How would you like to own a store where you could sell just about any product with potentially little or no inventory, that could be visited by anyone in the world, and had much less overhead than the standard brick and mortar shops you see on the street? Amazon, Zappos and the other giants of Internet retailing figured out long ago that people like shopping online and are willing to commit part of their discretionary spending doing so. Online retailers maintain elaborate websites and carry massive inventories to lure their customers and have done it with great success. These types of online stores don't exactly fit into the scenario outlined in the first sentence above and any individual that is contemplating on competing with the Amazons and Zappos of the world is probably not going to succeed. This does not mean that you should not try online marketing. It just means that you are going to have to go about it a little differently.
There are three things that are required to successfully market products online.
1. You must have products that people are going to want to buy. The three most popular ways to get products are to produce them yourself, buy them (wholesale or from a garage or estate sales), or to affiliate yourself with one or more online wholesalers or retailers. Your product could also be a service such as providing book editing, filling out tax forms, transcribing documents, and others.
2. You need a system to advertise and track your sales. The system you use could be your own or someone else's. Arguably, the most popular is the online auction site, Ebay. Here everything is done for you except the process of listing and shipping your items. If you have the skills or know someone that does, you could put together your own website, list your products and buy your own domain and hosting services. This can get expensive, has a learning curve, and requires a lot of work to design and maintain your web page(s). There are other methods, but they are beyond the scope of this post.
3. You need to get traffic (viewers) to your website or product. This is not an issue if you are using Amazon or Ebay to list your products as they have an ever expanding audience. If you have your own website, then you are going to have to figure out for yourself how to get people to see your products. There are a lot of ways to do this. Some work great while others won't work at all.
Obviously, the above is just a brief description of what is required to sell products online. Future posts will include specific strategies on how to get products, set up or join a system, and how to get traffic to your products.
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Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Online Surveys: The Good and the Bad
A lot of people like the idea of earning an extra income online
from the comfort of their home and paid online surveys seems like an attractive way to it. Today, there are several hundred different online survey companies
advertised on the Internet. I participated in online surveys years ago and recently decided to take another look at them. Not much has changed over the years as there are many good survey companies out there, but there are also a lot of bad ones.
The good survey companies have certain characteristics that separate them from the bad companies. That is, they don't sell your information to telemarketers or send you thousands of e-mails (most of which end up in your spam mailbox), and they tell you exactly what each survey you're taking is worth in terms of dollars or other incentives. The good survey companies are an excellent way to earn a few extra dollars and are usually maintained by parent marketing research companies. It is possible to make $3, $7 or more per survey. You can pick and choose and do them when you have spare time. After applying (signing-up), your acceptance comes via e-mail. Their website will provide extensive information about the company and their earning incentives. Unfortunately, sometimes is takes a while to get a check or deposit into your PayPal account even from a good survey company.
Some questionable survey companies partner themselves with Paid to Click websites. These can be particularly frustrating as most of the time you must qualify for each survey by answering a long list of questions. More often than not you won't qualify. Other times, after qualifying and taking the survey, it will say that all the surveys have been fulfilled. It is best to stay away from these types of surveys.
The "bad" survey companies actually offer cash and pay cash, but soon you will find your email spammed with all kinds of junk. These companies are legitimate to the point that they actually do pay cash once you've accumulated a certain amount, but their main goal is to get you to visit the websites of their marketing partners. Once there, you will be pressured into signing up to learn more about affordable health insurance or some other product. Do not fall for these because if you show any interest, expect to get several calls a week from telemarketers.
The worst survey companies are just downright scams. They won't offer you any money, but instead, they'll offer you a chance to win "thousands" in their sweepstakes. Or they'll make ridiculous claims about making "thousands of dollars a week" on their site. Beware of testimonials from people claiming to have made tens of thousands of dollars or more a month on their site. It does not work that way or everyone would be doing it. They will attempt to get as much information from you as possible and then promptly sell it to third parties. They will try to trick you into accepting "free" magazines and then charge your telephone bill for a subscription. They will ask for your cell phone number and charge you for ringtones. They'll do anything and everything to try to get money out of you and you'll receive nothing in return. You should not have trouble falling for these as they are easy to spot.
The good survey companies have certain characteristics that separate them from the bad companies. That is, they don't sell your information to telemarketers or send you thousands of e-mails (most of which end up in your spam mailbox), and they tell you exactly what each survey you're taking is worth in terms of dollars or other incentives. The good survey companies are an excellent way to earn a few extra dollars and are usually maintained by parent marketing research companies. It is possible to make $3, $7 or more per survey. You can pick and choose and do them when you have spare time. After applying (signing-up), your acceptance comes via e-mail. Their website will provide extensive information about the company and their earning incentives. Unfortunately, sometimes is takes a while to get a check or deposit into your PayPal account even from a good survey company.
Some questionable survey companies partner themselves with Paid to Click websites. These can be particularly frustrating as most of the time you must qualify for each survey by answering a long list of questions. More often than not you won't qualify. Other times, after qualifying and taking the survey, it will say that all the surveys have been fulfilled. It is best to stay away from these types of surveys.
