The average American has access to the Internet in at least some form. Many are able to use computers at work, most have computers at home and at least half of American adults have a computer in the form of a smartphone or mobile device in their pocket or purse. This means that you, yes you, are likely to have access to the Internet, too. If you want to use that connection to earn an online income, you need a solid game plan. Here are some tips to help you form your plan and reach your ultimate goal of earning an online income, or several for that matter.
What Online Income Avenues Will You Pursue?
In order to earn an online income, you need to be able to offer something of value to others who have money to spend. This could be a product, service or combination but it must be defined. For products you can sell unwanted products around your house on EBay or Amazon or you can find a wholesale distributor and open your own ecommerce store. You could earn an online income by freelancing. Do you have any skills that you could turn into valuable services for paying clients?
Whatever avenue you decide to pursue, be prepared to put a lot of attention towards that activity and be prepared to weather ups and downs, both in economic conditions and your mood. This is a business and must be treated as such. With that out of the way, your next step after coming up with the product or service that you plan to sell is to establish a website, blog and to create profiles on several prominent social media accounts.
Your Web Presence
Before you can hope to earn an online income, you will need to let others know that your products or services are available. Your website should include at least an informative home page, an about page that describes you and your company, a products or services page, a frequently asked questions and a contact page. Then create a blog for your website that is constantly updated with fresh and entertaining content.
After each post is written, post a comment along with a link to each post on each of your social media accounts. Most of the people who will be paying for your products or services, and thus contributing to your online income, will find you through social media. It is recommended that you create profiles for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Post unique content to each platform and keep the posts to a frequency of about once per day or at least twice per week to retain relevance in an ever-quickening market.
Become Familiar to Your Audience
If there is a demand for your type of product or service in your chosen market, you will earn an online income just by following the above advice. It works like this. A person on Twitter sees your blog post that really catches his eye. He clicks through to your blog, which leads to your website, which ultimately leads to your product or service. That is but one example of how this network of interconnected platforms can help you secure customers. Your job is to secure those customers the first time they arrive on your site. They say that most consumers won’t make a purchase until they have considered your company and/or products and services several times. By capturing your prospects’ information, you can contact interested parties later to hopefully convert them into paying customers.
An opt-in box that asks blog and website visitors for their names and email addresses is often all it takes to convert customers and make them loyal to your brand. Offer a free gift to entice customers to give you their information, and make sure you never abuse your subscribers’ information by trading, giving or selling that information to someone else.
While this game plan for earning an online income sounds easy and straight forward enough, it’s not that simple once you actually dive in. The very first decision – what you will actually sell – needs to be considered carefully because its value and viability can change depending on the market and time you decide to enter that market.
Then, once you have followed the rest of the steps and you are earning a single income stream, you can continue to grow that stream or you can pursue other avenues to supplement your income for even greater profits. The road is wide open and you’re in the driver’s seat. Where will your game plan carry you?
