What Not to Sell on the Internet

A few days ago I received a request to write about "how every day folks can earn money using the Internet"; I really don't know the answer to this question, except to say that I have tried to figure it out. Earning money from the Internet is not going to be easy! But if you want to try, here are some pit falls to avoid. I think most folks searching the net, looking for a quick way to get a buck; will quickly learn that there is an overwhelming number of websites claiming that you can get rich by just pushing a few buttons. You will find tons of websites offering you a "new" money making systems for just pennies.

Get Rich ebooks
Savvy Internet marketers were quick to learn that novices were eager and gullible to try any thing that would generate an income. What I've learnt is that the only ones making money are those who sell to gullible folks. They display a phony set of income facts to convince you that their system works. Their web pages are a mile long filled with a bunch of phony testimonials from other Internet marketers or shills. When you see the results from your web search you will be amazed by the number of outrages claims. All of these phony websites sell ebooks that you can download after you make your payment. I have fallen victim to this get rich schemes a few times.

When you see or read these sites, don't be fooled by their "step by step" systems. If these claims were indeed true, then why would anyone sell their most prized money making secrets to you. The why is easy to answer: Their money making secret is convincing you to buy their money making ebook.

Affiliate Programs
The next money making pit fall is signing up to become an affiliate, which gives you the right to sell so called business opportunities to more gullible folks and get rich in the process. When you sign up you receive a special URL (web address) with your ID embedded and made part of the web address. You use this URL to promote their get rich schemes. These marketers are very good at drumming up affiliates as they offer a commission for each ebook sold and you can log into your affiliate account to determine how much you sold and earned in real time. They can offer web sites for a small hosting fee and a great deal of promotional materials such as banners, email text, Google Ad Words promotional text and so on.

Sounds good, don't it? Unless you have a great deal of Internet marketing experience, you will quickly become frustrated. Here is why. They want you to sign up for Google Ad Words. This is a pay per click (PPC) classified. When some one clicks on your affiliate ad you pay Google for that click. People see your ad when they do a Google keyword search. The more popular a keyword is (a keyword is what folks use to find stuff) the more you pay for that keyword. This means that you have to budget how much you are willing to pay for a click. The most popular money making keywords can cost $1.50 or more just to get your ad on page one.

When some one clicks on your ad you pay for that click, but this does not mean that you will made a sale. It may take 100 to 300 clicks before you make a sale. They call that return on investment (ROI) or sales conversions per 100 clicks. You have very little control on who clicks on your ad and that means that your competitors can click you out of business. These guys know that they can run your PPC budget dry. Google attempts to control this, but don't count on it. Why would they want to run your PPC budget dry? So they can get to the top ad on page one by eliminating competion for that slot.

Learn More First
Okay, so know you know that you pay for ads, just multiply this by several hundred or more affiliates and you can see how they get rich by just recruiting gullible folks to join their affiliate programs, If your new at this game, my advise is not to do it. Instead learn from others who have done it successfully, by joining Internet forums founded by Internet marketers. Google Ad Words has a very good training program to teach how to profit from PPC.

Open an Online Store
A quick Internet search will find many merchandising companies offering website stores which you can stock with their products. Most will require you to pay hosting fees claiming that you can recover your hosting fee costs as you make sales. The easy part is selecting hot items to sell. The hard part is making a decent commission while you are paying your monthly hosting fees. But, the most difficult part is promoting your store and getting sales. The company will most likely do your back office work by taking orders and shipping products to your customers.

Promoting your store and making sales will be a never ending process that will demand most of your time. Most web stores pay low commissions and need high volume to make a decent income. I am not saying "don't do it" just do .make sure you do your research and be prepared to invest time and money.