I've been an active Internet user for more years than I can remember, going back to the old ZX-81 Sinclair days (anyone remember the Commodore 64? - Atari? - ah, happy days!). In all that time I have regularly looked for ways to supplement my income from the web, usually with negligible result.
I have spent fortunes on one money making package after another and have slowly come to realise that most of them (not all) are simply a way of parting you from your hard earned cash. I'm a sucker for a good sales letter and boy those copywriters know how to pull my strings.
You name it, I've bought it. I am now retired from professional life (i.e. WORK) and at 68 years of age, desperately need to start earning some cash to supplement the derisory pension I am permitted by the UK Government.
I recently sat down and took stock of my life. Basically all I need to do is earn $100 a week extra to relieve the immediate pressure. More would be better, but let's be realistic from the start. Looking back over my web experience, I have considered and discarded those areas where there are obstacles to me earning money quickly. So I have discarded the following:
Building my own website - I am not a tekky. Yes I know there are packages and programmes out there, but I need to focus on making money, not on tekky work of which I have little knowledge. I suppose the answer would be to subcontract everything and simply Project Manage it all and I suspect that is exactly the thing to do, but frankly I do not have the spare cash to do this right now.
Creating my own product - again, same reason as above, (too tekky involved) plus it costs money, takes too long and dilutes my focus away from the immediate goal of making a quick dollar.
Blogging - good idea, but I have had a gardening blog for some years and despite having written over 250 Articles, monetised it with a variety of ads, including AdSense, have written over 100 Articles in EzineArticles Directory and appeared all over Google and am still waiting to earn a bean from it.
Pay per Click - tried it and have been burned to death 3 times. Keywords are far too expensive, resulting in a loss on any sale you make. Plus, the competition out there know how to burn you by changing your affiliate links or clicking on your ad to send your click through rate into free fall and lose you that costly position.
eBay - Used to be good but now there is no guarantee that your product will sell against the eBay multiple Stores.
OK let's stop right there. I could go on and on about failure, but I cannot afford to dwell on that. The question remains.... how do I earn some money and what steps do I need to take to achieve that quickly.
Looking back I have earned a little by selling books on Amazon but again, you need to find the right ones and then there is the problem of postage costs. What can you do when some of the larger Sellers are selling books for 1 cent?
In retrospect the only place I have earned a little money is with Affiliate Marketing - you don't need your own product, tekky stuff is limited, and payments are taken care of for you. That only leaves the $64000 question - how to market the product?
Now that I have got this far in my campaign, I feel as though I have the beginnings of a Strategy which may just meet my goals. The next step is to turn this into action. I will examine the choices and produce another Article on my progress shortlyI've been an active Internet user for more years than I can remember, going back to the old ZX-81 Sinclair days (anyone remember the Commodore 64? - Atari? - ah, happy days!). In all that time I have regularly looked for ways to supplement my income from the web, usually with negligible result.
I have spent fortunes on one money making package after another and have slowly come to realise that most of them (not all) are simply a way of parting you from your hard earned cash. I'm a sucker for a good sales letter and boy those copywriters know how to pull my strings.
You name it, I've bought it. I am now retired from professional life (i.e. WORK) and at 68 years of age, desperately need to start earning some cash to supplement the derisory pension I am permitted by the UK Government.
I recently sat down and took stock of my life. Basically all I need to do is earn $100 a week extra to relieve the immediate pressure. More would be better, but let's be realistic from the start. Looking back over my web experience, I have considered and discarded those areas where there are obstacles to me earning money quickly. So I have discarded the following:
Building my own website - I am not a tekky. Yes I know there are packages and programmes out there, but I need to focus on making money, not on tekky work of which I have little knowledge. I suppose the answer would be to subcontract everything and simply Project Manage it all and I suspect that is exactly the thing to do, but frankly I do not have the spare cash to do this right now.
Creating my own product - again, same reason as above, (too tekky involved) plus it costs money, takes too long and dilutes my focus away from the immediate goal of making a quick dollar.
Blogging - good idea, but I have had a gardening blog for some years and despite having written over 250 Articles, monetised it with a variety of ads, including AdSense, have written over 100 Articles in EzineArticles Directory and appeared all over Google am still waiting to earn a bean from it
Pay per Click - tried it and have been burned to death 3 times. Keywords are far too expensive, resulting in a loss on any sale you make. Plus, the competition out there know how to burn you by changing your affiliate links or clicking on your ad to send your click through rate into free fall and lose you that costly position.
eBay - Used to be good but now there is no guarantee that your product will sell against the eBay multiple Stores.
Ok let's stop right there. I could go on and on about failure, but I cannot afford to dwell on that. The question remains.... how do I earn some money and what steps do I need to take to achieve that quickly.
Looking back I have earned a little by selling books on Amazon but again, you need to find the right ones and then there is the problem of postage costs. What can you do when some of the larger Sellers are selling books for 1 cent?
In retrospect the only place I have earned a little money is with Affiliate Marketing - you don't need your own product, tekky stuff is limited, and payments are taken care of for you. That only leaves the $64000 question - how to market the product?
Now that I have got this far in my campaign, I feel as though I have the beginnings of a Strategy which may just meet my goals. The next step is to turn this into action. I will examine the choices and produce another Article on my progress shortly.
Terry Blackburn. Internet Marketing Consultant, living in South Shields in the North-East of England. Author and Producer of blog [
http://www.lawnsurgeon.blogspot.com]http://www.lawnsurgeon.blogspot.com. Author of Your Perfect Lawn, a 90 Page eBook devoted to Lawn Preparation, Lawn Care and Maintenance. Publisher of [
http://www.webcashrebel.com]http://www.webcashrebel.com.
Article Source: [
http://EzineArticles.com/?Does-Network-Marketing-Work?-Article-1&id=3880256] Does Network Marketing Work? Article 1
