We are going through very tough financial times. People are still losing their jobs due to cutbacks, others are on a pay freeze and others still have to take a cut in pay. On top of that, the cost of living is rising all the time, which makes us struggle even more. As a result, most of us look for ways to make a little bit of extra money, and what better way to do that than by working from home? After all, that means you can work around your other responsibilities and you don’t have any costs for childcare or transportation. The problem with it is, however, that there are a lot of scams out there as well. Scams essentially take your money promising you that you will see a return on your investment in no time, but this return never comes. So, you need to firstly know how to recognize a scam before you start looking at the real ways to make money from home.
Recognizing Scams
Contents
The internet is a useful place, but it is also a dangerous place. According to the News Channel 10.
“Earning thousands of dollars a week while working from home may sound appealing. But the Better Business Bureau says in many cases it’s not something you want to commit to.”
One of the latest scams, for instance, is where you are asked to receive items, repackage them and send them on. You will earn a nice little extra for this, and it sounds easy as pie. What you don’t know, however, is that these items have been purchased with stolen credit cards and that by dealing with these goods, you are aiding a criminal organization, something that you could go to jail for. This scam has been running in different ways for years, including through eBay and you must be weary of them. Other common scams include webpages that ask you to pay a nominal fee to get all the information you need to make huge bucks online. You will see “testimonials” from people who have tried it, and usually screenshots of checks or PayPal balances. When you think the fee is too high and you try to navigate away from the page, you will be offered a discount. You will never be able to make any money with these schemes, because all you will be asked to do is to start up a similar webpage and hope that people are silly enough to pay you the fee in order for you to tell them that they can do the same again.
Making Money through Affiliate Marketing
One way that you can earn money from home is through affiliate marketing. Take, for instance, the Empower Network.
“The company is open about teaching anyone who interested to know how to make money from home 2013. They strive to render assistance to everyone who dreams of earning extra income and for this, they have been acclaimed for the value that they provide to their members.”
How do you know they are the real deal? Because they show you how it works and they don’t talk about millions of dollars, or pay checks in five figures. They want to teach you how to make your first $100 and go from there. That is honesty and honesty is what you are looking for if you want to earn some money. Affiliate marketing is not hard to get into, particularly with a well explained system.
Making Money through Blogging
Blogging has been a way to make money from home for almost as long as the internet has existed. The problem is that blogging isn’t easy. Not only do you have to have a talent for writing, you also have to know where people’s interests lie. Besides this, you have to be able to get your blog seen. The best way to achieve this is to find a way to make your blog go viral. WebWire explains:
“Many business owners and online entrepreneurs have discovered that they can utilize the Internet to make extra money from home by placing advertisements on their websites and participating in affiliate programs.”
This is what you need to do with your blog, again by signing up to an affiliate marketing program.
Three Steps to Make Money from Home
Clearly, making money from home is about making the internet work for you. This doesn’t mean you can sit down and do nothing. Nobody has ever made any money by doing nothing, and you have to be ready to put in the effort yourself. According to WebTrafficToolkit.com, there are three steps to making money from home. These are:
– Affiliate marketing
– Selling high ticket items
– The sales funnel
“Make sure you understand the concept of the sales funnel. Make sure that when you send visitors to an affiliate program that you are not just making one off sales. You want to have other products as part of the sales funnel. For example, if you sell a low cost $97 product then make sure that you also earn commissions if the customer goes onto purchase $297 or $997 products from that vendor in the future. The sales funnel is where the big money from home is made.”
Understand that the big money is not a surprise check for $37,000 dollar on your doorstep, or any other crazy figure some websites say you will get. Any money you earn is directly proportionate to how well you know what you are doing and how much effort you put into your enterprise. You have to see yourself as a business person, because making real money from home involves running a real business. Be realistic, use all the tools at your disposal and never, ever become stagnant. The online world changes quicker than most of us can keep up, so you have to stay on top of your game as much as possible. After all, a quick change in the Google rules can send your site from the first page of Google back to the end.
Rating: