Marketing: Cross Promotion Offers Businesses a Win-Win

In business, competition has been the historical norm. Yet a growing number of savvy companies are realizing that joining forces with others can reap much more significant rewards than going it alone. When it comes to promoting a company, cross promotion is a particularly powerful strategy.

Known as "cross promotion," the concept involves working with individuals, groups or companies to create more business for everyone through common promotional activities. At the simplest level, this process might involve referrals from satisfied customers or from companies that offer complimentary services. More creative partnerships may result in shared promotions between companies that have a common target audience or between companies that offer similar services in different geographic areas.

Kare' Anderson, author of Walk Your Talk: Successful Cross Promotion, says, "Cross promotion has the potential for a big marketing payoff because partners can successfully expand through each other's customer base." She suggests the "marketing multiplier method" in which companies save marketing dollars while "multiplying the credible ways and places hot prospects see your service." For instance, companies may print joint promotional messages on their receipts or offer a discount if customers buy products from two or more partnering companies.

Partnering with competitors

In some cases, even direct competitors can benefit through cross promotion. For instance, two small companies may be able to attract a large account by combining forces. While neither company could handle the large account alone, they can work together to share the profits. For many businesses, having a piece of a large pie is better than having no pie at all. And in many cases, the smaller companies together can outmaneuver larger competitors by offering lower prices due to lower overhead.

"Affinity marketing" is a related strategy that allows companies to partner with trade or non-profit organizations. A common arrangement in these partnerships may involve companies serving as sponsors or donors for fundraising events. The organization hosting the event promotes the sponsor company in exchange for some form of support. Since more than 75 percent of adults say they are more likely to purchase a product or service associated with a cause they support, this can be a very successful marketing strategy.

Companies who share promotional activities benefit in many ways. They tend to gain more attention in a less competitive environment, save time and money on promotional costs, expand their reach and frequency in delivering messages to their target market, and gain credibility by standing together with other businesses.

While the benefits are clear, business owners who want to explore cross promotional opportunities need to do their homework. In addition to conducting research in order to accurately identify your target market, it's important to check out potential partners and make sure that both companies are trying to reach the same consumers. Once a mutual market is defined, it's best to approach potential partners with several ideas for low-risk, low-cost, initial activities. To express your commitment to the process, it helps to make the first action even more beneficial to your partner than it is to you, Anderson suggests.

Business partnerships of any kind work best when all parties understand and agree to their part in the process. To avoid misunderstandings, document in writing the details of any cross promotional activity, including each partner's cost and anticipated benefits. All partners should review and approve the resulting agreement.

Cross Promotional Advertising

Advertising is one area in which cross promotion is particularly useful. Many companies find advertising, especially television commercials, to be prohibitively expensive. Yet companies that share a common service in different geographic areas, for instance, can benefit from paying for a portion of a well-produced ad that simply inserts the appropriate company information for use in a specific area. Companies that offer complimentary services can save by sharing costs for an ad that promotes both products or services.

Anderson urges business owners to think creatively about "bundled offerings" with companies that share the same target market. Co-branding, shared display or office space, and co-produced special events are some examples of this growing trend. For instance, pest control companies can partner with landscapers, tree service firms and lawn care companies to offer bundled - and discounted - packages of seasonal services. As added incentive, all customers who purchase the package then may be eligible for a special prize drawing.

Speaking of prizes, an easy way to promote a partner company is to enter your customers in a drawing for a partner's product or service. When the contest is over, switch roles so that your company provides a prize for a contest offered to your partner's customers.

Not sure where to begin when it comes to cross promotion?

A Smorgasbord of Cross Promotional Ideas

Assuming you've chosen an appropriate partner company with a common target market, consider this smorgasbord of ideas to get your creative juices flowing: 

Ask partner companies to mention your services on invoices or letters to customers and do the same for your partner.

Highlight your partner(s) in your company newsletter, e-zine or direct mail.

