A similar form of this is a subscription site like Third Tribe Marketing (affiliate link). I pay a monthly fee to access the myriad of resources within the password-protected website. A recent WebWire article, Membership Sites: A Growing Buzz in Internet Marketing, calls subscription sites like this the “final frontier of online marketing”:

Every month, a few leading online marketers have been pulling in a substantial and consistent income from online membership sites…There has been a slow yet steady buzz developing in the Internet marketing community recently about membership sites. These websites range from how-to sites, to dating sites, to professional networking sites that charge a fee…One similarity that these membership sites have in common is their ability to produce for their owners a relatively passive stream of income.

So you have two options: build a continuity program or a subscription site. The continuity program really only requires a simple web presence; that online shingle that says you’re open for business. If you opt to create a membership site, but don’t have the skills to build it yourself, it may be easier than you think to make it happen.

Regardless of which way you go, you can create a reliable, steady stream of income using this strategy. The caveat here is that once you’ve built it, you have to know how to market it. That’s why I recommend Third Tribe Marketing. Between the online seminars, Q&A calls and discussion forums, you’ll learn from other experts in the field how to effectively market your online business or program.

What am I going to build? I’m working on a plan for a continuity program, and as this website evolves you’ll find details here. I also have an idea for a membership site, but like many of you, I don’t have the skills to build such a complex site. So I’ll be looking for someone to partner with.

What about you?

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Stop Delivering Pizzas and Start Making Money the New-Fashioned Way

Start Your Own Business – It’s Easier Than You Think!

When I lost my job in January 2009, it became obvious to my family that we could not survive on one income. We simply had too much debt. As with most American families, we believed we were carrying a healthy amount of debt (surely no more than the average American) and were content to live beyond our means. As I write that, it sounds ridiculous. But that’s how we felt. That all changed last year.

My husband and I read Total Money Makeover and got “gazelle intense” about getting out of debt. In less than six months, we’ve almost reached our first major financial goal. How? Well, Dave will tell you to do three things when you’re eyeball-deep in debt; first, eat beans and rice, rice and beans. Second, sell so much stuff your kids will think they’re next. And third, he’ll tell you to get a second (part-time) job delivering pizzas.

I don’t know about you, but not only do I not WANT to deliver pizzas, I CAN’T because of my obligation to be home with my kids at night. So what can you do from the comfort of your own home to make some extra money to pay off all that debt? There are 3 Surefire Strategies to legitimately making money online, and you won’t even have to take a shower afterwards (you won’t feel like a dirty spammer).

Of the three strategies, if you’re already working full-time, I recommend affiliate marketing. It’s easy and can be quite profitable with a good marketing plan. Instead of rehashing the details of a smart affiliate marketing plan, just check out You Don’t Have to be a Web Marketing Expert to Earn Income Online.

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You Don’t Have to be a Web Marketing Expert to Earn Income Online

So, why am I only talking about starting an online business? Well, the reason is the low, low overhead costs involved. Depending on your goals, it may eventually turn into a brick-and-mortar business; but it’s definitely less risky to start online with little or no overhead, build a successful business and then move into a physical location.

But let’s move on to the subject matter at hand.

Yesterday, in How to Start Your Own Business – 3 Surefire Strategies, the first strategy I suggested was affiliate marketing. For the purposes of this post, that’s where I’m going to focus my attention.

When I launched my first website (with the added intention of using it to make a few extra bucks), my first thought was affiliate marketing. I immediately became an affiliate of Amazon and created my own store. I thought I’d make all kinds of cash. Did I? No; because I wasn’t effectively utilizing my resources nor did I have a strategic plan for how to sell the products I was promoting.

So this time around, I decided to focus on just a couple of key products that I use and LOVE: Third Tribe Marketing, GoDaddy and the Frugal Premium WordPress theme (all affiliate links). I promote them on my website with web banners, but I also blog about my experience with them and why I love them. And, I use a marketing strategy known as “Product Launch Formula” (PLF) by Jeff Walker to strategically market these products. Where did I learn about PLF and how do I know that it works? Well, I gleaned it from a seminar I listened to on Third Tribe Marketing. The folks that started Third Tribe Marketing are brilliant and are truly the thought leaders behind legitimately making money online (without being an obnoxious spammer).

The beauty of affiliate marketing is that it doesn’t necessarily take much time, so it’s easy to do as a side business. Or, if you’re already building your new reality, it’s a great way to start creating some initial cash flow so you can then focus your energy on other, more profitable business strategies. So, what’s your next step?

PS – There’s a new FTC law that requires me to inform my readers whenever I link to a product that is not mine but I make money on when it’s purchased. That’s why you see “(affiliate link)” throughout many of my posts. And if you become an affiliate marketer, be sure to do the same. It’s the law.

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There are three distinct, LEGITIMATE, surefire ways to make money online. THESE ARE NOT “GET RICH QUICK” SCAMS. In fact, I can promise you won’t get rich quick. But the money you earn from doing one or all of these (if performed strategically) will earn you enough cash-flow to get you started.

BECOME AN AFFILIATE MARKETER

You may be very familiar with the term – maybe you’re already an affiliate for one or more products – but haven’t figured out how to make money at it. For the purposes of this post, let’s back up and start at the beginning. Affiliate Marketing is an Internet-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates (you) for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s marketing efforts.

There are a couple of ways you can become an affiliate marketer. First, you can choose a couple of products that you use and believe in and only sell those items, directly through an affiliate program by the company. This is the route I’ve chosen; I’m an affiliate for Third Tribe Marketing, GoDaddy and the Frugal Premium WordPress theme (all affiliate links). Or, you can go to a website like Commission Junction. They are an affiliate management agency; meaning, hundreds or thousands of companies invite you to sell their products and earn commission through this aggregated site. This is nice because you have a wide variety of products to choose from.

CREATE YOUR OWN PRODUCT/SERVICE TO SELL

This is probably the most obvious and definitely the most difficult (and probably the reason you haven’t started your own online business yet). A lot of people think they have to create their own product or service to sell in order to start a business. You don’t necessarily have to be the creator. There are two ways you can go about this.

First, if you’re really passionate about something, become a consultant or independent contractor. Start a blog (if you haven’t already) and showcase yourself as an expert. If you’re an excellent accountant but a terrible marketer, hire a web marketing expert to help start you off on the right foot. To make a successful business, you have to do more than throw out that virtual shingle. And a marketing expert can help (feel free to contact me!).

Second, you can partner with someone who has the ability to build something you thought of but don’t have the expertise to build it yourself. By creating a partnership, there is little financial investment for you, likely only a time investment for the other person, and you then you share in the profit of the product once it’s on the market. Not a bad deal, right?

CONTINUITY PROGRAMS

This is probably the ultimate money-maker. But it takes work and some strategic marketing. A continuity program is a subscription-based “product” where a customer pays a monthly fee to access whatever it is you have. I’m working on one for my business, which will likely be some kind of coaching/mentoring product. I have a friend who records weekly podcasts that his clients would find interesting and mails them CD’s so they can listen to them on their drive to work. Lots of options here; you just have to think outside the box a little. And figure out how to get the word out.

Stay tuned for more posts on these three topics.

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