“How Do I Make Money Online?”
PART #4
I created this mega-article as a special free gift - to give a helping hand to anyone who is asking the question "How do I make money online?" There's no catch! This article is completely free - and is, essentially, an ultra-condensed version of what you will find in the 99-page Internet section of my 330-page eBook. However, make no mistake - the information in this article packs a punch! I've done my best to make it the ultimate summary of the current playing field. If you apply these principles well, they could get you off to a very good start with making money on the web. If you like what you find here and are serious about learning more about how to make money online - check out my eBook. Enjoy! - Alex Newman, January 2009 ***** This article on making money online is divided into four separate PDFs: PART #1 - TRAFFIC PART #2 - CONTENT PART #3 - MONETIZATION PART #4 - TWELVE "RULES OF THUMB" THAT I LIVE BY Read / download the other three parts now - absolutely free - at: http://www.money-while-you-sleep.biz/how-do-i-make-money-online.html *****
PART #4 – TWELVE “RULES OF THUMB THAT I LIVE BY
1) There is no one "best way" to make money online. There are many ways - each different - but despite their differences, they do all boil down to pretty much the same formula: Get traffic, monetize it. So it's a good idea to learn about several methods of making money online, not just one. Because, in a sense, most of the tactics and strategies of internet marketing fit together and work best when applied en masse. There are also other methods I have not covered on this page - such as pure "e-commerce", for example selling products on eBay. I have written a PDF guide to eBay which is free to email list subscribers. 2) It takes time. It takes time to build up the skills, knowledge and resources needed to make good money online. The top internet marketers - those who may be making seven or
eight figures online annually - worked and studied like warriors to get to the position where they were able to make a lot of money while they sleep. It's not unreasonable to expect a year or two of serious effort - intense studying and building - before you may be able to walk confidently away from your job. There are those who strike it lucky - but remember, internet methods have a lifespan. Don't burn your bridges. Internet income streams have a welldocumented habit off burning blazing bright and then fizzling out completely. Having some solid foundations and study will enable you to develop multiple income streams and create a more defensible position all round. You may be longing to break free - but giving up the day job too early is one of the classic mistakes. 3) Understand that the ability to give stuff away for free is your best friend. There is a lot of free stuff on the internet, so make your free giveaways so exciting that people want to tell their friends and share it with those close to them. Learn to tap into the ancient tribal hunter-gatherer instinct that we all possess: When we discover something really cool, we immediately want to tell our tribe. It makes them happy, and makes them proud of us. So appeal to this instinct - by really going the extra mile to give away quality on your web site. Get over the idea that if you give things away for free, you will not make money. It is a false idea: Think of Google - their powerful search engine is the best, and it cost a fortune to develop - yet the search engine and their other tools have always been free to use. End result, massive popularity - and their company is now worth billions. If you give away incredible content for free, you will achieve popularity. And popularity, on the internet, can easily be monetized. 4) Keep building! Another essential rule of thumb. Making money online is a little bit like a game of monopoly. Don't just build your sites and then sit there checking your stats every day to see how much money you made. Keep developing new pages, new content, new ideas. Keep refining and improving the quality, depth and range of your sites. Can you build a page that makes you a dollar per day? Great! Now go and build a thousand such pages. Volume is one of the essential keys. The more volume you have, the more traffic you will pull and the more money you will make. Also, the greater your chances of striking it big - because not everything you do will make money. Which leads us perfectly on to.... 5) Nothing in internet marketing is "sure-fire". Like a football game, the field of play is constantly in motion - and you will need to keep your eye on the ball and develop new strategies and tactics as and when they are required. Nothing can be guaranteed to keep working indefinitely. Also, some methods that work for others will simply not work for you and vice versa: If someone else says something doesn't work - all that usually means is that they were not able to get it to work. And if you can discern the reasons behind the success of some and the failure of others, you will be one step closer to success. 6) Study! Knowledge is an essential foundation. Study the work and methods of "the greats" of internet marketing - and keep learning. Know the rules of the game. In addition to this, learning to construct and maintain web sites, and learning as much as possible about internet marketing and the current "state of the game" will be enormously valuable. There is a mountain of info out there, and I've created an "essential study guide" for internet marketers; this can be found in my eBook. 7) Google is not the be-all and the end-all of everything. This is important. Google is just one of the big web sites. There are many others, and there is tons of traffic out there.
