http://www.JohnWoon.com

Like tens of thousands of people who often venture online exploring ways to make a little extra money, I have been looking for ways that would allow me to eventually live a life with residual income and financial freedom.

Obviously, I did not know how except for the fact that many are making millions of dollars every year from Internet.

But I learnt fast, after having paid a lot of money to the so-called Internet gurus. I realised that there were a lot of scams, hyped-up promises, and just plain sure-way-to-loose-your-hard-earned-money programs. Very quickly, it became obvious to me that the promises of make-tons-of-money-with-no-effort-all-for-free had to be challenged because this is not true at all! What you get for nothing would be nothing. I learnt now how I should look every time before I leapt.

Building a business online is just like building a brick-and-mortar business offline. So you need both a good plan and a marketable product. Some friends advised that I should build a website around my personal interest or hobbies because it'd be fun doing so. That way, when the going gets tough, the motivation to persevere would be more likely to prevail. However I found that my own interest and hobbies were not necessarily what the market was looking for. In fact, I realized that I should look at other people's interest instead.

The easiest way to get into business online is through affiliate programs which allow you to sign up as an affiliate member. You earn a referral commission from selling the program owners' products.

These products are usually information products such as electronic books (eBook) and software that can be delivered as a file that is then downloaded directly to your customers' computers. They could be reproduced, downloaded and sold repeatedly at no cost. There's no packing, shipping and delivery cost. Owing to this, affiliate program owners usually pay their affiliates high commissions (50% or more).

I learnt that it is best for beginners to start by joining a few affiliate programs, followed by announcing this to as many friends as possible to prompt them to visit my websites. At the same time I was strongly advised against the use of "Spam". Suddenly I found my list of friends to be pathetically short! Hardly 100 names!

I was feeling really inadequate after finding that many Internet entrepreneurs actually had a mailing lists of well over 5000, 10,000, 100,000.......

To start off, I needed a website, although people do make money without a website. By joining an affiliate program I did not have to worry about creating a website of my own because many affiliate programs do offer websites for free.

However I was advised to learn how to modify the website to differentiate it from many others having the same program so that I would have some advantages over others. As I said, I had a miserable mailing list hence

I send these people my regular newsletter via "autoresponder" provided by the program and over time, I hoped to develop a relationship with many of the visitors.

A newsletter allows me to share information and resources with my subscribers resulting in a positive rapport, friendship and eventually trust.

There's a 30-day guide which is really cool. It takes me step by step each day to improve my business incrementally. It exposes me to many possibilities, among other things, of how to drive traffic to my site. And I find joy in doing so especially in my pyjamas!

The program allows me to join a discussion forum. It is like walking into a big library, only that it is better because all the members have similar interest i.e. Internet business. This is where I find answers and solutions to my questions and problems. I find active and successful members discussing their latest findings, for instance, the best websites and software to use to improve our businesses. Another advantage in taking part in the discussion is that other members or visitors get to know my website located in my "signature".

Yes, I also learnt how to place my adverts. Here are some of the things that I've looked into:

1) The various locations where I can place an ad such as newsgroups, forums, ezines, and web sites.

2) How to post information to a mailing list or newsgroup for free but using a signature file to promote my websites.

3) How the program helps me to set up autoresponders to take away the chore of responding to visitors manually.

4) How to write articles and submit them to article directories to get free advertisement for life.

5) I've created a Blog of my own. It is an excellent way to provide visitors and customers with information at their fingertips, just a click away. I keep it fresh and alive by posting interesting articles on Internet business on a regular basis. The articles in the Blog also offer me free advertisement because each article carries a link to my websites.

In conclusion, if you want to make money on the Internet, it is a real possibility. But please do not expect something for nothing. You need to invest in your effort, time, commitment and at least some financial input. Once you've decided, go for it and. .....DON'T EVER GIVE UP!
About the Author

Not long ago, Sung-Liang Woon didn't know ANYTHING about Internet marketing... However, within just a few weeks, he launched his own website AND learned how to profit from an opt-in list, pull in sales with ezines, make money with Google Adwords and setup his own BLOG! Here's how: http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-9747