There are many articles published online with describing easy ways to become rich online. There are many information products (just check ClickBank and Amazon) on this topic.

Is it so easy? And is it true? Let’s see what opportunities a person has to make living online.

To begin with, I would like to refer you to some of my recent posts. Online business models is a good coverage of possible ways to earn online. Website types post is a detailed list for website publishers to make some cash online. In fact, my blog is nearly 100% dedicated to earning online with website publishing – you generate income with selling adv and products of affiliated partners.

Are there more ways to make some money online for an individual in addition to publishing websites? You can sell some products (information, software or tangible incl. drop shipping – e-commerce). But this type of activity still falls under making money with a website. E-commerce is not an easy way – you can hardly compete with big companies who sell much stuff online, you still can find a niche selling through eBay and website, but as my experience proves you can hardly make any good money with this. Probably, I am wrong.

What else? Read e-mails, take surveys, complete offers – all these sound like a waste of time to me. I do not doubt that you can earn something, but I also do not doubt that the efforts and time you invest would exceed your income many times.

Website development, design, and programming – that works if you have the required skills. But the arena is crowded with freelancers that drive prices down. Free templates, free CMS (content management systems) also cut the amount of this type of online work.

Blogging and content writing for others – possible. But not many opportunities.

SEO and internet marketing as a service – I will recommend not going this way. Just check with 1-2 projects if you can deliver results. It is next to impossible to manipulate search engines now (especially Google). And your potential customers would press you to deliver the promised results. You will be out of business in no time.

Data entry, transcription – there are open vacancies online (just check some popular freelance websites), but the number is limited.

Summary: Well, it looks like there are no many options for a person to make living online (I might miss a few, but most are mentioned). At least evident ways to make enough for living.

And do you feel like making some cash on the Internet yet? What can be done in this situation? Online income should be a supplemental source of money for you. Another option is to diversify your online activity – e-commerce, affiliate marketing, web site designing and developing, etc. Or you can partner with someone online. Your joint venture might be a good way to increase your chances to succeed.

One thing that will definitely help you with your online ventures – some great ideas. How can you make sure your ides are great? Test them.

[tags]make money, make money online, data entry, blogging, development, seo, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, make money online, home based job, earn your living online[/tags]

PPC arbitrage is a very popular topic with webmasters. No surprise – it deals with a way to make easy and quick money with some spammy websites.

The idea: cost per click from a 2nd tier PPC engine (your expense) – cost per click you get from AdSense and YPN (your income) = profit (or loss). Your task is to make this margin positive. It can be certainly negative.

So:

a. Get traffic from the below PPC engines:

www.search123.com
www.enhance.com
www.searchfeed.com
www.goclick.com
www.7search.com
www.findit-quick.com
www.search.looksmart.com
www.kanoodle.com
www.adbrite.com

b. Place Adsense and YPN ads. Blend your ads into your content seamlessly (I guess there should be minimum of your content

c. Control your costs, make adjustments.

Summary: It sounds easy, but needs practice. I have tried a similar technique a year back playing with Google AdWords and Google AdSense. It was not wise on my part. I am sure one needs cheap PPC traffic (Google AdWords are not cheap) and spammy website (so that the visitor had no choice but click on ads).

If you find a way to be profitable – this is no doubt a technique to make a quick buck. How much can you scale? Not sure, but the potential is good.

[tags]arbitrage, ppc, pay per click, seo, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, make money online, home based job, earn your living online[/tags]

As an online entrepreneur with some staff hired and business issues to manage I assign a certain portion of my time to business education. I have my business degree (bachelor), but it needs practice and improvement.

This fall I was certain to enter some MBA School. Then I made up my mind to postpone this step for a year. Then I have found online Personal MBA project and now plan to give it a try – probably I will never join an MBA School if I progress with the project successfully during this academic year.

In fact, there is nothing extraordinary about the project – the authors posted a list of the books in the subjects that are studies at most MBA Schools. That’s it – 42 books and periodicals.

Buy new or used (or get them at the library) books, study, practice – save a lot of funds. You need three simple things to get your personal MBA:

-    books
-    time
-    practice

Should you trust the selection of the books? The project lists the persons who are behind it. They also give a list of selection criteria:

• Valuable Content. Does the book contain a lot of useful, practical information about how business works, how you can add value, and why the material in the book is important?
• Acceptable Time Commitment. Is the book a good educational value for the amount of time invested? Can you get the key points of each book in a few hours?
• Self-Learning Friendly. Is this book designed to keep the reader’s mind engaged? Does the author present the material effectively and make the learning process enjoyable?
• Reference Value. Will this book be a valuable resource to turn to when you need information on a specific topic? How does the book re-read? Is it a book worth keeping for many years?
• Comprehensive Set of Resources. Does this list cover a broad range of advanced business concepts effectively and efficiently? Is completing the list a realistic goal?

To tell the truth, I think one can trust the selection. Moreover, the authors offer you to replace some manuals if you find the recommended ones boring or inefficient.

