If you are reading this, I do expect you, like me, are interested in making money online. Well to do this you most likely know you will have to work hard. After all, money doesn’t grow on trees and there is no such thing, for most people, as a free ride.
By working online, you can get rid of many irksome things that annoy you over the day. By not travelling, hours are freed up. A lot of work can be done in the time it used to take you to travel to and from your place of employment. The time it took to get ready for work and then relax after a hard work day. Plus the time you allot in the hours you used to work for someone else.
I don’t know about how you decide what you are going to do in your future however I have a great suggestion for you.
I came to Wealthy Affiliate after checking out one scam site. Being very cynical, that site got a very short and inexpensive look at. During my investigation, and reading reviews to check the scam site out, I kept coming across a site called Wealthy affiliate.
Well, being the cynic, I went through many Wealthy Affiliate reviews and it sounded pretty darn good. For instance, they stressed that I would have to work hard to get somewhere. And that has been so true.
It was also noted that there is no such thing as a get rich scheme.
Finally, they offered me a try before you buy period. Well what more could I ask for. So I tried the 10 free lessons, was impressed because I had a working website within a couple of days and upgraded to premium before 7 days were up. This gave me a bonus of the first month being at a distinctly reduced rate.
Well, I could have continued on the monthly program however I was really lucky when I joined. A reduced yearly rate was offered shortly after. So I immediately went yearly. The nice thing for beginners is that the monthly (from month 2 onwards) and yearly rates are locked in. And that is all you have to pay. There are no add-ons needed.
Why do You Want to Make Money Online?
You probably have different why’s to me. There are so many that can be part of your decision.
My why came about after I ‘retired’. Well, I didn’t actually retire. I was working on several big projects. I managed the construction of these. Towards their midpoint, the Global Financial Crisis came to visit Australia. There wasn’t a huge immediate impact but over the next year, affects filtered through to here. The result was quite negative on the construction industry.
By the time I wrapped up my six projects the company had no more new work. There was one in the pipeline (actually hospital line). I was noted for that but when it didn’t eventuate I was involuntarily retrenched.
I can’t describe the depressed feeling that gave me. And it was an all too pervasive mood as many of my colleagues in both our and other companies were impacted the same way.
What to do? Well get over it and move on. With the prevailing financial climate there were not many jobs going. So after a number of well-received resumes and interviews, still no job.
I decided I wanted to continue making a living and that was my why to start online earning.
I want to make money online was my search criterion. A second criterion was that I wanted to work for myself on my own timetable.
I found most people wanted the same things I did. Some, if not all, of the why’s I researched will most likely ring a bell with you.
Here are the ‘bells of why’ I found.
You can be as flexible as you like. I am a changeable person. Sometimes I like working in the early morning; sometimes in the evening and on into the night and sometimes a thought strikes me during the day. Yes my timetable is scattered, but it is MINE.
There is no ‘glass ceiling’ to try and overcome. What and where you get with your online work is your decision. Basically how hard to you want to work and what do you want to commit, such as time.
Your overheads are much less than if you started an offline business. Well when we start our websites, lessening costs are so important!
As an affiliate (the best way to begin online marketing), you don’t even have to buy stock. You are the publisher partner. You promote the products of the advertiser partner to the consumers (your site visitors).
In fact if you create services or produce your own products, you can become your own middleman. And won’t that increase your earnings.
Clear as mud. Probably but you will get the hang of this process pretty quickly.
As in most life aspects there are a few thumbs down with online marketing. If you can’t motivate yourself you will be starting on the back foot. So really be positive when you explore this lifestyle. And initially the work hours could be quite extensive – until your site can work pretty well on its own, with content input from you.
The internet is full of not so savoury characters. But good planning and constant surveillance will help keep these in control. Building a site through Wealthy Affiliate brings a lot of the security requirements you need, so lessens the risk to you of being harmed.
The best thing about online marketing is the flexibility in where you work. This is really good if you like traveling.
How You Can Take Action for the Success of Your Business
- Have a clear idea of exactly what your goal is. Research is needed to make sure you have the right business.
- decide on your niche and how you want to present and guide its direction
- Create a well-planned and setup website specialising in your niche. That is the product or service you want to help people with. Remember the success of your website will take hard work and time. (Unless you are extremely lucky.)
- Remember content is royalty (king or queen – whatever you prefer). It has to be conversational, personable and flow naturally. It also has to be helpfully informative. After all your visitors are on your site to find out information.
- Remember to use every means to get your website ‘out there’ for the world to see (and buy)! Includes your website and your social media contacts.
Affiliate Marketing
A new article, defining affiliate marketing is preeminent (link to follow soon). Following you can read some additional actions you can take to optimise your position as an affiliate.
Briefly you will need to find and be approved by affiliate partners or affiliate networks (that manage the potential affiliate partners) and then link to them. You will be the publisher and work in partnership with the advertiser. Generally you get a fairly minor role, especially if any affiliates work with that advertiser, and gain a commission when products or services sell.
All of this is very satisfactorily covered in Wealthy Affiliates’ lesson plan.
And Finally Get it out There
The foremost thought in your mind is what you want to accomplish. Me, I want to have an income matching the one I ‘retired’ on. That would allow me total freedom.
To make sure you get what you want you need to build a really good and attractive website. And I don’t just mean good looking. You need quality content to attract and keep visitors reading. Your website must be of use to them.