Develop joint presentations or seminars at home shows or other community events. Or create an informational program featuring all partners' services and offer it as a stand-alone special event.

Offer discounts to customers who buy packages of services from all partners.

Mention partners' services when you speak to customers.

Pool mailing lists and send out a joint promotional postcard.

Share ads in local shopping papers or nonprofit event programs.

Promote specials among partners by distributing information to your client base.

Create joint coupons.

Sponsor a community or charitable event.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6369515

Online Business Start-Ups

Any business start-up can be difficult but the online business start-up is more so. Both business owners have the same problems of financing, product selection and marketing. However, the "brick and mortar" business owner has one major advantage over the online business start-up. The conventional business owner can see their potential customers. Their potential customers walk by the windows every day. They may even walk into the store and ask questions. With an online business, other than some hard to decipher website statistics, the only time you know you have a potential customer is when they contact you or order from you. This creates many sleepless nights.

At 2:00 a.m., an online business owner wakes up in a cold sweat. Where are the customers? Have I chosen the right online marketing strategy from the millions that are available? How do I know? Will a sale come in tomorrow or never? There are literally hundreds of concerns made more difficult by the invisibility of the potential customer. The agony of the online business start-up is in full swing. Will there be any ecstasy at the end of the road? What will it take?

Ecstasy will occur once the owner knows the business is successful. The elements of success are actually the same for the "brick and mortar" business as they are for the online business. The difference resides in the feedback mechanisms. The online business owner can't count on that face-to-face meeting with potential customers when they enter the store or that fleeting glimpse of a customer as they walk by the window. An online business owner must create feedback mechanisms on their website which encourage customers to interact and let him/her know they were there.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could get your potential customers to leave you their email addresses? Not only would this help you understand that people are actually visiting your site but it would also be helpful for future marketing efforts. As online business owners, how can we do this?

First, add a simple guest book to your site. Some people will voluntarily sign your guest book, but many will not. So, let's add a little incentive for the potential customer. How about associating their signature in your guest book with a free drawing for one of your products (like http://www.sweet-vibrations.com, a one-of-a-kind jewelry site) or a free newsletter on an interesting topic (like http://www.aaronzwebworkz.com)? In this way, you offer something of value in exchange for their email address. And, it doesn't have to cost you anything.

There are many free website guest books available online. We use a free guest book from http://www.htmlgear.com on our website http://www.obinstitute.com. Check it out!

Secondly, an online business owner can also add a refer-a-friend link on their website. Why not offer potential customers the ability to easily market for you? They may know a friend who would really be interested in your product. That friend might buy something from you, or sign your guest book. The website mentioned above, http://www.htmlgear.com also offers a free refer-a-friend link for your website. And, again, you can check out an example at http://www.obinstitute.com. Is there anything else we can add to a website to make our potential customer more visible before a sale? Yes, an online survey.

Thirdly, add an ongoing survey form regarding issues of importance to your potential customers? Most of us find it's interesting to cast a ballot on an issue and then see what position others are taking. Remember, you have two purposes in mind for this strategy. The first is to make the potential customer and their visits to your website more visible to you. This will help maintain your sanity until someone actually orders. But, secondly, you are developing a website that people will return to in the future. This will increase the potential for sales.

Each time the potential customer interacts with the website, using a guest book, a survey or a refer-a-friend link, the online business owner is building a relationship with that potential customer. The more they like using your site, the more likely they are to return. The more often they return to your site, or tell others, the better your chances of the sale.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6573

Take Risks

Work From Home No Fee Jobs - Make Money Online Without an Initial Investment

People can create wealth by getting involved in a work from home no fee jobs. These jobs are of easy type and it is enough if you have limited or no experience at all. There is also no time limit to these types of jobs as you are going to work only when you are free. The remuneration is very high; some people even tend to leave their permanent jobs to do this one.

