Non-Stop Income Streams - Part #2

So let’s continue with the other income streams you can use in your business…

2. Pay-Per-Click Advertisements (show a list of ads on your site.)

If one of these ads are clicked on by your visitors, you receive a commission. This commission can range from as low as .01 to as high as $66, though most of the time you will earn just a few cents. Still, if you can get a lot of legitimate clicks to these ads, (with legitimate being clicks from genuine visitors and not from yourself or ‘bots), you can make money with pay-per-clicks, though it’s not what it used to be.  

In terms of the approval process for pay-per-clicks, it’s similar to affiliate marketing, though usually these networks are not as strict. As long as your site is not promoting hate or excessive violence, more than likely it will get approved.

3. CPA Ads

Ads that are Cost Per Action, (or CPA), are similar in appearance to pay-per-click ads. Like pay-per-click ads, they show themselves in the form of small text advertisements on the top, bottom, left or right sides of the website. Yet, unlike pay-per-click ads, they pay when an action occurs. This action could be a visitor making a sale or signing themselves up as a lead, but that’s the extent of it. Clicks in and of themselves are not considered valid actions.

Of the CPA Ad networks used by Internet marketers, Azoogle is the most well-known. Although many webmasters see it as an ‘alternative’ to pay-per-clicks, it can still be a useful income stream. However, the downside is that Azoogle is more strict when it comes to who they will accept into their network. So, you may want to hold off applying for them until you get some quality traffic for your website.

4. Selling E-Books

E-books are the same as ‘regular’ books only they are in electronic form. They can be read on computers, PDAs, special e-book readers or smart phones. In terms of topics, e-books can be fiction, non-fiction or informative self-help books. However, in the world of Internet marketing, most e-books that are distributed tend to be of an informative nature. In fact, do you remember reading about Clickbank earlier? If you want to see examples of the types of e-books that webmasters are more likely to sell, simply look through Clickbank’s product listings. Alternatively, you can also do a search on E-Bay for e-books that are available for auction.

So, how do you obtain e-books for sale? If you have a talent for writing, you can simply create one yourself. You can use Microsoft Word or special e-book software to accomplish this goal. If you don’t have a talent for writing, you can hire a ghostwriter or buy either private label content or e-books with resale rights.

Private label content should be what you go after if you want to change anything within the e-book. On the other hand, if your only goal is to sell, then getting e-books with resale rights is the way to go.
Two excellent sites for finding private label content and resale e-books are Infogoround.com and Ebookwholesaler.com, respectively. In terms of finding a ghostwriter, you can use freelancing sites like Getafreelancer.com or Elance.com to hire an individual or even a company.

5. Wholesaling or Dropshipping ‘Niche’ Products

Wholesaling is when you buy inventory at a significantly lowered price then sell it to consumers. You hold all the responsibility for packaging and shipping methods. Conversely, with dropshipping you only purchase inventory when you make a sale from a customer. Once you let the company know you need a product delivered, they will take care of the shipping and packaging.

Dropshipping is an extremely convenient choice for an Internet newbie, but it tends to offer less profit margin than wholesaling. Regardless, before you can wholesale or dropship with most companies, you will need a business license. The exception is Doba.com, which is a dropshipper that will work with individuals who have not yet gotten a business license or don’t wish to get one.

Okay… so you understand what wholesaling and dropshipping are, but what are ‘niche products,’ and why do they matter so much? Why can’t ‘regular’ products be sold through these means? Well, simply defined, niche products are those that meet the needs of a specific market, which are often neglected by mainstream businesses.

For example a company selling ‘dog brushes’, (a ‘regular’ product), would be meeting the needs of a general market. However, a company selling a ‘shaggy dog brush for sensitive skin dogs,’ would be meeting a niche market. The latter company would actually be more successful because there is significantly less online advertising competition for ‘shaggy dog brush for sensitive skin dogs,’ than there is for ‘dog brushes.’

So, how do you find niche products to wholesale or dropship? The best way to do this is to use keyword analyzers. These are programs that tell you all the versions of a keyword that has been entered into a search engine. Google and Overture offer free keyword analyzers, but these are not the best to use. This is because since they are free, the keywords that are given are more likely to have already been used.

For this reason consider using a paid keyword analyzer such as Word Tracker. To use it simply type in a product that you would be interested in selling. The site will return all of the keywords related to that term. Pick a keyword that gets a lot of searches but not a lot of advertisers, (Word Tracker will provide this information to you).

After selecting this keyword, go to a regular search engine. Type in the keyword along with the term “dropshipper,” or “wholesaler,” making sure you include the quotation marks. Look through these listings to see if you can find a dropshipper or wholesaler selling your desired product. If you do not have much luck doing this, you can type the term in E-bay or another auction site and see if someone is selling the product in wholesale ‘lots.’

Alternatively, if you decide to join Doba.com you can enter the term into their internal search engine, to see if they have the product available for dropshipping. And if all else fails, you can simply call various brick-and-mortar wholesalers or dropshippers and ask them if they have what you need. To find brick-and-mortar wholesalers or dropshippers to call, simply look in your local phone book or visit Yellowpages.com.

6. Selling a Niche Service

Do you have a talent for doing something? Maybe it’s crafting or word processing. Maybe it’s word-working. Maybe it’s repair work. Regardless of what it is, if you market it properly, you can use your skill as an additional income stream. And, as you might have already suspected, ‘marketing properly’ means making sure you advertise your service to a niche market. So, just as described above, use a keyword analyzer such as Word Tracker to determine what your niche markets are. Once you have discovered this niche, you can go on and start creating your website around it.

7. Selling Online Advertising Space

Once your website starts receiving traffic, you will want to consider selling advertising space to other webmasters. To do this you can either make a separate webpage dedicated to advertising or sell banner space on the top, sides or bottom of your website. Price-wise you can charge per impression, (if you’re selling banner space), or monthly. If you charge per impression you can do this on your own, provided you have the right scripts and tracking software or you can use a separate service such as Adbrite.com, (which takes care of everything for you).

Email marketing can offer you an additional way of selling online advertising space.  It could be a blurb or a feature article talking about the webmaster’s site. Either way, it will get sent to all of the subscribers on your list. If things work out as the webmaster hopes, he or she will get a sale. Price-wise, you can pretty much do what you want especially if you have a very large list. Keep in mind, however, that the more you charge the less people you will get to take advantage of your offer, especially if the price is in the hundreds or more.

If you want a quick start for selling online ad space, you can consider using Adsomatic.com. With Adsomatic.com you are given the chance to promote an online classified site. The advertising space you can sell comes in the form of three banners.

There is also Adsomatic.com’s affiliate program, offering a fourth income stream. But the beauty in this program is not through these elements, but rather their email marketing mechanism. When people sign up to use your classified site, your account manager stores the email address.

While you won’t be able to see it, you will be able to send an email to that subscriber through the Adsomatic.com network. You can use this email system to create newsletters or e-courses, which can feature advertisements from other webmasters.

Ok, start adding the income streams that would best fit your business model.

~Chris

Written by Chris Koehl - Click Here to see the most effective tool for building your online business.