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18 Internet Business Ideas To Make Money Online

Starting up a business is by no means an easy task. If you want to learn how to make money online, you need to have good business ideas, but you also need a great marketing plan. The good news is with a domain and hosting, alongside some basic skills, your ideas can become a reality.Each of the internet business ideas below are competitive niches, so make sure you go in with all guns blazing!

1. Become an affiliate

Learning how to earn money online as an affiliate isn’t easy. But there are lots of people worldwide that are making over $1,000,000 a year doing it. Most will not be a successful unless they have some formal help and training. Affiliate stores are web stores where people purchase items on a site, but through a third party.

Amazon is one of the most popular affiliate programs in the world, but it really shouldn’t be considering the commissions are so low! It’s not just Amazon that you can affiliate with; there are 1,000 affiliate programs to choose from. Although Amazon can be lucrative, there are some much better options out there, allowing affiliates to earn up to 75% commission in some cases! Work in your own time

• Build multiple sites
• Work in your own time
• Focus on product niches that you have an interest in!

Example

Affilorama is a great resource for anyone looking at starting their journey in affiliate marketing. The email marketer’s best friend is their email list; you have to have an email list! I use Aweber to collect subscribers.

2. Start an ecommerce store

At the forefront of the internet revolution has been ecommerce stores. Nowadays you can get an easy to use, fully functional ecommerce store design for as little as £500; then you just need a domain and hosting. Of course, how much you profit depends on your methods and effectiveness of marketing which might include:

• Print media
• PPC (pay-per-click)
• SEO (search engine optimisation)
• Networking
• Event sponsorship
• The list goes on…!

SaleHoo is a great resource when it comes to finding suppliers and learning how to sell online!

Example – Zappos

You might not have even heard of Zappos, an online shoe store. Well, that goes to show how big the internet really is and how big your online business could be. Maybe it might even come to close to the acquisition of Zappos by Amazon for a reported $900,000,000.

3. Earn Cash From Blogging

Starting a blog isn’t as hard as you think. All you need is hosting and a domain. To make money online from a blog you need to gain large amounts of traffic from a specific niche. See how I do it here. You can earn cash using:

• AdSense
• Selling banner advertisements
• Affiliating to sites such as Amazon & eBay (see #2)
• Offer premium services or member areas

Example – TechCrunch

TechCrunch is a popular Web 2.0 blog and makes a reported $200,000 per month. Originally started by Michael Arrington, it was eventually acquired by AOL for a reported $25,000,000. There is money to be made by blogging and it’s cheap one of the cheap and easy home based businesses to get started with.

4. Sell on eBay

Selling on eBay successfully is not easy. You need to be able to able to target a niche where the profit margins are high and competition is low. If you pick the right product (particularly unbranded products) you have a chance to import items and make huge profit margins. SaleHoo is awesome for finding suppliers.

Example – Linda’s Stuff

There are some extremely large sellers on eBay. Take “Linda’s Stuff” as an example, with around 150,000 items online and nearly 350,000 confirmed sales.

5. Train and mentor

Perhaps you have a specific skill set that you could teach. There are hundreds of skills that can be taught over the internet, especially due to the fact that services like Skype are free.

You might have to offer a free service now and build a freemium model (offer free accounts with limited features, then charge for upgrades) for the future in order to make some large amounts of cash. It’s one of the good business ideas for those with extensive amounts of knowledge. You could:

• Teach a language
• Offer marketing training
• Help improve writing skills
• And more!

Example – Code Academy

Although it is only in the early stages Code Academy is going to be one of those online training centres that really stands out from the crowd. More than one investor has seen the potential that is has with the Academy getting over $12.5m in investment within the first 12 months, including investments from Richard Branson and Yuri Milner.

6. Become a drop shipper

Drop shipping is fairly similar to running an affiliate store. You act as the mediator without ever touching the product. The difference between a drop shipper and affiliate is that the sale with drop shipping websites is not completely managed. You might have to set up systems to automatically make a purchase with your drop shipping company, in order for it to be sent directly to the end consumer.

Example – iPhoneStore

There was a sale confirmed on Flippa a few years ago for iPhoneStore.com. It was producing nearly $30,000 in revenue every month and sold for $90,000.

7. Paid blogging

With over 350,000,000 websites on the internet, there is a huge demand for content. If you have experience or skills relating to writing, offering a blog posting service could be for you. Lower paid projects might start at around £1 per 100 words, with quality focused projects being in the £2.50-10 per 100 words range. Sites like People Per Hour and Elance are great for picking up paid writing gigs, without actually having a website.

Example – Vibe Tech Media

You’ll notice my bio at the end of the article, as well as details on the homepage.  I make a full time income from blogging for digital marketing agencies. I get leads thanks to my simple landing page.

8. Become a virtual assistant

A virtual assistant is a great job to have if you want flexibility. You’ll be able to maintain multiple clients at once which mean you can easily fill gaps in your week or work overtime if you need to. A virtual assistant will generally charge £15-20 depending on the specifics of their job role. Expect to be assisting with tasks such as blogger outreach, product listings, research and responding to emails.

Example – HM Virtual Assistant

Check out the story of a Mother that managed to fit her work around being a parent here.

9. Offer web design

Nearly every company is now looking to build a website. In fact, even those companies that have a website are looking to make sure that theirs looks bigger and better than the competition. You can learn how to earn money from home with practically no investment and this is certainly one of the best business ideas for someone wanting huge amounts of flexibility.

