Where to start

Learn keyword research and seo, before you start buying any courses on how to make money..

Three basic steps to make money online are as followed:
1. Find a profitable niche:
You want to find a niche/market where people are already spending money.

2. Build Email List:
You want to create a one page website (squeeze page), then add an opt in form that will collect the names and email addresses of people that visit your website

3. promote related products:
After you have built up trust with the people on your list, you then find products you believe they could benefit from.

If you would like to make money selling photos give me a private message, I will send you a FREE eBook telling you step by step exactly how to do this.

Wish you the best,

Michael!

Learn about the keyword research and competitor analysis. From that move on to on-page SEO and writing a great unique content for your website.

Learn keyword research and seo, and TAKE ACTION on whataver you jump on.

Hey Dave..
Welcome to WF.

Before you even think about making money online, I suggest you think of what you really like to do.

There are so many ways to make money online that what you like to do, and how you like to spend your time should be considered.

Here's my own experience over the last few years.

I initially did niche sites.. they did ok for a while then got bombed by Google.

And frankly I hated writing all the articles etc.

I then started offering an SEO service mainly focussing on Local SEO.

That went very well, and it brings in a nice recurring income each month, with very little effort.

I then focussed on building a list, and that went very fast.. also a nice income.

Finally, I joined Empower Network. It's not for everyone, but I am really happy about it. Again, it gave me a nice recurring income quickly and I didn't have to worry about creating products..(which is kind of a pain IMHO) Of all 3, EN has been my fastest and easiest.. but as I say, it's not for everyone and some people never make a dime with it.

However, the combination of those 3 has given me a complete full time income.

I hope that helps a bit.. good luck to you and feel free to message me if you have any questions.

There are different ways you can earn money on the internet, the important thing is to take action. I personally like video marketing. It is fast and you can automate the process easily.

Focus on the site you have made! Get it going, build it up. What I would do is buy a 1 month WPMU access, download everything and hope that you dont need to update the plugins, thats what I did. Or you could invest some money and buy a site on flippa thats already making money?

You have some nice skill sets that can blend nicely with internet marketing. My advice to you is immerse yourself in some intense education here at WF. Even though I been doing IM for 4 years, I love this forum and learn new things everyday. You are also correct when you state that list building is one of the key facets to execute in this business. Don't make the mistake I made having just started doing list building this year. Start from the beginning of your career in IM. You will be glad you did down the road.

The best thing you can do is just choose 1 method and hammer it until you`re seeing results and some income

Weather it be adsense sites, videos on youtube promoting clickbank offers, cpa, list building etc

What ever it is, focus all your time on it for at least 6 months and you will see results

It`s the jumping from idea to idea which kills most people

Paul

Sent you a visitor message

Welcome to the forum Dave. You should create your own product and sell it to get backend customers. Backend sales is where the money is. Learn list building, copywriting, and traffic generation.

So are you confused yet? lol

A lot of different advice from many different people. (and I am here to suggest something else entirely, lol)

Ok so you can do what everyone else is suggesting above which is basically the business model of "selling a product"

Now this product can be yours, or it can be someone else's (affiliate marketing)

But becuase you mentioned that you've been around sites and computers for 17 years, then what might be an option for you is to "sell/provide a service"

So if you are skilled in setting up Wordpress sites, then you can get paid to setup those sites for others. (Obviously this is just one example)

What you can do is to check out the "Warriors for Hire" sub-forum on this site, and see what services those people are offering.

And then check out the "wanted - members looking to hire you" sub-forum on this site, and see what people are willing to pay to have done.

You can also check out sites like oDesk, Elance, and Rentacoder, and see what jobs people want done.

if you sign up for those sites you can get paid to do tasks/projects for people.

obviously this depends on your skills but since you didn't mention then and just mentioned the 17 years thing, I am just assuming that you have the skills and interest to possibly get paid to provide a service.

But check it out anyway.

Clarity is a HUGE part of IM success. It's so simple when you know it -- and darn difficult when you don't! I owe my mentors a world of thanks for bringing this clarity.

