Make Money Online Schemes Exposed

Malking Money Through Network Marketing

2007-01-28T12:19:00.000-08:00

A Google search about making money will reveal many network marketing opportunities online. Unfortunately, network marketing, sometimes also referred to as pyramid selling or multi-level marketing (MLM), has a bad name in the minds of many people. Let's start by getting the facts right.

Network marketing is not a business opportunity in itself. It is just another marketing technique. Whilst it has exploded in the early 21st century with the advent of the Internet, its origins go back to the 1980s. Essentially, it involves the following 2 steps:

Making your customer become the best driver of your business. Network marketing blurs the distinction between a "salesman" and a "customer". Why can't your "customer" be first and foremost your "salesman"?
Based on the above, it involves recruiting and developing other people in your team, or often referred to as "downline" and organising them to recruit more people in your team and selling more of your products;

In this way, you are rewarded a commission based on what your team earns, as opposed to what you earn.

This marketing technique therefore incentivizes you to recruit as many people as possible in your team to sell the product. When your downline sells the product, it is seen as they are selling the product partly thanks to your initiative organizational and development skills and therefore you earn a commission on what other people are selling. This gives rise to what is often referred to as "passive income", i.e. income for which you are not directly trading off time and effort. Other examples of passive income can include rent, royalties, dividends and interest.

Can you make money through network marketing? Yes, many people do. However, many people also fail to make money in network marketing.

Let's go through the advantages and disadvantages of network marketing:

Advantages:

1. Compared to other ventures, their setup costs are often relatively low (about $1,000 or less);

2. Unlike many other ventures, the person recruiting you will be willing to develop you into a good salesperson for the business. Remember, the better you are, the more his/her passive income will be!

3. Network marketing companies often have well-documented instructions on how to sell and how to recruit other people;

4. The reward is definitely there for the earning, but not for the taking;

Disadvantages:

1. Many network marketing businesses will also require a monthly outlay from yourself, such as a monthly service fee;

2. The income claims normally made by your sponsor or upline may often be exaggerated. True, there are some people in the pyramid who are earning over $10,000 a month for doing virtually nothing. But what you are not told is that they often started in the very early stages of the business and therefore recruited other people like yourself very easily. It will normally be much harder for you to find potential recruits and sales;

3. The ethics surrounding the venture often ressemble those of a cult. You will be made to believe that the product is great, and you will have a duty to instill this greatness into other people's minds. It is difficult to analyze the product and/or venture critically;

4. Perhaps the biggest criticism of MLM is that it relies on you and your team to recruit as many people as possible in order for your earnings to explode exponentially. In a finite population of prospects, this is increasingly difficult in the later stages;

So my advice to you is as follows:

1. There is money to be made in MLM, but take all earnings claims of your upline with a pinch of salt. Chances are that you will find it much harder to earn similar amounts;

2. MLM is only as good as what you make it to be. If you have a good network that will be interested in the product, you are likely to do well. For example, if you are a member of a focus group on losing weight, chances are that you will recruit many people in your MLM business that aims to sell weight-loss products;

3. Make sure that the MLM business is compatible with your interests and your lifestyle. There is no point in joining a network marketing business selling cosmetics if you have no interest in cosmetics. Like in most businesses, you will be more motivated to learn and will pick up the skills required in the business much more easily if you are passionate about the business. I've learned that through bitter experience;

4. Be sure to establish how you will have to market the product. If it is done online, you need to set a budget for Google Adwords. If it is done offline, do you have the time and willingness to go out and distribute flyers?

5. If the venture requires you to accept payments online, just be mindful that many online payment companies like Paypal do not like their services being used for MLM. It is explicitly stated in their User Acceptance Policy and they will close your account when they find you involved in MLM;

6. Do not give up easily. Most people who lose in network marketing ventures are those who give up because they do not see the money flowing in quickly enough. Once the excitement of joining dies down and they don't see the money coming in as well as they expected, they write off their investment in the business and move on.

Altogether, treat a network marketing business like a business. Be sceptical of claims of high earnings quickly and with minimal effort. Instead, focus on building it over time and aim to see the rewards in 2 years, not 2 weeks. If you want to see the rewards in 2 weeks, then network marketing is not for you!

Also, never treat a new prospect as a means of making a quick buck. The incentive is there to sell the product or venture once to the prospect, make some money and move on to the next prospect. This practice is called "hunting", because you have been fed for only one day. Instead, work with that person in growing his/her business. Motivate him/her and be available for advice. This practice is then called "farming". In the long term, this person will be like you and will be recruiting new people and making you money!

Good network marketing skills will be useful in any business, whether online or offline. Here is a selection of books I have reviewed and handpicked for you in case you are interested in improving your network marketing skills. Again, the price of these books is insignificant compared to the time, effort and money you are likely to lose if you are off to a bad start.

Robert Kiyosaki, author of the best selling book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", is a great fan of network marketing. So there is bound to be some truth in it!

1. MLM Secrets: A great ebook that goes into further detail on network marketing techniques and trains your mind into adopting the right attitude in a MLM business;

2. 5 bucks a day: A great ebook that is aimed mainly at those who intend to develop a network marketing business online;

Make Money As An Affiliate

2007-01-23T13:43:00.000-08:00

In e-commerce, the term affiliate refers to a what we traditionally refer to as a "broker", i.e. someone who puts buyers in touch with sellers and vice-versa.

So does this mean that you can earn money as an affiliate? Yes, without any doubt. Insurance brokers, mortgage brokers, car dealers, real estate agents all earn their living out of brokering. There is absolutely no reason why you cannot make money as an affiliate.

Even better, registering as an affiliate normally does not require any investments.

However, be careful not to expect to make a living out of affiliate revenue. It is a home business that is developed rather slowly.

If you have already read the other sections of my website that contain money-making opportunities using other tools, there is not much more I can tell you here. The advice I have given elsewhere is applicable for affiliate businesses too.