You can learn the basics of coding on CodeAcademy and do specific online web design courses to build up your skill set. Sign up to freelance sites such as People Per Hour and start building up your portfolio! This portfolio might even lead you into a high paid job!

Example – City College Brighton

Many of the students from City College Brighton have gone on to be successful freelance web designers, and you could do the same!

10. Deal in domains

You’ve heard of antique dealers and even car dealers, but what about dealing in domains? Domains are internet real estate and like real estate they could be considered as an investment. Don’t just buy any domains, spread your risk with a portfolio and make sure you hold out for the highest price possible.

Learning how to connect with the end consumer, rather than other domain dealers, will enable you to get the highest price possible for your domains.

Example – Domaining.com

If you are not familiar with some of the prices that domains have been sold for, then the all time list here is worth looking out. Checkout hotels.com, which went for $9,500,000! One of the highest domain sales back in 2012 was silver.com which sold for $875,000.

11. Outsource

How about setting up a business that focuses on outsourcing? Most successful service providers on the internet find that they need external help at some point. They might have a blogging client that requires logo design. They might have a guest posting service client that needs web design . Instead of actually providing the services personally, you could outsource and take a profit margin of your choice! Make sure you learn how to outsource first!

Example – Copify.com

Copify is an example of a company that uses outsourcing. They source writers and they source clients. They connect the dots to create an online business deal and take their profit margin.

12. Trade currencies

Every day, there is a huge fluctuation in FX markets. If you have a combination of technical and fundamental analytical skills and some cash flow, you can become an online currency trader. Places like www.forexfactory.com are great for learning the basics. Remember, this is leveraged cash, so if you make the right decisions, you have a chance to profit big! At the same time, the risks can be high if you don’t have a money management strategy in place.

Example – Bill Lipschutz

Bill Lipschutz is considered to be one of the best FX investors of all time.

13. Build apps

Again, CodeAcademy will give you good grounding in coding languages. Expect to train for 12 months before being able to build apps that are going to achieve lots of sales. There are a few options when it comes to building apps…

• Bespoke basis for clients
• Sell based on a fixed fee (multiple licenses)
• Charge a monthly fee

Example – Summly

Looking to hit the jackpot? Checkout this recent acquisition by Yahoo! to buyout Summly for $30,000,000…from a 17 year old!

14. Offer telemarketing

Telemarketing services are great for appointment setting as well as creating warm leads. More and more companies are looking to outsource their marketing efforts and this is where you could fit in. Telemarketers charge £15-30 per hour depending on the size and type of operation.

Example – DM Concepts

DM Concepts is a telemarketing company that has managed to achieve some fantastic statistics. The higher quality the service you offer, the more you are going to be able to charge!

15. Create videos

UK spend on online video has seen 13.5% year on year growth, and now exceeds spend on TV advertising.  (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) Hundreds of statistics like this have meant that businesses have to produce videos. Well, they don’t have to, but if they don’t, they are going to be missing out. Video platforms are just another avenue to acquire potential consumers. You can offer video packages from £50-5,000 and beyond. Select your target market and market to them effectively.

Example – Old Spice

If you can couple video production with the ability to be creative, you can make videos go viral. If you can do that, your £500 video is going to be worth £5,000 or even £50,000 to a client. Checkout the results from the Old Spice video campaign!

16. Manage social media profiles

Social media is an important part of any online business. The problem? Time! Most business owners simply don’t have the time to be involved with Twitter, LinkedIn, Face Book and other sites, in a pro-active way. That is where you can help.

If you can engage clients and build up attractive social media profiles, then you will be able to attract clients, which makes this a service with value. Again, these projects are posted on freelance sites such as People Per Hour and Elance on a regular basis, so you can start building up clients straight away! Check out these amazing statistics for LinkedIn!

Example – Clorox Bleach

If you can consistently provide companies with successful social media campaigns and improve their profiles, they will pay. Clorox Bleach had some huge success with one of their recent social media campaigns.  

17. Create valuable resources

The sites that hold the most value on the web hold the most valuable content. Face Book holds information about what hundreds of millions of users. YouTube possess millions of funny, educational and controversial videos. If you can create a website that focuses on offering valuable resources, then you just might be onto a winner.

Remember, you can offer the freemium model mentioned previously if there is no scope to achieve high advertising revenue. You could even be teaching others how to make money online, while doing exactly the same thing for yourself!

Example – Shopify

Shopify is a great example of the freemium model. By offering some applications for free, they get exposure for their whole business. Since the company was founded in 2004, they have acquired 30,000 customers, including Pixar and the Foo Fighters. Their revolutionary “build-a-business” competitions in the past have produced over $70,000,000 in revenue for over 14,000 entrants.

18. Translate

There are over 300,000 translators in the world for a reason; they are needed. In a world where more and more companies are using outsourcing, those that speak other languages are indispensable. Whether you are negotiating deals for an import-export agent or replying to company emails, there is work out there.

There are opportunities to work part time with small companies by networking on freelance sites, or to set up professional translation services using remote call centres and Skype.

Example – Cloudwords

Cloudwords is one of the many companies that is taking advantage of the $30billion that is spent worldwide on translation related products or services.This is one of the more complex work from home ideas out there, simply because from day 1, it’s likely clients will be small to medium sized businesses trying to negotiate deals abroad. The market it is there, now you just need to find your niche.

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21 Ways to Market Your Business Online

There are billions of customers out there, and nearly as many ways to get them interested.

Our nascent fascination with search stems back to the internet's earliest days when algorithms didn't reign supreme. Back then, it was far simpler to be found on the web. It didn't require all of the technical know-how, breadth and awareness of hundreds of ranking factors in order to be discovered relevantly in an online search. 

