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Showing posts with label before starting a home business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label before starting a home business. Show all posts

Sunday, 20 July 2014

6 Simple Steps to Writing Seductive Web Copy

How seductive are you?
I’m not a great seducer.
I don’t have a string of conquests to boast about. I’m no modern Cleopatra.
But as a marketer and copywriter, I’ve studied the seductive techniques that big brands use to win customers.
How does Apple tempt us to part with our hard-earned cash and trade in a perfectly fine iPhone 4 for an iPhone 5?
How did Amazon ever persuade me to read books on a Kindle when I love the look, feel, and smell of real books?
The “secret” to writing seductive web copy is to follow a proven 6-step process.
To get started, you need to know exactly who you want to seduce …

1. Describe your ideal reader

Describing (and visualizing) your ideal reader makes your web copy much more vivid and personal.
This doesn’t mean that you will sell your product or service only to that person. It means that whoever closely matches your ideal reader should feel that your content is written for him.
Your ideal reader should become like an imaginary friend. You should know your ideal reader so well that you can start a conversation with her at any time. You know when she shakes her head because you say something she doesn’t agree with. You know what makes her smile or laugh. You know the questions she asks. You know how to charm and flatter her.
When describing your ideal reader, don’t just think about demographics like age, gender, income, education, and family circumstances. Do you know what he dreams of achieving? And what keeps her awake at 3am?
Whenever you’re writing web copy, imagine that you’re writing for your ideal reader. Your writing will become more charming, more interesting, and more persuasive.

2. Create a comprehensive list of features, benefits, and objections

You love to talk about your company. Your products. Your services.
Maybe you’re excited about the recent improvements you’ve made to your service, or about the new skills you’ve learned. Or, maybe you’ve spent many months developing new features for your products.
You’re selling your product or service, so that’s what you need to write about,right?
Wrong.
The hard truth is that nobody is interested in you, your company, or your products, because people are only interested in themselves.
Famous direct response copywriters like John Caples, Eugene Schwartz, and Joe Sugarman have all said it: To sell your products, you need to focus on the benefitsto your readers.
Before you start writing your web copy, finalize your research:
  • Create a full list of features and specifications
  • Translate each feature into a benefit for your ideal reader
  • Consider the problems you help avoid
  • Write down the objections to buying from you and decide how you can address them
Doing research and planning your web copy will help you create more seductive web copy.

3. Develop an enticing value proposition

Is your value proposition your magic pick-up line?
Many guys think you only need to know a few magic words to seduce a girl, but that’s — of course — far from the truth. You need to know the right words to start a conversation, so that a girl gives you the opportunity to show her how much fun it is to be with you.
Your value proposition isn’t a magic pick-up line either. It’s your conversationstarter. It entices your ideal reader to learn more about you.
A value proposition usually consists of a headline, possibly a subheading, and three to five bullet points. Your headline can simply state what you do or mention the key benefit of working with you.
Web visitors are in a hurry; they make lightning decisions as to whether a website is right for them or not. Your headline should be clear, credible, and concise. Don’t use clever wordplay.
As usability expert Steve Krug suggests: Don’t make your web visitors think!

4. Write a first draft

Let’s say a new reader has arrived at your site …
Your headline and bullet points encourage her to find out more about you. You’ve started a conversation; and now you need to charm her with your product or service — you need to describe your offer and persuade your web visitor to take action.
You might want a web visitor to buy directly from you, to set up a free initial consultation, or to sign up for your e-newsletter. But you need to persuade her to take action and address her objections to doing so.
If you have your list of features, benefits, and objections, it’s easy to decide which content to use on which page. Make your copy comprehensive and persuasive by mentioning all benefits of working with you, and by addressing all objections your visitor may have.
Writing web copy that works simply means persuading your ideal reader to take the next step in the selling process. Make sure your prospect knows what next step to take.
Feel free to be bossy and tell him exactly what to do NOW ;-)

5. Edit your copy

Editing isn’t just about correcting grammar goofs and spelling mistakes. You need to make your copy more engaging, credible and persuasive.
Consider the following steps when editing your copy:
  • Check your list of features, benefits, and objections to ensure you don’t miss any important sales messages
  • Edit your web copy for scanners; create enticing subheadings and fascinatingbullet points; and follow the inverted pyramid
  • Make your copy more credible and persuasive by using copywriting techniques
  • Boost your web copy’s readability by tightening and simplifying your text
  • Proofread to correct typos
Read your web copy aloud and imagine you’re talking to your ideal reader. Does he understand it? Does he like it? Does it persuade him to take action?