Just consider the following tips too:

1. Always, always start your affiliate business in something you are passionate about. For example, if one of your hobbies is digital photography, consider becoming an affiliate of businesses that make money selling photography. Chances are that you will be a lot more motivated in building the business and will learn about it much more quickly. Likewise, if one of your hobbies is online poker, you might want to consider driving traffic to poker ebooks or to internet casinos;

2. Leverage the power of your peer group. Chances are that they are as interested as you are in the affiliate product you are selling. There is no harm in asking them whether they are interested. Also, your friends and family will be a lot more accomodating for mistakes that you make at the start;

3. Leverage the power of your mailing list. For example, every time I transact with someone on eBay, I keep a record of their email address. In doing so, I've accumulated a mailing list of over 3,000 people around the world. And guess what? They all have some vague interest in eBay. An occasional email to all 3,000 of them with a hoplink to a "Make Money on Ebay" ebook generates about 20 sales and US$500 in affiliate revenue. Not bad for an hour's work a month, is it?

4. Be patient. Affiliate businesses, like most businesses, are not built overnight. Persevere and you will see the rewards in about a year. The mailing list I describe in (3) above has taken me a year to compile, and there is still much more to be done;

5. Do not limit yourself to only one affiliate business. Subscribe to a few, but do not subscribe to all of them at once. Build one business at a time. At some point, you will be able to offer your contacts a choice of what products to buy from you. You may have a product to sell on how to make money on eBay, but there is nothing you can do if your contact is only interested in finding out how to make money using paid surveys.

6. Offer a service in return of buying the product you are selling. For example, I come across many people who will offer a free online poker tool if, and only if, you subscribe to a specific casino using the link they provide. This means that they are providing you an incentive to do something for free (i.e. subscribe to the casino), and they get commission in return from the casino for driving you to sign up to it;

7. You can even offer free, honest advice on a product before suggesting some affiliate links. For example, most of the products I refer you to on this site use my affiliate link. So if you appreciate the advice I've written, chances are that you will be a lot more amenable to buying the product. If you decide not to buy any, it doesn't matter. I've still provided a service for free on a theme that I am passionate about. So I don't feel guilty that I'm putting all my hours in the evenings and weekends developing my sites and not getting any income in return;

8. If you want to consider driving traffic to your affiliate product using Google Adwords, remember that it is expensive and many people may click on your link hence causing you to pay Google but not actually buying anything. This is how I lost money in the past using Google Adwords to drive traffic to an affiliate business. Remember that the best traffic is free quality traffic;

9. Use passive, or secondary marketing techniques. For example, every time I sent an email to a correspondent from eBay, I left my hyperlink to an internet casino in my signature. I don't care whether this generates money for me but in one year, it has provided me about US$1,500 income!

10. And finally, remember that the best position to be in is not the affiliate but the business that recruits affiliates in driving traffic to them. Essentially, this often means that you have other people working to make money for you and expect you to give them a cut in return. Altogether, this means that it is almost free money to you. But it is very hard to set up such a business so I would advise you to start as an affiliate first.

11. Online casinos are a great source of affiliate businesses and they pay amongst the highest as well. But remember that Google Adwords does not like people driving traffic using gambling keywords;

Here are some relevant ebooks on affiliate marketing which are well worth buying if you are serious about making money with affiliate marketing. Like with Google Adwords, I would much rather see you spend up to US$100 on one of these ebooks than waste US$2,500 on Google Adwords and learn the hard way!

1. Ultimate Wealth Package: A best-selling ebook on affiliate marketing and is also of great value at that price. Step-by-step instructions;

2. The Rick Jerk: From one of the most successful but controversial sellers of make money ebooks. Just don't get put off by his boasts (I doubt their accuracy anyway), but the product is of good quality and clear the best-selling ebook on making money online in the world;

3. Secret Affiliate Weapon: A very good ebook that is affordable and provides a beginner's guide to affiliate marketing.

Make Money From Adsense - Truth or Myth?

2007-01-21T09:58:00.000-08:00

If you have been seriously researching online money-making opportunities, you will no doubt have come across Google Adsense and how you can make money from it.

Before we proceed though, it is appropriate to give the following warning.

Google Adsense is only applicable to you if you have your own website. If you are looking to make money by driving traffic to other people's websites (e.g. with Google Adwords and Clickbank), Google Adsense is not applicable to you.

What is Google Adsense? Put simply, it is a mirror image of Google Adwords. Just like you pay Google to drive traffic to a website, Google pays you if someone clicks on an Adsense advert from your site. Why? Because someone (now referred to as a "publisher") has paid Google Adwords to advertise for its link on your site. So if one of your visitors clicked on that advert, Google has made money thanks to you and therefore gives you a cut.

Again, this sounds like magic, free money. And many people now advertise on the Internet how to make loads of money through Google Adsense. Should you believe them? No, not until you have read the rest of this article.

I would recommend anyone who owns a website to open a Google Adsense account. I have, and you are seeing Adsense adverts right now on this page. If you click on any one of them, Google will pay me some money at the end of the month by check.

But this does not, and will never mean, that I will earn a living with Google Adsense. It is only one of the many residual incomes I intend to build, and so should you if you are serious about making money.

Here is the advice I will give you on money-making opportunities from Google Adsense:

1. Never take it as your main source of income. Either your business will never prosper, or you will soon be running a loss;

2. Even more importantly, do not expect to make money from Google Adsense by driving traffic to your website using Google Adwords! The logic for this is simple - Google only gives you a fraction of the money it has earned. It would be silly to pay Google 20 cents on Adwords and earn 5 cents on Adsense in doing so.

3. Unless you have a website that attracts thousands of quality visitors every day (such as www.thisismoney.com), you will only earn a few dollars, or maybe less, a day from Google Adsense. Bear this well in mind!!

