With all
the doom and gloom news about the economy, there's never been a better time to
make an extra paycheck online with a minimal amount of time and effort.
If you
have an internet connection, you can get started on the road to having the
internet pay for your mortgage, car payment, kids' college tuition, or even
that special vacation you've wanted. Now, don't worry that you have to be a
tech whiz to start a business online--I'm a complete techno-dunce.
A perfect
part-time business would have to be very easy to start, require little time and
money and no technical expertise, be easy to maintain with just a few hours a
week and have a proven track record with a high probability of success.
There's
actually one other important criteria--it has to be perfect for you! Experience
has taught me that it's different strokes for different folks, and there is no
"one size fits all" perfect business. You're much more likely to be
successful if you do something you find fun and interesting.
With that
in mind, here are five of the best ways to make extra cash moonlighting on the
internet:
1.
Information marketing: We're in the information age, and the internet provides you with the
ideal medium to exchange know-how for money. Do you know the best fishing
holes? How to play guitar? The secrets to a successful marriage? A recipe for
moist and delicious brownies? A trick for saving gas?
Think
about your career, your hobbies and your interests. Virtually anything you know
can be turned into extra cash. And don't worry if you think you're not an
expert--as long as you know more than the average person on the topic, that
information is valuable.
However,
if you don't believe you know anything that others would pay for (highly
unlikely), you can take someone else's know-how and make money that way! It
could be as easy as interviewing a veterinarian to help you create a
dog-training product.
Ninety-two
percent of people go online looking for information, and you could be one of
the many people cashing in on selling it.
2. eBay: One of the largest online
marketplaces makes it a piece of cake to get your own business going. You can
open an account and start making money within hours on eBay!
While I
dislike that whole "sell your garbage on eBay" thing, there is some
validity to it as many people get their start on eBay by selling items from
their garage or attic that pre-eBay would have been thrown out. This approach
is fine, but where is the business once you run out of those items? If you want
to create an eBay business that doesn't require tons of time and effort, you
need to leverage products that can be sold over and over again.
This is
one of the reasons I'm not a fan of the "eBay seller for hire" kinds
of opportunities, where you sell things on eBay for other people. You get
access to stuff people want to sell, but because each item is unique you have
to work to list each and every one. There's no leverage there!
Take a
look at some of the largest eBay PowerSellers and notice how they specialize in
very specific products (iPods, cell phones, dog grooming kits, etc.). This
allows them to leverage their efforts. A listing is created once, and money is
collected over and over again.
Unlike
information marketing, this business requires the handling of physical goods,
but even that can be automated, so it shouldn't prevent you from considering
this idea.
3.
Affiliate marketing: This may
possibly be the absolute laziest way to make money because it doesn't require
you to have a product, make a sale or ever have any interaction with customers.
This is
essentially a "referral" business, or as one of my book contributors
likes to call it, "passionate recommendations." Basically, you can
get paid a referral commission just for sending people to sites (or vendors)
that are set up to pay affiliate fees once a sale is made. The vendor does all
the selling, fulfills the purchase and handles any customer service issues--and
you just collect your check..not bad!
Some
people choose affiliates based on who or what is paying the highest
commissions, and that certainly is a viable option. Most people opt to choose
products or goods they are passionate about so that the process is much more
fun and engaging.
Insurance
and credit card companies pay high commissions for referrals that convert to
customers ($40 to $150 and up), but the competition is fierce. It may pay well,
but is this something you'll enjoy doing for the long haul?
Alternatively,
you could take a look at your hobbies and other things you enjoy and see which
affiliate programs are a good match. As always, do your research to verify the
viability of your market. A good place to look for ideas (and downloadable
products just waiting for an affiliate) is ClickBank.com.
4.
Blogging: This
business is best suited for folks who enjoy communicating about a particular
subject. Think of blogs as journals of sorts. Although you can have a personal
blog, writing about a particular topic will have a higher chance for financial
success.
The range
of topics is virtually endless--photography, sports cars, parenting, dieting,
star gazing, the latest gadgets, Hollywood gossip--you name it, as there are
blogs on just about everything you can imagine. Don't worry about competition.
Folks who read one blog are apt to read others on a topic they're passionate
about, as long as you have something interesting to say.
Once your
blog starts getting traffic, you can make money passively with things like
AdSense (Google's ad revenue sharing plan) or actively by doing a little bit of
affiliate marketing. You can see both types of moneymaking strategies at
SparkleCat.com, which is a blog about a person's cat. What makes it interesting
is that it's written from the cat's perspective and often refers to her "human."
At the top of the page are Google AdSense ads, and sprinkled throughout are
suggestions for things like cat furniture and premium cat food, which are tied
to an affiliate program. Pretty cool, no?
5. Yahoo!
Store: This
business is very similar to eBay in the sense that it's a monster-sized
marketplace but more similar to a store in the true sense of the word. Think
having your own retail outlet but without the hassles of rent, employees,
utilities and all the other expenses of a traditional brick-and-mortar store.
The neat
thing is that it can be as hands-on or as hands-off as you want it to be
because of companies called drop-shippers, which can do most of the work for
you. In fact, you don't even pay for the inventory until you make a sale. How
cool is that?
Most
people think the hard part of this business is creating your virtual store, but
nothing could be further from the truth. Yahoo! has made the templates and
wizards so easy that, dare I say, even a caveman can do it!
The best
way to ensure your success is to do your homework and research what products
people most want to buy. You need to find a niche. Once again, start with
things you enjoy. Let's say you love fishing. What products do fishing folks
want to buy most? (Or get even more specific, like, what are bass fishermen
looking to buy?)
Then the
task is to find the right source of those products so you can carry them in
your Yahoo! Store. In most cases, you'll be able to pull pictures and product
descriptions directly from your sources and plug them right into your store.
As you
can see, this business requires a little bit more upfront work, but once it's
done it can be maintained with very little regular input on your part.
There you
have it--five perfect part-time businesses. Are you ready to start moonlighting
on the internet now?
More at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/194524
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