The internet is the great equalizer. In business
specifically, it has leveled the playing field. Anyone can start a
money-making online business—anyone with a computer, that is. But here’s the
thing: virtually no technical experience is needed. Today there are plenty of
tools you can use to build an online business that makes the technical work a
lot easier than it was in the past.
You can also live anywhere you want, set your own schedule,
and work as little or as much as you want, depending on how fast or big you
want your business to grow. No business or marketing experience is needed
either. It’s a truly democratic medium for entrepreneurship.
Best of all, unlike a brick-and-mortar business, you don’t
need a lot of startup capital. In fact, you can get many internet businesses up
and running with no money at all because so many free services facilitate the
possibility. For example, you can set up a website or blog for free using
WordPress. Or you can leverage a third-party site like Amazon or eBay
to sell goods with no inventory costs. You use their selling platform in
exchange for giving them a cut of your sales.
And this is just the start of the many available no-money
e-commerce startup solutions. Let's consider five of the top ways to start an online business and make money online with
little or no cost at all.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is somewhat similar to drop shipping but
with some key differences. With this e-commerce model, you again don’t maintain
an inventory of your own products, and you don’t have to worry about shipping
products to customers.
Basically, you pick a profitable niche for your online
business, and then you find an affiliate partner who has products available in
that niche. Some of the most popular affiliate sites are Clickbank.com,
Amazon.com, and CJ Affiliate by Conversant (formerly Commission Junction).
Between them, they offer just about any digital information product (like
ebooks, audio files, video files) or physical product you can think of.
Many big name companies and brands like Wal-Mart and Home Depot run their own
affiliate programs.
With affiliate marketing, you offer the products for sale,
for example, on your blog or e-commerce website. Each product has a unique link
that tracks back to your account with your affiliate partner. A prospect who
clicks on the link is taken to your partner’s shopping cart for checkout. Once
they buy, that purchase is recorded and you receive a commission. Commission
amounts vary depending on the affiliate partner, but is generally 5 percent to
25 percent, or 50 percent or more with digital information products. As
you can see, there’s little risk on your part and virtually no investment
needed either. Just like with drop shipping your only costs will be
marketing and advertising to drive traffic and generate the sale.
The key difference between this and drop shipping is that
the business model is even more hands off. All you have to do is provide a link
for the customer to click on and the merchant handles everything; billing,
order fulfillment, customer service, etc.
All you have to do is handle the marketing to get your
prospects to buy (through social media, email marketing, blogging, or
whatever method you choose). But after they click the affiliate link, it’s out
of your hands. You don’t have to ship products or handle any customer service
questions. And you certainly don’t have to maintain an inventory.
All you have to do is focus on paid and free ways to
market your online business.
Affiliate marketing really is one of the most
"hand-off" types of online businesses you can start.
Pros
- Low risk: No initial investment required
- Hands-off business model
Cons
- You’re responsible for driving web traffic to the affiliate link (no traffic means no money)
- May need to spend money on advertising and marketing
Blogging
If you have the expertise or a passion or interest for
a subject, you're ready to start making money with a blog. With a service
like Blogger (www.blogger.com), you can start up your blog totally free. You
can also create your own site and secure your own hosting for a low price,
which is generally the route I recommend, as many free blogging sites have
restrictions on what you can say or do, including making money or advertising.
You may think blogging is all about writing. And it can be
if that's what you want to do. But written blog posts are just the start. You
can post photos, videos, and links to other sites, you can even repost
news and other articles… anything is game, really, as long as it relates to
your niche.
They key is that you want to post original content that is
useful to your target audience and to post on a regular basis. That is the best
way to get ranked in the search engines and to also get your audience to take
action.
What sort of content should you provide? Anything that is
engaging to your prospect. How-to topics, top-lists, commentary on trends in
your niche, tips and tricks articles—basically, you need to provide useful
content. There's no shortage of ideas for your blog.
You make money in a variety of ways with an online business
blog.
Google AdSense.
Have you ever been to a website and seen an ad on it?
Chances are it was an ad being run through the Google advertising network.
These pay-per-click ads appear on your blog. Every time
somebody clicks on an ad (which is supposed to be about a subject related to
your niche), you make a few cents or more. Small amounts each time, but it adds
up. This is extremely hands-off. You just need to get a code from Google, place
it on your website - and the ads will automatically appear on your blog. Google
will only show ads that are relevant to your blog so it's a good experience for
your visitors and maximizes the number of clicks you get, meaning more income.