4. Once you have put Google Adsense on your website, the temptation is there for you and your friends to be clicking many times on these adverts with a view to making money for yourself. Google calls these clicks "invalid clicks". And Google tracks such invalid clicks. Not only is it unfair on the publisher who is paying Google Adwords, but Google will identify such invalid clicks within days and close your Google Adsense account. It really is not worth it, so do not even try it;

5. Do not entice anyone to click on your Adsense adverts by explicitly requesting them to do so on your website. Again, Google will track this and close your account.

6. There are some Adsense keywords that pay more than others - it's all a matter of how much publishers are prepared to pay for these keywords on Google Adwords. So keywords such as "multiple scelerosis", "Asbestos", "Breat Cancer", "Make Money", "Ebay", "Satellite Navigation System", "Digital Camera", "Debt Consolidation", "IVA" etc. will pay more on Adsense;

7. Do not put Adsense on your website if its content relates to matters such as porn or gambling. Google does not like that and may refuse to open your Adsense Account;

8. Given all of this, the best way to earn a small residual income (that should never be your main income) using Google Adsense is to drive free traffic to your website. This can be done through several ways, e.g. word-of-mouth, blogging on other relevant sites and leaving your website link on them, inviting other people to put their relevant website links onto your website, driving traffic to someone else's website and asking them to do the same to you. If you are interested in doing so with me, please contact me and we can discuss;

Altogether, remember that Google loves relevant content and will pay you more the better quality traffic it gets and the more it earns for the keywords it got paid from on Google Adwords. But any form of abuse will result in your account cancelled. Google, like Ebay and Paypal, is a multi-billion dollar business. It will spend millions of dollars in preventing, detecting and removing abuse.

Here is a selection of useful ebooks about Google Adsense. If you are serious about boosting your income through Adsense, just like with Google Adwords, it is definitely worth spending some money as an investment in order to learn more about it and earn more. Also, it will reduce the time you spend learning about Adsense "on the job".

1. Keyword Elite: An expensive ebook but great content, advice and layout for both Google Adwords and Google Adsense;

2. Wordpress Adsense System: This is mainly about optimizing your revenue from Google Adsense on your website;

3. Article Directory.com: A great ebook that explains how to drive traffic to your website once you have your own site or blog and have opened your Adsense Account.

Once again, if you wish to link your website with this one, you are more than welcome to. Just add your own comments when invited to do so.

Google Adwords and Making Money

2007-01-16T12:36:00.000-08:00

There is no doubt in my mind that Google, together with eBay, Yahoo and Amazon, is one of the biggest revolutions that the Internet has provided to us.

Today, Google is worth over US$100 billion simply because it has managed to successfully exploit the money-making potential of what is still its free service - the Google Search Engine!

How did it do so? With a product called Google Adwords. As I've said in my other blogs, Google's main competitor today is not Yahoo or MSN. It competes with the traditional, more established MEDIA companies like CNN, NBC, BBC etc.

Why? Let's suppose you want to advertise a product or service. A few years ago, you would have placed an advert in the newspaper, on radio and/or on TV. True, you can still do so today but you now have another great choice. To advertise on Google Adwords!

Google today reaches more people than any national TV company. And it only advertises your product to people who have shown a vague interest in it by typing some relevant keywords in its search engine. Even better, you do not have to pay Google a cent unless someone clicks on the link to the product or service you advertised. Now do you understand why it is a huge success?

So does this mean that you should use Google Adwords to make money online? The answer is No, you should use Google Adwords only to market a product or service online!

Google is great to divert traffic to your website - for the ordinary home-based business, there is probably no better tool. But it can be very dangerous - use it like a knife. The costs can rack up very quickly. If you are on a limited marketing budget, this will be costly.

Since I have lost over US$2,500 spending money on Google Adwords, I cannot claim to be an expert at it. But I am sure that if there is one lesson you can draw from it, is BE CAREFUL OF GOOGLE ADWORDS. It is not a licence to print money like some people claim. And if you do want to use Google Adwords to promote your product or service, be sure to buy an ebook on how to use it - I have given a selection below. The cost of one ebook will be far less than what you will WASTE ON GOOGLE ADWORDS if you do not know what you are doing. Trust me!

1. As stated above, use Google Adwords, only to market a product or service. Do not use it together with marketing sites such as Clickbank or Commission Junction to drive traffic to other people's sites. Clickbank wins, Google wins, the publisher wins, BUT YOU WILL LOSE!

2. Make sure that you have set aside a marketing budget to spend on Google Adwords and state your maximum spending limit on Adwords. Otherwise, you will literally burn money that you can't afford!

3. Make sure that you use the broadmatch function with the keywords you are buying - they will give you more visibility on Google;

4. If you own your own website, use Google Adsense too (see my related blog), this will give you a residual source of income;

5. Remember that Google Adwords ranks your listing using various criteria. The price you are willing to pay is only one of them, albeit a major one. A listing that generates more clicks can well be placed above yours if it is generating more clicks;

6. (5) above means that when you have started purchasing a keyword, you should expect to pay more. But if you have generated some successful clicks, you should bid less and hence reduce your costs. You may still be placed around the same average position or maybe even better.

7. Log into your Google Adwords account every day and monitor your costs. Otherwise, the costs will quickly spiral out of control. You can run a budget of several millions of dollars if you are a large company. If if you are the small home-based business who is marketing his (or someone else's) product, chances are that you are generating this marketing money out of your paycheck or savings. So clearly, this money is limited and means a lot to you. Actively monitor the keywords that are generating clicks, and lower your bids on those that have been generating clicks;

8. Remember, Google Adwords is like a car. It can be used to take you from A to B, but it can get you into a nasty accident. So just like you would learn how to drive a car before actually driving, I strongly urge you to buy one of the following ebooks and read thoroughly before you start using Google Adwords.