One thing is very important in these types of jobs because there are lot and lots of scam web sites offering jobs. They require some small investment which they say that it is important for them to identify the genuine people. But the people who are interested in doing this job does not know whether the company who are offering this job is genuine or not. So it is highly important to check the genuine of the job before paying this investment.

The most attractive jobs are typing ads, surveys, form filling, and placing ads in free websites, envelope stuffing, data entry telesales etc. Some times these jobs may look easy, but the difficulty range vary from people to people. Mostly these jobs are work from home no fee jobs, and can be very easily done by any person. Since there is no time limit or any target most people are interested in doing these types of jobs.

How to create wealth? The answer for this is a big question mark. You can create wealth by completing these types of jobs from home itself and can earn huge money, since the companies are paying huge money. As the company does not spend any extra expenses for the staff, they are able to pay a large sum of money as salary.

Even though you are paid high it is always advisable to do this job part time only since the job security is very limited, and there is no guarantee that you will receive the payment promptly from the company continuously.

Original Article: http://EzineArticles.com/3881177

The Truth About Life, Work, And Money

Warning this article may cause you to become depressed, I cannot be held responsible in any way for this, I am simply writing the truth, and for some of you this might actually inspire you, and change your outlook on life forever.

Life used to be so much simpler it wasn't always about money. Once upon a time money was not a big issue, mothers were able to stay home and bring up their kids themselves. You didn't need a ton of money to enjoy yourself, the best things in life were free. It's incredible how much things have changed in the last 50 years. Used to be that we used work to live. Now live to work, it's not a life, it's slavery in disguise.

There are 168 hours in 1 week. The average North American spends fifty five hours at work (this includes travel time) fifty six hours sleeping, and sixteen hours eating.. That leaves forty one hours to cook, clean, spend time with your family and relax. That's not much. The worst part is that most of us dislike our jobs and people we work with/at Does this seem fair to you and your family?

Let's turn it into an even bigger picture.

The average day.

7:00 -Wake up, take shower

7:30 - Eat

8:00 leave for work

8:45 get to work

9:00 start work go to lunch etc

5:30 Finish work go home

6:15: Get home prepare food eat spend a little time with family

8:30-9:00 Put kids to sleep

9:00 - 12:00 do a bit of cleaning and relax

12:00 Sleep

Rinse repeat

That was my schedule form Monday to Friday. I am fairly sure that this schedule applies to most of you with maybe a few differences here and there.

Now we do this for over 30 years right up until the day we retire, and then we can enjoy our lives.

Wait a second.....enjoy our lives??? Before we get to enjoy our lives we actually have to make it there, it's sad to say but many of us won't make it there, and if we do we'll be anywhere from the age of 60-65. Half the stuff we would like to do, we have missed our opportunities to do, and the other half of the stuff we want to do, we can't do because we can't afford to do it. So here we are at 60 years old living off our pension with not much to do except lounge around the house visit the occasional friend an take up hobbies, and maybe go on vacation if your pension allows. Not to mention the elevated risk of sickness due to your age. You know I speak the truth simply because all you have to do is look at your own parents, uncles, aunts, and any other retired folk you may know

Is this how you pictured your life? Or did you never look that far ahead?

I can tell you who's to blame but that's another article all together foranother time

So what can you do about it?

Well you have 2 choices,

1) Accept your fate and follow the path of Predictability

2) Grab the bull by the horns, and take Control 

Does money grow on trees?

Not literally but, yes it can be cultivated. But you have to plant your seeds and take care of your tree properly. You have probably searched high and low for business opportunities that really work, and 90% of the ones that you have come across look extremely fraudulent. But there are some opportunities out there that you can truly make money with. I was like you, and I browsed searched and scoured the net for ways to make money. I invested close to 3000$ in buying books, and joining selling programs, including Amway, Herbalife, and a whole other slew of programs that required you to invest more and more money. Believe it or not you can make money with these, I personally made my money back and gave up on these projects simply because they weren't my cup of tea. I don't regret a single penny that I invested. Each and every program, and book I bought and joined taught me something, and brought me here, to the point I am today.