No, back then it was far simpler.

However, today, with the evolution of Google's core search algorithms, and in the wake of major adjustments that have gone by names like Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird, being found on the web has become likened to obtaining a doctoral degree in physics or mathematics. 

As entrepreneurs, we all know that the best way to market any business online is to be found organically through a search at the top of Google's search engine results pages (SERPs). It's free and offers near-limitless traffic to those who can master this highly-convoluted field of online search. But doing that has also become a monumental undertaking. 

On the other end of the spectrum, many of us are online-searching sleuths. We're professionals, able to gracefully surf the world's annals of information effortlessly and with ease. We can tap into the vast knowledge available at a moment's notice from powerful, blazing-fast pocket computers, on cue and at any time. Yes, we most certainly know how to conduct a search. 

However, as a business owner or professional, you know quite well that this isn't the case for being found. Appearing relevantly for highly-competitive keywords has become an ever-increasingly difficult task. But how else are we supposed to market our businesses online if we can't appear competitively on Google's SERPs? And how is that some people seem to dominate Google's searches while others seem to falter and fail? 

Clearly, it's not easy. That might also be the reason why the world's foremost SEO specialists can command thousands of dollars per hour to analyze, tweak and optimize sites for specific keywords. Surely, this is no small feat. What people don't realize is that there are fundamentals building blocks in place that make it difficult to make considerable traction over a period of weeks or even months. 

Translation? Anyone who's interested in dominating search must know that it takes years and years to build up the type of link profile, authority and content to rank almost effortlessly for specific keywords. The truth of the matter? You need to do the most amount of work for the least initial return if you're serious about gaining any traction with organic marketing online. 

The problem? We're the product of an instant-gratification society. We want things, and we want them now. This is partially born from our genetic makeup, but further fostered by media and societal norms that highlight the hedonistic pleasures associated with enjoying life's most primal urges to eat, earn and procreate. 

Yet, in order to succeed in business or in life, you need to do the most amount of work for the least initial return, not the other way around. You need to endure the pain if you want to experience the pleasure. And when it comes down to marketing your business, you'll most certainly experience tremendous amounts of pain if you don't know what you're doing. 

How do you market your business online? 

What does it take to market your business online? Without waiting years and years to move up the rankings on Google's SERPs, how can an entrepreneur get the proverbial word out? There are definitely some ways to market your business that will offer a better return on the investment of your time than others. Some will take weeks to pan out; while others will take months and years. 

No matter what method you choose for marketing your business on the web, as long as you ensure that you're adding value along the way, and you're implementing the proper set of marketing habits, you'll eventually reap the rewards of your work over time. It won't happen overnight. But then again, nothing worthwhile ever does. Below you'll find some the best methods -- in both the short and long term -- for driving that all-important traffic to your site and pages online. 

1. Create a blog and post high-quality content regularly.

Clearly, the most important way you can market your business online is to build a blog where you can post and share high-quality content that adds an exceeding high amount of value on a regular basis. This is definitely a very long-term strategy, and it won't pay off overnight, but every entrepreneur needs to understand the importance of embracing this online marketing method. 

Not only does building a noteworthy blog in any industry or niche help to drive traffic by peaking the interest of Google, but it also leads to creating authority. If you can become an authority in your industry, you'll garner the attention of consumers, the media and business owners alike. That, in turn, will snowball, build more authority, and eventually, enormous amounts of visibility and sales. 

2. Market your content on Medium and Quora. 

If you're looking to get some early traffic, and you have a fairly new domain -- less than 2 years old with little authority built up -- you should work on marketing your content on sites like Medium and Quora. How does it work? Write one high-quality piece of content on your website. Make sure it's keyword-centric, insightful, unique and adds a lot of value. Ensure that whatever you're talking about helps people in some way, shape or form. 

Once you've done that, write another article on a site like Medium or Quora, also making sure that it's keyword-centric, insightful, unique and adds a lot of value. Create one link from that article using a primary or relevant keyword back to the main article on your site or blog. This is called content marketing, and it's the most powerful method for gaining traction on Google's SERPs, while also reaching large existing audiences through these authority sites as well.  

3. Connect with others on LinkedIn groups.

LinkedIn groups are a great way for quickly connecting with others in your industry or niche to help spread your message. You can promote your content through LinkedIn groups as long as you don't come across as spammy. It's best to add value to a conversation or discussion before trying to drop your links. 

LInkedIn groups are also a great way of contacting people who you might not have mutual connections with. You can message any other member in the group without being connected, which can become a huge asset depending on the particular circumstances. Share updates often in the group, and be sure to stay in the spotlight without oversharing. 

4. Use Facebook ads and strategically-targeted landing pages.

Facebook ads, while not free, offer a great opportunity for reaching the right demographics for your business. As long as you know your customer well, you can use metrics like interests, geographic location, marital status, age and many others, to locate potential consumers to send to strategically-targeted landing pages, also known as squeeze pages. 

Experiment with micro-spends to see which ad copy and squeeze page receives the best responses for dropping consumers into your sales funnel. It might take a considerable amount of time to find the right mixture or recipe when it comes to advertising on a platform like Facebook, but once your campaign is profitable, all you need to do is continue to scale. 

5. Leverage the power of Instagram influencers.

Today, with the ever-pervading power of social media, you can instantly reach droves of people from across the world at a moment's notice. But we also know that algorithms and visibility are working against us, especially when we don't have the reach of hundreds of thousands or millions of followers. 

