Since writing last week’s article I’ve received a few requests from readers asking for other ways to make money on the internet. As surprising as it sounds, many people make their sole income using the internet. Here’s a handful of ideas to get you started.
Perhaps the most notable means to start making money online is eBay. eBay, for those who may not know, is an online auction site. Just about anyone can list an item for sale and market it to the world – literally. Very little technological know-how is necessary and as long as you can upload a picture from your digital camera you can sell products.
eBay has all sorts of different sellers. My company uses eBay to sell odd parts that may have limited use to local customers; however, someone in Portland Maine may want or need it. I have a family member that sells hundreds of the same item through eBay auctions. They have one listing written for each item and relist it as needed.
All the big catalog sales websites like LLBean.com and JCPenney.com started as nothing more than an idea and a small website. Many, many companies and individuals sell products online via a dedicated website. Starting your own shopping cart style website is somewhat simple because many web hosts have built-in shopping cart templates.
Technically speaking, dedicated websites require more technical knowledge and take significantly more time to manage than eBay. Focusing on one genre of items such as jewelry or clothing would be a good idea and may also be a limitation of having a dedicated website. One of my local customers sells military collectibles throughout the country from his locally based site.
Blogging online has made people a fairly reasonable amount of money. If you’ve ever searched for an answer to a question, there’s a good possibility you’ve also stumbled onto a blog. Successful bloggers generally have an extensive knowledge of their subject matter. If I were to start a blog it could be related to computers or woodworking; both of which I have a reasonable knowledge.
Making money with blogging is less than traditional. Good bloggers connect with advertisers that fall into a category relevant to their articles. The more a reader follows the blogs and the higher the ad relevance, the higher the chances of a reader clicking the advertisement. As soon as the reader clicks, you receive financial credit.
Selling services using the internet is a relatively easy and profitable business for the right person. I worked with a woman who sold translation services. She operated a small website and worked from her condominium selling technical based translation services. Customers would e-mail her their document along with the language (or languages) and she would perform her service.
She received documents from all over the world. In a matter of days she would return the documents to the customer and collect her pay. She confided in me one day that she relied on college students because she only spoke English. Selling services online could include resume writing, document editing, and graphic design.
I may be wrong, but I believe the days of making a Microsoft million using the internet are over for most of us. Very few people make an impact on the internet and it would take a stellar idea to be in the ranks of Facebook, eBay, and Amazon; however, with some skill, planning and a lot of dumb luck anyone can sell products and services online and make some additional income.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can text him at (978) 413-2840 or call him directly at (978) 919-8059.)