6. Optimize your copy

Do you want to seduce Google, too?
And tempt the almighty search engine to send you some extra traffic?
Usually when you write for your ideal reader, your web pages are SEO-friendly, too. Use the same words your ideal reader uses and you have a better chance of being found in Google.
Writing frequently about your area of expertise is good for your readers. It’s also good for search engine optimization.
Using the language of your customer is good for your readers. It’s also good for search engine optimization.
Developing a broad network of experts and web publishers in your topic, and referencing their ideas (including with links) in your content, is good for your readers. It’s also good for search engine optimization.

A “secret” to picking up more customers …

Creating seductive web copy isn’t only about writing.
The “secret” to being persuasive is to choose an ideal reader you love working with. Understand exactly who you’re writing for and what makes him tick. Answer his questions and make him smile. Hold an imaginary conversation together. Have some fun. And show him your passion for your business and what he’ll get out of that passion.
Your copy will be more engaging and seductive. And you’ll win more customers and more raving fans.
P.S. If you’re looking for even more in-depth tips on how all this really works online, download your copy of my new How to Write Seductive Web Copy.

Tuesday, 15 July 2014

Things you need to know about marketing (before starting a marketing campaign)

One of the core values I have is that I give the same advice to my clients as I would my best friend. So, here is some of my best advice.

1. You should only allocate a small amount of your budget on a web designer.

Let’s say you have allocated £2,500 for a new website build. You go to a web designer and tell them your budget and they build you a website for £2,500. What now? You expect orders to come in but that won’t happen. I have seen it hundreds of times.
A better option would be. Spend £1000 on getting your sales copy, web structure and architecture right first by a marketing specialist. Then, get the website built by a web designer for £300 (you can even get this bit outsourced offshore). Then spend the remaining £1200 on marketing and getting traffic to your website.
Once you start getting the traffic to your website you can gain traction and increase your revenue. You can start to split test your website to find out what appeals to your market best (all the most sophisticated companies test – you should be no different as I almost guarantee your competitors won’t be testing).

2. Concentrate on your point of difference

What is it the Dragons always ask on Dragons Den? Why are you different? Why should I invest in you? Why you?
What happens on X-factor when a woman dressed like Amy Winehouse comes onto the stage and sings Back to Black just as Amy would have done? She gets voted off even if she had an equal voice to Amy Winehouse.
One of the golden rules of business is that you need to be different. You don’t always need to be better – you just need a point of difference. This gives people the option of choosing (or not choosing) your services easier.
The worst mistake I see businesses make is getting a generic looking website with bland, uninspiring copy. Unfortunately, this is the case with most web design companies. Go to a web designer and they will try to please you with a design. They will ask you want you want and what you like. They will give you what you want NOT what you need.
Firstly, work on your point of difference and why people should use you. Then build your website built around that message. What you say is much more important than how you say it. What you say is much more important than how you say it (I said it twice because this is really, really important).

3. Your copy is king

A big mistake I see people make with their website is that they create their own content. This has become more of a problem now it is very easy to update your own website.
If your web designer gave you the job of ‘creating the copy’ then it can be a danger sign. After all, I wouldn’t feel confident in a car mechanic fixing my car and then telling me to perform the MOT test myself.
Copywriting will make or break your website. Your website should be a reflection of your best salesperson. Don’t do this yourself as you are too close to your services to be purely objective and copy writing is a skill. It is a very, very under valued skill and something most web designers leave out (getting you to do the copy increases profit margins).

4. If you want cheap – you will get cheap.

If you want a cheap website then go here (http://99designs.co.uk/web-design). It won’t generate you a return on investment and it will look like every other website out there but it will be cheap.
Don’t get me wrong. If you are a ‘run of the mill’ company then there are hundreds of ‘run of the mill’ web designers in every town in the UK. They will produce you a website you are happy with so you can tick the ‘get a website built’ box off your list. That is fine if that is what you are looking for.
If you are looking to grow your business then you need a more professional approach to your website. A better option is to get the experts in first to craft your sales message, website structure and point of difference and then use out sourced web designers (who are often better qualified but half the price of a UK designer).