To reach those people, we need amplifiers, power users and influencers to help spread our messages. While this won't be free, it will give you instant access to a wide audience in your specific niche as long as you select the right Instagram influencer to help spread your message. 

6. Create useful video tutorials on YouTube.

YouTube offers a great resource for marketing your business on the web. While you might find some friction at the outset for building your audience, if you focus on creating useful video tutorials, eventually, you'll reach a vast amount of people. Again, you have to focus on adding value without much concern for generating profit. 

YouTube is a great resource for tutorials because you can teach people just about anything in an easy-to-understand format. Whether you're screen-sharing to teach a digital skill, or you're capturing something in the real world, just ensure that the quality of the recording and the overall content is high. Also, be sure to drop a link inside the description back to relevant content on your site. 

7. Develop a relationship with your customers through email marketing.

Email marketing is something that every business owner should be engaged in, but it's no easy feat. To succeed with email marketing, you need to give something away for free in exchange for the consumer's email address. It needs to be something of value. If you are serious about collecting emails, take the time to create a free report or ebook that will help people in your industry or niche. Then, develop a relationship with that consumer through drip-fed campaigns using a system like Aweber, Get Response, Constant Contact or Mailchimp. However, don't try to sell at every corner and turn. Connect first, then focus on selling. 

8. Use Angie’s List or TripAdvisor.

Sites like Angie's List and TripAdvisor offer an avenue for just about any business to reach an enormous audience of potential consumers. These sites are a great resource for finding any local business, giving you the opportunity to have consumers leave reviews based on their experiences with your company. 

If you're selling services, try Angie's List. If you're in a travel-related field, why not list on TripAdvisor? Not only are these links good for SEO, but you'll also gain access to a large audience of consumers that are looking for products or services in your industry or niche. Take the time to create a good listing, and drive customers there to post authentic reviews based on their experiences with you. 

9. Build consumer trust on platforms like Yelp and Trust Pilot. 

One of the barriers holding back business owners and professionals alike is that of trust. People are reluctant to trust businesses that they don't have direct knowledge of or know someone who's worked with them. Clearly, sites like Yelp can assist with that, but so can a site like Trust Pilot. 

Trust Pilot and Yelp are specifically dedicated to helping consumers find the right company to work with, and it increases transparency by providing past customers' experiences with the company. These sites are the largest in the world for online reviews and should be leveraged to help build trust with potential consumers. 

10. Utilize rich snippets, AMP and FBIA.

If you're looking to gain a bit of traction with your content, you can utilize rich snippets, Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) or Facebook Instant Articles (FBIA) to aid in some early exposure. Rich snippets apply to a number of content forms including articles via the AMP specification, local businesses, music, recipes, reviews, TV, movies and videos. 

There are Wordpress plugins you can use for rich snippets via Schema.org's specifications, along with plugins for both AMP and FBIA. Considering the recent focus on mobile by Google and Facebook, for example, having AMP and FBIA articles will give you a small advantage over those who don't, increasing your visibility on SERPs and in newsfeeds.  

11. Collaborate with popular bloggers in your niche.

Reaching out to to popular bloggers in your niche might be an effective way to market your business online, especially if you have something of value to add to one of their posts. If you find a popular blogger who often writes about a particular subject that directly correlates to your line of work, why not reach out and look for ways to collaborate? 

A great way to make this happen is to offer your services as a guest blogger. Clearly, you'll have to have a good background in writing yourself, and it might be difficult to find a popular blog willing to allow you to do this, but it would be worth a shot if you eventually secure a guest post. 

12. Regularly contribute on industry-specific forums.

Many people have the whole forum-strategy posting for SEO all wrong. They get out there and drop spammy links, and they wonder why they're booted off the forums. You can't do that. If you're serious about marketing your business online, when you do find an industry-specific forum, join conversations and add value before you try to link-drop. 

No one likes a person who comes in as a new guest to a forum and begins spamming links. Again, you have to think about doing the most amount of work for the least initial return. Add value. Chat with others. Make suggestions. Answer questions. Just don't spam links. Add your link to your signature after a few posts or after the rules of the forum allow you to do so, but don't try to direct people to your site at every bend and turn. It won't work out well for you if you do that. 

13. Offer a free product or service to customers.

Studies have confirmed that people are more likely to accept something for free than they are to pay a nominal price for it. So, why not provide a free service or product to your customers? Maybe you offer a free 15-minute consultation or an entry-level product that you want to give away. 

Whatever you offer, be sure to secure the customer's contact details so you can get in touch with them later. If you're giving away a service for free, you have an opportunity right then to upsell those customers to your paid services. People are more likely to feel like they owe you when they accept something for free as well. 

14. Use business listing sites like Yahoo Local and Google Local.

If you're running a local business and looking to attract nearby customers to a brick-and-mortar location or offering some professional service that's geographically-specific, you should list your business on local business listing sites such as Yahoo Local and Google Local. 

Google Local is an especially powerful way to list and verify your business information, providing public details such as your company's address for Google Maps appearances, store hours and other information related to your business. Ensure that you keep this information accurate and up-to-date. 

15. Optimize your website for SEO.

Clearly, optimization of your site for relevant keywords is an important aspect of marketing your business online. However, the one thing to keep in mind is that if your business is new -- less than two years old -- and you've built very little authority or content, you're going to have a hard time ranking at the top of Google's SERPs for any keyword that's marginally competitive. 

The goal is to build excellent content, but also ensure that you optimize your site's On-Page and Off-Page SEO. While this can become a very lengthy discussion, pay attention to things like your site's speed, mobile usability, meta descriptions, link profile, reading level, citing of sources, content quality, insightfulness and so on. This is more likened to a marathon than a sprint, so don't get discouraged in the short term if you don't see enormous results. 