There are many people making fortunes online who get their traffic from other sources completely. Many marketers make the mistake of relying solely on Google. 8) Give your sites professional foundations. This means, have a privacy policy, terms of service, contact information, disclaimer. If you are selling products online, look into "site seals" and which ones you might be able to display. 9) Play to your strengths - but diversify! Get rolling in several niches. An internet marketer doesn't rely on one system alone. Most of the great, highly-successful marketers have several web sites, in more than one niche - and are always trying out new things. For example, I work in five main niches. Each of these niches is focused around a subject that I am interested in and have some knowledge of. Each niche is a completely separate entity, and each has its own traffic, content and monetization systems. Choose niches that you have a passionate interest in learning more about, that you already have some knowledge or skills in, and that you feel you can achieve a measure of authority or success in. A question that is always asked is "Will a small or large niche make me more money?" This is not an easy question to answer. There is more money on the table in the large niches such as dating, making money online, diet and fitness - and the big "Gurus" swear by them. However, there is more competition. Whereas with small or obscure niches, there is less money in the niche altogether, however, it is often easier to achieve dominance. Be warned though - in small niches, you may be competing against "lifers" who have pursued the passion of this niche for their lifetimes. However, the good news is that although they may know a lot about their subject, they very often know much less about internet marketing - and therefore their web sites may not be very good and you may be able to trump them with solid marketing skills. It is possible to make a lot of money in obscure niches. 10) Test and track! One of the most important rules of all. Always test everything, and track results. Split test headlines and see which performs the best. Test keywords. Use statistics when it comes to internet marketing, they are another of your best friends. Don't rely on guesswork - use the many tracking and testing tools out there to refine the performance of your campaigns. It makes the difference that could make or break you. Invest the time it takes to use the Google Website Optimizer and Google Analytics. These are free tools, and they are amazing. 11) Seek a mentor. Learning all this stuff by yourself, without someone to guide you, can be very challenging. Just having someone who can give pointers and suggestions can be critical. See if you can find someone who has successfully done what you are attempting to do. "Bribe" them if necessary to look over your work and give their opinion - it will most likely be worth it. Another good idea is to find a prominent marketer and offer them a fee for a 30-minute consultation call, in which they can look over your materials and give you pointers. 12) Don't give up! Just because a web site hasn't become profitable in two months, it doesn't mean you should abandon it and let the domain name expire. Very often, it takes sites a while to find their audience. Plus, if you are working in a niche that you have interest in, you can strengthen any site by adding more valuable content. The good thing about web sites and niches is that you can let them sit for a while - and so long as you pay the domain and hosting fees, you can return to them later. In the meantime, your sites will acquire domain age and
pagerank. And when it comes to conversion statistics - very often it only takes a few adjustments that make the difference between a campaign being in the red or in the black. Remember also, that the pyramid of success is made out of bricks of failure. It usually takes many failures to reach success, so be prepared to keep getting back up, learning, improving and getting back in there. ***** END OF PART #4 ***** Well folks, there it is! A brief summary of my strategies for those who ask "How do I make money online." If you have found this guide valuable - please pass it on to your tribe; and please check out my eBook: "Alex Newman's Complete Guide To Making Money While You Sleep" ***** This article on making money online is divided into four separate PDFs: PART #1 - TRAFFIC PART #2 - CONTENT PART #3 - MONETIZATION PART #4 - TWELVE "RULES OF THUMB" THAT I LIVE BY Read / download the other three parts now - absolutely free - at: http://www.money-while-you-sleep.biz/how-do-i-make-money-online.html ***** © Alex Newman 2009
DISCLAIMER: “How Do I Make Money Online?” by Alex Newman (“This Article”) is provided for the purposes of general information, ideas and entertainment - and is not to be considered as, or as a substitute for, specific business advice or any other form of professional advice. No guarantee is made as to the accuracy, timeliness, usefulness or profitability of This Article and its contents, nor of the suitability of This Article and its contents for any purpose whatsoever – and Alex Newman (“The Writer”) specifically disclaims all liability arising in conjunction with use of these materials. Ideas from This Article are implemented at your own risk. None of the contents of This Article are recommendations to buy, sell or trade anything. If you are undertaking a business or investment enterprise, or are in doubt over legal / business matters etc, please seek appropriate professional / legal advice. DISTRIBUTION: You are welcome to make copies of This Article and give them away, print them out, link to them, post them on your web site, include them as bonuses with your own products etc – but only on the strict condition that they are left absolutely intact, unshortened and unedited, with all links remaining unchanged.