Whilst I have carefully chosen 3 ebooks to suit various extents to which you want to use Google Adwords, I think that they are all of value and the price you pay, in every case, is well worth what it can otherwise cost you.

(a) The Keyword Elite - a great ebook on both Adwords and Adsense that explains to you how to make the best use of each. As I describe in the Adsense section, you will not master Adsense UNLESS YOU KNOW ADWORDS. And this ebook tells you exactly what pitfalls to avoid when using Adwords. Suitable for anyone who wants to take their ecommerce business seriously and help it grow within years;

(b) Beating Adwords - this book does not go into as much detail on Adwords and Adsense and is much cheaper than The Keyword Elite. Ideally suited for people who want to become super-affilites;

(c) Google Is Making People Rich - this is ideal for starters and those who want to make money using Clickbank. Value for money ebook and there is not as much detail as the above two.

How much time will Google Adwords require from you? As much as you are willing to give. I spend about 1 hour every day reviewing my campaigns (when I run them). But you will need to do more than that - say 2/3 hours a day - when you start in order to get the hang of it.

And finally, remember that Google takes money by bank transfer out of your bank account each month. So make sure you have money to pay for the marketing. Non-payment will result in account suspension and a bad credit rating.

Good luck!

Can you really make money from blogs?

2006-11-17T03:51:00.000-08:00

I just reviewed this short but provocative article below in another blog.

It really defies all the hype about people trying to make money by having their own blog and linking it to Adsense, then contributing into other people's blogs and linking their blog to them, and driving traffic altogether to their blog using Google Adwords.

Maybe we should really think hard about this.

Is there really money to be made from blogs? Or should we just use the blogs as our own space and take whatever may come out of it.

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How would you like it if, every time you got a phone call, you had to listen to an advertisement as well? Have you ever asked, How do I make money with my telephone? Or, What's the business model of my telephone? Or, What's the business model of my water cooler? My front porch? My patio?

Doc Searls believes it's far more important (and interesting) to make money because of our blogs, rather than with them; just as we make money because we have phones rather than with our phones.

There are exceptions. Some of us make money by selling on the phone. If that's you, think about what trying to sell over your blog (instead of the phone) would do to your relationships with readers.

Of course, lots of people use advertising to defray the costs of blogging. But how interesting is that, once you're past describing whatever it takes to get going with Adsense or Blogads?

On the plus side, blogging and can bring high rates of return in authority and respect -- just starting with Google juice. In that context alone, blogging is at worst a small expense and at best a high-return investment. Advertising is gravy.

How can we make the most the innate value of blogging as an activity, rather than as a medium?

Be very careful of the make money items on Google Adwords. See why!

2006-11-17T01:40:00.000-08:00

I have found the following article in another internet forum. It is really good - and I endorse it in every way.

Essentially, this reiterates the comment I made about Google Adwords - the tool that you will inevitably use if you want to market make money schemes.

Google Adwords, whilst revolutionary, is expensive for make money items.

I once spent $1,200 in one month only to generate $150 of sales.

I now market make money items on the cheap - i.e. without using Google Adwords. There are some affiliate links in the articles I post in my blog.

Instead, you are much, much better off making money in the short term on eBay. If you want to market make money items, make sure that you are not spending a fortune and you are not looking for a quick buck.

I carry on marketing make money schemes because 1. I want to share my experience of these with others and 2. I am passionate about it.

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ARTICLE REPRODUCED FROM ANOTHER BLOG:

There are a number good reasons why you should not go into the make money market. Below, I will give you ten of the more important reasons.

1. Your competition is highly skilled. If you think it is easy to compete in the make money market, think again. Your competition has mastered the art of selling, which means he or she will be an extremely tough competitor.

2. Other markets offer less resistance. The make money market is highly oversatured with sellers. For this reason, it is tough to claim decent positions on search engines. This is not so with all niches.

3. The learning curve is high if you're inexperienced selling make money products. Since your ability to train people to sell will be directly dependent on your ability to sell to them, many people will be reluctant to buy from you unless your presentation is far beyond average.

4. Even if you sell within the make money market, your target audience should be small, not large. You want to find a specific group that can be matched to a specific product you will produce or have already produced.

5. Other products are easier to market. When it comes down to it, people are highly suspicious of any type of make money product or service. If you're selling something else to them, chances are that they will be considerably less likely to worry that you are trying to rip them off.

6. Buyers in the make money market may be more likely to return products, as they perceive sellers to have tricked them if they do not succeed in making money with the product (which they usually don't, no matter how good it is).

7. Buyers wont judge your product on how it should be presented according to protocol that is normally used for make money products. Instead, they will look at the list of features you have provided.

8. You're better off in the long run if you pursue a field in which you are interested, rather than simply a make money field. If you don't have any serious interest in your product, you will more than likely do a poor job creating and marketin it.

9. Other markets can often be more profitable. Even though you've heard about those million dollar days, there are other industries which can be just as profitable, provided that you spend the time to select the right one and to cultivate profits.

10. If you don't have a background in making money with some specific system, you may be better off creating a book or product on some area in which you have specific expertise.To reiterate, there are many business models you can create; however, a business model that caters to the make money crowd is almost always a mistake.

Make Money From The Stockmarket

2006-11-15T10:09:00.000-08:00

This is probably the most traditional form of investment pre-Internet. And has it gone away today? No! Quite to the contrary, it's alive, revamped and there is a lot more opportunity to make money...and lose money...from the stockmarkets.

Is it worth putting money on the stockmarket?

Classical question, to which I will give the classical answer. It depends how long you want to keep the money in there for.

If you want to, and can, leave the money aside for 5 years or more (i.e. you are putting some of your SAVINGS into the stockmarket), then definitely YES. Whilst past performance is not a guarantee of future performance, the stock market tends to outperform other forms of investments in the long term.

Then what if I want to make a short-term gain?

