8 April 2013

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners - Can I really make money?

One of the most common ways people make money online  at home on the internet is with Affiliate Marketing. 

When I was starting out with Affiliate Marketing I found lots of information on the internet about Affiliate Marketing but not many sites that really explained what it really is in layman's terms for a beginner. With so much internet jargon mixed in it just wasn't give me an easy answer to exactly How I could make money online?

The easiest way to explain it is to use a simple analogy:
How to get money with affiliate marketing
How to get money with affiliate marketing

Imagine you own a shop in a large shopping centre (aka your website) and get loads of customers every day (aka internet traffic) who come into your store. You sell your own product line such as a line of all natural cosmetics (aka online store). 

But you don't sell enough of those to make the money you want so you start advertising other people's products in your shop as well (affiliate products). If anyone buys their product you will get say between 10- 50% of the sale price paid to you once a month as a referral (aka affiliate commission).

So if 10 customers buy something worth $20  with 50% commission that's an extra $100 per week in your pocket for selling other people's products! And even better, i what they buy has a monthly subscription you could be making $10 per week (recurring commissions) for as long as they are a member.

Make money with affiliate marketing
Make money with Affiliate marketing

All you have to do is select the products that complement your own product line so the shopper is more likely to buy it. eg if your store (aka website) sells or provides information about weight loss, then you should choose other people's products (aka affiliate products) to sell such as weight loss books (aka weight loss ebook) or weight loss programs (aka training ebooks). 

Once you have chosen some products to sell all you have to do is advertise them in your store (aka on your website). You don't even have to design the adds yourself as you they are provided for you. 

The best part is you don't have to physically sell the product to the customer you just have to advertise it to them and hope they buy. eg you just give them a brochure (aka online ad) which includes a promotional code (aka a code embedded into the URL) that ensures YOU get the referral comission.

The other great thing is you don't have to ship anything to the customer - it is shipped or emailed by the product owner automatically (aka emailed to them). You won't even realise you have sold anything until you check your sales reports (affiliate reports). You physicaly don't have to do a single thing!

Make money online easy
Make money online - easy

 Therefore affiliate marketing is simply advertising other people's products on your websites and getting paid commissions when they are sold without you having to do anything. It's a simple as that!

One common way to find affliate products to promote on your website or blogg is to join Clickbank.com . It's free to join and lets you browse and choose from hundreds of online produdcts to promote such as ebooks, training courses, software etc. Once you have chosen a product, you will get a special URL to promote on your site as well as professioal advertisements you can use on your site. 

You can have your commissions paid to you in a variety of ways such as bank deposit, cheques etc depending on volume of sales and where you live.

How to make money online with clickbank affiliate program
How to Make Money Online With Clickbank Affiliate Program


 So affiliate marketing is not hard at all - anyone can learn to do it.  

HOWEVER what most people don't tell you is that the hard part is getting traffic to your website. As only a small number of people who come to your site will actually buy eg 1 in 200 people, you need to generate bucket loads of traffic to your website to make enough sales to add up to decent money.  

Generating bucket loads of traffic to your website and getting high google rankings is a whole other marketing exercise and I would say definately the hardest part of affiliate marketing.

But don't let me put you off. Loads of people definately get money from affiliate marketing - you just have to break it down and tackle one piece at a time.

I hope this has been helpful for affiliate beginners!



6 April 2013

Paid Surveys - Making Money Easy

How can I get Money? Can I really get paid just for taking surveys?

When it comes to earning money from home, there are many options that one can pursue, but one thing always comes to mind first: Making money using the internet.

Making money online is something that everybody dreams about, but not very many people actually ever achieve. Usually one would need some technical experience such as programming, coding, graphics design, or publishing.

Many of us do not have any of these skills to help us get started earning a living online.

There is, however, a method of earning an income to get money from home using the internet that does not require any technical skills. It is called paid surveys. This is where you can get paid for completing online surveys. Sounds simple and easy right?

Well.. it is! But how does it work?

It's all about market research. Big corporations like Nike, Walmart, and Best Buy spend billions of dollars every year on market research. Market research is the act of gathering information about your current consumers likes and needs, and gathering information from potential, soon-to-be customers.

Once they have your information, they can use that to make better decisions on upcoming Advertising campaigns and product creation. Your opinion is very important to these big companies.

That's where the surveys come in. Market research panels look for members who are willing to take time out of their day to complete surveys and give their opinions. For taking time out of your day, the research panels will reward you, often with cash!

It's a win-win situation because they get your opinion and you get paid.

How can I get a lot of money with paid surveys?

When you join these market research panels they will usually have a preliminary survey you will need to complete. This survey will ask you information about yourself such as age, income, gender, and so on. Then they will send you surveys that match that criteria.

For example: If a market research panel wants to get some consumer opinion on laundry detergent, they will more than likely send that survey to women, especially moms.

If they want some consumer opinion on power tools or electric razors, they would send those surveys to middle-aged men.

The way to make more money with paid surveys is to always give accurate information and to complete as many surveys as you possibly can. When you complete surveys as often as you can this will benefit you for multiple reasons.