5. Grab your visitors attention.

Do you remember the first time you saw a Volkswagen Beetle? How about a Concorde? How about an Ipad? All these things have one thing in common. They stood out and you remember them.
You need to stand out. You engage people through a website with copy, headlines and an easy to use website. These things don’t come about by accident. They are well thought and well crafted.
A well known marketing principle is the AIDA principle. This goes along the lines (in an over simplified way) of grabbing your visitors Attention, then engage their Interest and  buildingDesire through to finally asking them to take an Action (AIDA). This simple marketing principle can be applied with devastating effect on your website.
Use a marketing expert to consult and guide your web designer. Just like you would use an architect to consult builders on a building project.

Key takeaway point

Your prospective clients will judge you on your website whether you like it or not. They will determine what type of business you are, where you are positioned in the market and whether you are worth considering or not before they actually speak to you. Scary that isn’t it? But let’s be honest, we have all done it. You go to a website and you make a judgement call before you have even spoken to anybody in the company from the website.
Do not underestimate the power your website can have and chose your web team carefully.

Monday, 14 July 2014

20 ideas to make money online

A cash cow for the enterprising, the Internet is littered with opportunities to make a fast buck. While it rarely qualifies as a solitary source of income, the Net can easily help you supplement it. However, the amount you earn depends on the time and effort invested. Go through these 20 options and find out which ones work for you.

Blogging
If you're a passionate closet writer who wants to be published but can't find a way to do so, make each keystroke your way to wealth by penning your own blog. Starting a blog doesn't require extensive technical skills but it's important that you have expertise in the field you are writing on. This will attract visitors to your site. Building a large following will enable you to earn profit by luring advertisers, writing paid reviews or getting commissions for promoting other people's products.

Paid Writing
If maintaining a blog is difficult for you but you still want to indulge your passion for writing, you can jot down articles for other blogs or sites such as Weblogs, Helium or PayPerPost. Writing an e-book can also be a good option. E-books are investment free, with no cost for printing and shipping. If you have a strong command over languages, you can become a copy editor, where Webmasters will pay you to read articles and correct grammatical errors, sentence fragments, etc.

e-tuitions/Webinars
The demand for tutors is high and growing. So, if you like helping others learn, e-teaching could be the earning ticket for you. All you need to become an online tutor is expertise in your subject and a few spare hours per week. TutorVista, e-tutor, SmartThinking and Tutor.com are some of the sites you can enroll with. If you gain a good reputation as a coach, you could even conduct Webinars-lectures or seminars transmitted over the Net. College and university students are willing to pay to gain entry to a well-respected Webinar.

Affilliate/Reseller
For those who have the knack of selling, one of the best ways to make money online is to become an affiliate/reseller. An affiliate is a person who gets a commission for selling every product that he promotes, whether on his Website or through any other avenue such as eBay. You don't have to own the product. You only need to sign up for an affiliate program with a company and start selling its products under your referral link. Firms such as Commission Junction or Click Bank have a large pool of products.

Buying/Selling domains
Buying and selling domain names is another way to make money from home and requires very little investment or time. You can buy domains at their registration prices or even cheaper and trade them at a profit. However, always research on sites such as sedo.co.uk, afternic.com, ebay.com or other domain auction sites to get an estimate of the hottest selling names. The best way to find good ones is to use terminated domain lists, which contain several expired names that are back in the pool.

Freelancing for Professionals
Freelancing is a great option for professionals who are experts in their respective trades and know how to ensure customer satisfaction. Various freelancing and project-oriented sites allow companies that need help to describe their projects. Freelancers and small businesses offer bids, ideas or proposals, from which the buyers can choose what they find most suitable. Websites such as Elance cover everything from programming and writing to data entry and design, while RentACoder focuses on software programming.

Advertising
You can sell space on your Website or blog for advertisements and you earn when these ads are clicked by visitors to your site. The sorting and placing of ads is free. The profitability of pay-per-click advertising depends on the traffic level of the Website and, most importantly, on the clickthrough rate and cost per click. Google AdSense is the most popular option, while others are BidVertiser, Text Link Ads and Blogads. Direct banner and RSS feed are some other forms of online advertising.

GPT Programme
GPT or Get-paid-to sites are becoming increasingly popular among teens. You get paid for signing up for free Websites, newsletters, playing games and filling out online surveys. These are suitable for people who don't have a skill set but want to earn extra money. Taking online surveys is simple- register with a few legitimate, paid survey sites and answer questions. The topics range from shopping to politics. This might not help you make a living, but you can earn good pocket money. Contests2win is one of the trusted GPT Websites.

