Do you make money on-line?

[Hoopsah]

Do you make money on-line?

Having explored many money making ideas and coming across not a lot it left me wondering does anyone make any money on-line.

I realise that there are avenues within blogging, selling on e-bay, Flipping, adsense, surveys, forex trading etc. but can't believe that these are the best ways of making money.

So simple question - do you make money on-line and if so what do you do, do you have a website? How many hours a day do you spend working on-line?

Not trying to steal anyones ideas just another part of my search for details.

[Kay]

LOL! I think nearly everyone here makes money online. Some more than others. There's no real "best" way, although I find it's better for me to make money by doing things which interest me. That way it's much more enjoyable than a boring "job" would be. Mostly I earn from having AS on my sites. Much of that is money while I sleep so that's pretty nice. I sell various products as an affiliate. And sometimes I do writing work for other people, but only if I think I'll enjoy doing it.

There's no distinction between work and leisure time for me. Even when I go on holiday I still do the same things as I would normally do most days - take photos, write about things, learn about stuff on the internet, surf, talk to people on forums, etc.

It sounds from your post that you're just getting started. Have you seen Clinton's 101 ways to make money online?
http://www.experienced-people.co.uk/...-money-online/

[Clinton]

does anyone make any money on-line

Do you believe that the owners of Google make money online?

Amazon?

eBay?

What about eBay traders, people who have tens of thousands of feedback and spend all day running businesses selling things via eBay?

What about all the advertisers you see on Google's result pages who don't have bricks and mortar businesses (especially the ones selling ebooks, courses, software)?

What about the millions of people who use Adsense / use other contextual programs like Chitika / sell links / promote affiliate programs / charge members of their forums a subscription fee / generate leads for mortgage companies / do virtual assistant work?

Why do you think each of them persists with the activity that they do? It's because they've found something that makes money for them. There is no one single best way.

If you're looking at "flipping", forex etc., it appears you may be focusing on the Make Money Quick sectors. Those ain't for the novice or faint of heart. I would urge you to change your thinking and consider what type of online business you'd like to run. "Flipping" is a bit of a con as far as I'm concerned. There are far too few opportunities and far too many wannabes chasing those opportunities. The flipping emperor has no clothes. The sooner people realise that the sooner they can stop listing their junk in Flippa and start working on a genuine online business.

Find a need people have. Fill it competently. Look after your customers. That's all there is to the game.

[83lewishere]

As boring as it sounds there is NO quick easy way to make money online CONSISTANTLY from scratch without work. From your message I presume you mean things like Affiliate marketing etc. Yes you can make money online with these. Enough to replace your income is possible as is earning more than you could from a normal "job". Like Kay says it is much easier if it is something you are interested in. If you start doing that you will work and work, but it will be fun.

Like owning an offline business. Expect long hours, but if you put the RIGHT work in, you can get the rewards, which is why we are all here trying to work smarter.

[ClaytonL]

I make most of my money doing freelance programming, though now I work almost completely for one client. It's a full-time job. Hope that helps.

[Slowdive]

I think the biggest misconception about making money online is that it wont require a unique idea, skill set or talents. Nearly every successful online money maker I know could be making money in the real world too. Its what the internet is about taking something or some one and increasing exposure and potential for revenue. Always has been....

So to anyone wanting to make money online I always say, develop a skill. Write amazingly, Devise a method of getting 20k visitors to a site a day, Create something that solves a problem, Or become an authority on something! or even just find a great product!
Do any one or more of those things and you will find making money online is not so tough. Certainly once some one is doing one of those things or anything else unique or skilled making money is only a few steps away.

[KenW3]

Having explored many money making ideas and coming across not a lot it left me wondering does anyone make any money on-line.

I realise that there are avenues within blogging, selling on e-bay, Flipping, adsense, surveys, forex trading etc. but can't believe that these are the best ways of making money.

