.)

Pros: Allows you to promote any offer or site you want. Keeps reaching people.

Cons: You have to come up with content every issue, and you have to keep up the standard so that people will want to read. (However, as in creating your own product, you can outsource.)

Tip: As an added incentive for people to sign up, offer a free e-book or some other product - but make sure they can't get it till they have confirmed their subscription.


By: Barbara Lybrimar
http://www.theterrydean.com