Online Marketing
Once a Website is created and optimised for search engine (SEO), the SEM or Search Engine Marketing begins. A treasure trove lies hidden here. An SEO/SEM expert, who is responsible for marketing a Website, can promote it in various ways. These include article marketing, writing press releases, forum posting, blog posting, submitting your site to directories and search engines, social bookmarking, etc. Most companies don't do this in-house and pay you to conduct the SEM for them.

Making themes
As more and more people seek an online presence, the demand for Website templates and WordPress (Blog) themes will keep increasing. If you are good at Web designing and coding, you can earn a lot from designing Web themes. In this segment, there are mainstream Websites, such as TemplateMonster and ThemeForest, which act as a marketplace where you can sell your themes. Templates are sold and priced depending on the rights and features that are bundled with them.

Selling photos
If you enjoy photography and are good with a camera, you could be sitting on a huge reserve of revenue. There are people who will be interested in your collection of images. Nowadays, it's easy to take your photos to the public, providing a convenient way to build a secondary income stream. Many stock photo agencies, such as Fotolia, Dreamstime and Shutterstock, offer incentives for people to earn from their photos.

Support & service
Providing coding or fixing other Webmasters' issues is another great way to earn extra bucks. There are simple jobs ranging from adding a script to setting up sites, but knowledge of Web coding is essential. One can offer support for Web CMS (content management systems) like Drupal or Joomla. After you are comfortable with your own installation, you can help other people to set these up and configure them.

Stock/forex trading
Joining the stock/forex market may seem a bit risky. However, you can start small and continue researching till you gain experience in this area. Once you do, it will be easy to earn from exchanging foreign currencies and/or stocks. Their rates fluctuate depending on supply and demand, and economic and political influences in the world. The aim of any trader is to spot which currency/stock is likely to rise or fall in value against another. The more time you put in, the more you will earn.

Selling your own brand
If you have a flair for designing cool images, don't bother about creating your own inventory. As long as your design can be printed on a product, you can pocket some money. You can upload designs on various Websites such as CafePress, and if somebody orders these designs, the company will print them and distribute the products. It could be designs for T-shirts, hats, bags, books, posters, calendars, greeting cards, etc. You will receive a commission for each sale. Other such sites include Lulu and Zazzle.

Virtual Assistant
Small businesses always need help in running their processes, but may not be willing to hire a full-time employee. As a virtual assistant, you are expected to perform practically any administrative task that a traditional secretary or assistant would, such as make travel reservations, handle expense reimbursements or pay bills. You can do it from the comfort of your home, interacting with clients either online or by phone. Your expertise will decide how much moolah you rake in.

Inbound call centre
Many companies, who are facing space constraints, especially those in metro cities, prefer to hire workers outside their offices or outsource certain processes. You can set up an inbound call centre at home to handle such jobs. Research different companies that are outsourcing their work as they may have opportunities for inbound call centre agents. You can work for more than one company. This can be either a part-time or fulltime engagement, depending on your need.

You Tube
If there's a dramatic performer hidden inside you who craves applause and adulation, upload yourself on YouTube. You can be a filmmaker, musician or comedian who wants a wider audience. Your earnings will come from ads displayed on your video page. This process is similar to the pay-per-click advertising program common to other Websites and blogs. Sites such as Flixya and Mediaflix can be helpful in this regard.

Researching for others
Don't be morose if you can't write, design or code. Lack of talent cannot stop you from making money online. If you're willing to work hard for a few hours a week, you can take up simple research jobs for other people who don't have the time to do it themselves. You could search for opportunities in organisations that provide funding for research and offer to assist them through online investigation.

Building Applications
With smartphones gaining popularity, the demand for their applications, or apps as they are popularly known, has also shot up. There are over 3 million apps for the iPhone and over a million apps in Google's Android market. Most of these are selling like hot cakes. Developing and selling your own smartphone app is becoming a lucrative way to make money on the Internet. Apps cost virtually nothing to develop and entail no storage or shipping costs. So they enjoy the best profit margins.

Transcription
Medical transcription involves making written copies of oral material dictated by doctors or other medical experts. These may include history and physical reports, clinical notes, consultation notes, reports, letters, psychiatric evaluation and so on. The dictated material needs to be transcribed swiftly and accurately, which is the most challenging aspect of the job. To become a medical transcriptionist, you need to have a good knowledge of medical terminology and a high typing speed along with accuracy.