16. Co-sponsor an award or giveaway in a contest.

Find something that you can give away and co-sponsor an award or contest with another company, group or professional in your field. Use tools like LinkedIn and Facebook to network with others, and locate another like-minded company or professional willing to conduct an award or giveaway with you. The whole point here is to again add value in the public eye. 

17. Give a talk at a professional conference or on a webinar.

If you're an authority in your field, why not give a talk at a professional conference or webinar? Of course, TED Talks would be the first suggestion for professional conferences, but you could speak at a number of other kinds of conferences or even webinars conducted online. 

When it comes to online marketing, webinars are one of the most powerful tools for selling nearly anything to a highly-engaged audience. And the larger that audience, the more likely you'll be able to sell your products or services. Long term, this would most certainly give you exposure and allow you to build more authority over time, and it's an excellent portfolio piece or resume item that can be used as well, especially in the case of professional speaking engagements. 

18. Use press releases to communicate important company news or events.

Press releases aren't going to get you immediate media coverage. While some media professionals will use outlets such as Help a Reporter, or even scour press release sites such as PR Web, you're likely not going to get any type of instant news coverage by putting out a press release. 

However, a press release that's well-written and has a healthy link profile can assist you marginally with SEO, but it can also allow you to communicate important company news or events that you can then use to actively pursue media outlets with through the proper PR channels. 

19. Create a branded email signature.

One of the simplest ways that you can market your business online is by using a branded email signature. Place your links and any potential accolades your company might have received directly into your email signature. This helps to passively promote your business to people that you're in contact with on a daily basis. 

You should include social media links in your email signature too, along with any relevant links to important company marketing pieces -- digital brochures or news pieces that feature your company. Drop a small tagline or one-sentence catchphrase about your business and its mission as well. 

20. Implement the 80-20 rule to identify and market to high-value clients.

The 80-20 rule, or the Pareto Principle, states that 80 percent of the results come from 20 percent of the efforts. Basically, it's only a small portion of what we do that actually produces results. However, this also applies to sales, which states that 80 percent of your revenue comes from 20 percent of your clients. 

If you can identify which clients are generating the most income for your business, you can scale your sales out by sending them additional offers and discounts for other services and products. You can also gear your online marketing directly to these clients if they're using a portal system to login or if they're being tracked by cookies. 

21. Post photos and videos with relevant hashtags on Pinterest, Flickr, Tumblr and Instagram.

There are a number of high-domain authority sites that you can post photos and videos on to build a following. Pintrest, Flickr, Tumblr and Instagram come to mind first. Use relevant hashtags and descriptions to properly categorize what you're posting about, and follow others in your industry or niche posting with those hashtags. 

This isn't an online marketing technique that will get you instant sales or even instant traffic. It'll take time. But as long as you're adding value and you're passionate about what you're doing, you'll build that following up over the coming months and years. Be sure to comment, like and engage with other people's posts as much as possible in order to get yourself out there in the beginning.

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Students: Skip the party, start a business

As a millennial entrepreneur, I often hear how my generation is the least engaged in the workplace and how we lack the same work ethic as previous generations. Are these preconceived notions about the new generation true? Or could it be that the new generation has implemented a new method of conducting business that is much more advanced than the norm?

According to the Kauffman Foundation, 54 percent of millennials either want to start a business or have already started one. At the age of 17, I became part of that statistic when I started a full-time business career. I was young, ambitious and had a burning passion for being successful, but I knew I needed guidance and quality advice from seasoned entrepreneurs to help keep me on track and stay focused in my career.

The following are the four best pieces of business advice I’ve received that have helped me to be successful in business today.

College is more than just a degree

While attending college, I remember my father sitting me down and telling me that college was much more than just a degree. College was a networking goldmine full of students, teachers and faculty walking all over campus. The thing is, you never know what your fellow classmate will do or invent in the future. I took my father’s advice and started to make connections. I met with professors in my college and attended student entrepreneur fairs where I met successful, driven-minded individuals. Now that I have graduated my network has grown into a list of friends who have successful careers creating amazing apps and programs, and some that proudly run their own business.

If you’re in college take advantage of the campus meetups for entrepreneurs. Always make time to meet with your professors and advisers and network with other students who share the same ambitions and dreams as you do. Having a good network is key to thriving business.

Use social media to boost business

For many millennials, interacting on social media is second nature. It’s where we live and network with others. At a young age, I learned how powerful social media can be to boost business. My generation knows how to use it best, so I urge millennials to take advantage of this knowledge and create ads to post on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, etc. Use these communication platforms as a product portfolio to show off your goods or services through creative video content. When used the right way, social media is a money-saving tool to building a successful and internationally known brand.

Age ain’t nothing but a number

It can be tough to convince people that you are serious about your brand when you are young. Age has been something I have had to overcome. There were plenty of deals that never went through simply because individuals in my industry didn’t think I was fit to handle the job. Although I had the experience, expertise, and inventory to handle it all, I was still turned down because of my age. I knew the only way I was going to be taken seriously is if I knew the ins and outs of my industry. I did my research and brought my A game to every professional meeting I encountered. It was only a matter of time before skepticism soon turned to admiration of such a young individual with passion and determination to succeed.