Once again, I will give a classical answer to this classical question. BE CAREFUL. You can also LOSE money on the stock market. Yes, it's very true.

Many, many people have lost money on the stock market. Some have become bankrupt, some have committed suicide over it.

But many people earn big money in the City and Wall Street doing just that, don't they?

True. But you cannot and should not aim to compete with them. First, you do not have the resources, database, training and time to research stocks as much as they do. Second and more importantly, you do not have the huge financial backing that the banks/funds have to leverage or hedge your positions. And finally, even they lose money. They just don't publicise it as much for obvious reasons. Click here to read an article on that matter.

Therefore, you should only play the stockmarket with money that you can afford to lose!

If you do want to play the stockmarket, please consider the following advice which, once again, is not exhaustive:

1. If you want the potential for higher gains, consider buying Contracts for Differences (CFDs). These are sophisticated derivative products that are now available to the public. You only put down a fraction of the money you want to invest on the stockmarket and borrow the rest. Obviously, you pay interest on the amount you borrow. This means that your investment is then geared. You stand to make stronger gains, but also more painful losses! I invested $3,500 in a CFD on a blue-chip company in August 2006. I am still licking my wounds!!

2. Bear in mind that you don't have to trade only in stocks/shares anymore. You can trade on gilt bonds, derivatives and commodities such as oil, gold and silver. If you feel you have some better knowledge about a particular market, go for that!

3. Research the market. For example, every day, I read This is Money. Every weekend, I read the Money and Business Section of The Guardian. I try to pick blue-chip stocks that are giving a relatively high dividend yield. This is interesting for 2 reasons.
(a) If, like me, you are buying stocks on a CFD, you will pay interest the longer you hold the position open. However, you will also be paid dividend. Hence, a higher dividend helps to offset the cost of keeping the position open;

(b) Such stocks may soon attract hot money hence pushing up their price;

Obviously, you need to take this with a pinch of salt, so ALWAYS research the company first to try to ascertain why this is the case. For example, has there been a profit warning issued recently?

My tips for stockmarket investments are:

1. Invest in currencies - the markets and less volatile and more predictable;
2. Invest in funds - they are less volatile and still offer good value;
3. Never act on inside information - you can go to jail for that!

Here are a set of useful ebooks that will help you achieve this. I have reviewed these myself and would recommend any of them depending on your preferences and budget.

1. An ebook on the Price Driven Forex Trading Method - a technique that is rewarding and not so volatile when dealing on the foreign currency markets;

2. An ebook on the Institutional Forex System - a complementary technique to the Price Driven Forex Trading Method, once again designed to limit your losses whilst profiting from currency movements;

3. An ebook on commodities trading - an absolute must if you are more passionate about trading in products like oil, gold, silver, coal etc.

4. An ebook on general stockmarket trading - if you feel that currencies and commodities are not for you!

5. An ebook on investing in funds - designed more for longer term investments;

2006-11-14T14:54:00.000-08:00

Make Money From eBay

Anyone – yes, anyone – who is serious about making money online should know about eBay, the darling stock of the dot.com boom earlier this decade.

eBay is one of the very, very few online businesses that weathered the dot.com crash. You can guess why – as its CEO Meg Whitman puts it – eBay is “transforming the way in which e-commerce is being conducted”. And eBay has gone from strength to strength since it acquired Paypal, the world’s largest online payment services company.

Can you make money by selling on eBay? The short answer is YES, without a doubt! I have used eBay to make at least $1,500 profit every month over the last 9 months. And I know for a fact that many people earn more than that. For selling online, eBay stands out from the crowd for 3 reasons:

Its aim is to make selling easy for you – ordinary people like you and I can sell to as big an audience as the Marks & Spencer, Walmart and John Lewis of today;
Other than the main search engines (i.e. Google and Yahoo), eBay attracts more traffic every day than any other website. Yes, Ebay reaches out to more people than any newspaper and/or television company in the world;
95% of the users of Google/Yahoo still use them for one simple purpose – surfing the internet. However, with eBay, it’s quite the opposite. 95% of people who use eBay are doing so with the intention of spending money online. You can make money from eBay precisely because of that quality traffic it generates;

How can you make money from eBay?

There are many ways of making money on eBay. Don’t forget that eBay is like a shopping mall, a marketplace. So all the fundamental rules of demand and supply, pricing, economics, business and plain simple logic apply! Essentially, it boils down to buying low and selling high, like traders do in all walks of life.

If I am not convincing you, then please follow the link below to “This is Money” website where it states that 70,000 people in the UK alone now earn a 2nd income on Ebay.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money-savers/article.html?in_article_id=406867&in_page_id=5

Here are various ways of making money on eBay. They are NOT exhaustive and I am sure that many people use other techniques. Also, you need to choose the technique that suits YOUR skills and lifestyle the best:

Searching for misspelt items deliberately, buying them cheap and selling them at a higher price after spelling them correctly;
Buying an item, then improving its listing and photo displayed, and reselling at a higher price;
Sourcing an item that can be bought cheap in your area (e.g. in your local newspapers, at an antique fair, or in a developing country) and then selling on eBay;
Buying in bulk from wholesalers and retailing on eBay;
Buying and selling ebooks;

Personally, I make money on eBay selling ebooks. The beauty of an ebook is that it is not like a normal item. If you want to sell, say, mobile phones, you can only sell as many as what you have in stock. Whereas with an ebook, you can sell as many as the number of buyers prepared to pay for it. All you need to do is email the buyer the ebook once you have received payment.

For instance, I could have easily written all my blogs in an ebook, put a copyright on it, and listed the ebook on eBay for $10. With a catching title, subtitle and picture, I would sell about 4 copies every day. And if I sell 15 varieties of ebooks, I would easily make $1,500 profit every month.

