What does it take to get started in Internet marketing? It really only takes a computer, an Internet connection, a blog, a lot of time, and a lot of effort. Steve Pavlina started with just these things and after 18 months he was making a good income that many people would be thrilled to have.
Depending on how much time and effort you put into it, you might be able to copy Steve's success. Or if you put in a little time it could take you years.
You will also need a niche to focus on and knowledge about this niche. It will be easier to fill a blog with content if you know something about the topic. It isn't impossible to develop a site about an unfamiliar topic, but it is more difficult.
Monetizing Your Blog
How can you monetize your site? To start out with there is AdSense. AdSense has no minimum requirements. Anyone can sign up for an account.
There is also Chitika and Kontera. Kontera usually requires that a member's site has at least 500,000 hits a month.
Getting 500,000 hits a month isn't that hard if you have chosen a niche that gets a lot of searches. If you are in a niche that gets 180 searches a month you might never get 500,000 hits each month. But if you are in a niche that gets 150,000 searches a month it won't be difficult to meet Kontera's requirement.
You can also sign up for affiliate programs that sell products your readers would be interested in purchasing. Visit Commission Junction and sign up for a few stores that offer affiliates a decent share of the sales.
ClickBank is another possibility for Web site monetization. They have thousands of e-books and software programs that you can promote on your site. They pay as much as 70% of the purchase price to the affiliate. Choose one or more that you feel good recommending.
Once your site starts getting more traffic and gets higher page rank there are other options for monetization as well. For instance, you can sell text links. There are people who will pay over $100 to get a text link on a site that has a page rank of 7 or higher.
You can of course also promote your own product. Find out what the people in your niche are looking for by asking the people on your opt-in list what they would like. Then, make the product or hire someone else to create it.
This product can be for any niche. It can be a software program that organizes coins for coin collectors, or an e-book that instructs antique collectors how to find rare antiques for bargain prices.
Get Started Now
The Internet is the new Wild West where anyone can stake a claim and make money. You only need to be willing to work hard, devote a lot of your time, and persevere. There are people who are making thousands of dollars by their second or third month, and there are people who start making a few dollars a month with AdSense and build slowly.
If you want to try to make some extra money on the Internet you have to start now. Don't put it off. Register a domain name, get a hosting account, set up a free Wordpress blog, and start posting.
