If your dream is to make money from an Internet business, you may be surprised that there are several different types. There's a lot of talk about finding a niche and selling just one, special, product but before you make the leap and build a web store that sells under water embroidery supplies for left handed sailors called Bob, it may be an idea to check whether this is the best thing for you.
1. Products. Selling products is the most obvious form of Internet business. You'll need to set up an e-commerce site, find a good, reliable supplier for your products and do your best to negotiate good shipping rates. Shipping can easily eat in to the profit of a website and can be a lot of work, so drop shipping is popular. If you can find a drop shipper for the product you want to sell you can worry about advertising and selling the product while your drop shipper handles the warehousing and delivery. Of course there is a fee involved, so the method only works where you stand to make a reasonable profit. Low cost items are not usually successful when drop shipped, but don't give up hope, there are wholesalers who will deal in low volumes. This may be the answer.
2. Free Information. If selling products doesn't appeal you can build a website around free information. Create a central repository for useful information about your area of interest you could even run a club with a monthly newsletter for people who share your interest. If it is successful you may even be able to charge a small membership fee and hide part of your site from casual visitors. An information sheet which costs $1 to download sounds insignificant, but mounts up if you can attract a million interested visitors. You can also sell advertising space, add Google ads to your pages or perhaps create customised products, for example from CafePress. If you have an expert at a sport or hobby this may be the ideal path for you.
3. Information Products. A similar approach is to sell information products. This is ideal for a consultant or coach. If you have a mailing list of faithful followers you can sell all sorts of information such as reports, e-books, email courses, podcasts, videos, physical books, coaching calls and webinars, or a combination. Your web site needs to demonstrate your expertize and give visitors a way (and a reason) to join your mailing list. Again this is great if you have a great deal of knowledge about a subject, but it is possible to license a product from someone else, or outsource the creation of the product to freelancers.
4. Another option is to become an affiliate marketer. This is similar to being a salesman paid only on commission. You recommend a product or products to visitors to your website and if they buy it (from a third party) you receive a commission. Affiliate payments vary enormously. They can be 50% of the cost of the product, but more often they are a small percentage, so you need a stable of products as well as steady, heavy web site traffic to make money this way. If your web site visitors perceive you as an expert in the subject concerned, you are more likely to be successful.
5. Blogging. Not everyone is going to be offered a book deal or a spot on a news program, but there is definitely money to be made in writing on the Internet. Blogs which contain interesting or entertaining content can attract a great deal of visitors and make money in the same way as those with free information sites, only the content their product is opinion, aggregation and commentary rather than information.
Whichever method you choose, be sure to get your information from reliable sources and avoid the many internet scams. You do not need to buy or attend courses which cost thousands of dollars in order to make money on the web, but if you approach the task properly there is money to be made. All it takes is persistence, time and a willingness to learn.
About the Author:
Lesley Rice Charalambides is an entrepreneur and author. Originally from Scotland, Lesley was an IT consultant for more than 20 years before she freed herself from the 9 to 5. She now lives in Florida with her husband, two children and two dogs. She monitors her business interests via the internet. Lesley enjoys writing informative articles about e-business and how families can become location independent.
You can follow her blog at http://www.luxury-nightwear.com.
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