However, you also need to be aware of the following pitfalls:

eBay is only as good as how well you use it. If you do not master the listing techniques and, remember, apply the fundamental rules of economics, you WILL FAIL;
eBay is expensive. It charges you a listing fee and a final value fee of 5.25% of the price you sold your item at. On top of that, Paypal, the online payment services company owned and used by eBay, charges 3.4% of the price you sold your item at. This means that at least 10% of the price you achieve will be paid to Ebay or Paypal. So if you are selling a low-margin item, this will get very risky;
Both eBay and Paypal are trusted brands. Therefore, they invest heavily in ensuring trust and safety on their sites. They can – and will – punish any users who fail to comply with their listing rules and Acceptable Usage Policies. These policies can be onerous so I strongly urge you to familiarise yourself with them. Punishments from eBay/Paypal will range from removal of listings, temporary selling restrictions to outright suspension and lifelong bar for serious and/or persistent violations;
Irritatingly, eBay and Paypal can sanction you even if you have not done anything wrong! You may feel that you have done nothing wrong, or more commonly, have been operating in a “grey area”, but for them, everything has to be black or white. If they do not see it your way, they will sanction you unilaterally and you will not be able to do anything about it.

Summary assessment:

Typical monthly earnings	$300-$10,000, depending on how well you use it. Ebay is very open-ended in this aspect.
Get rich quick?	Maybe, if you are generating $10,000 a month. But I think you should use it as a hobby to generate a 2nd income to start with.
Decent 2nd income?	Yes, easily.
All from home online?	Yes. But you may have to use the post for accepting checks, collecting recorded items and go to the bank to cash your checks.
Legal and ethical?	Yes, and it should remain so. If you fiddle the rules, you WILL be caught by eBay / Paypal. Remember that they invest millions in enforcing their rules!
Ongoing effort required?	I spend about 1.5 hours a day – 7 days a week
Initial cash investment required?	Variable – although I would recommend that you have about $300 of working capital to start with to cover your eBay fees. You may not use this at all if items sell fast and your buyers pay on time;
Initial time required to set up?	Max. 3 hours – but you will learn new things as you carry on selling

My Recommendation

I recommend that you try eBay if you are serious about making money online. Set yourself a budget, and start slowly. Do not act big at the outset. In order to maximise your chances of doing well on eBay, I recommend that you get yourself one of the following books. If anything, you should try eBay just for the eBay experience. How would you feel if/when you hear that people like yourself are earning extra cash every week on eBay and you aren’t? I have carefully vetted all these books and handpicked them from a list of over 200 ebooks on eBay.

Wholesale Directory and Resources – for those of you who want to buy in bulk and retail on eBay. Even better, this book shows you how to “dropship”, i.e. sell on eBay first and then buy at a lower price and let the wholesaler deliver the item to your buyer. So you do not keep any inventory! Well worth the price and one of the best-selling ebooks around on eBay. Suitable for people all over the world;
The Silent Sales Machine Hiding On eBay – a best-seller detailing many different techniques of making money on eBay. It’s only after reading THIS EBOOK THAT I SIGNED ON TO EBAY AND STARTED MAKING MONEY FROM IT.
Make up to $11,212 a month on eBay – whilst I did not make anywhere near that amount, there is a lot of practical advice here on how to grow your sales. Useful when you have already acquired some experience on eBay.
eBay Hidden Sales Engine – a very good ebook at a very reasonable price. Useful start if you are still wary about the whole thing – or are wary of spending too much money. It explains the various techniques of making money on eBay quite well;
eBay Marketing Ebooks – that is the technique I use to make money on eBay. A must-read before you start selling Ebooks. Also at a very reasonable price.

Make Money From Football

2006-11-14T09:28:00.000-08:00

I fondly remember those days when I tried to make money from football back in my University days. I thought I could combine my passion for the sport with my interest in making some money on the side.

I've had mixed results - I still think that I can "read" a football match in-running better than the average person. And it's fair to say that I made more money than what I lost.

However, I would not recommend anyone to bet on football. There is far too much uncertainty in a football match. If you are getting some buzz out of it, fair enough. But do NOT see it as a means of getting a guaranteed income.

As Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United Manager and keen racing fan states, "never trust a football match, it's a funny old game".

Instead, I've found another way of making money from football completely risk-free. It will NOT get you rich but will fetch a few hundred dollars risk-free.

It works as follows:

1. Telephone the Merchandise Shop of a big football club (we are only talking of the ilk of Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal). You will find their number easily from their website;

2. Tell them that you would like to buy a signed football shirt from a specific player - normally, go for the much loved players, e.g. Steven Gerrard, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham;

3. The answer is more likely to be a "No". INSIST! Tell them that you really want it (either because you are a life-long fan, or that it would be your little brother's dream come true, or simply that you are an avid collector of football memorablia);

4. If the answer is still a no, ASK THEM WHAT PLAYER CAN THEY GET A SIGNED SHIRT FROM. Many people would love to buy football memorablia from top players who are not as loved as David Beckham, e.g. Paul Scholes, Ashley Cole, Peter Crouch etc.

5. BUY THE SHIRT THEY OFFER YOU. They will sell it to you for the cost of the shirt;

6. Now, guess what, sell the shirt on Ebay!

Read my blog on Make Money From Ebay to get the best advice. Essentially, if you take a good picture of the signed shirt, put the name of the player in the auction title and put a good description, you will sell the shirt for MUCH MORE THAN THE COST. For example, you will get a signed Wayne Rooney shirt from Manchester United Merchandise Shop for no more than £40. And these consistently sell for over £100 each on Ebay!!

You can repeat this process on and on. You do not have anything to lose. At worst, you will only be refused the football memorablia.

You can even apply this technique for signed autographs. Get a signed autograph from, say, Jose Mourinho. IF YOU WRITE TO CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB, YOU WILL GET A SIGNED POSTCARD FROM JOSE MOURINHO IF YOU ASK FOR IT.

