Making Money on the Internet, and How to Actually Do It
Making the Most of a Web Presence Investment
Making money on the internet with your websites as a person or business is more than possible, but it's not an easy solution without having some idea of where you're going before you spend to much time and energy getting started. How much it costs, monetarily, to get started with web marketing, blogging, online writing, web sales, or just gathering a targeted audience depends a lot on your level of DIY, tech abilities, and time your willing to invest. Presented here are the most common ways to start making money, either directly through sales or by some offer means. Understanding roughly how they work can help you decide a direction that's best for your web presence goals.
Ask People Who Already Know
The good news is that literally almost anyone could learn to be a strong enough web developer to take care of most of their online needs with nothing more than small hosting fees and whatever they wish to pay in advertising - and lots of time. In reality, most people are not interested in spending the hours and energy it takes to learn.
If you plan to start using the web to earn money, it is in your best interest to speak with a professional as early as realistically possible before spending any money on a website, a facebook campaign, online advertising, or other venture. A small investment in the right place can save (and make) you thousands over years, and any decent web developer should be willing to at least talk to you about your needs without trying to push you into a big investment.
In most situations, people opt to have a web developer handle the work because it's easier and (much) cheaper in the long run. Web developers also know other web developers, and most of us have respected colleagues to consult when things get strange. Bottom line: a good web developer will pay for herself many, many times over - often in subtle ways.
Marketing for Traffic -Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Taffic refers to the people who find you on the internet. In general, you are seeking traffic as a primary means of profit on the web. The only currency on the web, besides actual currency, is traffic. If no one sees a website, it's fiscally inconsequential.
A site should be at least search engine friendly from the get-go with friendly and effective title tags, headers and footers, and decent word count, more time can be spent further optimizing the page for people to find it. For instance, adding services pages describing particular services your company ofers can suggest to search engines that you are reliable enough to provide the service as well as provide useful content for the possible customer. Organic marketing is of most use to people not getting much search traffic, new businesses or websites, and websites whose primary goal is get mass interest or attempting to sell a good online.
Informational Content Creation
If your business is interested in informing people about your service or issue, consider putting effort into creating content for people to find and reference. This can be super powerful to establish your name or company as an authority in the field and is of great use to your visitors. Content creation is an ongoing quest, but it's important to go about it with a strategy to get the best results. Content creation pairs well with social media marketing, as social media is (kind of) free and tailored to individuals interests anyways. In other words, your more likely to reach the people that are interested and already have some trust in you.
Paid Ads - Pay per Click Advertising (PPC)
These campaigns require what can be a large financial commitment at times, but they can be extremely powerful for some small and local businesses. Major search engines allow businesses and individuals to bid on top slots in search results based on keywords people are searching. The monetary bid isn't the only thing that matters - quality of the ad and the pages it links affects ad placement as well. Small businesses can use strategic ad placement within their budget to reach people that are highly likely to purchase a product or service. Generally you pick a monthly budget for the campaign, set up the campain, and contine to monitor it make sure the investment is paying back.
These require much more careful management than you may be led to believe to be effective, but in certain situations the effort is totally worth it.
Final Words
It's not easy to know where to start with web marketing, or even to just approach the internet in a financially responsible way, but the information is out there. How much you stand to gain from your web campaign depends entirely on your goals. It is a great benefit to have someone who has walked to the path before you. Always choose a developer you trust and comes with references - they can save you a lot of time and money.
