Making Money Online - Not Always Easy.. but Definitely Doable

I had a girl who was working for me.. doing some part-time secretarial work. She was recently divorced and had four children. She saw the kind of money I was making with my websites.. and wanted very much to learn how she could earn a living online.

She was not much of a self-starter.. so I had my doubts from the beginning. Nevertheless, I took her under my wing and began coaching her for about an hour a day.. virtually drawing her a roadmap to success.

I helped her to select a niche.. we registered her domain name.. I let her use my web hosting to host her site.. and taught her the basics of using Dreamweaver. We got her registered with some of the affiliate networks and selected some products to sell on her website.

At that point I sent her home with several books, videos and various study materials. I figured if she wants it badly enough she needs to begin learning as much as she can.. and find her own way. After all.. I cannot earn her living for her.. I have my own living to earn.

She began seeing some early success and it was slowly building.. but then she dropped the ball and didn't follow through. I guess she thought once the website was getting traffic.. her work was done and the income would just continue to build.

She failed to realize maintaining her websites is an everyday job.. just like any other job.

A lot of people have bought into the nonsense about being able to earn thousands of dollars online without having to do much work.

A little common sense would tell you if it were that easy.. everyone would be quitting their jobs and earning a living online.

I hear from people all the time who have purchased a few of these ridiculous programs which suggested they could do only a couple hours of work each day and spend the rest of their time lounging by the pool. Then.. when they go to check their stats they will find they have made a ton of money.......... (yeah.. right.. that's the way it works)

These people have now become disillusioned about the prospects of making money online because it did not work out as they had expected.

Then there are all the people who have purchased one of those ready made cookie-cutter websites.. either because they didn't know how to make a website.. or because they were too lazy to build their own website.

The only person who makes any money on those sites is the guy who made them. His was the original site.. so it is possible he may be making a few bucks on his site. But, the real money comes in selling hundreds or even thousands of cloned sites to people who are looking for an easy solution to instant online gratification.

Cloned websites do not make any money. The first site is the only one that might do well in the search engines. All of the other clones will be largely ignored.. since the search engines do not like duplicate content.

To all of these people looking for an easy road to online riches.. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news.. but if you want to make money.. guess what.. YOU HAVE TO WORK FOR IT !

And guess what else.. the harder you work.. the more you will make :-)

I hear from other people who tell me I am full of it. They say earning money online is just a lot of hype.. and there is no way to actually quit your job and earn a living online.

Hmmm.. that's very interesting because I don't have an employer or any kind of job.. other than my websites. I work for myself.. at home.. and earn six figures a year .. ONLINE !

However.. it is imperative that you know what you are doing.. and you have to use your head.

Using some free online website builder with limited capabilities.. and whacking out a couple of mediocre websites with links and banners to everything imaginable.. hoping a few of the links might generate some income.. is not the way to make money online.

You need to select your niche.. register a domain name pertaining to your niche.. find products in that niche.. create a pleasing website to showcase your products.. study up on SEO and traffic generation.. and that is only the beginning.

There is definitely a lot to learn! Fortunately.. there are some wonderful books, materials and programs available to help you achieve your goals.

Some people will tell you it is not necessary to spend any money in the purchase of the instructional materials, e-books, manuals, etc. available online. They say it is possible to find everything you could want or need for free.

Usually these are people who have found free tips here and there on some websites.. and are now happily making a couple hundred dollars a month. They naively think they have learned all there is to know from these free tips.. and now think they have everything all figured out.

I guess it depends on the individual. Different people have different goals and are looking for different things.

Not everyone is interested in earning a living online.. some are simply looking to supplement their current income with a few hundred extra dollars here and there

Yes.. you can definitely find some free tips on a lot of websites and/or blogs.. and put these tips to good use for a moderate level of success.

However.. there are a lot of factors involved in Online Marketing and an awful lot that needs to be learned if you expect to be more than just moderately successful.

For the most part.. those who are making the big money online have all spent thousands of dollars on their education.. purchasing Internet Marketing books and videos, taking classes, attending seminars, conferences and conventions, doing internships with the gurus, etc.

You cannot expect these people who have spent their hard earned money on their education to share all their knowledge and give away all their secrets to success to a lot of strangers on the Internet.. absolutely free!

They will definitely not be sharing this information for free.. nor should anyone expect them to. After applying all they have learned.. and after spending several years achieving their own personal success.. many of them will go on to create Internet Marketing courses of their own and share the knowledge with others.. for a price of course.

I have purchased hundreds of Internet Marketing materials over the years. Some of them were fantastic and extremely helpful .. others not so much.

You have to be careful which of these you buy. Many have been written by unethical people who made several purchases and then simply wrote their own book on what they learned from the books and manuals they read. Some of these people haven't made a dime online.. other than to sell their plagiarized work.

The better training programs, manuals and guides have been written by Internet Marketing experts who have been earning a living online for years.. most of whom are now millionaires.

I can honestly say.. were it not for my studying many of these materials I doubt I would be where I am today. I definitely credit these amazing people with the success I now enjoy.

There are some excellent training programs out there offering online marketing guides with step-by-step instructions, video tutorials, tools, resources and a whole lot more.

One of my purchases turned out to be absolutely golden:
The Insider Secrets to Marketing your Business on the Internet. The new version has recently been renamed.. Click Here for a Complete Overview. Try it now for 30 days for only $2.95 !

If you don't want to spend a lot of money purchasing different programs for an in-depth study of each of the various facets of Internet Marketing.. this program covers it all and will give you a good solid education on all of the important aspects of earning a living online.

This program I can honestly recommend above all others. It is a wealth of information and certainly worth much more to you in terms of your success than the amount you will pay for it.

Online Marketing Summit:
February 6-10, 2012 San Diego, CA

PubCon 2012:
February 13-15, 2012 Honolulu, HI

Affiliate Summit:
May 15-16, 2012 Austin, TX
August 12-14, 2012 New York, NY

Search Engine Strategies:
August 13-17, 2012 San Francisco, CA

Event is open to business professionals only.

Business card and photo ID required for admission.

No one under 18 admitted.