IM is actually pretty simple: you can sell only one of two things:

1. Products
2. Services

That's it!

And selling products or services online happens in the same basic way for everyone, no matter what they're selling:

Traffic > Opt-in page > Autoresponder series (or e-zine) > Sales page

That's it! It's just that simple. (We IMers tend to overcomplicate things.)

But no matter what your niche is, or whether you're selling a product or a service, do you know what your business model is?

A business model is the framework or skeleton of your business. Essentially there are three types of online business models:

1. Membership-based model

A membership-based business model allows you to build a community of people (your members) who are as passionate about your subject as you are. Your membership fees can be monthly or annual, but either way, you're building recurring, passive income.

There are a lot of resources and information out there to help you build a membership-based business if you're interested in doing this.

2. Product-based model

Selling products allows you to maximize your time and effort by selling items over and over again. This can be hard goods or it can be information products. Information marketing is it's own business model under the product-based model. Information marketing allows you to take your brain to the bank by creating a product ONCE based on what you know and selling it over and over again.

3. Service-based model

Selling services can be great for 1) generating quick cash (as in the case of article writing or video producing) and 2) establishing your expertise and getting testimonials.

(Affiliate marketing falls under both models. You can choose to market either products or services as an affiliate.)

However, in the long run, your goal should be to offer services at a PREMIUM. The biggest advantage of IM is LEVERAGE. You're able to leverage your time, money and expertise exponentially online. We all have just 24 hours each day. Time to get ruthless about what you expect for those hours you spend in IM each day. Expect more of yourself and more from your business friends, clients, partners, etc.

What results are you getting for those hours you spend online each day? Ultimately, your services should be at the bottom of your funnel and cost the most since they involve your time and personal attention. (We all have a limited amount of time each day.)

The fun (and confusion) comes in with all of the endless mix-and-match possibilities of the above models. If you're just starting or still struggling to make money, keep it simple:

Pick just ONE!

1. Pick ONE niche. (Something you're interested in and know something about.)

2. Pick ONE target market for your product or service. (Who will buy what you're offering? The more specific you are, the more you narrow it down, the more successful you'll be.)

3. Pick ONE business model.

Now that you're clear about what business you're in, FOCUS! (And stop buying any info not related to your niche and target market, period!)

F -- Follow
O -- One
C -- Course
U -- Until
S -- Successful

And remember: build a list, Build a List, BUILD A LIST!

In IM, it's easy to put the cart before the horse. Take a deep breath, step back and consider what type of business you REALLY want. Don't worry about getting traffic or buying that expensive traffic product until you know 1) what your business model is, 2) what niche you're in and 3) WHO your target market is!

Successful business people will tell you that MARKETING is more than half the effort that's needed for success anyway. So pick a niche, target market and business model. Then spend most of your time and effort marketing it.

If you DON'T have a solid plan or system, THAT'S when it's hard. A good system will shave YEARS (and save you big $$$) off of your learning curve

That's why I recommend investing in at least one good, comprehensive IM course (or mentor who will give you such a system) instead of jumping from one $37 e-book to the next. A lot of people here complain about not being able to make any money. But neither are they willing to invest in their business. (Buying a random bunch of $37 e-books doesn't count.)

The best thing I ever did was invest in a comprehensive IM course aimed at REAL business owners, not just other IM wannabes. Yes it was $1500. (It's no longer available.) But it was truly some of the best A-Z IM info I ever bought. Everything else I've learned (from the $37 e-books) since has simply been plugged into this system.

Get a solid plan or system and then work the plan!

Hope this helps!

Michelle

Hello Dave, welcome to the forum.
I just have one message for you. Don't learn too much. If you learn to much in long time, you will get nothing on this "jungle" internet marketing.

Just do your best from what you've learned and stick to these strategy :
One project in one time
One website in one time
One idea in one time

Make it works to generate money, and scale it up.

Hope this helps.

The question is, how much are you willing to invest and possibly loose in your education and data mining?