Thinking about starting up a website as a means of earning money?
Of course, a website can be the remote version of your brick and mortar business. But it can also be a business in and of itself.
Lots of people have something they’re good at, like a craft, sport or professional skill. One of the easiest ways to earn money on the web is to share your expertise. You can gather up all the knowledge that you’ve accumulated over the years, and transfer it to the Web where it will serve as a source of expert advice for people who want to know what you know, and buy related products and services – the tools and supplies that they need to do what you do and do it well.
If you set all this up right, you can turn the simple sharing of information into a stream of income that keeps coming in day and night, year after year.
Articles are the Foundation for All of Your Online Business Communication
Before we go deep into the topic of web articles, let’s first get clear on business websites. To keep things simple, there are two main methods of earning online:
1. Selling your own “stuff”
2. Promoting other people’s stuff
If you plan to sell your own stuff by sharing articles on a website here’s what you can offer:
- Information products such as article content, eBooks, podcasts, video tutorials, high quality images, special reports, product reviews, recipes, social media posts
- Services, such as coaching, virtual assistance, design, writing, tax preparation, and many others
- Coaching and consulting packages which contain both services and information products
- Hard goods that are niche specific, such as books, garden tools, pet supplies, etc.
- In-person classes and paid events
- Online classes, such as webinars, video courses, email courses
You can also promote others as an affiliate.
This means that when you advertise or recommend other people’s hard goods, info products, and coaching packages, you earn a kickback each time someone buys via your link.
While many aspects of web communication have remained constant through the years, technology has also evolved tremendously. Today, you have myriad platforms and channels to get your message out.
The top communication platforms are:
- websites
- blogs
- forums
- membership sites
- social media
- videos
Of course, the foundation for all of these modes and methods of communication is articles. Articles are the building blocks of all other forms of online communication. Think about this for a minute or two.
If you have a bunch of articles that all cover a single niche, then you have the basis for any number of awesome, information-based products to sell.
Therefore, if you want to build a niche following with your website, then it makes sense to start with articles.
