Make Money Online Basics

The most frequently asked question we receive from people seeking to make money online to supplement income, or even replace the day job, is: 'How do you actually sell stuff online?'

We all go through the same learning curve when we set out to sell things on the internet. Most start off with the attitude that it's no different to owning a store on the high street and anybody can do that! Or can they? Are you aware that 80 fail? Is that they can't read? I doubt that. Or is it that there is no hard pattern to follow that will guarantee success in online marketing? This is more likely the true scenario.

If I had a single dollar for each time somebody has offered to sell me the secret to earning $10K per month online I'd be quite rich by now. This leads to the logical conclusion that people will spend endless amounts of cash on all these "miraculous" deals in the hope of finding that one may prove to be accurate. Trust me; I've spent tens of thousands of dollars chasing one scheme after another to make money online. Until one day I woke up to my own stupidity and actually started making a few bucks.

The first thing you need is a website that will have 100% uptime so that when people wish to visit the site they can actually arrive at the site - quickly.

The next thing you need to understand is why people use the internet and then build your marketing strategy around that. People use the internet to access free knowledge. The emphasis is on free and that single word is the most popular price online both now and will remain so into the future. Very few people sit down at the computer with their credit card ready. Buying is a secondary use of the World Wide Web. What people want to share with you is your knowledge and it doesn't matter whether your knowledge is about Basketball or Basket Weaving there are hundreds of thousands of people worldwide that wish to share it. So step one to make money online is to have a website that shares your knowledge with the world. By doing this you gain credibility and respect and people will buy from those they respect.

Why not take up a challenge and join one of those schemes that give you your own free sales page online and then build a website of your own and do not try to sell to people - just use it to share your knowledge and you will discover for yourself what works best. Or you can take the short cut and accept the fact of life on the internet - People want free knowledge. Service that market and you are servicing the biggest market on the planet and very soon you will make money online.

More internet marketing tips for those who wish to work from home in future articles.