Making Money Online: A Beginner’s Guide

Ok, you’ve heard its possible and decided to give it a try; Making money online… Made easy. You hop on the train to catch the jolly ride, thinking it’ll come out as smooth as you’ve been made to believe. You dabble from one site to the other, even threw in a few bucks here and there; just to hasten the “get rich quick” process. You eventually find out you’ve been going in circles and things are not always as easy as proposed in those “guru” adverts you’ve so gullibly followed.

The online money making scheme is a vast empire; one with so much potential. The economic situation worldwide and the ever insatiable want of man have helped trigger the foray of demands for alternative means of livelihood. The Internet, being a mega source of information transfer/exchange, naturally became a major target for information on ideas and solutions. Unfortunately, lots of scammers are also cashing in on the information craze; devouring unsuspecting victims in the process on a daily basis. You start off with the intention of “making money” but end up with “a hole in the pocket” after greedy, hurried, ill-informed attempts.

Now you’re back (maybe wiser), deciding to do a research first before venturing into the terrain (wise move). I’ve got news for you… You’re not alone; we’ve all gone through this at one point or the other during our pursuit of online wealth. You may have heard that making money online is as easy as ABC… Well, I’m sorry to shock you… THERE’S MORE TO IT! The only so called “easy money making” schemes out there could be “Pay per click” or maybe “survey” programs. You’ll find out too soon that even that is not as easy as it seems; after working your fingers to the bones from clicking for peanuts.

Take it or leave it, making money online is just like any other serious daily endeavor in life geared towards success. It involves Dedication, self motivation, self-belief, passion, interest, persistence and lots of patience; if any of these characteristics is missing in your life right now, you might do well to try and improve on it before you step into the online dungeon… If not, you’ll be frustrated out before you could say… “My money”!

Now, having said all these, there are websites you can join and make your own for free that allows you to trade and make money as a starter without financial investment. Good examples would be Weblog sites (blogs) like Blogger or Wordpress (to mention a few). With this in place… you have a launch pad to promote your activities online. However, there are some basic requirements needed for this trade:

1.Finding an informative Niche of interest (for you too)
2.Researching on keywords for the niche
3.Creativity, Frequency and conceptual Originality
4.Promoting using multiple channels

In all these, you’ll need to be “web savvy”, which means you need to have some basic ideas of web terminologies like URL, HTML, SEO, BACKLINKS and MONETIZATION… Etc. If you are confused about these terms now, don’t fret, do a search and read up on the terms… I’ll be elaborating on these in subsequent posts.

Some Ways of Making Money Online:
Let’s now delve into some ways of making money online. There are lots of ways of making money online, a few is listed below:

•Taking online surveys: some websites like YouGov pay you for completed surveys
•Pay-Per-Click campaign: Google adwords and Microsoft Adcenter stands out here (not a fan of the auto surf PPC programs though some are pretty lucrative on a long term).
•Affiliate Marketing: Clickbank, Amazon, Adtrader and Ebay come to mind here.
•E-commerce/Reseller Programs: Create, buy, sell or collect resale right from authors of products and services for sale/purchase.
•Online Real Estate: Domain name sales and acquisition
•Social Network Bookmarking
•Online auction Sale
•Message Board Posting: Webmaster-Talk and DigitalPoint pays for posting contents of interest on their message boards.
•Blogging: Blogger, Worpress is free… create a niche site that can generate money using say, AdSense, Bidvertiser or Kontera etc also, you get paid to blog on BlogiTive and PayPerPost
• Photography: IsTockPhoto and Fotolia pays for uploaded original photos of interest.
• Freelance and Virtual Jobs: eLance and oDesk allows members to sign up for advertised outsourced jobs and get paid on completion.
• Games: If you are a “games freak”, you could test your skills online and get paid while winning and collecting points. Try SecondLife or MooLa

Note this: Most successful Internet enterpreneur started off with a free blog. Success is not overnight... It is gradual and involves patience. Don't give up before your money starts rolling in. Be Smart and creative, People Centric, Focused and Dedicated... Success will surely come.

All in all, three major factors stand out in fueling the engine of online money making...

1. Finding a profitable niche (Think of it as your passion for providing solutions to problems in specific area of interest)
2. Creating a “landing Pad” for your would be customers (website, Weblog/Blog or VideoLog/Vlog will do just right)
3. Generating relevant traffic for conversions. (Where promoting comes to play).

If you are really serious about making good money online, you’ll need to invest a little of your time and resources in pursuit of these factors… They constitute the spring board for online success.