1. You will get paid.

2. The market research panels will notice that you are a good survey taker, so then they will send
you even more surveys.

3. Completing these surveys will also give the panels more information about you so that they can send you more surveys that match your personal criteria.

This is the key to making the most money possible with paid surveys.

So what have we discussed? Making money from home is possible, but it's not always easy. There is, however a great way to earn from home that is actually easy.

That method is by taking paid surveys.

Just be sure that you always provide accurate information and complete as many surveys as you possibly can. There are a few websites that can get you hooked up with all of the top Market resarch panels. The best one that I know of is called ECashOpinions.

Have fun taking those surveys and start making some money today!

5 April 2013

Selling On Ebay To Make Money From Home

How can I get money quickly online? People of all ages, are making money at home via ebay today. You just need to look at the thousands of items being sold every day to see that people really are making money from home every second of everyday around the world on ebay. If you are serious about making money online and working from home, this is one of the easiest ways to get started with virtually not cost at all.

There are 2 types of sellers on ebay. The first are everyday people who just want to clear out the junk from their house and get money on the side. It is very easy for people to make a couple of thousand dollars this way. The best part is there are no product costs - everything is pure profit after you pay ebay and paypal fees and posting costs (unless you offer free pickup). As a guide you should budget approximately 10% of the sale price to fees. It's not uncommon for people to make $2000 - $4000 in just a month or 2 selling their unwanted stuff on ebay.
Make Money From Home - Sell Your Unwanted Stuff On Ebay
Make Money Selling Stuff From Around Your Home on Ebay


But that won't make me rich I hear you saying? There are 3 reasons why this is a great way to get started making money online from home as your income:


1. Selling your stuff from around the house gives you the chance to get to know ebay and how it works before you start selling products as a business. It provides a comfortable environment for you to experiment with taking photos, trying different selling methods, trying different starting prices, testing out features and trying various copywriting approaches etc.

2. Ebay is built on a trust system. Sellers receive positive or negative feedback from buyers as well as ratings out of 5 for various aspects of the sale. If you receive negative feedback it wil1 drop your 100% positive feedback rating down to 98 or 99%. No-one wants to buy from sellers who don't have 100% positive feedback. Also if you haven't built up enough feedback stars (I recommend a minimum of 100 stars) to prove you are a legitimate seller then no-one will buy from you no matter how cheap your items are. So selling items from around your house is a great way to get your feedback score up so you will be taken as a serious seller one you start selling items for your business.

3. If you are smart, rather than squandering your hard earned $2000 on a new TV or sound system, you can use that money to reinvest in your newly created business. This way you are not outlaying or risking any of your own money to get started as a serious seller. I'm not saying it will cost you $2000 to get started - it depends on what stock you decide to buy and how much, whether you choose to use any third party software such as Auctiva to list items, and any training you might want to undertake to give you the edge selling on ebay. There are lots of things you could spend your money on - try to invest in the things that will make you a better seller (like training) or make your life easier (like listing software). Don't spend to much on products until you know you will able to sell them at a price that will bring a profit. Just buy one or 2 items of each thing to start with or you might get stuck with costly stock.
Make money with ebay faster - Listing Software   
The second type of seller are the sellers who are selling on ebay more seriously and trying to make decent money or even run a business. This is where you should be aiming but it is critical you do things in the right order to build a strong business. I'll talk in detail about how to make money online being a serious seller in subsequent posts. But in the meantime if you are keen to start selling on ebay or if you have only just begun, you should focus on getting your feedback up to 100 and enjoying your huge profit margins from you second hand goods. Believe me your profit margins will drop from about 90% to under 30% once you starting buying products to sell so enjoy this phase while you can and sell as much as you can as quickly as you can!

4 April 2013

How Can I Get Money Online? - Welcome To My Blog

Hi this is Sam. I'm a business consultant and marketer by day but like to leverage my skills into the online world by night. Like you I have a passion for finding real, legitimate ways to make money online from the comfort of my own home! This blog is dedicated to providing you secrets and tips I have learnt during my online money making journey. I will cover topics that will answer your question - How can I get money online? - like affiliate marketing, ebay, paid surveys, blogging, share trading, ebooks and more!


Probably like you I have spent alot of time and money being taken down rabbit holes and getting sucked into money making schemes that sound too good to be true - and usually are, but I have found that some of them ARE legitimate ways to make money on your PC at home on the internet. I haven't yet found that million dollar nugget but I have been able to make enough to pay for an overseas holiday or two for the family and supplement our weekly income to allow our kids to do more of those expensive sports they so love - certainly nothing to sneeze at and well worth the effort!
Make money online for a holiday
You too can make money online from home for a holiday!
I want to share with you on this blog things I have tried and made some money on as well as the things that just haven't worked for me. I also want to share lots of great information I have come across in my travels that may help you too. Hopefully I can help you avoid some of the mistakes I have made but also benefit from the things I have learnt.

Thanks for coming on the online money making journey with me to get money online - it's most certainly a bumpy but very exciting ride!
Sam