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Monday, 7 July 2014

How to Integrate Psychology Into Your Marketing

How do you market your company? You probably try to optimize your site for search engines, try some content and social media marketing, test out a few paid ad sources, and maybe even focus on conversion optimization.
Although those tactics can help you boost your sales, you shouldn’t focus all of your time on traffic generating strategies. One of the most effective ways you can boost your sales is to integrate psychology into your marketing.
But before I get into how you can leverage psychology, lets first define it:
Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context.
Now that we are all on the same page, here is how you can integrate psychology within your marketing:

Tactic #1: Get people to commit before committing

Let me explain what I mean here. There are two ways to think about a commitment within your online business. The obvious one is a customer buying your product or service. The less obvious one is to get the customer to be mentally prepared to buy from you.
If you get your visitors mentally prepared to make a purchase on your site, they are much more likely to complete the purchase. And the easiest way to do this is through your website copy.
A good example of this is Unleash Your Thin. Dr. Jonny Bowden uses this copy on his checkout page to get you to commit to the purchase:
unleash your thin
Jonny is really smart because not only is he getting you into the mindset of buying, he is also getting you to grasp that there is little to no risk committing because he will refund you your money if you are unhappy. Plus, he added a “check box” to give you the feeling that you’ve already checked the box and approved buying the product.
Unleash Your Thin isn’t the only company that is doing this. Gym Junkies used similar messaging with their software application and were able to increase sales by 16%.

Tactic #2: Future pace

The real estate industry is well known for future pacing their customers. Real estate agents will constantly drop lines like “when you have a BBQ in your new home, make sure you invite me”… even before you make an offer on a home.
What they are trying to do is to have you focus on the future outcome and not the purchase. Once you get hooked on all of the things that will happen if you go through with the purchase, you will be more likely to make the purchase.
You can also do this online with your marketing copy. Here’s a good example of how we do this at Crazy Egg:
crazy egg
By using the word “when”, we are assuming that you are already going to use Crazy Egg. If we didn’t want to future pace, we would have used the phrase“what do you get if you use Crazy Egg”. But by using future pacing within your copy we’ve found that it increases sales by 5% to 10%.

Tactic #3: Make people work for it

Just because you are selling something, it doesn’t mean anyone can have it. You can choose which customers you want to sell your products or services to by putting up roadblocks. Although this may seem counter-intuitive, in many cases it makes people work harder to buy your product or service.
mike 6 pack
If you look at the screenshot above, you’ll notice that Six Pack Shortcutsmakes you go through a mini quiz to qualify you. What a lot of companies have learned is that if they make you work to buy their product, instead of just driving you to a page where you can add the product to your shopping cart, you are more likely to convert into a customer. Why? Because they made you feel that you are one of the lucky few who made it through.
The funny thing about this method is that I’ve seen it increase and drop conversions drastically. When I tested it out on sophisticated audiences like Quick Sprout, I saw an 18% drop in conversions.
quicksprout work
But when I tested it out in non-sophisticated markets, I’ve seen an increase in conversion rates by up to 31%.

Tactic #4: The Power of Why

What’s the one thing that all kids do? They ask a ton of questions, right? And if you don’t answer their question with a sufficient answer, what happens? They keep asking it, right?
Your visitors are the same way. The difference is, if you don’t answer their questions, they don’t ask them again. They just leave.
Psychology is about understanding your customers and how they think. If you can survey them, you can figure out the concerns and questions they have. Some of these questions may be as basic as:
  • Why is your product or service so great?
  • Why should I buy from you?
  • Why should I stay on your site?
Within your copy, you should focus on answering all of these “whys” your visitors have. But the responses you give them have to be really good because if they suck, people will just leave your site.
“Stop taking two and three plates of food,” my mother said to me angrily.
I was at a wedding and seven years old. Back then, at a lot of the weddings we used to go to, the food would be pre-served on a plate. I could never get enough of those calorie-ridden platters. Waylaying different waiters, (so I would not be recognized), I’d polish 3-4 plates without blinking an eye.
Mom wasn’t impressed, and told me to stop and desist.
“Why?” I’d ask. Her stock reply was always, “It’s bad manners to do that.” This Dustbin Hoffman (yes, I do mean Dustbin and not Dustin) act obviously got her goat, but it left me unfazed. It must have bugged her more than I expected though, because in a short while Dad was peering down at my food-stuffed face.
My question remained unchanged. “WHY?”
“If you invite a hundred people to a wedding, how many would you cater for?” he asked. “A hundred,” I answered, proud of my analytical genius. “If you ate four plates,” he continued, “how many would remain?” He prompted quickly, “Ninety-six right?” I nodded vigorously. “That means some people don’t eat. If you’re so hungry, we can go out after the wedding and get something to eat, but don’t deprive others.”
In that example, the dad made sense. He made so much sense that the seven-year-old boy listened and didn’t have an issue with the answer.
If you don’t give a good explanation every time your customers ask “why”, they’ll just leave.
If you are looking for a good web-based example, check out how we answer the question of “why should I use Crazy Egg instead of Clicktale”.
clicktale
The response is so thorough that potential customers don’t ask us the question anymore.

