Earning money in 2012
Filling out online surveys
Pros: Can start straight away, open to most people, no investment of time/money needed
Cons: Limited payouts, shortage of surveys for certain demographics, sometimes you get paid in credit not cash
There are lots of sites offering payment for filling out surveys online but I’m going to recommend just a few, Valued Opinions, MySurvey and Justtheanswer. These three all have a good reputation for paying on time and supplying plenty of surveys to fill out. The payout per survey will vary from 10p to £3.00 and how many you get offered will depend on your profile i.e. your job/gender/age/location so surveys can be hit and miss. I think the most you can realistically make is around £200 a year which doesn’t exactly get my pulse racing but could appeal to some.
Writing content
Pros: Very scalable – write more content and you make more, huge demand
Cons: You won’t earn much in the beginning, time consuming
I’ve spoken about this before on EarningMoneyOnline but most people are unaware of it. One of the main building blocks of any website is content and with 1000s of new sites being created every day there’s a huge demand for articles/blog posts and general text to go on these sites. Some people may think “I’m not good at writing” but even so there is a demand for all levels of content and if you’re a native English speaker you will definitely get work. Content is priced per word and how much you earn will depend on your reputation and the quality you produce. To start with you will probably write for 1p per word and you can get it up to 3 – 4p if you’re good, if you can get the work you could easily be making £20 – £30 a day. To get jobs you have 2 options, go to an agency like TextBroker who will get you writing jobs but take a cut or you can promote yourself on webmaster forums like DigitalPoint or Warrior forum to webmasters who need content. Remember if you build up a reputation as a reliable writer then webmasters will keep coming back for more and you won’t have to bid/look for work.
Freelancing web design/seo/programming
Pros: Make much more money than surveys or article writing, skills that will last for years
Cons: Lots of competition, you need to have a real skill
I bet the title of this has already put some people off! It’s important to realise that there are many different levels of web design/programming/marketing and while all require you to have that skill (to some extent) often the skill isn’t a difficult one to learn. Since many businesses are outsourcing these kinds of tasks freelancing sites like elance, freelancer and fiver (all jobs are $5 lol) have sprung up which allow employers to post projects which freelancers then bid on. Now the main issue is do you have a skill that you can sell, and if not what would it take to learn one? This is very difficult to say as I don’t know your circumstances but the best route would be to try out one of those “for dummies” books as I learnt php in around a week with one (the basics). Also remember the goal with this type of work is the same as the last example, you want to build up a reputation with clients so that eventually they can give you steady work and you don’t have to bid on the freelance sites (they can be a pain).
Niche affiliate marketing
Pros: Unlimited earnings, your own boss, work on projects your interested in, no technical knowledge required
Cons: Some investment of time and money
I’ve saved the best until last (in my opinion) and it’s the one I’ve talked most about on this blog. In short affiliate marketing is the process of building small niche websites which are used to attract traffic (website visitors). Because the website is geared around a specific subject the traffic is valuable to advertisers who will pay commission on the sales we generate for them. Ok so the above statement may be simplifying things a little as the main job is getting people to the site, but the unique aspect of this system is that a successful website can be making you money even when you sleep. If you are interested in this method then I will be bringing out a new and improved ebook very soon which explains exactly how to build a website (with no technical knowledge) and get it earning money fast.
Ok so that’s 4 great ways anyone can make money from the internet in 2012, there’s something here for people of all skill levels, time and financial constraints. As with everything your results will depend on how much you’re prepared to put into any system, there’s a reason people filling out surveys are only getting 50p a time, anyone can do it. Until next time…
PS. If you’re looking for motivation check out the video below by Anthony Robbins, it’s about how Sylvester Stallone got the movie Rocky made, amazing stuff.
The free guide is launched
So a while ago I mentioned that I was thinking about writing an ebook guide for people trying to make some extra money using the net. The idea came from the fact that most of my posts on the blog were pretty “negative” as I spent most of my time ranting about all the scams I kept seeing. But it’s no good complaining if you’re not prepared to give out some useful advice yourself, so somehow I managed to write a “rough” draft of the guide and get it posted here on the blog.
So in short what is the guide? Well for a start it’s free to read online which is nice! Essentially it covers the major steps of building a small niche website and the techniques needed to promote it online, I take you through:
- Picking the right market for your site
- Building the site
- Promoting the side
- Making money from the site
One problem I had was how much detail to give in the guide because I don’t know what level you guys reading it are at. But one step I wanted to make clear from the start is how easy it is to build a really professional website with zero technical knowledge, so I went through that part in some detail.
I also need to say that this is the first draft of the free guide and there’s much more I want to add to it but just haven’t had time yet, but it will be updated as the days and weeks go by. I must also mention that this isn’t a get rich quick overnight type of thing, I’ve never encouraged that stuff on the blog and I’m not going to start now. It’s a legit way to create an income but you still have to put the work in and fill in some of the missing pieces yourself.
So if you’re feeling brave give it a read and you can even let me know what you think if you’re feeling social 
Why most websites never make money
Id love to know the stats but I’m betting that the vast majority of new websites started by amateurs online never make any money. There’s many reasons why but the end result seems to be the same for so many people, they spend lots of time/money getting the site up and running and then nothing happens for months and they cant work out why. Before giving up they usually try offline marketing methods in an attempt to get things going, like leaflet drops, business cards in supermarkets and even launch parties (my favourite).
The thing is no matter the size or function of your site unless you embrace SEO, PPC or both then your doomed to failure. The problem is though both these skills are time consuming to learn and implement, but isn’t everything? Even when you know seo it still takes plenty of time to get results so that combined with running the site could make it hard to achieve part-time, but anythings possible.
