Several services, podcasts and consultants are dedicated to teaching people how to make money on the net. Here’s the bottom line: They are taking your money and making money on the net by getting you to pay for their services, podcasts and consulting assistance. That sounds harsh, and is not meant to be. It’s just a reality check. These e-gurus are making an honest dollar and charging for their expertise. However, in most cases, what they are serving up is how they are making money, not how you can. It’s no different than when Carlton Sheets sold how to make money in real estate on Info-mercials.
The point is there is no rule to how to make money on the Internet. It’s just like any other business. If you have the right product, service, niche, marketing, and put in the sweat equity, you, too, can foster a business online just as you could offline. The advantage is that your start-up costs are lower online. The disadvantage is that it’s hard to cut through the clutter, smoke and mirrors.
Basically, monetizing content (as it’s called) is no different than the older term of e-commerce, except that it refers more to the selling of knowledge rather than products. Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., in his book “Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? Inside IBM’s Historic Turnaround,” gives IBM credit for inventing the term e-business, which he prefers over e-commerce.
Deep in the book Gerstner writes: “I think for a lot of people, the ‘e’ in e-business came to stand for ‘easy’. Easy money. Easy success. Easy life. When you strip it doewn to bare metal, e-business is just business. And real business is serious work.”
That’s why today’s e-trepreneurs will honestly admit that they make $100 from Google Ads, if lucky, a bit more from affiliate marketing if aggressive, and the real money is made by the stars who have made real names for themselves ultimately through old-fashioned books and speaking engagements arising out of blogs, and e-communications.
If you’re not looking to promote yourself, but your business, the Internet is a great marketing tool – a key communication channel for letting people know about your product, service or offering. It never was a get rich quick vehicle. Few marketing channels are, but each does help build the brand – even if the brand is you.
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