What Have I learned?

Where there is a will there is a way there are literally millions of websites out there that offer free information, and give you a few staring points. Inestments are must. Unless you are a genius and know something I don't, you do need some money to make money, there are a ton of good books out there that teach you the tricks of the internet trade. I am not saying to run out and spend thousand of dollars. Once you have mastered the general concept of how the online market works, you will find this type of business the cheapest and lowest maintenace type of business to run/own. It will free up a lot of your time so you can go and do what all humans were meant to truly do.... ENJOY LIFE.

One of the cheapest ways to make a little extra money is through surveys. Many Surveys are totally free to join, and you can find them for free. On the other hand there quite a few companies out there that sell complete lists with links and locations of survey websites. These are worth buying if you intent to get into filling out surveys and are also very inexpensive you'll get your invesment back fairly quick since they only go for 40-50$. There are also many tools you can use to make filling out surveys easier and faster; like roboform, which automatically fills out fields for you, like name, address, etc etc.

Surveys are just the tip of the iceberg, there are many other more lucrative oppurtunities that involve a little more work to get off the ground, and are dirt cheap to start and maintain.

Lastly, no matter what you choose to do, ambition is needed. You truly want to enjoy your life job and family you must be passionate in pursuing it. If you want it you gotta take it. Don't wait for someone to give it to you, or for it to fall in your lap, it's just not gonna happen.

Original Article: http://EzineArticles.com/237434

Internet Marketing 101: Where To Begin?

Affiliate marketers are all over the place. They are on every website you search for or visit, they are constantly bombarding your inbox. How can you distinguish yourself, as a professional affiliate marketer? Whether you are selling your own product with the help of affiliates, or are an affiliate selling someone else's product the rules are very much the same. How do you set yourself apart from these seemingly dime-a-dozen salespeople, forge a good name for yourself and make money? Well, you can start by reading the following article.

Be realistic, from the get go. Setting your expectations too high may just be setting yourself up for failure. Start small, set achievable goals and keep focused on building relationships, one customer and one affiliate at a time. Being too focused on the money will cause you to lose sight of the necessary tactics and strategies that build a good affiliate business, beginning with the foundation. Make the rules of your affiliate business clear, and see that they are followed. If you never want to have your name associated with pornography sites or gambling, spell that out for your affiliates and see that they adhere to it. You can be permanently compromised very quickly with the transparency of the Internet, so set clear guidelines for anyone who will associate with you and keep yourself protected at all times.

Communicate freely and effectively. Message your affiliates with timely information that will keep everyone's efforts fluid and progressive. If costs are increasing for a service relevant to all of you, or Google is implementing new regulations, be the first one to tell them about it. Keep everyone in the loop and you are all much more apt to function like a well oiled machine, rather than a fragmented affiliation.

Keep your affiliates inspired, educated and motivated. You are all dependent on each others success and the better they do, the better you will do. Send regular updates, industry statistics and newsletters, or even personal messages that will help them strive toward goals. You will distinguish yourself as a good leader whom your affiliates will want to work for, and cultivate a reputation that has new ones looking for you.

Know who your affiliate neighbours are, both successful and otherwise. Learning from the mistakes or successes of other marketers can save you a lot of time and money. Get to know the more influential professionals in your niche, if possible. Let them see you in a favourable light, rather that the up-and-coming competition that could threaten them. Many of them will be inclined to lend a hand, advice or let you in on opportunities you may have otherwise been excluded from.

Arm your affiliates with everything they need to succeed. Be it training, contacts, manuals or eBooks, make sure they are well prepared and knowledgeable. You want your people to have every shot at success, build on it there after and stay with your team. Keeping your affiliates competitive and informed will keep you on top.

In the highly competitive field of affiliate marketing, the investment you make in thought may very well get you further than those made with money! Since so many people are getting in on affiliate marketing, you must distinguish yourself in practice and personality. Be seen as one of the good guys, from the perspective of customers and other affiliates, and you will set yourself up for long term success!

