Make Money Online

BEFORE you start an online business, take some time to look at the following tips to making money online and decide which business model is right for you.

After talking with hundreds of website owners and analyzing thousands of websites, we've discovered that there are five basic ways to make money online.

How To Make Money Online

1. Sell products
   
   This option gives you total control over your business. You make products or buy them wholesale, set the price, make the sale, rake in the money — all with no one telling you what to do.
   
   Things to consider: Find out if there's a demand for the product. Plan how you'll make the product or stock your inventory. Consider shipping costs — will they add too much to the cost of your product?
   
   Good market research at the beginning reaps big rewards later.
   
   
2. Sell a service
   
   When you sell a service over the Internet, you're in control, you can specify the terms of any sale, and you're offering something that no one else can: namely, YOU.
   
   Things to consider: You only have so many hours to spend. That limits how much money you can make. Try to develop some related products that will "sell while you sleep."
   
   If your service is restricted to a local market, get your site included in all your area's online business directories, and exchange links with related local businesses.
   
   
3. Sell an information product
   
   For pure profitability, NOTHING beats an info product! Because you deliver them in digital formats via email, shipping is instantaneous and free. And there's no limit to how much you can sell!
   
   Things to consider: You have to create the content first, and it has to be quality stuff. But YOU don't necessarily have to create it. There are thousands of freelancers out there who can do your writing, research, or layout. Pay them a one-off fee, then you can sell your product as many times as you like!
   
   You could also buy ready-to-sell info products — reprint rights to proven sellers are occasionally available to buy, and often come with a well-known name attached to make your selling job easier.
   
   
4. Become an affiliate
   
   As an affiliate you promote other people's products and services on your website, and send potential customers their way. Whenever that lead makes a purchase, you get paid.
   
   This business model is easy to set up right out of the gate. You have no cost outlay and good profit potential. And businesses with successful affiliate programs even supply their affiliates with images, salescopy, and everything they need to generate sales.
   
   Things to consider: Margins can be slim and there's also a lot of competition. Do your research and find affiliate programs for products that offer a good commission and have good conversion rates without oversaturating the market.
   
   
5. Drop ship
   
   "Drop shipping" is collecting orders and payments for products, then passing those orders on to the supplier to send out to the customer.
   
   The customer pays you, you pay the supplier, and you pocket the difference.
   
   In this business model, you can make decent profits, you don't have to deal with inventory and shipping yourself, and you can use your customer contact information for email marketing.
   
   Things to consider: You have less control over the price, and NO control over product delivery or customer service. As with affiliates, choose your business partners with care!

Oh, and if you thought multi-level marketing would be on this list... sorry!

To be blunt, we don't recommend this option. In our experience, very few people actually make money online this way, and most end up losing money (and annoying their friends and family) despite their best intentions.

For more tips to making money online, visit our FREE online archive of articles packed full of useful tips, advanced strategies, and the most powerful tools you can use to jump start any e-business.

Once you have the knowledge, you have the power to make money online, so it's up to you! Good luck!