Traditionally, people make money on the internet a few ways:

1. Sell Your Services. If you have a service you want to sell -- An example would be something like a "virtual assistant" who provides assistant services to business people. The internet is a perfect place to sell such services. But, you have to have the skills to be able to sell yourself on the internet. This can be expensive, and takes a lot of time. Essentially, you are still a wage-slave as you are selling your time. No problem with this, but your income will be limited.

2. Sell Your Product. You have a product they want to sell. You want to sell your hand-made pastries over the internet, or collectible alien products, or bumper stickers. The internet can be a great place to do this. We all know about selling stuff on EBay or Craig's list, and with more and more people getting comfortable purchasing products on the internet, people are now actually earning a good living this way exclusively.

3. Participate in a Multi-level marketing program that focuses on the internet. You can participate in a multi-level marketing company and use the internet to sell the company's products and the business opportunity that. The internet is a great place for this kind of business, but word is out, so there are a lot of people competing with you, so you've got to do it right in order to make a living. And, like any "brick and mortar" business, it takes a great deal of work to build your customer list on the internet.

4. Sell someone else's products. Usually, this is done through what is known as "affiliate marketing" and, if automated, can product big bucks with minimum of effort. We'll spend a great deal of time on this. For many people, this is a very attractive way to sustain an internet business, and holds a great deal of charm over the other methods.

Why sell someone else's products? For #1 to work, you have to actually be able to provide a service. If you don't currently have a service, you've got to find one, and gain the skill necessary to sell your services. This can take months and even years, depending up the service you are providing.

For #2 to work, you have to have a product. And if you have a product, you have to have inventory, and you have to make trips to the post office to mail the product, and you have customer returns and complaints to deal with. You have to have a website that has a shopping cart, which means you have to take credit cards, and there's a cost to all of this.

For #3 to work you have to find the right company, and you have to distinguish yourself from the other hoards of people trying to sign everyone up to be in their downline.

But in order for #4 to work, you need none of those. You don't need a special service, you don't have to have a product (or store it or ship it, etc.). So, through affiliate marketing, you have to focus on just a few things. You have to have a great website, you have to understand how to capture prospects and communicate via email, you have to know how to build a good list, and you have to find good affiliate programs to associate yourself with. Much of the work of owning a business is eliminated with affiliate marketing, and for those who take the time to learn how to do it right, there's great income that comes along with the business!

Copyright (c) 2008 Mark Albertson