Tactic #5: Build up anticipation

Would you rather go to a club that doesn’t have a line or one that has a line? The one with the line, right? Because if a club doesn’t have a long line, it can’t be that great.
Making people wait before you let them buy doesn’t just increase your chances of getting a sale, but it also lets you charge a premium for whatever you are selling. Just look at Apple: not only are their products expensive, but people wait in lines over night to buy their products.
There are a few strategies you can use to build up anticipation:
  • Time delay – don’t give people what they want right away. Make them wait days, weeks or months to buy from you. A good example of this is I Will Teach You To Be Rich site. Their subscribers are told about offers but typically don’t have access to buy them until the 30-day mark.
  • Applications – usually you are the one who is doing the selling, which, as you already know, doesn’t work too well. You can switch things around and build up anticipation by making people apply to buy your product or service. You’ll find that people will try to convince you to sell your product to them with this tactic.
  • Drop hints – Apple uses this strategy really well because you’ll see hints of what their products will look like or the features they will have, but you don’t know everything about the products until they want you to know about it.

Conclusion

You don’t have to make big changes to get big results. Making small adjustments to how you do your marketing, or how you portray your message, can have a positive effect on your sales.
As you learned above, replacing simple words like “if” with “when” can increase the number of sales you’re making from your site.
So, what do you think about integrating psychology into your marketing? Are their any other psychological tactics that we all should be using?

Friday, 4 July 2014

10 Creative Ways To Make Money Online

If you’d claimed it was possible for the average guy on the street to make millions of dollars online just a decade ago, the chances are good you’d have heard nothing but laughter in response. Today, though, there are countless Internet millionaires who turned a great idea into obscene profit, used the power of the web to promote their offline business or simply worked their butt off to sell their skills online.
While it’s unlikely that you’ll ever earn enough to buy your own private island, there’s nothing to stop you from using your skills to make a comfortable living online. In fact, while the media would have you believe that online success stories are limited to just a few lucky, hard working people who stumbled on a great idea that went on to make millions, the reality is that there are tens of thousands of people who make a living exclusively online. Here are just ten ways you can join them.

How To Make Money Online


1. Sell Stock Photography

Sell Stock Photos OnlineThe Internet has caused an explosion in the demand for stock photography. As the number of media and commercial outlets has increased dramatically with the growth of online media there’s an enormous need for high quality stock photos.
Yuri Arcurs is the man everyone turns to for their stock photo needs. As the world’s top selling stock photographer he sells an image every 8 seconds, 24 hours a day (that works out to over 4 million images each year). Arcurs makes millions of dollars each year simply by being the best at what he does. There are lots of great photographers in the world and the barrier to entry is as low as ownership of a camera, but Arcurs has managed to build a reputation online for consistent, high quality and imaginative images.
If you’re a professional photographer (or even just a hobbyist) you should consider the possibilities of selling stock images online.

2. Tweet For Sponsors

Sponsored TweetsSponsoredTweets.com is an online platform that allows you to make money on Twitter by charging sponsors for communicating their advertising messages to your followers. You set the amount you want to get paid for every tweet you make, choose a category and select keywords you want to work with. You then wait for advertisers to contact you and take you up on your offer, paying you the amount you specified for each tweet that you make.
All throughout the process, the tweeter has full control over his or her account, and may choose the wordings of the tweets, or may choose to reject the tweet altogether.