Original Article http://EzineArticles.com/7002753

What Can I Sell On EBay

The advent of the internet does not make it mandatory for people to go to office or to run a shop to earn money. Today, it is quite possible to earn a sizeable amount of money while staying at home. There are many online trading sites to make money from like eBay. When thinking of eBay, many people wonder what I can sell on eBay.

Well the answer to the question what can I sell on eBay is a long one. This is because it is possible to sell practically anything and everything on eBay. You can sell electrical products, books, real estate, vehicles, machinery and industrial parts and even jewelry. There is no limit to the items you sell on eBay; it is how that you sell it that is important.

What can I sell on eBay is a question many entrepreneurs ask themselves when flocking into eBay. There is no difficulty in starting a business on eBay as it is a quick and easy process with no requirement for any large investments. And the wonderful thing is that there is no need of any special skill to sell on eBay.

There is so much flexible work time when with eBay that you tend to wonder what I can sell on eBay. There is no need of looking for customers to buy your products as the site itself is a ready made market with millions of people surfing it for their required products. just think, eBay gets about 1.5 billion page views in a month by people wondering what can I sell on eBay.

When you start wondering what can I sell on eBay, it proves to be better for you to explore the features eBay an other places on the internet. With this, you get to find out what other people tend to search for, and the products they finally end up buying. By doing this, your question of what can I sell on eBay usually gets answered.

If you still don't find the answer to 'what can I sell on eBay' after doing this research, you can always check the eBay pulse, eBay summer catalog and in demand. The eBay pulse is where you can get ten most searched categories, the widely watched auctions, active listings and other cool stuff to help decide what can I sell on eBay.

The eBay summer catalog provides answers to what can I sell on eBay by listing the top ten summer trends. This is a catalog with pictures and the estimation of the various products on sale. The in demand page of eBay lists all products in a category and even the most searched product in subsequent sub categories.

Most of the time, you can find the answer to the question 'What can I sell on eBay' in your own home. You get ideas thinking which item could be sold in a garage sale and thus place the same products on eBay for you to sell, and to make money as a source of income.

Original Article: http://EzineArticles.com/443412

Make Money in Your Spare Time - How You Can Earn $125 an Hour With Free Sites

Just an hour a day being used to make money in your spare time can make a big difference to many people. An extra $125 a day could mean getting completely out of debt, paying the mortgage and driving a really nice car. That's life changing, and you can do this by using your time effectively.

There are many ways to make money online in your spare time. The popular ones are over crowded and full of scams, but there are hidden nuggets of real money making opportunities that allow many people to silently pull in hundreds of dollars a day.

One of the ways you can do this is by partnering with advertisers in order to help them drive traffic to their website. This can be done without a website. There thousands of advertisers that in order to make money, they need people to visit their websites.

These advertisers know that each visitor has a particular value. For instance, not every visitor will buy their product, but they have figured out that 1 in every 10 will. If they make $100 off every sale, that means the value of each visitor is $10 because 10 x 10 is 100.

Knowing that, these advertisers are willing to pay you to deliver visitors. They may only pay you $2 per a visitor, but when you have the ability to target millions of people those dollar quickly turn into hundreds of dollars.

It's a simple method that anyone with any skill level can do. It is simply a matter of using your time more effectively so you are making money rather than sitting around watching TV or letting life pass you by. Instead, you can do something that could change your life forever.

Original Article: http://EzineArticles.com/2383140

The Internet Marketing Autopsy

The "Death Of Internet Marketing" report was created and distributed by Mike Filsaime a couple of years back. This article was actually written a couple of days after it was released, but has been residing on my site until I pulled it off. Anyway, DOIM was one of those reports that actually got many people talking. Yet, because of the way it was marketed, I think it got a few people thinking about it, but probably not enough. Even this year, people aren't doing what they need for their business, and I honestly don't care if it is online or offline.