Get the ideas out of your head and onto paper

Are you a person who likes to keep all your ideas in your head? I was one of those people, but I soon learned that I would forget ideas and business to-dos because I didn’t write things down. I would see my mom, Dr. Stacia Pierce, write things down all the time in her journal and she would see amazing results in her life and business. One day, we were talking about our businesses and how things were going, and she gave me the best piece of advice that I have kept with me until this day. She said, “What’s written is real.” This is such a powerful statement because there were goals and dreams that I wanted to meet in my business, but they just weren’t working out until I began to write things down. I wrote out my goals and made a business plan on how to make it happen. Once I penned it, this goal became so easy for me to accomplish and soon my products began to get into stores.

At the age of 25, Ariana Pierce has 6 businesses in her line up and is a motivational speaker, fashion designer, and business coach. With her new book, Skip The Party Start A Business, she hopes to encourage millennial entrepreneurs to overcome obstacles and unapologetically shut down the naysayers.

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21 Legit Ways To Make Money Online

Technology’s ever-pervading permeation into every last fiber and morsel of society has caused a dramatic upheaval in the way we live, work and entertain ourselves. Thanks to the disruptive nature of the internet, the rate of change has only increased exponentially in recent years.

Yet, with so much change in the world today, and a nearly-instantaneous access to the globe’s population through mediums such as social media and online search, many people are still left perplexed by how they can utilize the powerful technology inherently available through the internet, to actually make money online.

The truth? It’s not easy making money online today. With so much competition and so many people and headlines vying for our attention, sifting through and finding reputable sources to generate any respectable amount of income through the web has become an ever-increasing challenge.

Often, what happens is that we run into unscrupulous Internet Marketers (IMs) who have less-than altruistic intentions of extracting money from you rather than helping you to make it. However, this isn’t something new. People have been falling for networking marketing, pyramid schemes, and affiliate marketing scams since before the start of the net.

So, where are we supposed to turn to make money the legitimate way online? This isn’t just about generating passive income; this is also about finding ways and means to create an active income through the conveniences afforded to us by the internet that will not only help us with our debt obligations, but also empower us to save, invest and get really rich in the future.

It’s not easy by any means. Anyone that tells you otherwise isn’t being transparent with you. It takes an enormous amount of effort and authority-building before you can really start getting rich through your online income-producing activities. However, there are some basic methods for making a respectable amount of cash in the short term.

Pain Versus Pleasure

Before I talk about some of the methods for making money online, I wanted to address the role of pain versus pleasure. Every decision that we make in life is weighed on a pain-versus-pleasure scale. We will always do more to avoid pain than we will to gain pleasure, plain and simple. However, this is also what holds us back from succeeding in any endeavor.

Let me explain…

Now, making money online should seem like a pleasurable activity. Why wouldn’t we do just about anything to see things through, since it would be a major source of pleasure, right? Wrong. In the beginning, like anything else, we might get really excited about it. We might also set our hopes very high. But that all comes crashing down when we begin to fail.

The problem? In order to make serious amounts of money online, you need to the most amount of work for the least initial return, not the least amount of work for the greatest return. Translation — major amounts of pain. That’s also the problem with how affiliate marketers, network marketers, and IMs attempt to sell you the “dream,” so to speak.

When people buy into the hype, they set their expectations extremely high. All they need to do is send a few emails out, and voila, instant millions overnight. Well, clearly it doesn’t quite work like that. The issue at heart is that we will always do more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure in the short term, not in the long term.

That’s why it’s so hard to quit bad habits or do anything else that requires any semblance of struggle. The human mind is hardwired to avoid pain in the short term, not in the long term. It’s part of our survival instinct. However, you can easily overcome this in the long term as long as you set your expectations the right way.

What Are The Best Ways To Make Money Online?

As someone who’s been immersed in a number of online industries for quite some time, I know a thing or two about what it takes to succeed in this arena. However, just like you, I started at ground zero with little knowledge, but a great deal of passion. What I learned along the way were some invaluable lessons from failure that hurt at the time, but helped immensely in the grand scheme of things.

Today, if you’re at all serious about succeeding in any endeavor, whether online or offline, you have to deliver enormous amounts of value. Yes, you have to do the most amount of work for the least initial return. This is especially true online. Why? Because it takes time to build authority and create an audience, two primary ingredients necessary to succeed in the wonderful world of commerce on the web.

Every successful business and person has delivered a tremendous amount of value at the outset. They did the most amount of work, and they inspected every detail meticulously, to ensure that they were doing right by their customers. As long as you keep that in mind, and you don’t look for a quick buck, you’ll succeed in the long term.

• Find your niche — Figure out what you’re good at or what you want to be good at. You don’t need to be an expert right now, but you do need to decide where you’re going to fit in if you’re at all serious about making serious cash in the long term.
• Build a blog on a custom domain — Your blog is your virtual home. Without it, you’ve no place to filter all that traffic and people interested in what you have to say. But don’t build a blog on a subdomain like yoursite.wordpress.com, create a blog with a custom domain like www.yoursite.com. 
• Always add value — Adding value over time creates authority, and authority breeds trust, which in turn helps to grow your audience and readership. Without a significant following, you’ll find it hard to gain any traction online. It simply takes time. 
• Create an email list and treat them them right — One of the best ways to make money online is by marketing to an actively-interested group of email subscribers. While most people think that email marketing is dead, that’s far from the truth. This is your greatest potential source of income online. Think of it as your money tree. 
• Don’t sacrifice morals for a quick buck — At the outset, you’ll want to do all sorts of things to make money online, but don’t sacrifice your morals for a quick buck. Not only will you put people off, but you’ll lose Google’s trust. You also shouldn’t concern yourself with things like Adsense or other ads on a blog before you have around 100,000 visitors per day. Yes, per day. 

