Even though the effects of the recession are slowly starting to taper off and employment is picking up again, a great deal of people are still interested in being their own boss and making money for themselves. This is a great thing and comes with a lot of advantages for those who take advantage of this opportunity. There are also a great many opportunities to take advantage of online when it comes to making money for yourself. However, not all of these can be profitable for you. In fact, some of them are outright scams that are designed to make money only for those who promote these “opportunities”. Here are some of them:

Envelope stuffing.

This is quite an old scam and has been around even during the years before the internet even came into existence. The company claims that you can make money by stuffing envelopes and mailing them. They say that you can make $10 to $30 per envelope that you stuff and mail. Now let’s stop and think logically here: a machine can do the same thing for mere pennies. Even if they can’t afford one, they can hire a worker for minimum wage who can stuff hundreds of envelopes each day. WHY would they pay YOU such a high amount just for folding a piece of paper? Well… you’ve guessed it: they won’t. They make money by having you pay for a “starter kit”. You will soon notice that they want you to promote the same “make money stuffing envelopes” spiel by sending envelopes with information about the “opportunity” to other victims. If someone signs up, you then get paid. This is actually quite close to a pyramid scheme and is illegal in many jurisdictions.

Product assembly.

Another one that has been around since before the internet. Often promoted by the same people who run the envelope stuffing scam. You are told that you will be paid to assemble items, such as toys and other trinkets at home. They offer you what looks like a really good payment for every item that you assemble. Now the problems start when you sign up. You are told that you must first order a “start up kit” which contains the materials to be assembled. This kit can cost well over a hundred dollars, but the materials that it contains are probably worth a few dollars at most. You can assemble and send back as many products as you want, but they will always tell you that they weren’t done correctly and thus they can’t pay you.

Data entry / “online typist” jobs.

Here, you will be told that you can make from $10 to $50 to type in a short 3 line ad on a website. Alarm bells should be going off in your head now. Why would someone pay you that much for what is basically 2 minutes of work? After signing up and paying a fee (of course), you will soon realize that what you will need to do is to enter ads on online pay per click advertising services such as Google Adwords which promote the same website that you just signed up for. You get paid only when someone clicks on the ads you typed and signs up for their site. The issue is, YOU will have to pay for each click that you receive. And not everyone who clicks on your ads will sign up. If you have no experience in pay per click marketing, you will probably end up just losing your money.

We all know that you can make money from survey sites by completing various surveys. But the issue often encountered with this money making method is that it doesn’t generate much revenue. Plus, some of the surveys could be long and on topics that don’t really interest you. This could make it quite tedious.

But there is another way to make money from these sites. Many survey sites are found on CPA networks. These offers pay anywhere between $1.50 to $5 for each panelist that signs up through your CPA link. All you would need to do is build a simple website that lists some of the survey sites, along with details about them (how much they usually pay per survey, how long it takes to get paid, etc.). It’s also a good idea to include some information that will teach visitors how survey sites work and how to maximize their earnings with them. The site itself doesn’t need to be fancy. A simple one-page site with a good layout will do.

Now, you are probably wondering how to get traffic to the site. After all, traffic is the key when promoting any type of CPA offer online. While it is possible to use pay per click ads, this niche is very competitive and it will be quite hard to turn up a profit, unless you are willing to do a lot of testing and optimizing.

There are some more efficient and less expensive ways:

Buy banner space on “Get paid to” web sites. These are sites where people get paid to read emails or sign up for web sites. One example of a decent, high traffic site with good advertising rates is DonkeyMails.com. Since the people on these sites are already seeking to earn money, the traffic would be quite targeted. Design an attractive banner or have a freelancer do it for a few dollars.

Another, more indirect advertising method is to use online classifieds sites, such as Backpage, Gumtree and Craigslist. However, it is not recommended that you link directly to your site, as the ad will look “spammy” and get flagged down rather quickly. Instead, write an ad that looks like this “Market research panelists needed. Earn $$$ today for your opinion. Contact Bob at (insert email) for more information.” You will get plenty of responses. Simply send them the link to your site by email.

Another effective way is to distribute paper fliers locally. Simply design a good looking flier and pass it out in the streets. For best results, pass these out on college campuses, or outsource the task to a student. College students are often looking for quick ways to earn money, so you will get more sign ups from them than from most other demographics.

To earn even more money, create one page for each country that you have CPA survey offers for. There are many offers that are only for the USA, Canada or UK. Then, target your advertising to these countries, for example by posting on Canadian cities in Craigslist.

Running a social media marketing campaign can be a tricky process. Each different social media site has it’s own pro’s and cons, and if you don’t know how to work within the confines of a particular site, you’re not going to be able to use it effectively as part of your marketing campaign. If you’re not familiar with all the ins and outs of social media marketing, you might want to hire a social media marketing manager.

If you’re going to hire a social media manager, it’s important to hire the right person for the job. Your reputation can take a lot of serious, irreversible damage if your social media marketing campaign is run poorly, so you need to be sure you’re hiring someone with experience, and knowledge about how to use social media effectively.

When you’re talking to a candidate, don’t be afraid to ask for references. Take a look at any other social media campaigns they have worked on or are currently working on, and take the time to examine those accounts closely. Make sure that your candidate handled themselves professionaly on the social media accounts they ran for other people. If you see any signs that they may have been inconsistent, or anything other than professional when dealing with previous clients, they may not be the social media manager for you.

It’s also a good idea to take a look at their own social media accounts. A good social media manager will have accounts set up to promote themselves. Those accounts should be updated regularly, and they should have high quality friends and followers. Numbers aren’t everything – just because they have a lot of friends or followers that doesn’t mean they are high quality friends and followers. Look to see how often they interact with other people on social media sites, and you’ll get a good idea of how well they manage their own social media accounts

If you take the time to pick the right person for the job, you’ll be on your way to a successful social media marketing campaign. Social media can have a huge impact on your reputation, so it’s important to treat it with the right level of importance.

If you already have a membership site that’s doing fairly well, and an equally successful list to go with it, what’s the next step? Where do you go from there to ensure that your list will keep growing? There are a few things you can do to keep growing your list, even if you’re already done a fair job of growing it.

If you haven’t done so already, integrate your membership site, and your list directly, so that when someone signs up for your site, they’ll be automatically subscribed to your list as well. Most membership site software makes it easy to integrate the two, but if you really get stuck, and you can’t get the two sign ups into one form, put an opt in for your list on your sign up page. It’s also a good idea to put a list opt in on your site’s sidebar. That way, even if someone isn’t a registered user yet, they can still sign up for your list.

You may want to consider using a forced opt in page as well. One of the most effective uses of a forced opt in page is the two step checkout. In a two step checkout, after the customer clicks the “buy” button on your sales letter, or product page, they’ll first be sent to an opt in page that asks for their email address and name. The page should indicate that it is step one of two, so they customer is clear on where they stand in the checkout process. Once they opt into your list, they’ll be redirected to the actual checkout form so they can complete their purchase. If you’re using this method, it’s important to make your opt in page feel like a part of the checkout process. Make sure the opt in page doesn’t look significantly different from the actual checkout form. Customers may become wary of your site if they feel like the forced opt in wasn’t actually part of the checkout process.

Whether your membership site is small, or large, these tips can help you to grow your list in a big way.There are always more ways to encourage your users to opt into your list. Try to incorporate the list into your site as heavily as possible, and you’ll see your list grow quickly.

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