You can make a little money working online, but you can also make a lot. What you earn depends on which direction you go (choosing your niche or passion zone) and what kind of work you get into (methods and strategies you use).

Some people choose to focus only on one area. This is not what most people who work successfully online recommend. It’s always better to have some variety when it comes to making money. So, if one avenue suddenly changes or stagnates, you’ll still be making money in your other endeavors.

Many of these methods of making money online require little or no money to get started – and you can build them quickly. Even if you don’t have all of the knowledge you’d like to have about what niche you’d like to get started in, that’s not important. You can learn as you go along. 

Affiliate Marketing Is a Good Way to Earn Online

 Affiliate marketing can be an easy way to make money because you don’t have the time and expense of creating your own product. Out of the various business branches you can get into, affiliate marketing might bring sales, but it also might take longer to start receiving the money you’ve earned. For example, Amazon has a two-month payment window.

As a general rule, affiliate marketing is not the answer if you’re in a bind and need quick cash. This is more of a long term, steady type of way to bring in an income.

There are a few ways that affiliate market can pay off. If you’re someone who has a platform (SFI and TriplClicks is a great platform!), then you’re already ahead of those who don’t. Affiliate marketing works best if you already have an audience who, knows, likes, and trusts you. 

If people don’t trust you, then they’ll be more hesitant to buy from you. To build this needed trust with your audience, make sure you’re open about any connection you have to the product.

First of all, if you received a free copy of the product in exchange for a review, or for promoting it, then you have to disclose that information. Second, never promote a product that’s junk or is questionable just to make a sale.

By doing so, your audience will feel duped and will refuse to trust your recommendations in the future. On any products you do promote, make sure they’re items from marketers who are known to provide excellent customer service.

Sharing a product from a marketer who has poor customer service, will reflect badly on you. When you look for products to promote, make sure you don’t put all of your eggs (potential commissions) in one basket.

In the past, many affiliates relied solely on Amazon for their earnings. Then when some states wanted to charge a tax on purchases from Amazon, the affiliate programs in those states ended up being shut down.

Because of this issue, affiliates in those states were left scrambling to find other affiliate programs to replace this lost income.

One of the biggest issues that stumps people who want to get started in affiliate marketing is not knowing which products to promote. 

Finding ideas in this area is fairly easy. All you have to do is look at your own life.  If you create content about fitness and use at-home exercise equipment, then you could write reviews about the products you use and include affiliate links to some of them.

You want to be careful you don’t overdo it with links or your audience and search engines might think your site is a spam site. Some experts recommend you don’t just rely on banners on your site.

When you’re first starting out, it can be tempting to assume that banners will be your biggest money makers, since they’re front and center – but the truth is that most banners don’t convert very well.

In general, readers see banners and think of them as advertisements – so they’re ignored. It’s called ad blindness, or banner blindness.

What does work is having a contextual link. 

This is a link you place in the middle of whatever content you’ve written about a product. You can include these links in reviews or articles on your site about the item you’re promoting. (See how this works?)

Another way you can find products to promote is to see what other marketers and bloggers in your niche are successfully promoting.

Don’t be afraid to promote the same products because you may reach readers that don’t read or subscribe to your competitors’ sites. They might simply trust you more than someone else.

If a reader is subscribed to your mailing list and your competitors’, you still have a good chance of making a commission.  Studies have shown buyers will only make a buying decision after being exposed to the same product multiple times.

The rule of thumb is 7-12 touches, or exposures.

Info Product Creation Can Bring in Passive Income 

Info product creation is another lucrative way you can make money online. This area of money making has a lot of other benefits as well. When you write and then promote your own info product, this helps establish you as an expert in whatever niche you’re in. 

It works to strengthen the brand you’re trying to develop. Plus, it gives you a source of passive income. 

Passive income is money flow which puts cash in your pocket for many months or even years after you’ve created your product.

One of the reasons some people hesitate to create an info product is they think they have to do all of the work themselves. But you don’t. Many successful Internet marketers use service providers to write and create for them. 

By paying a service provider, you can shorten the amount of time it takes to create a product. Plus, this can help in the creation process if it’s not your strong point. 

For example, if you’re good with graphics, then you should create your own graphics. It’s cheaper and easier. If you’re not, then outsource. 

Same thing with writing. If you’re not great with writing, outsource it to a professional ghostwriter. In either event, you’ll want to put your own unique voice into the final product. 

Once you’ve completed your product, you still need to market it. A lot of new marketers go wrong in this area. 

Firstly, you need a marketing plan. Having a solid marketing plan can make the difference between a launch that soars and one that flops. 

Your marketing plan needs to go into effect before your launch ever happens. You can start by mentioning on social media you’re working on a special project, then post hints and teaser in the following weeks. 