The Need for an e-mail list:
The three factors mentioned above is born out of the eventual overall target of having a LIST. Quality and relevant e-mail list for your chosen niche is very important for online business success. With good quality e-mail list of relevance and quality recommendations from time to time on your part, trust will be established and you’re virtually on your way to success. Ever wondered why most programs request that you enter your e-mail address for “newsletters”, "subscriptions", “10-day introductory course” etc? LIST GENERATION! This will prove useful when other ideas on money making hits the stands and you have a ready market in your list.

Stay focused.

This blog will focus on revealing otherwise "paid for" secrets of online businesses... a beginner's guide and resource directory of sort, showing links, products, services and step by step tips on how to make money online. Stay focused and aware.

How to Detect Scam Websites: Make Money Online Guide

"I am rich and you are poor... let me show you how to get rich, I'd help you out... for a fee."... Now, that's basically the story line and catch for most so called internet "gurus" trying to convince you to part with money for programs or e-books put up on their webpage/report that would supposedly make you rich. They'll say virtually anything to sell a product or service... well, that's what internet marketing entails. However, most times, the programs/schemes don't work for the uninformed consumer. You'll eventually find out that there is more to it than what was advertised. Why would one proffer to HELP... "For a fee"? That's no longer "help"... its business! In our desperate bid to better our lives, we're often blinded by greed and forget our sense of reasoning... We've passed through this circle at one point or the other; often scammed, especially when we decide to jump into a field we know little or nothing about... just based on widespread deceitful slogans like "Make $300 in one hour", "I made $2,000,000 in one month", "Autopilot Money making machine"... and so on. These concepts, though possible, could ruin you if you're not armed with the right information or tools to get a head start. What works for them might not necessarily work for you... there are lots of background research and other factors to consider (which will be analysed later in other posts).

I came into the internet business, quite informed... but as the day go by; you often find out that life itself is a continuous learning process. You cannot relent in your quest for excellence as the scammers out there are devising new and more convincing ways to get you to part with your money. You just have to know what is involved... don't enter blindly and hope to get results overnight; it doesn't work that way. Stepping into the world of Making Money Online... from home or wherever is not as easy as most people will make it seem (so don't go quitting your day job hurriedly unless you've gotten a grasp of it)... It takes patience, focus, research, dedication, understanding and informed decisions to excel in the field.

Most times, we often jump in based on the "exciting" testimonials and "Potential Overnight Millionaire Status" that most program offer... only to find out that it's not really as easy as was "heard" or read. When stepping into the field, my focus had been against being scammed... of course I got my fingers scratched a few times but the cost were "minimal"; They were monies I could easily (and knowingly) afford to throw around... without feeling the pinch, used to test if the websites were true to their words, if not... bye money and website. I had programmed my mind against fraud and scammers right from the beginning... so, I was quite skeptical in my approach; That way, I made minimal errors and maximized profits... Making mistakes is ok if you make it a "learning process"... just don't make costly ones.

Fortunately, you don't have to throw away money to achieve this result anymore... There are better ways to detect fraudulent (scam) websites, programs and schemes online. There are lots of "get rich" online schemes out there... most of them very fraudulent; BIG SCAMs. Beware! Don't be deceived by the good and organized layout of the website's design. Here are few tips on knowing if those websites that offer "get rich" programs or schemes are scam sites:

• Do a search, using any related search engine (preferably Google). Type in the website domain name, a space then the word "scam" or "fraud" (or both). Example... "money.com scam fraud". You will be exposed to firsthand knowledge of the site's activities from former or existing users... which might just save you some money. The decision is yours.
• Check to see if the site runs an active forum where issues bothering around the activities of the site are discussed. You'll often learn a lot from the forum and know if the site is delivering based on experiences of members already in it.
• Does the site run an active support system? If there is one, try sending a support ticket on some basic requests and see if you get a response within say three days. Most scam sites don't respond to support tickets submitted. (Don't fall for auto-responders).
• If after the above steps, you still want to make payment of any form using your credit card details, make sure the web address on which you're entering your payment details starts with "https://" and not "http://". Also make sure the site has an authentic security certificate.
• My favorite of them all is this: Have the website address handy, then go to "siteadvisor.com" (provided by MacAfee)... paste the website address (e.g money.com) there and push "GO". MacAfee will provide the needed analysis of the website so you can make informed decision. This can also be achieved using "whois.com"; where you can get the registered owners of the website with their respective addresses/phone numbers... scammers normally change their addresses... so make enquiries before you make payment.

Remember, "if it looks too good to be true... most times, it probably is". Hold on to your money and use the "free membership" option where available... till you are sure of the site. You need to RESEARCH on the steps above, be SKEPTICAL and have a very good sense of JUDGEMENT... THE SCAMMERS ARE DECIETFULLY PERSUASIVE.

This blog will focus on revealing otherwise "paid for" secrets of online businesses... a beginner's guide and resource directory of sort, showing links, products, services and step by step tips on how to make money online. Stay focused and aware.