3. Blog for Ad Revenues

Google Adsense Money OnlineIf, however, you already have a blog with a devoted following it should be easy for you to leverage your readers into hard cash. Ad networks such as Google AdSense pay big money to place their ads on your site, and you’ll receive a payment every time a reader clicks one. While it’s easy to go overboard and fill every spare pixel, if you place your ads well it’s possible to make a comfortable income from your site.
One of the most successful bloggers around today is John Chow, a Canadian blogger who makes more than $40,000 a month through ad sales and other revenue streams. Ironically, his blog is about ways to make money online.

4. Sell Affiliate Products

Affiliate marketing money onlineIf you have a flair for sales copy you could try your hand at selling products for affiliates. While many people take the seedy route of selling diet pills and penis enlargement products, if you want to keep your conscience clear you’ll find that Amazon runs a very successful affiliate program that allows you to make money advertising any of the products for sale on their site. eBay also have a pretty good affiliate setup, with their top affiliates earning $1.3 Million a month, WOW!


5. Write an e Book

make money sell ebook onlineIn recent years the self-publishing world has exploded online to the point at which you don’t even have to run your own site in order to promote a book. Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo are just a few of the sites on which you could self-publish today, with commission rates of around 70% available on every sale.
The number of eBooks on Amazon reached 8 million last year, and Amazon stated that eBooks are outselling hard backs 2 to 1, 62% of ebook sales fell into the Thriller and Mystery genre, so if you feel that you could pull this style of genre off then you will be in for a good chance of sales.
26 year old self published author, Amanda Hocking from Minnesota makes more than $2 Million a year from her ebook sales. Amanda Hocking’s stories about, trolls, vampires and zombies and  ‘supernatural teen romances’ sell for $2.99 or for as little as $.99.

6. Become a Virtual Assistant

Virtual AssistantEvery small businessman would love to hire a full time assistant to take care of the little things, but many simply can’t afford one. Thanks to the Internet, though, they can now hire part time assistants who work for a whole host of clients, and all at a much lower cost than a full time staff member.
If you work from home this may be a perfect opportunity to make a consistent income. Virtual assistants can earn $20 an hour in return for booking travel tickets, interacting with clients and dealing with the daily needs of small businesses.

7. Lease Your Skills

make money online outsourceMost people have at least one skill that carries a market value, though until now that skill may have been impossible to monetize in the traditional job market.
Sites such as 99Designs, Elance, Freelancer and iWriter allow people to hire out their skills as writers, coders, designers, translators and lots more on a contract basis. Freelancing sites are a great way to boost your income in your free time, and with enough motivation and hard work you could find yourself earning a comfortable full time income from them.

8. Selling on eBay

Make Money On eBayeBay is a great way to turn your unwanted things into a little spending money, but it isn’t just a place to sell your old Star Wars action figures. In fact, eBay’s global marketplace can offer a great way for canny traders to buy and sell their way to profit. By buying wholesale you can sell anything with a mark up. Even better, if you have the skills to make things people want to buy you could start your own home-based craft business, selling to customers around the world.
Matt & Amanda Clarkson are a successful couple who so far have managed to make over $8 Million in eBay sales.

9. Become A Mobile App Tester

test iphone appsPeople that are rather uncertain of their application development potential can still make some money through the usage of iPhone apps.
People that have the time and desire to test iPhone apps and discover bugs can be rewarded payments for their efforts. uTest is one such application. Individuals that have signed up will also build some reputation on the basis of the testing they have done so far.
Better reputation signifies access to more profitable app testing opportunities.

10. Designing T-Shirts

design tshirt make moneyFinally, if you have something of an artistic streak you could kick off the next viral sensation with your own range of funky, arty t-shirts. Sites such as CafePress allow users to upload their own t-shirt designs and sell them on their personal online store.
You can also contact distributors such as threadless.com or designbyhumans.com to release your t-shirt designs to the masses.
If your designs catch the eye you could be looking at enormous profits when they take off in a big way.
Checkout our article The Top 10 Tips On Starting Your Own Successful Clothing Line, this should give you an idea on how to kick things off.

Conclusion

As you can see, to make money online you don’t have to be particularly skilled with computers. You don’t need to be know how to build your own website from the ground up, and you don’t have to be a mogul with millions of dollars to invest in success. If you have any kind of artistic skills, creativity or business savvy you can turn it into profit.
In short, you should understand that the online world is just like real life. The same opportunities are there for the taking, but instead of drawing your customers from just your home town you can reach out with your great ideas to the far reaches of the earth.
So why not start today?