The point? Think about the long-term results of your activities. It will seem frustrating in the beginning. Then again, everything worthwhile is going to be difficult. It will take time. Stick it out and don’t give up. In the meanwhile, here are some of the best and most legitimate ways you can make money online in the short and long term.

#1 — Write And Sell An Ebook 

If you have a propensity for writing and you can slay with your prose, consider writing an ebook. While the market has certainly become saturated as of late, books that help teach people about a technical topic still sell extremely well. This is a great source of passive income but does require a large amount of effort at the outset before any money is generated.

You can sell your ebooks through Amazon’s Kindle program or Apple’s iTunes Connect, which gives you access to a large majority of the digital-book reading market and the barriers for entry are incredibly low. You don’t need to invest lots of money to make this happen, but you do need to invest lots of time, not only in writing the ebooks, but in marketing them as well.

#2 — Sell Audiobooks With Audible

I’ve been in the audiobook-selling business for some time now and have over 3 dozen titles to my name. I know a thing or two about audiobooks. And, what I’ve noticed recently is that audiobooks are growing in popularity as their digital-ebook counterparts are becoming less and less popular.

People are turning to audio and visuals when it comes to technical subjects. However, you should consider doing an ebook first and turning it into an audiobook through a resource like Audible’s ACXplatform. You can hire a producer either through a royalty share program, so you don’t have to shell out upfront cash, or you can do a pay-per-hour hire as well.

#3 — Create An App 

Yes, this is far more technical. Unless you have the right app-development skills, doing this is going to be a significant undertaking. But, apps are also a great source of passive incomewhen done the right way. You can reach a massive audience of smartphone users by building a great app.

However, like anything else truly worthwhile, apps require a significant investment of your time or money upfront. If you don’t have the skills, then you have to hire someone who can assist you in creating a great app. But first you need to come up with an idea that will sell. Do the proper market research and analytics to come up with the right app.

#4 — Use Mechanical Turk

Mechanical Turk is Amazon’s take on micro-jobs. These are small miniscule-jobs that you can do for other people, which they call HITs, or Human Intelligence Tasks. These are super simple tasks that anyone can do. Some examples are listing off some URLs with certain kinds of images for one cent, or recording a few phrases with a microphone for 6 cents.

Yes, they don’t pay much, but if you string together hundreds of well-paying HITs, you can make a bit of money quickly online if you’re in a crunch for cash. Also, it’s important to note that you can also employ people with HITs to help you with whatever micro-tasks you might have.

#5 — Offer Gigs On Fiverr

If you have some professional experience in graphic design, accounting, social media marketing, web development or SEO, for example, you could offer gigs on Fiverr starting at $5 per job. You could perform a valuable service that you could also up-sell to make more money per gig.

Fiverr is one of the biggest providers in the gig economy on the web and you can sell a wide variety of services and products through this medium. Do the research and find out what you can offer. However, keep in mind that like any other money-making task, it takes time to succeed here. And stellar reviews will help you generate more and more income over time.

#6 — Sell Professional Services On Upwork or 99Designs

Upwork and 99Designs are two of the biggest resources for selling just about any professional service under the sun. If you have extensive experience in a field, you might want to consider selling your services through one of these sites. 99Designs only applies to graphic design while Upwork applies to nearly every other professional service.

However, like anything else, the beginning will be difficult. Before you have a significant track record and extensive reviews, sourcing work in one of these highly-competitive platforms will be difficult. Find the most successful people in your niche and try to model your approach and online profile after theirs.

#7 — Build A Blog

One of the most exhaustive endeavors when it comes to making money online is to build a blog. But we all know that building a blog with real readership is difficult. It takes a lot of work. And I’m speaking from experience. However, once you reach a certain point, the progress and momentum sways in your favor and it becomes far easier.

Blogs can easily generate tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars per month when done right. Yes, that much. But it won’t be easy to get there. However, looking back on it, a year from now you’ll wish you started today. So why wait another moment?

#8 — Email Marketing

Email marketing is at the heart of every successful endeavor on the web. For those serious about making money online, email marketing is certainly where it’s at. But it has to be done the right way. Before you even try to market anything to anyone via an email list, be sure that they’re people that subscribed and opted in directly to you.

When you try to market to people via email out of the blue, you won’t find as much success. But, if those email subscribers are actively and keenly interested in what you have to say, and they signed up directly through your blog or site, your success rates will be much higher.

#9 — Auction Items On Ebay

Ebay is a bellwether. It’s been around since nearly the start of the online boom. But, like any other platform, success can seem fleeting if you don’t know what you’re doing. Selling items on eBay, professionally that is, can be an art form. Getting people interested in your auctions isn’t always easy, especially when there’s hefty competition and low demand for what you’re selling.

Like anything else, you need to do the proper research, but you can make significant amounts of money as an eBay Power Seller. Find the most successful eBay sellers in your niche and model after their success. Find all of their listings and see just how they list the items that they’re selling.

#10 — Rent Your Home On AirBnB

Rent your entire home or just a room on AirBnB. This is a simple and effective way to make money online, especially in the short term. While you won’t get rich doing this, you can generate thousands of dollars per month for the right place. And, if you live in a sought-after vacation destination, then you’re certainly in luck.

Research other listings in your city on AirBnB and see what the going rate is for a place like yours. You could also just rent out a private room as well or even a bed in a shared room. In fact, that’s how AirBnB got its start. However, you might find it hard in the beginning without reviews, but as long as you take really good care of your guests and provide a lot of value, the reviews will eventually come rolling in.