This builds curiosity and makes your followers more likely to read about your product when you’re ready to release it. 

Once your product has launched, you’ll get returning customers as well as new ones signing up to your list. Many of them will have questions about the product. Make sure you handle inquires promptly and honestly. 

How to Start a Successful Membership Site 

There’s a good reason membership sites are popular business avenues with Internet Marketers. These sites are popular because they provide a consistent monthly income. 

And in a lot of cases, this can be a great deal of money. If you plan out a membership site, it won’t take you months or years to generate enough income online to be able to support yourself. 

If you plan it, you can grow your site as well as your income very quickly. What you have to do first when thinking about creating a membership site is to figure out if you have an audience willing to pay well for access to your site. 

If you’re thinking about starting a membership site in a particular niche, but can’t find other sites in the same niche, that can be a warning sign. Though it’s not always the case, not having competition in a niche could mean that the audience isn’t interested enough in your idea. 

However, it can also be a sign your niche is too narrow. If you broaden your niche and find membership sites, then you’ve found your market. When you have a niche in mind, you’ll want to look at other successful membership sites. 

You should join some of these other sites if possible. Think about it this way – if you were going to open a car dealership in a city, then the first thing you would do is scope out other car dealerships in the area. 

You don’t do this so you can steal their cars or so you can duplicate their marketing. You do this so you can study the other dealerships’ successes and failures. 

Knowing what works well in your niche can position your site for success. The next thing you need to do is decide how you’re going to build your membership site. 

You can build a membership site by using software like WordPress and a plugin like S2 Membership. This will help keep your costs down – especially in the beginning. 

Going this route means you’re on your own for tech support. Since backend management is the toughest part of having your own membership site, you need to insure you have trusted service providers. 

Many marketers opt for platforms already built for membership sites. These sites can run into the hundreds of dollars per month for the service. If they’re reputable and solid enough these platforms will also provide support for their platform in the event something breaks down or doesn’t work. 

Freelancing Before, During and After You Build Success 

Freelancing your talent is a good way to earn money online. There are always marketers looking for service providers who know how to do a great job. If you’d like to get into freelancing, the first thing you need to do is pick what type of freelancer you’d like to be. 

You could be a freelance writer, a freelance illustrator, a freelance web designer or more. Finding clients to build your income isn’t difficult. You’ll need a professional looking website. 

This doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money.  You should be able to get started with a domain name and hosting for around $25 or less in some cases. Just install WordPress on it and go from there. 

You can check out my 8-week website building course here. 

You could also use free websites like Blogger or WordPress.com. 

Free websites often have disadvantages such as annoying ads, limited features, poor template selection and you are stuck with a domain name you may not like. 

You can find freelancer clients on sites such as Elance, Guru or Freelancer. The amount of money that you can make on these sites will vary. You can start here and build your portfolio as you build a following. Once you’ve established yourself as a freelancer who delivers good quality and services, then you can raise your prices. 

Is Coaching Right for You? 

Sharing your knowledge with others who want to know how to achieve success in your niche is another area of income. What you first have to decide is if you’re going to do one-on-one coaching or do it in a group format. 

You will earn more money having group sessions versus one-on-one. You’re spending the same amount of time, yet making ten, twenty or thirty times what you would one on one. 

By coaching, you’ll generate a steady income. You can show people how to succeed in their niche. These are people who want help from someone who has been there and they’re willing to pay for your help so they can be successful, too. 

You’ll be a mentor to them. You’ll guide them through all areas associated with their business. Some of these areas might include the best way to grow their income, how they can become an expert and how they can market their business. 

If it’s in a niche like dieting, then your coaching might take them on a 6-week challenge and if it’s group coaching, they can support one another while you coach them with your guidance. 

For example, you can set up your coaching business in 30, 60 or 90 day cycles. . Obviously, the 90 day cycles would need to cost a little more since you’re not rotating in new members as often. 

You can teach through your online forum, through webinars, Facebook groups, or through tutorials on private video sharing sites. You can establish contact with your clients through Zoom or Google Hangouts, through phone calls, through emails or in an online group you set up. 

You’ll want to make it clear when you’re marketing your coaching skills – what benefits your clients will receive. You might want to mention specific ways you can help them. 

This might be something along the lines of how you can teach them to be successful using email or video marketing. You can offer ways to teach them how to build a web presence, how to establish a growing platform, how to blog, incorporate social media and more. 

To get started, look at how others have done it. You can even hire a coach to teach you how to coach. 

Here’s a final important key: make sure you have the kind of experience others are willing to pay for. 

If you have any questions about this short guide, please let me know at: walter@walternigh.com