Ok so after all that negativity what do you actually have to do to make it with your site?
- You have to get out there and connect with other bloggers and websites, this is at the core of Internet marketing. A good way to get started is guest posting, this is were you write a post or article for someone else’s site and in exchange they give you a link back, sounds simple but trust me its still a lot of work. As we know incoming links help both with search engines and your overall popularity so no-matter how long it takes you’ve got to do it. If your not sure where to get started myblogguest is a free forum where you can write guest posts for other webmasters.
- You have to stand out at least a little bit because there’s a million sites out there all doing the same thing. Honestly if you want to build up return visitors you’ve got to give them a reason to come back. Ultimately you’ve got to give your audience what they want and in a clear structure they can understand. So if your an online store offer discounts the competition cant because even though you take a hit in the short term on price the exposure you gain long term is always worth it.
- Consistency is another big part of the equation, are you going to stick with this gig? Are you going to be getting new links for your site on a weekly basis. Will you be creating content for your site for the next 12 months every week to keep it fresh? Obviously the amount of work required is going to depend on the niche your in but even so the work is going to be there until you reach your goal, are you prepared for that?
So that’s my problem, I’m just a realist I suppose but better that I think than one of the get rich quick gurus. I’m always looking for legitimate ways to earn money online that actually deliver a return for the time spent. I cant imagine anything worse than spending lots of time and money on some system that I didn’t fundamentally understand, are you prepared to trust in luck? Or do you want to spend time learning a process like Internet marketing which is already proven?
Another day another waste of time
You know things are getting bad when you starting seeing ads for “cashback websites” on primetime TV. The latest one I’ve noticed are “quidco” who are a UK firm (where I live btw) who offer you money back if you buy certain products/services through their site, it’s essentially a big affiliate program. Don’t get me wrong you can in theory earn some money with this but the idea of making back £5 on £1000 life insurance policy doesn’t exactly get my pulse racing. I have visions in my head of happy consumer’s spending money on sub-par products just for the cash back, don’t forget:
You still have to buy the product!
Also bear in mind that you’re handing your personal details over to these guys who will most likely be spamming you to death for the next 100 years until you finally tap-out. Am I a born sceptic or just hard to please, I can’t tell but my view on these “free for all” systems that allow anyone to make money has never really changed, it can’t work, it doesn’t work and it never will.
One thing I will say is you can’t really lose anything with these cashback schemes apart from your time, this is different from the daily “stock market secrets” eBook that gets pedalled to my junk folder. The real scams always involve some crazy up-front investment with promises of millions down the line, I wonder how many people get sucked in, probably more that you’d think.
So is it possible to earn real money on the web?
Well yes it is but as mentioned many times before it always involves time and effort. Sometimes it’s in research of the idea/concept and sometimes it’s just 100% application. My main money making “scheme” is web-development and internet marketing which in a nutshell is building websites and getting as many people too them as possible (like how I summed up a few years work in one sentence?). Well actually it’s not going to take years but at the same it’s not like you’re going to get to a certain level and quit, its lifelong learning and not in the pretend university way.
The Idea that I have a system is also a bit of a misnomer, I have concepts and ideas that are never set in stone. The web is constantly changing and how people are finding websites is too, just look at the rise of social media companies like facebook and twitter. Traditionally seo people are terrified of social media but I think it just provides even more opportunities, ten years ago if you wanted to reach a few million potential customers it would cost you thousands. Now with a good idea and some effective viral marketing you can do it for about a £10!
Still you’re not going to see any of these money making ideas that actually work in the mainstream any time soon, its way to complicated to fit into a 30 second TV spot. Until next time…
Earning money part-time – practical?
On the one hand it seems like the perfect situation, make extra money with the web whilst still keeping your day job. But just how practical is it to do? Well for a start it’s by no means realistic for all types of web businesses, for example with a full online store. So I’m talking about a proper ecommerce site where you’re taking orders and shipping out products to customers. Don’t get me wrong an ecommerce store requires much less man-power than a real one but you still have all the usual headaches like dealing with customers, returns and managing stock etc. This is before you get to all the other essential activities like marketing and site development, there’s no way your going to manage this when you get home from work. Actually something like selling on eBay could be quite a chore too, anything that involves a lot of communication with people is going to require plenty of time.
I hear a lot about passive income these days but I think many people have the concept wrong. It’s not an income without work but it does mean the business doesn’t need constant attention in order to earn money, you can often put the time in when you have it which is ideal for many people. So what is the system and how much does it cost? Well I’m not selling a system for a start but in short I make money by building sites that I then sell advertising on, the great thing about this concept is I’m not responsible to anyone. How much time you want/need to put in is really up to you, but ultimately only you will be responsible for your success.
There are some other great little businesses that earn money with the net but if you’re looking to start part-time then:
- You can’t be spending too much time dealing/negotiating with people.
- Shouldn’t need you to check in every day, you want to only spend time when you have it.
- Not much investment (I’m assuming if you’re willing to do 2 jobs you’re not rich!)
- You want to focus on learning one or two main skills, you don’t have the time to learn everything.
The great thing is that building sites really does tick all of the boxes above and its getting very accessible for non-technical people to get started. But since I’m not trying to sell some overpriced ebook or pyramid scheme there’s no need to promise a magic formula that will do the work for you. It’s still a complex and time consuming business to learn, but if it was easy wouldn’t everyone be doing it?
On a slightly un-related note check out the video by Jim Rohn above, only just discovered his stuff lately but he does have some genuinely good points (not just the Anthony Robbins hype). Until next time.