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| About
Online Money
Is it just me or do there seem to be more online money making opportunities than there are total dollars available in our entire economy? From what I can see there are a few categories. MLM, or Network Marketing, Affiliate Programs, Buying Clubs/Internet Malls, Creating Web Sites/Content, Extending an Existing Business Online and the ever present Porn Pushers. I will give a brief summery of each category and why I either recommend or avoid them. But first let me say this; just getting a business going online is useless unless you are willing and able to do the marketing of your online business. I have been heavily involved in the Internet for over 5 years now. I used to own an ISP and web development company and I currently maintain several businesses that are primarily managed online. It just isn't true that the world is waiting to beat a path to your web site once you have one. Getting your own web presence has about the same impact as getting your name in the World Phonebook. There really isn't any reason for someone to call you (unless they are a telemarketer and it is dinner time). ONLINE MLM Well the Dream Weavers finally have a new tool in their bag. To here them tell it the Internet is going to make everyone rich. They will tell you that e-commerce is the wave of the future and all you have to do is refer people to your web site and all of the selling is done for you. The web sites will even put on a business opportunity meeting for you. All you have to do is cash the checks (translation-join, go on auto ship and pay your monthly fee). I have seen more people get suckered into MLM since the e-commerce hype started than at any other time. First problem with online MLMs is that they are MLMs. They don't pay well off line and none of that changes online. Second problem is that they are run by the same people who plan to make a killing and then fold up shop. I know I have been approached by individuals who wanted to start some companies online. Yes I said companies. They wanted to know how easy it would be for them insert new company names and information into the software after the first company failed. Also when we were explaining that we couldn't design software to run on their personal computers to run huge companies, that they would in fact have to invest in a Spark running UNIX they responded "Oh we only need it to be able to handle up to 50,000 distributors. The worst of the online MLMs are the ones that simply sell web sites which give you the ability to sell web sites. They are always in trouble with the law. Refer to MLM $ The Law on this web site
AFFILIATE PROGRAMS Now we are getting somewhere. Affiliate Programs often let you become an associate for free and pay you commissions for any sales that happen as a result of traffic you send to the owner of the Affiliate Program. Of course you need a web site (preferably one with lots of traffic) and the ability to insert links on your web site to the site that makes the sales, but if you have these things you can make a few bucks for your efforts. Some Affiliate Programs will even give you a self-replicating web site. Then all you need to do is drive traffic to your Personalized Affiliate Site. While this sounds great it is often a waste of the 15 minutes it takes to sign up for the program. If you don't have the web savvy to have a site that is generating traffic chances are slim to none that you will have the wherewithal to actually generate enough traffic to your Affiliate Site to make any money. This later problem is also the bane of Online MLM self replicating web site owners (except they get to pay for the privilege of spinning their wheels). Just joining an Affiliate Program, even one with a Free Web Site, isn't going to make you any money. Be honest with yourself about your internet skill level and what you are willing to learn and implement in order to make money online if you are considering Affiliate programs. Other things to be aware of when considering an Affiliate Program is "Who is running the show?". Just because someone has a web site doesn't make them a good business person. Take me for example. I have had web sites for years AND I have driven two companies into the ground! If you are going to invest your good name, or the good will you have with your regular web site viewers into an affiliate program I suggest you check them out. There are some programs that in spite of the fact that they have a great product at an awesome price, I will not put a link to them up on my site. They simply suck at business. Their Affiliate program is like an empty apartment, all lit up but nobody home. All that being said I participate in and promote several programs that I have found to provide a good product or service at a competitive price and who have the business skills required to run a successful shop in addition to having a fancy web site. You can find my recommendations on the ONLINE OPPORTUNITIES page in this section of the web site.
BUYING CLUBS / INTERNET MALLS Want the inside scoop? 95% of the Buying Clubs and Internet Mall sites exist for the sole purpose of selling you a membership in the club or mall. Almost all of them contract with a very limited group of computer programmers and fulfillment houses. What they do is design a self replicating web site and link it to a database that has lots of products for sale by a drop shipper. When you pull up the mall on your browser it simply links out to the drop shippers catalogue info and displays a pre determined retail price and a standard description. Don't believe me? Go check out several of these Malls and you will notice that most of them have the same product descriptions and product pictures. Want to confirm the hunch? Open the source code and hunt down the sources of those descriptions and pictures. They are using the same tricks we have been using for years with online computer catalogues and lingerie catalogues (remember I used to have a web site development company). The new twist that the Internet Malls have added is getting you to either pay to buy into the store (sounds like some of the MLM Pros have changed their appearance again, oh did I let that little secret slip out? oops) or require you to have minimum volumes in order to get a check. If it walks like a DUCK..... As I am sure you have figured out by now, you will not be finding any links to Internet Malls listed below. Oh One More Thing..... In the history of MLM and the Internet Malls, there hasn't been a single one that has made it to 5 years old and a moderate $10 million dollars in yearly sales. Why? Could it possibly be because they are not providing any real value or true savings?
CREATING WEB SITES or CONTENT If you have the skills you can earn some decent money doing either of these two options or being an online tech guru. The interesting thing is that there are these two main needs on the Internet. Very often people who can code or author in HTML have nothing to say and prolific rich content types have no idea how to get their stuff online. If you are in one of these two categories keep searching, your other shoe is out there : ) I fall mostly on the "create web sites" side (except for this personal site) and my prices start at about $75 an hour. However I can tell you from first hand experience that just because someone has the money to have a web site built doesn't mean it is going to be interesting. I believe that rich content providers are going to be the most valuable commodity on the internet in the years to come. Lets fact facts, you may come to my site and look around once if it is pretty. The only thing that will keep you coming back is if I have something that interests you that is dynamic, AKA Content.
EXTENDING AN EXISTING BUSINESS ONLINE Of all of the categories listed here, this one has the greatest potential. If you already have a business and you are successful at that business your best bet is to explore to possibilities of expanding your sphere of influence to include the online community. You can spend thousands of dollars exploring this possibility before even getting a domain name. I could dedicate an entire web site to the subject. The bottom line is this. If you either have an existing online business you want to take to the next level or you are looking for the very best place to start researching whether you can take a brick and mortar business and extend it online there is only one place to go for that information. I doinked around for years before investing in learning from a real pro who does millions of dollars of business a year from an office that is smaller than mine. His information and well documented methods have not only changed my business but I get several emails a month from people thanking me for turning them on to this very valuable resource. I Like how he does business too. He offers a very strong guarantee on his products and services and of all of the people I know of who have discovered his information through me, I don't know of a single one who has asked for their money back. I am so impressed with his offerings that I have given them their own page. You can find that page here. If you have a sucesfull business that you are extending online I would like to hear from you. I may want to link to it from my site. Drop me a line and let me know what you are doing.
PORN PUSHERS Last and certainly least are the porn related opportunities. Like MLM lots of money can be made here. Like MLM allot of people get hurt for a few to make money. Like MLM I would like to see the unrestricted porn off MY Internet. After I am satisfied that I have done all that I can to topple the way MLM is being carried out on this country I am going to set my sites on the Online Porn Industry. For now you can find links in the Great Stuff Section of this web site on how you can help clean up our collective bandwidth. Sad as it is, if we are going to have respectable businesses online we are going to have to first clean up the neighborhood!
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