Making Money Online
If you have ever browsed the internet for extended periods, then you would have probably come across websites and ads for websites advertising ways and means to make money online. Indeed, it is hard to miss the ubiquitous and ever present “banner ads” which scream for your attention and promise to double your income within no time.
While these ads might seem like one of those MLM or Multi Level Marketing Ponzi schemes, in reality, there do exist legitimate and genuine money making schemes on the internet. For instance trading in stocks, Forex, bonds, and commodities is one avenue to make money online.
In addition, there are other schemes such as:
- ad posting, comment posting, product reviews, product descriptions, sending out mass mailers, and the like which are again schemes that can lead to good income streams
Spotting Frauds and Parting with your Money
So, how does one go about checking which scheme and which website to enrol and sign up to make money online?
After all, given the various “get rich quickly” fraudulent schemes on the internet including the Spam messages that appear on an almost daily basis, you should be careful to sift through the marketing messages and hype.
Instead, settle for schemes that offer returns without much investment. Indeed, our advice to you here is that you can trust a scheme as long as it does not involve you paying much upfront in the garb of installation, training, membership, registration etc.
For instance, there are many websites that offer you business opportunities in return for registration fees and where you need to invest substantial amount of monies. Our advice here is that as long as your investment is within 5-10% of the assured return, you can certainly consider such websites.
Moreover, if your money is for a specific purpose such as membership to trading terminals, professional fees, and premium listings.
Basic, Premium, and Freemium Packages
To take an example, there are many websites that entice users to sign up for free and offer the “plain vanilla” options as part of the basic membership. Such membership allows the users to trade or write reviews in addition to letting them “into” the websites.
Once the users are comfortable with the websites, they offer “premium” memberships which allow the users to “upgrade” to more lucrative “money making methods”.
In these cases, it is better to stick to the free or the basic plans for a couple of months and depending on how comfortable you are as well as how much you are making, you can then decide to go in for the premium plans.
There is even a term for some models of earning money that are known as “Freemium” or the mix of free and premium packages that offer users the double benefit of making money and at the same time funnelling a part of it towards membership fees.
Do Not Fall for Impossible and Improbable Returns
Therefore, our golden rule in such cases is that you should only upgrade when you are making money from the website and while you might be tempted by the glitzy marketing messages and lured by the possibility of making more money, it is better to be “safe than sorry” and hence, invest your own money after due diligence.
Of course, there are some schemes such as trading and Forex terminals where you do need to invest upfront. However, these are specialized sites where training is required and hence, we suggest you visit the physical offices of such companies and check out the authenticity of their claims for yourself before committing any money.
Talking of making money online schemes, another golden rule here is that since the objective is to make money and earn returns, you should watch out for websites that offer humungous returns such as 20-25 and even 50% in a short span of time.
Our experience with financial schemes is that no matter how solid one’s asset is and no matter how much the economy is booming, most investment classes and financial instruments including the much vaunted real estate and even gold do not return more than 20% over a longer period.
Therefore, watch out when someone promises high returns in a short period because it might very well turn out to be a Ponzi scheme.
What Skills Do You Need?
Now that we have covered the monetary aspect, you might be wondering about any equally important aspect which is the skill and the expertise needed to make money online. Coming to the “meat of the matter”, it is indeed the case that the majority of the schemes do not need any specialized skills and all you need is a computer, basic English or other language skills, time on your hands to spare, a reliable internet and broadband as well as power backup, and the ability to type. Indeed, this is the requirement of most of the schemes offered by the websites where homemakers, retirees, students, and just about anyone who has time to spare can make money.
Having said that, there are also schemes where some knowledge of finance, marketing, and especially, niche marketing are needed. However, these schemes often include training before you can become a member and as we noted earlier, you can indeed pay the training and membership fees if you are confident of sticking with the scheme for a longer period.
On the other extreme are the freelance writing and freelance consultancy schemes where you need advanced skills and this is something we advise to take up on the basic plans and upgrade to Freemium only after your comfort level increases.
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