If you are like many other people I know you have probably wondered how you can use the Internet to make money. To be honest, I am still working that out for myself. But I have found 5 ways that people do make money on the Internet and there are probably other ways.
What I think is missing from this list is the element of inspiration that leads people to step across that bridge of inexperience and make something happen. Successful Internet entrepreneurs may just work harder than everyone else. But I think they also get lucky.
Here is the list.
1: Sell Something You Make
Maybe it’s clothes or dishes or machines but you make something and you figure out a way to bring a lot of people to your Website. I think one of the best examples of this is Blendtec’s Will It Blend website. They sell industrial-strength blenders and they created a sensation by putting just about everything but the kitchen sink into their blender. And it blends.
There are websites that help you sell stuff you make. You don’t just have to make your stuff and then make your website famous. You can list your products at websites like Amazon and Etsy and eBay.
2: Sell Something Other People Make
We call it “ecommerce” but it’s really just selling other people’s stuff. Amazon.com does that but so do big retail companies like Costco, Target, and Walmart.
Selling other people’s stuff is probably the most common way that money is made on the Internet but if you are not a big brand you have a lot of work cut out for you. I don’t think the big brands get a free ride. It is just that they have already done a lot of the work of becoming big brands.
3: Create a Great Advertising Platform
Google is a search engine but it is also a big advertising platform. Any blog can be an advertising platform. A website that publishes information or news stories or helps you find other websites is an advertising platform. You just put the ads on your pages and watch them do their work.
Some companies like Yahoo became huge from advertising. But it is also true that advertising is a tough business model. A lot of companies that depended on advertising revenue have gone out of business. It’s not just so simple as creating a website and putting ads on it. You also have to bring in people to look at the ads.
4: Sell Software over the Internet
This is called “Software as a Service” or SAAS. Venture capitalists really like this because they believe it “scales up”. But that’s not really true. You have to invest a lot of money in hardware and programming salaries to “scale it up” and usually there is another company trying to do the same thing you do.
I read somewhere that about 19 out of 20 Internet startups fail because they just don’t create anything of value. People may think that software is the easy way to make money on the Internet but most of the time it is a bust.
5: Sell Your Services to other People
You can be a consultant or a freelance writer or a freelance worker. The freelance worker model is the one that is getting the most attention these days.
Freelance workers might give rides to people or perform errands for people. They probably do not make much money but the companies that broker the freelance deals all get a cut from the fees. Maybe one of them will strike it rich some day.
If you just get a fee from whatever you are selling then “scaling it up” may not be cheap. You have to build in the technology and the capacity to service a lot of people.
And yet freelancing is considered to be bigger and better than consulting.
All These Ways Demand Hard Work and Planning
I know there are people who supposedly wake up one day with an idea and just make it happen but I don’t believe it’s that easy. I think they have to find investors and hire employees and plan sales campaigns and still have to work for their fortunes like everyone else.
Maybe the real secret to making a lot of money on the Internet is figuring out how to get other people to help you build your business for free. Somewhere along the way people who make a lot of money just seem to be in the right place at the right time because it’s not like no one else is trying to build a business on the Internet.