Is the web an easy way to make money?

[www.sitepal.co.uk]

Is the web an easy way to make money?

I have been amazed in recent months at the number of have a go business owners i have spoken to.

I know from selling sitepal you can make good money from the web. Although it has taken me years to see a profit.

I always try to be postive when talking to folks that have decided to invest money to make money from the internet. However many people still belive they will make money just because they have a website.

I am not sure you will agree but i never found it this easy.

When it comes to running a Web site — whether you're selling online or providing information — i think it pays to differentiate your business from the competition.

I am sure this is why i am starting to make a profit from SitePal which makes these sites stand out in an overpopulated Internet.

I would like to hear your thoughts

Best

Tony

[DarrenH]

Hi

There's no easy ways to make money, it's all hard work.

What surprises me is the amount of people that think running an internet business is somehow different from running any other kind of business, if you fail to put in the planning and hard work, you'll fail, guaranteed.

In fact I'd say running a net business is harder because you have to get your message past the noise of all those "get rich quickers"

Darren

[SillyJokes]

With the net there are low barriers to entry and there is still plenty of room to come up with a killer idea which makes pots of money.

This means you can start a successful business more easily.

But for most it will be hard grind and if you don't understand the web and the way people use it you could find it very hard to be successful.

[gary]

What surprises me is the amount of people that think running an internet business is somehow different from running any other kind of business...Darren

That pretty much sums it up!

[SmallBizSoftware]

Tony, do you own sitepal or are you an affiliate?

[Jayne]

Hi,

I have noticed a few people who don't have a clue about anything to do with business in general. They do posts asking for ideas. They don't plan, cost or research before, if they did they wouldn't be posting. It's not just on the web this happens, you see young people opening shops thinking they'll be rich in 12 months, but they usually fold in 6 months. What I do find strange on the web, is others steeling business ideas, because they cannot think of one themselves. For example, web hosting, I've noticed everyone wants to be a web host or a designer and most do not even know anything about it, from what i've read about these businesses, you have to be really skilled and dedicated to do them. Stick with what you know I say, or get some really training. It's not fair to customers if you don't.

Jayne

[Rob Holmes]

Is the web an easy way to make money?

For some yes - for some no

Depends on the person and their outlook and aims.

I make my living off the internet (or pc's) no other way but it took a while.

Do you have a full time job Tony or does being a sitepal affiliate cover everything? (Hope you don't mind me asking)

Rob

[MinuWeb]

Hi,
I've noticed everyone wants to be a web host
This is quite popular because people like myself, Matrixx and other hosts offer reseller hosting plans that enable people to resell hosting services without having to manage the servers themselves. (I bet less than 5 people on these forums that offer hosting actually manage their own servers)

This is also one of the reasons why hosting has become so cheap, as a reseller only has a few £'s per month in outgoings.

Unfortunatelly this means that anyone can setup a hosting business very easily and cheaply. Basically the hosts that do own their servers and sell the reseller plans cheaply have no-one to blame but themselves for this :(

As for the web being an easy place to make money...... as in real life the only "easy" ways to make money are normally scams. Running an online business requires the same amount of skills and dedication as running an offline business. Start with an idea, produce a business plan, budget etc etc. are steps that are often missed out by those starting an online business.

[openmind]

Just the same as any other business, it takes time and dedication to make money on the web.

When I started out I was doing 12-14 hour days to keep up until I managed to get automated income streams (such as new hosting resellers) on board.

The big break came when I purchased HelmStore.com back in May as this has resulted in turnover increasing by around 300% but my workload only by about 20%

I've now managed to cut back to about 8 hours per day but it's still taken some seriously hard graft to get this far...

[www.sitepal.co.uk]

Tony, do you own sitepal or are you an affiliate?

Oddcast gave me the partnership for the UK a few years ago. I am soon to launch a UK site for the product.

Best

Tony

[Jonesy]

We (me and my better half) make a reasonable income from the 'net, but we wouldn't make a penny if we didn't do everything ourselves, i.e. build the site(s), do our own product photography, marketing etc, etc.

If we had to pay for all those things we'd probably be knee deep in debt and really struggling. I sort of feel (a bit) sorry for people who spend thousands on a website without doing the research first and then wonder why their site isn't working and the money isn't flowing in.

It takes a lot of hard work as I'm sure those of us who do it will testify! It's worth all the hard work though as you can be your own boss.

For me personally the technical stuff wasn't so much of an issue - it's the driving organic traffic through SEO and link building etc that are the hardest parts.

[sirearl]

Having a desiable product is No1 that has a profit in it.

Having a shop on oxford Street is No2 ( 1st page google )

Then its easy.

anything else then you have to work.

Earl

[Gavin Harris]

Is it possible to make money online - most certainly.

Is it easy - generally no - it still requires hard work.

If you treat it like a business "on the high street" you have every change of success.

If you believe that by being online you'll make millions without doing anything, then you'll be disappointed.

Some people believe "online" is saturated because there are so many people setting up online businesses. I'd say that the market of "well setup online businesses" isn't saturated once you take out those who have simply set up shop and expect the money to roll in.

[Jake Trader]

All the best

[stickylabels]

I guess it's the same as "normal" business - if you've got a product/service which is needed, is priced right and backed up by good customer service, then the internet is a great way of promoting it and therefore getting sales from it.

I know of some smaller companies who hadn't initially got the budget to survive in the high street, but are now competing with the big boys online.