The "bad" survey companies actually offer cash and pay cash, but soon you will find your email spammed with all kinds of junk. These companies are legitimate to the point that they actually do pay cash once you've accumulated a certain amount, but their main goal is to get you to visit the websites of their marketing partners. Once there, you will be pressured into signing up to learn more about affordable health insurance or some other product. Do not fall for these because if you show any interest, expect to get several calls a week from telemarketers.
The worst survey companies are just downright scams. They won't offer you any money, but instead, they'll offer you a chance to win "thousands" in their sweepstakes. Or they'll make ridiculous claims about making "thousands of dollars a week" on their site. Beware of testimonials from people claiming to have made tens of thousands of dollars or more a month on their site. It does not work that way or everyone would be doing it. They will attempt to get as much information from you as possible and then promptly sell it to third parties. They will try to trick you into accepting "free" magazines and then charge your telephone bill for a subscription. They will ask for your cell phone number and charge you for ringtones. They'll do anything and everything to try to get money out of you and you'll receive nothing in return. You should not have trouble falling for these as they are easy to spot.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Get Paid to Play Strategy Games
Online game have existed since the beginning of the Internet. Do a search and you can find board games, multiplayer games, action games, adventure games, casino games and more. Over the last few years strategy games have become popular because of the premise they are based on and because you can actually earn money by playing them. They are free to join, fun to play and don't take much of your time. The key to them is to be consistent and try to play everyday. Not that you have to, but the games will progress much faster if you do and you will see earnings much sooner. Three of the most popular strategy games that I play are listed below (including their links), and with a description of each. In future posts I plan to do a full review on each game and provide strategies for playing them.
Goldentowns
Officially launched on 08-19-2013, Goldentowns is a free online strategy game that is played straight from your browser. The game is a town construction, political, and military simulator in which virtual gold can be exchanged for real cash or for real 24k gold. It is the first game in the world that is backed up with real 24k gold. The author comments that, “The game is based on a paper published by Mr. Vlad Cristian (CEO ANNO1777 Labs) in 2011, which describes a deflationary economic system in which the amount of virtual currency is fixed and covered by 100% real gold. In GoldenTowns there is a limited amount of virtual gold (100,000 GoldenTowns Coins or GTC) which is distributed gradually in a steady pace to players. The entire amount is covered by a growing amount of real 24k gold in bullion.”
MarketGlory
Has been online for over two years and has become very popular lately. MarketGlory is a strategy game, in which you have the possibility to convert your virtual currency into real money. It is an online browser game, therefore, you don't need any other programs installed in order to play. It is one of the few business games where you are rewarded for your daily activity. As a simulation game, it offers you the possibility to fight, work, open companies, start wars. It is a very complex game , and the more you play it, the more options you find for your own development.
Anno1777
Claims to be the first social game in which you can change virtual currency into real money. Online since 2009, Anno1777 claims to have paid out over 333,000 euros during that time. It is very similar in structure to MarketGlory in that it does not have to be downloaded to your computer as it can be played with your browser. The game is an economical, political and military simulator. Virtual money can be exchanged into real money and back and the time spent in the game can become, gradually, very profitable.
As with most online earning opportunities you can add some of your own money to the above games to progress faster. Although, I would not recommend it. I view these types of games as entertainment just like any other game. They are interesting and fun, but until I get an actual payout they will continue to be treated as such.
Listed below are several other similar games you might want to take a look at. They all claim to provide earnings for their players. Use your own discretion.
Exodus 3000
New Goldenbattles
Goldencash
Proeconomica
Secondlife
New Sportsplays
Goldentowns
Officially launched on 08-19-2013, Goldentowns is a free online strategy game that is played straight from your browser. The game is a town construction, political, and military simulator in which virtual gold can be exchanged for real cash or for real 24k gold. It is the first game in the world that is backed up with real 24k gold. The author comments that, “The game is based on a paper published by Mr. Vlad Cristian (CEO ANNO1777 Labs) in 2011, which describes a deflationary economic system in which the amount of virtual currency is fixed and covered by 100% real gold. In GoldenTowns there is a limited amount of virtual gold (100,000 GoldenTowns Coins or GTC) which is distributed gradually in a steady pace to players. The entire amount is covered by a growing amount of real 24k gold in bullion.”
MarketGlory
Has been online for over two years and has become very popular lately. MarketGlory is a strategy game, in which you have the possibility to convert your virtual currency into real money. It is an online browser game, therefore, you don't need any other programs installed in order to play. It is one of the few business games where you are rewarded for your daily activity. As a simulation game, it offers you the possibility to fight, work, open companies, start wars. It is a very complex game , and the more you play it, the more options you find for your own development.
Anno1777
Claims to be the first social game in which you can change virtual currency into real money. Online since 2009, Anno1777 claims to have paid out over 333,000 euros during that time. It is very similar in structure to MarketGlory in that it does not have to be downloaded to your computer as it can be played with your browser. The game is an economical, political and military simulator. Virtual money can be exchanged into real money and back and the time spent in the game can become, gradually, very profitable.
As with most online earning opportunities you can add some of your own money to the above games to progress faster. Although, I would not recommend it. I view these types of games as entertainment just like any other game. They are interesting and fun, but until I get an actual payout they will continue to be treated as such.
Listed below are several other similar games you might want to take a look at. They all claim to provide earnings for their players. Use your own discretion.
Exodus 3000
New Goldenbattles
Goldencash
Proeconomica
Secondlife
New Sportsplays
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