Aside from the pay per hour job that I talked about in my previous post I use several different methods to earn money online.Today I am going to briefly explain what exactly those methods are.They are similar in some ways and very different when it gets into the real nuts and bolts of how it all works.You could choose to do any one of these things, or all of them in various combinations like I do.
The three main ways I can earn money online is by implementing my writing skills and to promote products or services for others.
And even after working at self teaching myself for close to 5 years, there is still much to learn, and many new ideas that spring from trial and error.These three methods are known as Affiliate Marketing, Internet Marketing and Content Marketing. Each has it’s own special nuances and best approach methods.
This is one business that is ever changing, ever evolving and becoming easier in some ways, and much more difficult in others.
So, what does each different type of marketing entail?
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing by definition is:
“Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts“.
That is the main explanation, but there is much more involved.
Affiliate Marketers make money online by promoting products that are sold by online (and sometimes offline) retailers. The retailers compensate affiliates for sending them customers and selling their products. It’s a little more complicated than that. You can read more about that in my next post.
Internet Marketing
Internet Marketing by definition is:
“Online advertising, also called Internet advertising, uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers. It includes email marketing, search engine marketing, social media marketing, many types of display advertising (including web banner advertising), and mobile advertising”
Internet Marketing takes into its fold, various techniques like those shown in the definition above, and is used widely for the purpose of advertising businesses, promotions, special events, for every kind of business from retail to service business.
Every business can benefit from internet marketing. Even small Mom & Pop stores in your local area could use internet marketing to promote their business.
Internet Marketing is just another way of getting the word out about what your business provides in its inventory or services to your customers.
Last but not least, is Content Marketing. What is it?
Content Marketing
Content Marketing by definition is:
“Content marketing is any marketing format that involves the creation and sharing of media
and publishing content in order to acquire customers. This information can be presented in
a variety of formats, including news, video, white papers, e-books, infographics, case studies,
how-to guides, question and answer articles, photos, etc.”
This is really a broad spectrum of advertising online, and for different purposes can mean many different things. As the definition above shows, in encompasses everything from videos to e-books and news.
Content Marketing is really just presenting your advertising in a manner that is informative, useful and benefitting of the customer base you are trying to reach.
The information can come in a variety of forms, from funny cartoons, or even cat images on facebook. Your content marketing depends on your reader and what exactly they want to know about. And, your ability to provide the answers.
This blog is my content marketing of Me. I am my business. And if I provide you with the information that you are looking for, chances are that I will be able to use this information as a means of earning money online.
IF I succeed in engaging you, my reader, into a relationship of sorts, you will hopefully come back again, and learn about other things I will share with you about my business. In doing so, you may also tell a friend or colleague that you learned it here, and maybe even share a link to my site.
This is not an overnight get rich quick scheme. This is me. This is what I do. On this blog, I have placed some affiliate ads for products and if when I tell you about them, you are intrigued enough to want to try them out yourself, you may click my ad, or buy one of those pretty coffee mugs. And I will earn a share of that sale.
I also have placed some Google Adsense ads on this site, that big square ad up on the top of this post (and every post I write). That ad also has the potential for making me money. How?
Google ads pay per click. So if you see an ad and you want to know more about that product or service, feel free to click on it. I’ll make a few cents. Sometimes it could be a few dollars. Depends on the advertiser and what they pay for that ad.
It doesn’t cost me anything but a little space at the top of my posts, and the images help break up long sections of text. Again, it doesn’t hurt anyone, and can actually help someone find a product or service they are looking for. Win. Win. Win. ( I Love that, Don’t you?)
Other Ways I Make Money Online
There are other ways I make money online, and in future posts I will cover more topics, many of them overlap, others are more creative, some are just writing for the sake of writing.
But if you have any interest in possibly making some extra money, there is sure to be something along the way that may just be a perfect fit for you and your interest level. Whether it could lead to an extra $20 a month or $5000 – well, that is up to you.
I fall somewhere in the lower end of that still. So no, I don’t make thousands of dollars by doing this yet. But I’m learning how to use what I know to earn enough to supplement our household income.
I know that the potential is there to reach a level of income like some of my friends who regularly make the kind of money I want to. And I’m going to do my best to find the ways that I can do the same, without compromising my standards of ethics and honesty.
The best part is I sit here in my kitchen, in my Pj’s, I can drop what I’m doing and attend to my family, the mountain of laundry or dinner, and even just take the day off because I want to go to the beach.
The drawback to slacking (which I have also learned over the last five years) is that when you slack off, you don’t make as much money as when you really devote the time and effort needed. I’m working on finding the balance between the two. Maybe one day I’ll get it right.
Til next time…