#11 — Sell Photos Online

If you’re at all into photography, and you have a cache of nice photos, you could consider selling them through sites like Shutterstock and iStockPhoto, two of the biggest photo resources online. It doesn’t take too much effort to do this, but it does take creativity and persistence to succeed with it.

You’ll find serious competition when trying to sell photos online, but this is also a great method for generating passive income. If you can license your images or sell them as stock photography, you won’t have to do any additional work to generate income from that sale once the photos have been posted online. Just collect your payments.

#12 — Drive For Uber Or Lyft

If you live in an area where Uber or Lyft operate, why not become a driver? If you’re looking to make some short-term cash, you can definitely rake it in by working for one of these popular car-hire apps. As long as your vehicle fits within the specifications of their program, and you have a clean license, you could do this on the side, especially if you’re in a crunch for cash.

Treat your guests right and offer them perks that other drivers don’t offer, simply because you want to deliver a lot of value. You might not get that much out of it from the outset, but it will set you apart from all the other drivers and your reviews will be indicative of just that.

#13 — Sell Products On Etsy

Etsy is a great resource for those that enjoy making their own products and selling them online. If you’re into hand-crafted items and you have a penchant for creating killer goods and wares that people just have to have, then you might want to consider setting up an Etsy shop and selling through a massive online portal.

Etsy is a great way to go directly to where all the consumers are congregating. While the company will take a small fee to list your products, along with fees to process the transaction itself, it is easier than setting up your own transactional website. Do some research on the top sellers and try to emulate their success.

#14 — Use Shopify To Build Your Own Online Store

Don’t want to sell through Etsy? You could always build your own online store using a platform like Shopify. Shopify makes it easy to build a transactional website without all the hassle, which takes much of the guesswork out of doing what some would consider a highly-complex task.

The company markets their services with being able to start selling online in seconds. Well, it might not work that fast, but you could most certainly get a good transactional website up and running within minutes or hours.

#15 — Build An Amazon FBA Business

If you want to go directly to the world’s largest online retailer, consider setting up a Fulfilled-by-Amazon (FBA) business. Amazon will pick, pack and ship your orders, and you’ll have enormous exposure to a buzzing marketplace where products are selling every second.

Clearly, there’s a lot of demand on Amazon, and if any product is going to sell, it’s going to sell well on Amazon. But the goal here is to source the right products that will easily sell at the world’s largest online retailer. Generally, products between $10 and $50 sell very well here. Just be sure to do the right market research before jumping on this bandwagon.

#16 — Answer Professional Questions 

Are you a professional in a field that can help answer questions for people looking for your expertise? Websites like JustAnswer and LivePerson match you up with people looking for answers to technical or professional questions. You can make money online by simply answering these questions and providing the right information to people based on their individualistic circumstances.

Depending on your area of knowledge, you could either make a lot of money or just a little bit by answering questions professionally. Do your due diligence before signing up to any website where you’re providing answers in exchange for money and be sure that it’s a reputable source.

#17 — Create Video Tutorials On YouTube

This is definitely a long-term strategy, and you won’t get rich overnight by doing this, but creating engaging and well-thought-out video tutorials and posting them on sites like YouTube could make you a significant amount of passive income in the long term depending on just how well-received those videos might be.

Find a niche and stick to it. Build a YouTube channel and find something that you can do that will add a whole lot of value to the people that might be interested in that field or niche. However, keep in mind that this will require a significant amount of time and upfront investment before this pays off at all.

#18 — Develop Educational Courses On Udemy

One of my absolute favorite sites for selling educational courses is Udemy. In fact, you can check out the courses that I have for sale on the site here. Udemy is a great place to build out technical courses that will teach people how to do some complicated task or learn some sought-after skill.

In my courses, I teach things like web development, search engine optimization and graphic design, but you can teach just about anything on Udemy. However, there is enormous competition on here, but it’s a great source of passive income if you can create a course that people will love.

#19 — Become A Virtual Assistant

While becoming a virtual assistant won’t pay you enormous amounts of money, if you’re looking to be a digital nomad in a city with a low cost-of-living, this could be something that pays your bills. This will require a significant amount of organization and some technical skills as well to succeed.

As long as you have the basics covered with programs like Word, Excel and PowerPoint, for example, and you’re an effective communicator, able to stick to deadlines, you might find yourself excelling as a virtual assistant.

#20 — Teach Others As A Virtual Tutor

Want to teach others directly? You can become a virtual tutor and engage in one-on-one tutoring sessions or even host Webinars to help people directly with any number of topics. This is terrific for teaching people new languages. If you have a second-language skill, this might be the right option to generate some money quickly and easily.

Of course you could teach a number of things virtually. This could range from technical to non-technical skills. For example, you could use a site like VerbalPlanet to teach a language, or try to source clients directly through social media or other avenues and process their payments through PayPal.

#21 — Write Articles For Other Sites

Last, but certainly not least, is article writing. Depending on your skill level when it comes to writing, you could always find work writing articles for other people. At the outset, this won’t pay you much, especially if you have little in the way of examples or portfolio pieces. But, like anything else, you can build this up over time.

You could also do a number of other things related to writing such as copywriting for descriptions, emails, or other sales-related content. Do your due diligence to find out what the going rates are for writing articles, and even try to find a mentor if you’re serious about making money online through this method.

R.L. Adams is a software engineer, serial entrepreneur, and author. He runs a wildly-popular blog called Wanderlust Workerand contributes to Entrepreneur, Engadget and the Huffington Post.

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