Well, Mike says "Internet Marketing Died". So here's Stuart Tan's autopsy:

So... let's just say that I'm going to do a post-mortem after this report is out into the market. Yep - we're all into forensics now, with so many interesting metaphors such as the "death of internet marketing".

Most people would have by now read Mike Filsaime's "Death of Internet Marketing", Rich Schefren's "Internet Business Manifesto" etc, etc. In my opinion, the biggest issues have not been dealt with. Mike undoubtedly gives a fantastic exposition of what was and what is to be.

Why am I writing this? Because after looking at all the emails coming in about Mike's report, I came to the conclusion that:

most internet marketers didn't 'get' it. They said "it's a good report". That's not what it's about.

The reviews about Mike's report were far too simplistic about implications about what he really had to say

Firstly, these reports really weren't for the newbie in internet marketing. They are for experienced marketers who know what is happening in the industry. Second, it's a foregone conclusion that you need to be more of an entrepreneur... not just a marketer. 

For those of you who are unable to keep up with Mike's brilliance, or think that this is the be-all and end-all of marketing strategy, most people have missed the basis of Mike's report.

Component #1 - Don't be lazy!

If you want to be lazy, you'll go to the sharks. Most of the hardest working internet marketers are also the wealthiest. Again, I'm not suggesting that you are going to become wealthy by only working really hard. The truth of the matter is that working hard to achieve auto-pilot in your business does require a bit more strategizing and action.

Component #2 - Assess trends!

Staying outside of the box? Then you'll definitely be very lost when it comes to assessing whether or not you should take on a business model like affiliate marketing, or ecommerce... because you have insufficient information to be able to decide. Assess trends. Watch the web. Look at all the stuff that is progressing right before your very eyes. Get on technology forums and learn, learn, learn.

Component #3 - Credibility As Weaponry!

Through all this hype and a very severe lack of information, it's difficult to decide whether or not to buy one product or the other. The main deciding factor will come from someone whom you trust completely and will be willing to buy simply because you deem this person to be credible. So, build your credibility! It will take more than just one report to do this! Build your credibility! Set yourself up with the right people, credentials, etc. Or better still, get on one of my teleseminars.

Component #4 - Forward Strategy!

It's not easy to move forward in internet marketing, but that's often because one doesn't have a clear direction in the first place. Vision, as Mike says, is important. I believe it's more than just 'vision'. It's more like the ability to focus on what needs to be done, and just taking action and doing it, having already decided that it is something you will accomplish at all cost.

Too many people balk at doing the things that matter. They end up procrastinating! Okay, I'm not an angel myself 100% of the time. But think of where you are. For instance, you know for a fact that you need to create content for your site. Say you're not a really good content creator. What next? Wait and hope that money will fall from the sky? I don't think so! You still need to find a way to get it done. Or, make a way! You may have to think of ways to get your way even though you can't do it yourself.

Component #5 - Polarity thinking... and the Stuart Slap!

When everyone is doing something, you have to do the complete opposite.

Look at the infamous Google Slap. If you're not familiar, Google "slapped" people a number of times already. When people don't provide good value, they get slapped. This is to force people to avoid their own impending doom. It's like a parent slapping their children to not touch the burning flame. Still, people go ahead, get burnt, them blame the person they last encountered. Tsk. Tsk.

The internet marketing world is filled with sheep. One person goes there and everyone follows. This is good news for the person who knows how to exploit this situation. When everyone moves in one direction, they miss out opportunities that already exist.

One example is this - now everyone in Asia is heading and attacking the internet marketing niche. I know it's not the right thing to do to monetize, and there are many other monetization sources out there. So what do I do? I spoil the market so that people will not be hoodwinked into buying non-value-for-money items. Is it a good strategy? Some people will hate me for it. But it will force the survivors up the chain, the credible ones will quadruple their income, and those who can't handle the heat either give up or find another niche.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1190589

Carpet Cleaning Marketing Business Ideas, Learn How to Get More Clients Or Customers, Save Money!

