What would be the best place for an IM noob to start that would cost very little money?

Try doing a WSO

Why not invest a little into getting a domain, set up a blog, set up some social media accounts, get an autoresponder and pay for a warrior forum signature link to your blog. Blog often. This can be your pre sell to when you actually get the finance to create the products you mention.

you will then see a steady flow of traffic, you will start to get some sign ups to which you can email and market to over time (as i do with my signature link).

you can even mix in some affiliate links to your blog content. With the amount of hours you have available you should start to seeing traffic/sign ups and get a feel for whats working or not..

oh and set your self small targets along the way until you reach your $500 ..then re set your goals accordingly.

Best of luck to ya!

The internet is full of the dead products that were developed based on "ideas" - without ever doing any market research!

That should be your very first step to learn: is there a market able and willing to pay for my "ideas"? Better yet, find the proverbial 'hungry market' looking for a solution for a problem of their own - and offer the solution.

And remember, our idea of what a market segments "needs" in our opinion and what they "want" (to buy) - usually are two completely different things!

Which means, without market reserach you will create something they might need but they don't want... :rolleyes:

You have a good point there Istvan Horvath, Market research is the start before you think about creating any product because there is a highprobability of failure if not doing so.

Why not do a WSO on this forum. There is a section for that.
The best way to make money is to create your own product
but it should be of a good quality. Then you can get affiliates
to sell your product.

A problem with beginning IM is often the frustration at not seeing instant success. With methods that take months until any significant results can be expected, that's bound to happen, and anything involving a website that needs to be promoted and fed with content continuously belongs to that area. Arbitrage trades, ie. reselling services, is an example for something where you start earning instantly. It's nothing you can really 'build', but it's nice for making some cash from day 0, which you can invest in further ventures.

A big problem I see in any business online when people are first starting is people seem to assume they can just turn on their computer and money starts shooting out. Like any business it takes time learn and dedication and if you are looking to produce results quickly well I would hate to tell you but you need money for that. If I was you I would do research around here, and learn and be actionable on it. The quickest ways to make money online is probably with affiliate marketing with no money. Having your own product is a big plus. You will need at least hosting and an autoresponder at minimum and you would need to learn how to drive traffic and convert prospects as well as many other variables. Starting out brand new with no money can be really challenging if you don't know what you are doing. It's best to find someone you think you can learn from and apply what you learned so that you don't get stuck with information overload.

As many have stated, build a website/blog or something where people can be sent to. Get traffic to the site where you offer a free eBook, offer, newsletter or something of that sort. Capture peoples emails. Capturing targeted emails is a profitable business. You can sell them something in the back end like affiliate marketing, sell solo ads to other marketers (where you email your list on behalf of another marketer with their links in the email), and the beauty of it is that you have their email forever, or until they unsubscribe from your email list, where you can keep selling them other affiliates, up-sells, or keep selling solo ads. Building a list is a profitable business.

How big is your list?
I hope you have been busy building your list
If you have a list and have built a good relationship with them
That would be a great place to test and develop your sales pages,videos,etc.,.
at least that is what I would suggest.
Hope this helps and good luck

A strategy that has a high likelihood of success, you say you are wanting? Make a start! So many IM hopefuls have ideas and dreams, concepts and inspired business plans but they spend so much time on planning and learning and listing details that nothing concrete actually gets done.

If I were you I would begin by networking with the market leaders in the niches you are targeting. Get a business branded domain, build a site, set up a blog, construct a social media presence. You will make mistakes, you will fail at times, maybe many times, but you really do need to 'get your hands dirty' and actually start building your vision

Study the competition. What are they doing? Can you duplicate the methods of the already successful and established? I would say, Yes you can! Put your own stamp of originality and individuality in to the mix, of course. You really do need to introduce yourself to your market, do it sooner rather than later. Be confident, take clear notice of what people really 'want', then go provide them with the solutions to their weight loss/personal finance problems. The 'doers' of this world are the winners of this world. So get doing! Good luck.

Sell something on ebay. That's some easy money. As long as you dont mind going to the post office everyday to ship things off... you should be good. It's an online business, but you still have to wake up on time everyday to help customers, package goods, and ship them off.

Build a list.

It alls starts from there. I don't think anyone in this forum will advise you otherwise.

I would recommend doing some affialte marketing.

"Create a product." How many times has a newbie been told that on this forum alone?

Give that man a cigar!

Here is where the failures and successes differ. The latter at some point realize the reality and accept it, the former never do. It takes hard work and lots of it. Can you say "relentless, focused action?" Sure you can!

Don't hurry to build your website. You are still a newbie. I suggest you spend more time learning. Spend another 2-3 months or even more time to learn as much as possible. Not just reading posts on this forum, you can also buy some books on Amazon and take some online courses. Then you will have many ideas about how to make $500/month.

I wouldn't do my own website either, if I'd start from scratch now. It takes time (and lots of it) to start getting good quality visitors to your fresh websites.

When you are new, start leveraging traffic from other big sites. Youtube, Facebook, Amazon, eBay. There are tons of it.

Once you get a grip for traffic flow and what attracts them, then start your own website and expand from there (:

Just my personal suggestion
-K