How to Generate Multiple Streams of Revenue from Your Online
Business
The biggest mistake that people who run an online business make
is to rely on only one product or service as their sole source
of income. Don't get me wrong, if that one product or service is
providing you with all the income you need or desire, then by
all means continue on that path. However, most people who make
their living on the web do so by maintaining several profitable
revenue streams that bring in a steady and dependable flow of
income. This does not mean that you have to develop several of
your own products and/or services. There are many other ways to
find additional sources of income, some are right under your
nose. 1. Sell advertising space: If you publish an opt-in
newsletter you already have an extremely powerful vehicle for
reaching a target market. If you have 1,000+ subscribers you
could begin selling advertising space in your publication. As
soon as those wishing to target the same market are made aware
of your newsletter offers to purchase ad space will begin to
flow in. Some newsletters with high circulations (over 15,000
subscribers) bring in anywhere from $1,000-$10,000 a month just
from selling ad space in their ezines. TIP - In order to make
potential advertisers aware of your newsletter and the
advertising packages you offer, you should make sure your
newsletter is listed in the 40 or 50 ezine directories available
on the web. You can also generate a revenue stream by offering
banner advertising space on your website. This is one of the
easiest types of online advertising to sell. You simply need to
install banner ad serving software and provide advertisers with
a way to track their ad campaigns and measure their
effectiveness. If you do not wish to go through the trouble of
setting this up and managing it on your own, you can use the
services of a third party company such as Doubleclick. They
specialize in bringing together advertisers and websites
offering ad space for sale. 2. Joint Venture: Form strategic
joint ventures with other websites or newsletter publishers who
offer a non competitive product or service that your audience
would be interested in. One of the simplest joint ventures,
albeit not the only one, is to participate in other peoples
affiliate programs and make a personal recommendation of their
product/service to your audience and both parties reap the
benefits. Here are some tips to help you develop the most
effective joint ventures possible: a. Be very selective in what
you recommend to your audience (i.e. customers, subscribers and
website visitors). If your website is cluttered with banner ads
for several different products or you send out solo mailings
endorsing a new affiliate program to your subscribers every
other day, you decrease your credibility which in turn decreases
the effectiveness of your endorsements. This naturally lessens
your profit potential. Remember, you always want to maintain the
trust you've built up with your audience especially since it has
been proven to be easier to sell to your existing customers than
it is to someone who has never before had dealings with you.
Therefore, you must always try to be as selective as possible
when forming your joint ventures. Carefully examine the
affiliate programs and other products and services you endorse
to insure that your audience can definitely benefit from them.
Do not think solely of your bank account. This way your personal
recommendations will carry a lot more weight with the people who
trust your opinion. This is how people really make money with
joint ventures. b. If you wish to create a joint venture with
someone who does not offer an affiliate program but offers a
high quality product or service, you should not hesitate to
approach them and offer to market their products/services to
your audience in exchange for a share of the profits. Keep in
mind that not everyone will respond to your offer and the ones
who do may not fully understand the concept or the potential
power of joint ventures. Patience and some time spent educating
your prospective partners will go a long way here. Make them
aware that joint ventures are win/win situations. Many of your
joint venture partners may also be looking for additional
revenue streams. If you own your own products/services you can
offer potential joint venture partners the ability to recommend
them to their audience for a split of the profits. We have used
this joint venture technique to promote our
http://www.goldbar.net/yoap/d.cgi?index-1003 Ultimate
Marketers Resource to a much wider audience than we would have
reached on our own. 3. Consider purchasing reseller or reprint
rights for software or information that your target audience
would be interested in. For example, if you have a website or
newsletter that focuses on stock market information you can look
for software that helps your audience track their portfolio and
analyze stock trends. Try to make a deal with the software
developer to resell his software to your audience. Many of the
developers on the web offer various reseller programs and
opportunities where you can purchase several copies of their
program at wholesale and then resell them at whatever price you
choose. Reprint rights involves purchasing the rights or ability
to sell someone elses information (ebooks, books, manuals,
website content, etc.) for full profit. However, at no time do
you take credit for creating the material. As long as you pay
the one time fee you can then sell that information for whatever
price you choose to your audience. This is one vehicle that many
folks in the Direct Marketing business use on a regular basis to
generate a very profitable revenue stream. 4. Consider other
non-traditional methods for earning revenue from your online
business. For example, if you spend quite a bit of time online
running your business you could join a program that pays you to
be online. For example, Alladvantage
http://www.alladvantage.com/go.asp?refid=LCK128 offers a
free to join service that pays you to place a small toolbar on
your website and receive banner ads while you are connected to
the internet. This will not make you a millionaire but it will
provide you with a real and consistent flow of money that can be
considered an additional revenue stream. When you open your eyes
to the potential income opportunities that exist online and you
set up several streams of revenue then you can begin to expect a
constant and predictable flow of income from your online
business.