As I am sure you already know, the world wide web is massive. You can find almost any type of information on any topic with a quick search of your favorite search engine. You can even go to Twitter or Facebook and ask questions of your friends and followers, and you will receive feedback ranging from uninformed opinion to expert answers.
The Holy Grail of the web, however, is making money. Few people embarking on the road to internet wealth ever achieve it. With few exceptions, most start down that road with high hopes, and wind up with shattered dreams.
There have been success stories, however, and there’s significant knowledge to be garnered from both successes and failure. If one has the tenacity, the talent, and the skills to create an online enterprise, then they can make money. The following are some of the most popular ways people are trying to earn an income online.
Blogger. There is perhaps no easier way, yet no more time consuming way, to make an income online than by blogging. It’s easy to sign-up for a free blog hosting site and in minutes be writing your first article. Services like Blogger and WordPress even make it easy to add Google Ads to your site so you can begin to make money. But while the technical part is easy, the follow through is not. Full-time bloggers write constantly, sometimes up to five times a day. When they aren’t blogging, they are on social networking sites marketing their articles and sites. Some even supplement blogs with podcasts and YouTube videos, which can also supply another source of internet income. They can further supplement their income by being a guest writer at other blogs, but that option is usually reserved for the more popular and entrenched bloggers. Sell something. If you think you have a product that people want, but you don’t have the means to mass produce and offer the product in a big box store, then selling online is a great option. Once again, sites like eBay or Etsy allow sellers to post their products online and sell at whatever price they want. Of course there must be a buyer for your product. Just as in the real world the online world runs on supply and demand. You may have a supply, but if there is no demand then it will not sell. You will also be responsible for shipping your product to customers in a reasonable time-frame and you must maintain a high rating with your buyers. You may even want to eventually start your own website and sell your product without a go-between, but that’s an entirely new endeavor in itself. Offer a service. Are you good at writing resumes? Can you design and build a fantastic web site? Then perhaps you have a service you can offer. There are many ways to go about offering a service online. You will probably want to have a web site of your own, and maybe even a blog for marketing purposes. You can then use social networking sites like Twitter to begin to market yourself and your service. Free classifieds such as Craigslist make it easy to get your name out there for people to contact you and negotiate a price. Freelance sites such as Elance and Guru take care of ensuring you get paid for your work, while giving you a place to market yourself. As with any service, however, you must be very, very good at what you do. Competition among service professionals online is tough, and you will need to stand out above the crowd before you will make a real income. Entertainment. If you are a filmmaker, an author, or a musician, there has never been a time like today to get your work out to millions of people. You can now make a short film or music video and post it on YouTube for millions to enjoy. If enough people view your work, you can make money with YouTube advertising. iTunes offers an outlet for musicians to sell songs, while Amazon is encouraging authors to self-publish on their Kindle store. Like entertainment in the real world, however, competition is fierce, and the online format makes it difficult to stand out in the crowd. You are subject to the whims of popular culture, and you will have to make high-quality material if you want people to give you money.
There are ways to make money online if you are willing to put in the time and effort it takes to do so. If you decide to give it a try it can be one of the most rewarding and frustrating experiences of your life. The number one thing to remember, however, is that you will probably spend more time marketing yourself than working on the service or product you are offering. With a lot of hard work, patience, and persistence, perhaps you too could be the next web sensation.