In today's economy, it appears hard to get customers for businesses such as the carpet cleaning business. One good thing about the carpet cleaning business is that people will have no other choice than to have their carpet cleaned due to necessary cleanliness and other health related reasons, not to mention pets in the home. When you have an effective marketing system, you'll be able to learn effective ways to have your customers to call you.

When you can get your regular customers to keep coming back and bringing with them new customers, then you have a winner in a marketing system. One way of doing this is by taking advantage of every holiday or special days you can think of. Start a "Carpet Cleaning Club", where members get special discounts, especially on new referrals. Keep up with birthdays and anniversaries so you can offer a discount during those time periods.

One unique way that I always suggest as a marketing consultant, is to develop a letter writing system where you can stay in contact with your customer on a regular basis. In your letters you will include a $20.00 off "Carpet Bucks" coupon and if they are not ready for your service ask that they give it to a friend. Never miss on an opportunity to add new customers. Imagine your client receiving a well-written letter at Christmas time with a $20 or $40 "carpet buck" coupon inside. After the family gathering during Christmas, a need for carpet cleaning will be inevitable. You can develop a card file on each customer to keep their personal information such as birthdays, anniversaries, telephone, email, etc.

You can also promote your Carpet Cleaning business by placing small ads in small shopper newspapers in your local area. Have school kids to place mini-ad flyers under car windshield at grocery stores. Design a business card that is different from the normal cards. This card will be like a mini-ad instead of the normal business card.

By using a few different techniques that other carpet cleaner's haven't thought about, you'll get your carpet cleaning marketing business growing in less that 6 months without spending a lot of money.

Original Article: http://EzineArticles.com/3254826

10 Creative Ways To Make Money Online

If you’d claimed it was possible for the average guy on the street to make millions of dollars online just a decade ago, the chances are good you’d have heard nothing but laughter in response. Today, though, there are countless Internet millionaires who turned a great idea into obscene profit, used the power of the web to promote their offline business or simply worked their butt off to sell their skills online.

While it’s unlikely that you’ll ever earn enough to buy your own island, there’s nothing to stop you from using your skills to make a comfortable living online. In fact, while the media would have you believe that online success stories are limited to just a few lucky, hard working people who stumbled on a great idea that went on to make millions, the reality is that there are tens of thousands of people who make a living exclusively online. Here are just ten ways you can join them.

How To Make Money Online 

1. Sell Stock Photography

The Internet has caused an explosion in the demand for stock photography. As the number of media and commercial outlets has increased dramatically with the growth of online media there’s an enormous need for high quality stock photos.

Yuri Arcurs is the man everyone turns to for their stock photo needs. As the world’s top selling stock photographer he sells an image every 8 seconds, 24 hours a day (that works out to over 4 million images each year). Arcurs makes millions of dollars each year simply by being the best at what he does. There are lots of great photographers in the world and the barrier to entry is as low as ownership of a camera, but Arcurs has managed to build a reputation online for consistent, high quality and imaginative images.

If you’re a professional photographer (or even just a hobbyist) you should consider the possibilities of selling stock images online.

2. Tweet For Sponsors 

Sponsoretweets.com is an online platform that allows you to make money on Twitter by charging sponsors for communicating their advertising messages to your followers. You set the amount you want to get paid for every tweet you make, choose a category and select keywords you want to work with. You then wait for advertisers to contact you and take you up on your offer, paying you the amount you specified for each tweet that you make. 

All throughout the process, the tweeter has full control over his or her account, and may choose the wordings of the tweets, or may choose to reject the tweet altogether.

3. Blog for Ad Revenues

If, however, you already have a blog with a devoted following it should be easy for you to leverage your readers into hard cash. Ad networks such as Google AdSense pay big money to place their ads on your site, and you’ll receive a payment every time a reader clicks one. While it’s easy to go overboard and fill every spare pixel, if you place your ads well it’s possible to make a comfortable income from your site.

