This is a guest post by
Welly Mulia of
http://welly-mulia.com.
Before getting started on earning money online, it is important to know that there are quite a number of successful Internet business models to choose from.
Knowing which Internet business model you want to follow is crucial. Because if you don’t, it’s like hopping into a cab and when the cab driver asks you:
“Where do you want to go?”
You reply:
“Anywhere… just step on the accelerator and go…”
There are 4 successful Internet business models:
1. Sell Products
Selling products on the Internet can be categorized into selling your own product or other people’s products. The products sold can be digital or physical in nature.
Digital products are like those downloadable ebooks, reports, audios, and videos that a lot of marketers are selling online. You can SELL and FIND digital products at Clickbank and PayDotCom.
The topics for digital products vary widely from health, wealth, business, marketing, relationships, beauty, sports, hobbies, etc. You can find out in greater detail about the topics covered in the two links above.
Physical products are – as the name suggests – products that are physical in nature and are tangible. Places like Amazon and eBay are famous for selling products of this nature.
Now that you know you can sell digital and/or physical products, the next question is:
Do you want to create your own products or sell other people’s products (also known as affiliate marketing)?
For most people wanting to create their own products, they typically choose to sell digital products rather than physical products.
The reason for this is because creating digital products cost MUCH LESS money and time, and they are MUCH EASIER to create. All you need is to be knowledgeable in a certain subject and you can create an information “how to” product that shares your knowledge and skills.
Creating physical products, on the other hand, typically involves costly research and development, and the margin you get by selling them is minimal.
2. Sell Services
Instead of selling products, you can sell services to people as well.
If you’re a designer, you can sell your design skills.
If you’re a programmer, you can sell your programming skills.
Or you can also write content for other bloggers and Internet marketers in the form of articles or blog posts.
Or you might want to become a virtual assistant who helps other marketers and business owners.
There are a lot of business owners and marketers who would be happy to pay for the above mentioned services so that they can lessen their workload and focus on more important things in their business.
3. Sell Ad Space
So far I’ve given you 2 successful Internet business models. The third business model is by selling ad space on your website.
But before you can get anyone to advertise, you need to bring in visitors to your website first. Nobody is going to want to advertise on your site if you have little or no visitors.
The more visitors you receive on your website, the more money you can make from selling ad space. A good way to gauge how much traffic a website is getting is by looking at its Alexa rank. Though this tool is not the most accurate tool in the world, it gives us a good idea of how much traffic a website is getting relative to other websites. The lower the Alexa rank, the more traffic a website receives.
4. Sell Sponsored Reviews
This typically goes hand in hand with selling ad space. Bloggers who sell ad space usually also sell sponsored reviews.
A sponsored review is a PAID post where a blogger is asked to review a product or service, or create buzz about a new website.
Again, your blog needs to receive a considerable amount of traffic first before anyone wants to pay you for sponsored reviews.
There are 2 important keys to take note:
1. Transparency – make sure you disclose to your audience that it is a PAID post or sponsored review. If you don’t disclose this, you lose credibility – which is the number 1 selling tool on the net.
2. Honest – Make sure that your review about the product or service is honest and factual instead of biased towards the advertiser. Like above, if you post inaccurate information just for the sake of pleasing the advertiser, you’re going to lose credibility in the long run.
Out of the 4 successful Internet business models above, which one fits you the most?
Welly Mulia Helps The Average Beginner REPLACE THEIR JOB On The Internet In 10 Steps. Click Here Now: http://welly-mulia.com/continuity-programs-training-lesson-2-of-2 To INSTANTLY Discover What These 10 Steps Are And Learn How To Make Money On The Internet with zero hype.
selling ad space and affiliates are best Business models 😉 for me
and thanks welly for this awesome post 🙂 Keep it up
.-= Dev | Technshare´s last blog ..30+ Inspirational Social Bookmarking Sites =-.
My main blog monetizing model is selling ad space, review and adsense. I already selling ads on my blog, but I am trying to increase traffic on my blog, so that I can sell ad space on higher price.
.-= chandan´s last blog ..10 Work from Home Money Makers =-.
I can’t even think of other internet business models. Maybe a membership site? That could be a service. Oh well anyways, good post!
.-= Patrick Toerner @Young Entrepreneur´s last blog ..How to Find a Profitable Keyword for Your Minisite =-.