I think part of the difficulty is you seem to be mixing business profits with employee salary and paid activities. Most people on these forums are in business for themselves, so I suspect their answers may be framed from that perspective. You would need to decide whether you wish to make money in your own business, or as an employee doing work for others. Let me take each of your list and highlight some of the differences:

Blogging is not a business. It is writing about things that are of interest to a niche. Bloggers can monetise the site with advertising for products or services, or directly sell products or services themselves, but blogging is an activity.

Selling on eBay is a business. It is sales of products in competition with other product sellers. The objective is to provide the best prices or the best services, to build a reputation for honesty and customer support.

Flipping is often perceived as a get-rich-quick scheme that attracts a lot of interest. It is highly competitive amongst those business owners who know how to improve websites and find hidden value in a potentially dangerous, somewhat-unregulated international market. This is similar to real estate flipping, in that properties are purchased for resale and improved. This activity requires much more knowledge than a typical business, because this process is buying and selling online businesses. Due to this activity, the ability to operate profitable online product and service businesses is a prerequisite.

AdSense is not a business. It is advertising for businesses selling products and services. For people who have related businesses, and wish to advertise other people's products and services (i.e. sell advertising on the site), this is one method of doing so.

Taking surveys is not a business (but providing surveys for businesses selling products and services can be structured as such). If you are doing the activity, then this would be considered employment and trading hours for dollars, not a business.

Forex trading is not a business, but can be structured as such if licensed to manage other people's money. Any trading, including forex, is assumption of risk for the expectation of profit. Trading is speculation and requires a lot of knowledge to do safely. Forex is especially risky, as it is a very illiquid market where markets are being made by individual brokerages.

What are the best ways to make money? This answer is based on your skills. What do you know best? What do you enjoy doing?

A business is not profitable until money changes hands. This means selling a product or a service that other people need, see value in, and are willing to part with money to obtain. They enable this by advertising and promoting what they offer, because until someone else knows about their offer, sales are not possible.

I should probably add a disclaimer for these comments, as to be able to provide a comprehensive answer to each of these areas you've highlighted would require a book (at least) of their own (and these books are available on the net to enable study of these areas).

[Kay]

Sorry, Ken, I don't agree with a lot of what you wrote.

I do understand the difference between owning a business and buying/creating a job for yourself. However, by your definition I don't have a business and I thought I had. I sometimes sell my labour to my business, because that's what I want to do. But the business usually ticks over quite nicely without me when I'm away doing something else. I don't see any reason why my business shouldn't hire me from time to time rather than anyone else. Even the very top entrepreneurs work for their own businesses in whatever capacity they choose.

I don't 'get' why you say AS isn't a business. It's big business, it makes G millions (billions?) of dollars a year. If someone can create something, as a publisher, to get a piece of the AS cake, how is that not a business?

Also, why do you say that blogging isn't a business? Sure, I have blogs as a hobby that take a lot of work and don't make any money worth mentioning, but I also have other blogs I haven't even looked at in months which bring home the bacon. Are they not part of my business? They sure as heck aren't part of my activities. Unless you count total inaction as an activity.

Why bother defining the terms anyway in such a grey area? If I perform an action in the hope of making my business more profitable, is that work, business, or an activity? Despite being involved in all kinds of things, I define it as anything I do to make money online Edit: for my own sites as part of my business activities. Selling my labour to someone else is employment, even though it's still a way of making money online.

[Kay]

Some further thoughts...

AS is about making money from selling advertising space on your content. It's the same thing online and offline. That's how print newspapers and magazines make money. The advertising revenue is what pays for all the production and distribution costs if they're freebie newspapers. The cover price pays for part of the costs of production and distribution if they're not freebies, and the advertising revenue pays for the rest.

The business model of many websites monetised by AS works on the same principle. The owner buys assets and labour to keep the business going. And the revenue from advertising, including from AS, pays for it. How can that not be a business?

[KenW3]

Sorry, Ken, I don't agree with a lot of what you wrote.

