How to make money online

 

With the growing popularity of the Internet, one question that has been central to most of the messages I have received via Short Message Service and emails is: How to make money online? Truth is, making money online has become a hot topic globally. In line with this trend, therefore, the Ministry of Communications Technology has recently inaugurated the Naijacloud project with the primary objective of creating awareness about online work opportunities and creating job opportunities for millions of unemployed Nigerian youths.

This has simply given credence to the fact that even the Nigerian Government is eager to provide online jobs for its citizens. My experience in making money online dates back to 2006, and since then, I have learnt a lot and have been involved in various kinds of online business ventures. I will mention a few of them to serve as a guide where relevant.

I am 100 per cent certain that you can make money online. In fact, the number of Nigerians making money online is on the increase. However, you must realise that making money online is as difficult as making money in the real world. Part of the challenges is that we turn to the Internet with a pre-conceived notion that we will make it big in no time. This is more like the ‘yahoo- yahoo’ mindset.

Here are some of the online money-making opportunities available to you:

• Take your business online

When people ask me about making money online, I simply ask them if they already had a business. If the answer is yes, I advise them to go online. This is one of the fastest ways to make money online. Taking your business online is nothing other than developing a simple website with e-Commerce capabilities such that a potential client can visit and place orders for your products or services.

• Sell a product or offer a service

This is closely related to the first point discussed above. You can never make money online if you do not have a product or service that someone, somewhere is willing to pay for. So, create a new product and take it online. How about your services? That too can be unbundled and offered cheaply online. For instance,  it may be wise as a legal practitioner to break down the services you offer and place on your  website so as to attract Small and Medium Enterprises that usually regard legal services as something only big businesses can afford. One of the key secrets with making money online is to do everything within your power to price your product as competitive as possible with the aim of making it affordable and accessible to a larger percentage of clients.

• Start a blog

One of the goals of the ICT Clinic page is to help you start and run a successful blog using one of the world’s most popular blogging software – WordPress. For me, the decision to start a professional blog some four years ago has helped tremendously. Besides the little money I make from advertisements on my blog, there is also the opportunity to make money as an affiliate of other products or services.  Most importantly, owning a blog has helped me win big offline consulting gigs and speaking opportunities that I might ordinarily not have been properly positioned for.

• Online freelancing

An increasing number of Nigerians (I know a few) have jumped on the online freelancing bandwagon and they are truly making ends meet.

Online freelancing is huge at the moment and countries like India is a testimony to that fact. It is possible to make money online by providing services online. A number of service-based professionals will readily find someone online willing to pay for their services once they are convinced of the value.

• Forex trading

A number of people have got their fingers burnt in forex trading, including yours truly, but this is not to say that it does not work. I think what has happened to the majority of people who must have had some sort of negative experiences is the fact that we allowed greed to take control. I have a highly contended friend who still makes money from forex, but a number of forex gurus will consider him a “mugu” if they hear he is satisfied with the little he makes.

Disclaimer: I am not in any way stating that any of these are sure-proof, but they might be worth looking into as a means of making profit from your Internet presence. The most important piece of advice is for you to get involved in something you love and have fun doing it.

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Culled from Punch