Patrick,
Perhaps a membership site would come under ‘selling services’ but it should definitely be highlighted.
Andrew
.-= Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Successful Internet Business Models =-.
Hi Patrick,
A membership site could be selling a product or service, depending on what you’re selling.
A membership site is simply a continuity program where members pay you a recurring ongoing fee.
Welly Mulia
.-= Welly Mulia´s last blog ..Internet Marketing Lessons From A Legend =-.
My model is not listed and that is affiliate marketing, it rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi JR,
Affiliate marketing is considered to be selling products, although you can also sell services as an affiliate too.
Welly Mulia
.-= Welly Mulia´s last blog ..Internet Marketing Lessons From A Legend =-.
These are great Internet business models that you have enumerated. I have seen how the likes of Leo Babauta and Seth Godin used the business models that you have talked about, but I disagree with you that content is easy to create. It’s very hard to come up with unique digital products that will actually sell.
Marjorie
It’s certainly not easy – I agree. It has to be somewhat different to sell.
Andrew
.-= Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Feedback – When did you last ask for it? =-.
Hi Andrew. I’m sorry it has been awhile since I’ve checked your blog. Thanks for replying to my comment. While I agree with you that unique content is hard to create, selling a service is just as hard to do. I love your blog, by the way. Great way to learn about blogging.
Marjorie
It can be hard – you have to be different to the rest. Provide some excellent customer service – really go out of your way to please.
‘Good enough’ is no longer good enough!
Thanks for the feedback, re: my blog.
Andrew
.-= Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Is Mastering Public Speaking Good for Bloggers? =-.
Selling service and ad space is the best way in business models I think. I well sale my service and provide ad space to other company to place their in my website because my site always getting good traffic.
If your site gets good traffic then selling ad space will give you better result then other business models.
Any way thanks for niche article.
Chris,
Must admit – I’ve never looked into selling ad space. Perhaps I should?
Andrew
.-= Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Feedback – When did you last ask for it? =-.
It will be 1 2 4 for me, as well as membership sites; considered by many to be the greatest all time model. 😉
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Attention Readers of all Kinds! – Multiple Articles Comin’ Atcha!! =-.
Dennis,
My recent launch membership site brings in most income for me and I love the mentoring side included.
Andrew
.-= Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Feedback – When did you last ask for it? =-.
Hi Welly and Andrew,
I think that as it is often said, for people just starting, selling other peoples products or affiliate marketing is the way to go.
It doesn’t really matter whether the products are digital or physical in that case.
Later on it may be a good idea to start creating your own digital or information products if you can do it.
Selling advertising space is very appealing once you get the necessary high traffic.
For now I’m doing affiliate marketing and have started with product creation. Having just created my first ebook, soon to be released, I have mixed feelings about moving in that direction.
Maybe it’s because the first product is the hardest to make. It may get easier with each product. But so far I don’t agree with those that say it’s easy.
Vance
.-= Vance@Gurus Nightmare´s last blog ..Marketing With Alex 3.0 Preview, Gurus Nightmare Alex’s New Ebook =-.
Vance,
My first ‘business model’ was creating my own product. Then I quickly created a second and thrid. Then came affiliate marketing.
What’s your new e-book on?
Andrew
.-= Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Feedback – When did you last ask for it? =-.
Good post, for me my main blog monetizing model is selling ad space, review and a times adsense, good ways to make some $$$..
Right now I’m focused on selling my own information products and also a few select and trusted affiliate products.
I subscribe to Welly’s blog, and I suggest others do the same.
John
.-= John Soares´s last blog ..Problogger’s Darren Rowse on Successful Foundations of a Blog =-.
Hey John,
Thanks for recommending my blog to others here.
Really appreciate that.
Best!
Welly
.-= Welly Mulia´s last blog ..Selling Information Products Is Totally CRAP? =-.
The title of your blog seems so interesting that I made the effort of reading it and I was amazed of what I’ve read. Indeed, Hugely informative! Thanks for the information because I’m not really aware of #3 and #4 and your blog open the door.:)
well, the basic thing in succes on internet is that you have always to be clear to your customers,, this can boost up your busines more if you remain helpful for your customer any time,,
Welly,
Great article. I think many people begin blogging with no clear sense of their objectives. By outlining these viable methods of monetizing a blog you give people the tools to figure out exactly how to get what they want out of blogging without wasting time on trial-and-error. I’m looking forward to your blogging guide!