I do understand the difference between owning a business and buying/creating a job for yourself. However, by your definition I don't have a business and I thought I had.

Actually, I know you have a business, so I think you do have one The difficulty in my explanation, your lack of agreement, and perception of the post by readers, is the explanation as to why some people can read a '101 ways to make money' article, then come here and post in the forums that they don't see any ways listed for them to make money.

We are dealing with interpretation, and at the heart of these definitions is how to explain business to potential new business owners in a way they can comprehend. By the explanations above, I was trying to get to the root of how a business is structured.

I sometimes sell my labour to my business, because that's what I want to do. But the business usually ticks over quite nicely without me when I'm away doing something else. I don't see any reason why my business shouldn't hire me from time to time rather than anyone else. Even the very top entrepreneurs work for their own businesses in whatever capacity they choose.

Agreed. I work for my businesses also, doing whatever needs to be done. I trade hours for dollars as an employee for my businesses. I sell my personal (and other people's) services to others through two of the businesses.

I recall a new member show up here wanting to do bespoke programming. I asked if he had a business, as I was not interested in an employee and would never pay him as an individual without a business. He never replied.

I don't 'get' why you say AS isn't a business. It's big business, it makes G millions (billions?) of dollars a year. If someone can create something, as a publisher, to get a piece of the AS cake, how is that not a business?

AdWords is an advertising service and a source of revenue for Google's business, and AdSense is a program administered by G that allows sharing of revenue from AdWords sales in the appropriate venues. You can have a store or a blog or a news site or whatever, and G pays you to carry the advertising G sells through AdWords. For you, AdSense is a monetisation method for your business (but not the business nor the model). Your business is partnering with G to publish ads, but is not an AdSense business.

Also, why do you say that blogging isn't a business? Sure, I have blogs as a hobby that take a lot of work and don't make any money worth mentioning, but I also have other blogs I haven't even looked at in months which bring home the bacon. Are they not part of my business? They sure as heck aren't part of my activities. Unless you count total inaction as an activity.

Blogging is publishing of a journal or specific niche information on the web. A blog can be a diary, or it can be articles to support a niche or products for a specific business. Blogging can be approached as a business, but that is not the definition of blogging. Blogging in itself is not a way to make money, it is a way to draw readers to information about a specific area of interest. Once the readers are in place, products and services from a business can be sold to the readers, or the site can even be monetised by some third party method such as AdSense or affiliate programs. Blogging is a publishing method to target specific demographics.

Why bother defining the terms anyway in such a grey area?

Because new members have great difficulty in figuring out how to make money online. You know how to do this. We take different approaches, but the intent is the same, profit. How would you explain what is business, what is employment, what is gambling, and how to make money from the provided list in the OP? Is your business model sales of products or services, or support for sales of products and services?

To me, business is very basic. It is selling things to companies and individuals. Everything past that is support for the process or a way to enable how to sell more, how to do more effective advertising, how to target demographics, etc. I don't want to get more clicks from AdSense ads, I want to draw more people interested in the items being sold or advertised on my sites and target my audience or customers properly.

I was trying to get to a perspective on business, and I took the OP very seriously, especially since not everything listed was a valid way to make money on the net. There are basics not being understood the same way you and I understand them. These questions get asked here repeatedly. The question, 'Do you make money online' and how, is a very simple question with some very difficult answers. How do you make money online? What works? What does not?

I'd love to know what explanations help a new member, interested in making money, understand business. Hopefully, the above brief descriptions shed some light. Perhaps the only real answer is for each person to explore each method in depth, one at a time, until each model is understood.

I have difficulty explaining this sometimes, as I do not find it easy to see the difficulty in understanding from the perspective of a new business owner. Kay, I suspect most EP members here would have the same difficulty, as you already understand how to make money in business and have doing so for a long time.

How do we define this for the OP? Is it possible to get too basic for definitions? It would help having some input from people new to this process.