Wealthy Affiliate will train you in the best way to do this. How to attract traffic and gain rankings in Google and other search engines. You have to be seen before you can become successful.
This is where ranking comes in. The better Google likes you, the closer you get to page 1, number 1 and the more site visitors you will get.
That is what you will need to strive for.
So why don’t you get started now with Wealthy Affiliate’s free trial.
Share This
Hi Helen, I wholeheartedly concur! Your readers should take your advice, affiliate marketing is certainly an excellent way to make money online. No product or storefront required, and with so many affiliate programs out there (and growing by the day!) it is very lucrative. You are spot on that it takes lots of hard work. Nothing happens overnight, and people should expect to have to put the work in with any business – whether it be online or not. Great article Helen.
Melissa, goodness me what a nice comment. As you say any business is hard work. I often get very irritated by those who work for others, expect big rewards but don’t put anything into the business. In other words they want big pay for no risk. Life doesn’t happen like that.
Funily enough, with all the hard work even sleep doesn’t seem to happen overnight these days!
Thanks again.
Ciao
Helen
Hi Helen, very impressive what you have to tell here.
I thought making money online is just for gold diggers and quick money scheme searchers.
I understand now there’s a different approach possible as well. how much time do you think it will take until one can make a decent living and are there any guarantees?
Stefan, I don’t think there are any absolute guarantees in life except for the obvious birth and death ones. Even birth isn’t concrete.
With determination and patience you can succeed. Whether you will is totally up to you. So go for it. Be imaginitive and inspired when building your site and when article writing. That will really help you.
Thanks for commenting.
Ciao
Helen
Really awesome tips you got here on how to be succesfull in online marketing and I also like the wealthy affiliate and I am going to try that out to!
Mickie get stuck in and realise your dream of online earnings. There is a huge crowd of WA members, including the two owners and their expert team, just waiting to help you succeed.
I am sure you will love it here.
Thanks for the comment and feel free to visit at any time.
Ciao
Helen
You had well-presented reasons why to start affiliate marketing and become your own boss. You also figure out how to earn money with affiliate marketing. Finding the proper niche, writing quality and relevant content for your audience, achieve the authority within your niche, get traffic enough to make your business flourish. That’s the whole thing in a nutshell, and Wealthy Affiliate is a great platform to succeed.
Kari, nice to see you and thanks for the comment. I think I had an advantage in deciding to try out affiliate marketing. My background has included a great deal of planning, sorting out required activities and putting them in writing. (For higher beings to approve – now I am that higher being!)
Yep, WA rocks. So much offered information. And with only the amount of pressure you impose on yourself. I love it.
Ciao
Helen
Although many people want to be online entrepreneurs, they come into the business not prepared for the long haul. And as you say, you have to come in for the right reasons. I believe that one should come into the business with the intent of helping others.
Maurice, I have always been a helper. At times, for instance when I was at university, I was the one that all other students approached to either see if I could help. Or if not approach the appropriate lecturer. Sucker me, I always did. But the lecturers and I built up a very healthy working relationship.
This has continued to this day. Not students but others.
I love helping people. When I research solutions I find all sorts of interesting and often unrelated information. Such fun.
The long haul is sure correct. No matter how ‘retired’ one is there is still so many other activities that need doing. So off I am to do some of them.
Thanks for your comment.
Ciao
Helen
Hi Helen
Just gone through your post. You have gone into minute details and this article will definitely motivate people to get started with online business avoiding the scams.
You have concentrated on two basic aspects
1) Affiliate marketing, a legit way to earn money online
2) The need for proper training: I am a premium member of wealthy affiliate my self and have all the praise for their training. I may sound biased but in last 5 year or so, I have never come across a platform providing complete training on affiliate marketing.
They are in a market for more than 10 years now and are a strong 1 million community. This can happen with a legit program only.
Thanks for your remarks on what a wonderful opportunity Wealthy Affiliate is. So far they have covered everything I have needed to become an affiliate marketer.
They are totally legitment and have a wonderful training platform. The thing to note is that a member can promote them but it isn’t necessary. One can create an individual website to promote other things such as potentially successful hobbies.
Obviously WA promotion benefits them BUT it’s your choice not theirs. No pressure and I like that.
Ciao
Helen
Helen,
This is a great post. It paints the picture of what is required to be successful in WA. Hard work is definitely the number one requirement which negates any idea of a get rich quick scheme.
Thank you for keeping it real.
Cheers
Monique, thanks very much for your supportive comment. Hard work wins the day any day. Only those with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouths don’t need to do this.
However the ones I have met do work hard. That’s why the silverware increases!
Ciao
Helen
Hello Helen,
Very nice post! You’re right on point with this post. There is a way to make money online and WA is the best platform that I have found that works. Does it take work and dedication? Absolutely and you point those things out. Great job! Keep up the awesome work.
Take care
David
David, hard work and time are the two opperative words. Some people just click with the training and the website building. These earn reasonably quickly. But this is not the norm. I believe this is usually just plain luck.
The main thing is, never believe you can’t do this and keep going. All at once the rewards will happen.
Realistically, you might not have the exact niche you wanted so never be afraid to rethink your website. Don’t let doubts linger on. Fix things even if it means a new niche and website.
Thanks for your instructive comment.
Ciao
Helen