One of the most successful bloggers  around today is John Chow. a Canafian blogger. who makes more than $40,000 a month through ad sales and other revenue streams. Ironically, his blog is about ways to make money online.

4. Sell Affiliate Products 

If you have a flair for sales copy you could try your hand at selling products for affiliates. While many people take the seedy route of selling diet pills and penis enlargement products, if you want to keep your conscience clear you’ll find that Amazon runs a very successful affiliate program that allows you to make money advertising any of the products for sale on their site. eBay also have a pretty good affiliate setup, with their top affiliates earning $1.3 Million a month, WOW!

5. Write an e Book

In recent years the self-publishing world has exploded online to the point at which you don’t even have to run your own site in order to promote a book. Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo are just a few of the sites on which you could self-publish today, with commission rates of around 70% available on every sale.

The number of eBooks on Amazon reached 8 million last year, and Amazon stated that eBooks are outselling hard backs 2 to 1, 62% of ebook sales fell into the Thriller and Mystery genre, so if you feel that you could pull this style of genre off then you will be in for a good chance of sales.

26 year old self published author, Amanda Hocking from Minnesota makes more than $2 Million a year from her ebook sales. Amanda Hocking’s stories about, trolls, vampires and zombies and  ‘supernatural teen romances’ sell for $2.99 or for as little as $.99.

6. Become a Virtual Assistant 

Every small businessman would love to hire a full time assistant to take care of the little things, but many simply can’t afford one. Thanks to the Internet, though, they can now hire part time assistants who work for a whole host of clients, and all at a much lower cost than a full time staff member.

If you work from home this may be a perfect opportunity to make a consistent income. Virtual assistants can earn $20 an hour in return for booking travel  tickets, interacting with clients and dealing with the daily needs of small businesses.

7. Lease Your Skills

Most people have at least one skill that carries a market value, though until now that skill may have been impossible to monetize in the traditional job market.

Sites such as 99Designs, Elance, Freelancer and iWriter allow people to hire out their skills as writers, coders, designers, translators and lots more on a contract basis. Freelancing sites are a great way to boost your income in your free time, and with enough motivation and hard work you could find yourself earning a comfortable full time income from them.

8. Selling on eBay 

eBay is a great way to turn your unwanted things into a little spending money, but it isn’t just a place to sell your old Star Wars action figures. In fact, eBay’s global marketplace can offer a great way for canny traders to buy and sell their way to profit

By buying wholesale you can sell anything with a mark up. Even better, if you have the skills to make things people want to buy you could start your own home-based craft business, selling to customers around the world. Miles & Amanda Clarkson are a successful couple who so far have managed to make over $8 Million in eBay sales.

9. Become A Mobile App Tester 

People that are rather uncertain of their application development potential can still make some money through the usage of iPhone apps.

People that have the time and desire to test iPhone apps and discover bugs can be rewarded payments for their efforts. Utest is one such application. Individuals that have signed up will also build some reputation on the basis of the testing they have done so far.

Better reputation signifies access to more profitable app testing opportunities.

10. Designing T-Shirts 

Finally, if you have something of an artistic streak you could kick off the next viral sensation with your own range of funky, arty t-shirts. Sites such as CafePress allow users to upload their own t-shirt designs and sell them on their personal online store.

You can also contact distributors such as threadless.com or designbyhumans.com to release your t-shirt designs to the masses.

If your designs catch the eye you could be looking at enormous profits when they take off in a big way.

Conclusion

As you can see, to make money online you don’t have to be particularly skilled with computers. You don’t need to be know how to build your own website from the ground up, and you don’t have to be a mogul with millions of dollars to invest in success. If you have any kind of artistic skills, creativity or business savvy you can turn it into profit.

In short, you should understand that the online world is just like real life. The same opportunities are there for the taking, but instead of drawing your customers from just your home town you can reach out with your great ideas to the far reaches of the earth.

So why not start today?

Source of Article