If you feel like keeping your business education up to date with online resources:

• Entrepreneur’s Journey – Entrepreneur’s Journey. Yaro Starak an entrepreneur from Australia.
• Daily Thoughts for Business Podcast - Offers a daily podcast of business tips, quotes, and ideas for entrepreneurs and business owners.
• Business Performance Coaching – 400 + articles by a business coach.
• Frank Team – The FRANK Team provide fun and innovative skills training, guest speakers and resources for young people and grown ups in the area of entrepreneurship and career passion. Our training hits the mark because we’re straight talkers, we speak from experience not textbooks, we’re genuine. We provide only the skills you need to know to make your [ideas, career, business] a reality. We work with schools, uni/colleges, corporates, community groups, councils, individuals, and government Australia-wide. Our trainers are all inspiring young entrepreneurs. Check out IGNITE – our free e-newsletter for enterprising young people, and FRANK – our ad-free diet-free and stupid-free magazine for young women.
• Home Business Success Resources – Links, articles, ebooks and more for small business success.
• Microentrepreneur.biz – Many small businesses (all owned by one owner) will equal one decent income…
• Entrepreneur Success Blog – MlM and Home business success blog
• Brian Kim.net – Invest In Yourself and Make It Happen – The purpose of this site is to provide you with free high quality articles on personal development for all levels of life, whether it is mental, physical, financial, or social, that you can use to invest in yourself, your greatest asset, and make your dreams come true.
• Steve Pavlina – Personal Development for Smart People.
• Stanford Technology Ventures Program – STVP’s Educators Corner is a free collection of entrepreneurship resources including podcasts, video clips, and presentations.
• Entrepreneur Advisor – Lots of articles, links and resources of interest to entrepreneurs looking to start a business.
• The Startups and Entrepreneurship Spot – A collection of useful links and news articles around entrepreneurship.
• Go BIG Network – The BIGGEST network for STARTUP opportunities!
• Paul Graham Essays – Essays on starting a start up.
• Signum sine tinnitu – by Guy Kawasaki – Guy Kawasaki is a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm and a columnist for Forbes.com.
• Business Opportunities Weblog – Opportunities, ideas, news, and links for small business entrepreneurs.
• Escape From Cubicle Nation – How to go from corporate prisoner to thriving entrepreneur – by Pamela Slim
• Creating Passionate Users – About the brain and metacognition, most especially–how the brain works and how to exploit it for better learning and memory. Oh yeah, and how to recognize when someone else is applying brain-based techniques to get you to do something.
• Wuraweb – Find Local Businesses and Services – Find Local Businesses’ exact prices, contacts, ratings and more. Also post your listing for FREE on Wuraweb.com
• Want Money? Here’s an easy way to get lots of it –
• Seth’s Blog – Seth Godin’s riffs on marketing, respect, and the ways ideas spread.
• This is how I make $1600.00+ Per Day –
• StartupNation – StartupNation is your source for small business advice – participate in our entrepreneur forum, get help starting a business, find resources to work from home.
• OnStartups.com – Practical Advice for Software Startups.
• Unusual Business Ideas That Work – Uncommon Business is a blog about people who make money online selling unusual, strange and sometimes bizarre things or provide curious services.
• Paul Allen (the lesser) – Internet entrepreneur.
• Small Business Branding – Advice for small business owners. Learn how to market and brand your business using online and offline techniques from Australian small business entrepreneur Yaro Starak.
• YE Blogger – World’s Largest Directory of Young Entrepreneur Blogs
• Young Go Getter – Blog, forums, interviews, podcast, news and more on entrepreneurship (especially for young entrepreneurs)
• My Adsense Guide – An internet marketing blog by an online entrepreneur.
• Small Biz Survival – By and for small business people in rural areas and small towns.
• Small Business Brief – Providing small business resources, informative articles, current news, software directory and the small business ideas forum. Additionally offers a free weekly newsletter that caters to small business owners.
• Singapore Entrepreneurs – A Singaporean Blog on Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital
• 52 Reviews – Entrepreneurship, productivty, and GTD, oh, and books.
• GraphicXperiment.com – Free graphic resources for webmasters : original web interfaces and templates, wallpapers, high definition tattoos, logos and Photoshop templates, backgrounds, buttons…and more
• Cinventure – Cincinnati’s resource for aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners.
• NicheGeek.com – Showing you what others overlook.
• Diamond Cut – Offers entrepreneurial advice for fitness professionals and others who want to grow a service business.
• WorkHappy.net – Killer Resources for Entrepreneurs
• Become an Adsense Real Estate Mogul. – Adsense the easiest money earner on the Internet. Limited membership website offers 2 unique niche sites linked to PR5 website, unique content with free blog and all the free tools plus four premade sites. Your chance to become a VRE mogul.You choose your niche and domain and everything is done for you. Free hosting.

Or need forums and social websites for setting contacts and networking:

• Community/Forum sites
• YoungEntrepreneur.com
• YoungGoGetter.com
• YoungEntrepreneur.com.au
• ZeroMillion.com
• EntrepreneursTalk.com
• Small Business Forum
• NetpreneurForums.com
• Entrepreneurs-Journey.com
• WarriorForum.com

• Blog and Podcast sites
• Entrepreneur’s Journey
• Savvy Solo Cast
• College Startup
• YoungGoGetter
• Venture Voice

• Social Networking sites
• Ryze
• LinkedIn
• MySpace

And some more valuable resources:
25 top marketing blogs (updated weekly)
50 great management blogs

Summary: Management is a useful thing. As soon as you realize you can’t cope with all tasks on your own you get interested in management. And you find most subjects helpful.

I still find it difficult to find a balance between reading/ studying and applying the knowledge in real life. But this balance is a must.

I can go on reading and reading, making notes, reading again. Probably, it is due to the fact that when you try to fulfill those things in real life you discover that most issues nicely described in the books either do not work for you or work in some unexpected way.

And then it takes extra efforts to find your own working recipe. But it is worth it.
[tags]Entrepreneurship, mba, business school, management, business education, seo, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, make money online, home based job, earn your living online[/tags]