FRAME THE AUTOGRAPH, TAKE A PICTURE OF THE AUTOGRAPH, AND LIST THE AUTOGRAPH ON EBAY. It will sell for at least £30!!!

As you can see, this technique will not get you rich, but you can make some decent profits every season from football memorablia.

Email me at pinoop411@gmail.com if you have any thoughts on this.

Paid Survey / Online Survey Schemes - The Truth Behind Them

2006-11-13T13:51:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has been serious about making money online is bound to have come across these schemes – those market research companies that entice you to register with them and take part in online surveys that they will field on to you in return for some money.

Many sites boast that you can make up to $500 a week completing surveys lasting 15-20 mins each.

Is this statement true? The short answer is Yes! There are people earning such types of monies online doing exactly that.

Also, making such a second income is entirely legal and ethical in most jurisdictions or cultures. As such, you are unlikely to run into any problems with the law and/or into any moral dilemmas.

Do the surveys really take only 15-20 mins to complete? Yes.

How do I know? Well, I have tried such schemes for about 6 months and have made money with them too.

Are such schemes sustainable? Once again, yes. It is true that:

The big companies (and I know that since I’ve worked for them for years) commission market research companies to conduct surveys about consumer tastes, habits and preferences in an attempt to profile their customer base and/or refine their products and marketing strategies;

The big multinationals are diverting marketing spend from the conventional media (i.e. newspapers, radio, television, direct mail) in favour of the Internet. Don’t forget that Wall Street does not classify Google and Yahoo as Internet companies – they are full-blown media companies – i.e. they compete with BskyB, BBC, ITN, CNN, Reuters, NBC, TF1 etc. for advertising revenue;

There are market research companies out there being paid to profile consumers and report back to their clients for a fee. Some of that fee is passed on to you – the consumer helping them shape the profile!

Such online 2nd income schemes do not require any initial cash outlay. Yes, it’s zero cash investment!

However, here is also what you need to know:

Each market research company you sign up with will field you about 1 or 2 surveys each month and pay you between $10 and $20 per survey. Those who field you more will pay you less per survey. THIS MEANS THAT YOU NEED TO SIGN UP TO MORE THAN ONE MARKET RESEARCH COMPANY IN ORDER TO MAKE SOME SERIOUS MONEY;
How many should you sign up to? From past experience, IF YOU WANT TO MAKE $500 A WEEK, YOU WILL NEED TO SIGN UP TO 50 MARKET RESEARCH COMPANIES. This sounds incredible – but it is correct;
Signing up to each of them takes some time – I would say between 15 and 45 minutes each;
You will have to provide some very personal information about yourself and your household such as no. of kids, appliances you have in the house, no. of cars you have, how much you earn etc. AND THESE WILL BE STORED IN A DATABASE SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD. Whilst I don’t have a problem with this since I have nothing to hide so nothing to fear, some people strongly object to that. Needless to say, paid survey schemes are NOT for them;
You will only be invited to take part in a survey if, based on the personal info you provided about yourself and your household, YOU FIT THE PROFILE OF THE CUSTOMER BASE THE MARKET RESEARCH COMPANY IS LOOKING TO SURVEY. If not, tough! You will have to wait until the next survey comes round;
Like most marketing campaigns, marketing budget is limited! This means that once the market research company has received the intended number of responses, YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO TAKE PART IN THE SURVEY EVEN IF YOU WERE SENT AN INVITE BY EMAIL. And such slots will normally be filled within hours, not days;
Most market research companies will pay out only when you have reached a certain amount of money, e.g. $50. This can take time to gather with one market research company;

Does it therefore mean that it’s not worth joining online survey schemes? No, I think there is money in them. And some people gladly join such schemes because it suits them. I can make about $2,000 a month with such schemes when I want to.

Summary assessment

Typical monthly earnings?	$250-$2,000
Get righ quick?	No
Decent 2nd Income?	Yes
All from home online?	Yes
Legal and ethical?	Yes
Ongoing effort required?	15 mins per survey - 4 hours a week
Initial cash investment required?	Nil (or $40-$60 if you buy a catalogue)
Initial time required to set up?	30 hours

Do I have to pay to have access to such schemes?

The short, honest answer is No. The links to all the market research companies is freely available on the internet and you will find them easily by doing a Google search. However,

Many of these market research companies will not be suitable for you – usually because they do not cater for customers in your region – and you will only find out after spending 15 minutes trying to sign up;

In my own humble personal view, it is better to pay a nominal amount (between $40 and $60) and have access to a good collection of such market research companies and an assessment of the countries they cater for as well as how they reward their surveyees (cash, prizes, or both);

If you are serious about earning a 2nd income through online surveys, YOU WILL RECOVER THESE $40-$60 in less than 10 days. TRUST ME!

Recommended Links

There are many links to paid surveys on the Internet providing you with such catalogues. Below are 2 catalogues which I think you should consider. I know that these are not wastes of space. Many others are!

If you are UK based or Europe based, Surveyhawk is the best book to buy!
If you are US based, Surveyscout is the best choice!
If you are based in the Asia-Pacific, you are better off with Paid Surveys Online.

Surveyhawk
This is an excellent survey site particularly if you are UK based. A lot of survey sites don't have that many surveys for UK residents - surveyhawk has it's own large section of UK survey companies. Nicely designed with a great choice of surveys this is our No1 choice. Their database includes 450+ companies that are looking for people to participate in surveys.