Blog ad networks.
You can also work with ad networks other than Google, like
Blogads, and run banner ads on your blog. Same as Google Adsense ads, you place
the code once on your website and when your visitors click on the ads then you
get paid. In addition to banner ads, you can also run video ads on your site.
In many cases you can make more money with blog ad networks,
but they tend to only work with blogs that are getting tens of thousands of
visitors a month or more; as opposed to Google Ads where you can start right
away regardless of the amount of traffic you get.
Affiliate marketing.
You know this one already. You include links to products
you are promoting as an affiliate and every time somebody buys the
product, you get a commission. With a blog, you can integrate advertising with
content to make it even more likely you’ll get the sale. For example, you could
do a product review—which is useful content—and then include a link to buy the
product under an affiliate link.
Here are a few successful blogging tips to make sure people
can find your blog—and will keep coming back. This is key to building a
following and making your blog a profitable venture.
You need to provide useful content in an engaging way.
If your blog is boring or the information can be found
everywhere else, nobody will read it. Don't hesitate to put your own
personality into the blog.
You have to post content on a regular basis.
People thirst for the new, so make sure you put up articles,
videos, or whatever consistently. It could one post per day or three times per
week. Whatever it is, maintain the same schedule. A scattershot posting history
means losing readers.
At a minimum try to aim for one new post, video, or other
forms of content a week.
Be genuine.
Yes, your blog is supposed to make money. But you can’t make
marketing pitches all the time. Focus on useful content so that your readers
come to know, like, and trust you. Then they will naturally click on your
advertising or buy the products you recommend. In this era of the internet and
social media, people are looking for authenticity.
Do all of this, and you’ll attract the notice of search
engines like Google, which are always looking to put sites with useful,
relevant content on top of the search results. This is what content
marketing is all about.
You could start a blog in less than an hour. But it takes
time to make money as you build readership, and only a small percentage of
those folks end up buying your products.
Pros
- Very low start-up costs
- You may work on your own schedule
Cons
- May take a long time to begin making money
- Creating and posting content can be time-consuming
Online Video Making
Have you watched a YouTube video lately? Of course, you
have! This is one of the world’s most popular websites, with more than billion users watching hundreds of millions of hours of video each day. And
it’s not all cats doing funny things, by any means.
You can leverage YouTube’s reach to make money online.
No, you’re not trying to create a viral video, so to speak, although if it does
go worldwide and is seen by millions, that’s a good thing.
Instead, you’ll be following a proven strategy for
maximizing views of multiple videos on a regular basis. You’ll be creating
useful content—something engaging that people want to watch. And it works in
many, many different niches. It could be a how-to video or a talking-head video
on a topic of interest for people in your niche—the sky is the limit.
You make money with ad revenue. Your first step is to create
a YouTube account and start uploading videos. Then you enable monetization on
your YouTube settings. Basically, this gives Google the go-ahead to include
short AdSense ads with your videos, which you've seen if you’ve watched a
YouTube video. When viewers click on those ads, you get paid.
Another opportunity to make money with a YouTube channel is
through paid sponsorships. Build a large enough following and companies will be
more than happy to pay you to promote or mention their products and services in
your videos.
Some tips to create professional-looking videos (no
expensive pro equipment needed):
- You can use your smartphone or a simple video camera. But make sure the lighting is good so that everything in your video is clear and easy to see.
- Make sure the audio is clear. You don't want an air conditioning hum, construction noise, or other distractions.
- Use simple editing software like iMovie to put titles at the beginning of the video and to edit out any flubs.
Above all, remember that your videos can be simple and don’t
have to be slick. Just provide useful content and be engaging and interesting.
Funny helps, too.
And to extend the reach of your videos, be sure to post
them on your Facebook business page, Twitter, your blog, and other channels.
Let people know you’re in the video business now.
In addition to ad revenue from YouTube videos, you can also
use your YouTube channel to drive traffic back to your website, where
visitors can read your product reviews, click on the ads on your website, or
even get onto your email subscriber list—where you can make multiple sales
with your email list.
Pros
- You can use your existing smartphone or computer
- It works across several different niches
Cons
- Creating and posting videos can be time-consuming
- It may take a while to begin making revenue
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