When you think of ways to make money on the web, a few things probably come to mind. Webmaster and web design jobs are probably number one, but they require special skills that most of us don’t have. Another common way to make money on the web is by creating a store. This requires that you have a product to sell and a source where you can buy that product at a cheap enough price that you can resell it. Let’s get off the beaten path and explore 5 methods you may not have heard of that people are using to make money online:
1. Affiliate Advertising: Affiliate advertisers sell other people’s products. A common way to do this is to create a web page and then use the page to advertise a product. Every time someone buys the items using your site, you earn a percentage of the sale. ClickBank is a popular site that is home to a staggering number of affiliate products that you can choose from. Amazon.com and Ebay.com also offer affiliate programs. If none of these sites excite you, check out an affiliate marketplace like CommissionJunction (CJ.com). CJ works with a wide variety of providers and offers a central site where you can connect with them.
2. Pay Per Click or Pay Per Action Advertising – This is similar to affiliate advertising in that you are using your website to help sell things for others. With pay-per-click, you host ads on your site and get paid every time someone clicks on one of your ads. The most popular pay per click advertiser is Google AdSense. You register and choose the format in which you want the ads on your site. You place the script where you want it, and Google chooses which ads are shown.
Pay-per-action advertising means that you get paid every time someone clicks on an ad and takes a certain action. A common form of PPA advertising is to get paid a small amount, usually around a dollar or two, each time someone clicks on an ad and signs up for a trial membership.
3. Sell Articles: Webmasters are constantly looking for good content for their site. If you can write in standard English, you can earn money by writing articles. You don’t have to be a wordsmith to sell items, but if you are, you can get the best price.
4. Sell other people’s stuff: If you have a lot of friends and family living nearby, this can be a gold mine. Offer to sell them their unwanted stuff online for a cut of the profits. People sometimes have a bunch of stuff lying around that they don’t know what to do with. Offer to help them get rid of it in exchange for a percentage of the money each item is sold for. If your friends and family won’t bite, create some professional looking flyers or some business cards and distribute them around the neighborhood. You will be surprised how many people are willing to let you sell their stuff.
5. Become a life coach. Yes, people are paid to mentor others in many aspects of their lives. You choose the aspects of life you want to coach and search for clients on sites like MyPrivateCoach.com. You can advise people on anything from sex life advice to starting a business. MyPrivateCoach.com even offers training courses for those who don’t have coaching experience but still want to become a coach.