Click here
Survey Scout
A nice looking site with a great range of paid surveys - nearly 450 at the last count. Once of the longest established survey databases. The site is well organised with rewards sorted into different categories which makes easy to see exactly what you are getting offered. SurveyScout.com is loved by its members and we have yet to hear anyone have a bad word to say about them. We've rated this number two because of the wide selection and the excellent service if you get if any problems. Surveys - 450 Rating - 9/10 Price - £18 / US$35

click here
Paid online surveys
This site might not look as nice as some others, but still does a good job. They have got a good selection of surveys to chose from and are always quick to respond to any little problem with great online support. An excellent feature we liked about this site is after members asked if there was any way they could fill out forms quickly - they developed their own software to help their members. You can now fill out forms quick as a flash! This site might not be pretty but sure is the fastest when you are looking to fill out surveys!
Surveys - 300 Rating - 8/10 Price - £18 / US$35

click here
Paid surveys at home
Still in the top 5 is paid-surveys-at-home at number 4. Again a good selection of surveys with over 450 at the last count. They were charging nearly £30 to join but now have reduced that to about £20. Great value for money as you'll get that back in no time with a bit of effort. As an added bonus they have a section with over 300 ADDITIONAL work-at-home opportunities.
Surveys - 450 Rating - 8/10 Price - £20 / US$40

click here
Work online 4 pay
About 400 surveys available for members in this survey site - more than enough. Not the best looking site, but design isn't everything. Again they have reduced the price of joining from about £30 to half that £16. They claim on their website you can get that back in half an hour and to be honest that isn't far from the truth. Good site with plenty of choice.
Surveys - 400+ Rating - 8/10 Price - £16 / US$30

click here

The Truth Behind Make Money Schemes Online

2006-11-12T09:53:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog, a comprehensive and objective review of “Make Money” Schemes currently available on the Internet. Its aim is to provide people with an unbiased, well-researched and thoughtful opinion of the various money-making schemes currently available online.

I have spent over 2 years researching and experimenting with the various online make-money schemes and would like to offer my views on them to anyone who is considering spending time and money on them. I have spent over $2000 buying such info on the Internet and spent over 2,000 hours of my evenings and weekends putting them into practice, all with mixed results.

So are you interested in making some money online? And you are not sure whether the scheme(s) you are interested in are scams or genuine? If this is so, then you’ve come to the right place.

Here, you will find

What each of the schemes marketed entail – and yes, this includes information that they do not tell you about. Where it’s useless, you will be told it’s useless;
How much effort investment, in both time and money, does each scheme involve – let’s face it. All schemes will NOT fit everyone’s skills, lifestyle and financial goals. Some require 30 hours of work a week, some only 3 hours a week;
What are the realistic earnings for the new, inexperienced starter;
Other people’s assessments of the various schemes and their comments on the opinions given (see “Forum” section). If you are moved to comment on a particular scheme or share your ideas, feel free to use the Forum.
Some schemes that I have carefully selected as “best in class” for that category, having purchased, used and assessed dozens of schemes in most of them. If you feel that this particular scheme suits YOU (and only YOU can decide that), click on the link provided to read more about and purchase; Where I have not provided any “best in class” link (i.e. under the Sex category), it means that I do NOT recommend any products in that category;

Remember though, only YOU can decide whether a scheme is for you. If you make a wrong decision, you WILL LOSE SOME MONEY AND EFFORT. If this site lets you make a more informed decision, then it’s been worth your effort and my effort.

About Me

My name is Ashwin. I am 30 years old and live in London, United Kingdom. I graduated in economics from Cambridge University and went on to qualify as a chartered accountant. Today, I still have a day job as a Senior Financial Analyst in a major Oil & Gas company and have previously held various blue-chip positions.

Why do I hold on to my day job? There are 2 reasons for this:

Money does not buy everything in life. I think that most people would not be as happy as they think if they landed a large sum of money or a regular income for nothing. Career prospects, job profile, intellectual challenge and fun also do matter in life at all levels.
It’s not worth risking everything on internet income. Remember the dotcom crash in 2000-01? Whilst unlikely, such an event may always occur. And I would extend this advice to YOU too. Do not substitute any money-making schemes for the more traditional ways of achieving any financial goals. Work harder, cut down on spending, refinance your debts. Treat internet income as a bonus – don’t rely on it to pay your rent or your mortgage!

Is there money to be made on the Internet?

The short answer is YES. There are no “ifs” or “buts”. There are thousands of people out there making money online. Just consider the following factors to reinforce this view:

Google today is worth over $140 billion. And most of its revenue comes from internet advertising;
“…the vast roll-out of broadband, which they claim has finally made the age-old promise of the internet - fast, cheap, universal connections - a reality.
Online retailers are now seen as retailers, not as 'dotcoms'. And a new range of businesses selling downloadable products and services is taking off.” (http://www.thisismoney.com/, 8 November 2006);
People are now more accustomed to the idea of paying with their credit/debit card online. This is due to several reasons:
- The growth of card payments as a replacement for cash and check;

- The growth of Payment Services Companies such as Paypal, Nochex that go at lengths to keep your card details safe;

- Better fraud prevention and fraud detection techniques online. Did you know that it is safer to pay online with your card than to hand your card to a waiter in a restaurant who then goes away and swipes it? You are more exposed to fraud in that restaurant – FACT!

However, if there is one lesson that I want you to take away from this website, it is the following:

You will come across many, many schemes where people claim to be making thousands of dollars every day using their particular techniques. And they propose to share these techniques with you for, say, $30. The realities are that:

It’s true, they do earn thousands of dollars every day as evidenced by their scanned copies of bank or Paypal statements;
Their technique is actually useless – they make these thousands from selling the information to people like YOU AND I!!!!

You need to be really, really careful of such schemes. This is the hidden fact that they never tell you. And why should they? They would be out of business otherwise.

I am currently in the process of writing my reviews on the following. The links I have put on to some keywords are for illustration only and I would urge you not to buy any of these products until you have read my reviews in the other blogs I have under http://ecashmint.blogspot.com

I look forward to your comments on my reviews too.

Another blog that, in my view, has a wealth of information on these matters is http://newbieprofitschool.blogspot.com/

Please feel free to email me at pinoop411@gmail.com

Thanks!