Hi...I'm new and very shy...

Discussion in 'General Advice' started by HarryPi, Oct 14, 2008.

  1. HarryPi New Member

    Hi forumers, I'm Harry, I live in England but come from Germany originally. I'm currently working in a job that bores me to death and for several months now I've been thinking more and more about doing my own thing on the internet. I have an idea and still have to figure out exactly how to start it but one thing I know for sure is that I need money to set this website up and get it going...and let me add this, I am not an internet expert, so I will need some help and a good programmer.
    I read through a num,ber of threads here on the forum and think there is a good chance that people can help me get a bit a bit clearer on what I really want. More later and this is probably a thread on its own anyway. I'm happy to share my idea (it has to do with games/riddles/crosswords in a very lose sense of the words) if anyone is genuinely interested. All I want to ask here is whether you can give me some recommendation on which websites for the time being I can earn a bit of extra legal money which I then would spend for my "business-to-come". Needless to say it shouldn't have to do with spam mails, mails to friends and family begging them to buy a product or become member in club x or whatever spamming is out there. I wouldn't want to sell anything at all anyway because frankly I'm not good at it. I was thinking of surveys, anything to REALLY recommend in that sector? The thing can be boring - no worries - I am braindead by my current job anyway [IMG]
    Not big money because I can just do it on top of my regular job at the moment but a somehow regular little additional income that can be saved. Got the picture? Thanks in advance, looking forward to your comments and lateron hopefully to some really fruitful discussion. Cheers, Harry
  2. Kecia08 New Member

    Surveys will only make you good money if you have the proper demographics (age, gender, location, etc.) that the company is looking for. I tried that route in the past...signed up with 25 companies, and over the course of 2 months, make about $5 with each. The minimum payouts differ, but most are not under $10, so I never got my money. I just decided to quit wasting my time with them. Some people here to make good money....so I guess it is possible. Getting surveys to take is the hardest part.

    If you are good at writing, I would suggest getting started by submitting articles to Associated Content, Helium, or eHow. These places generally pay you either per article or by the views your articles get. You can also do odd jobs online for others, such as write articles, do data entry, etc. You can find jobs like that to bid on at Scriptlance.com, GetAFreelancer.com, or Elance.com.

    If you have some time to devote, you may also want to try affiliate marketing. That's a fancy way of saying "sell other people's products and get a cut of the selling price." You don't have to do any begging...just sign up with affiliate companies (Clickbank.com is a great start), then publish blogs, articles, and websites with your affiliate link to a product included. If someone purchases the product through your link, you get a share of the money...usually 50%-75% of the price. It's a little harder to get the hang of than the other ways I have mentioned, but it can turn into residual income once you have your links plastered all over the Internet.

    Hope these suggestions helped...Feel free to ask for clarification! [IMG]
  3. mountainmom5 Gold Member

    Welcome Harry - and before I go anywhere else... you are a darn good writer and you are NOT braindead...lol

    Normally I do not read thru paragraphs that are not seperated ( just a pet peeve of mine - lol [IMG])
    ... but yours was so interesting that I read it anyways...

    A few things you might consider is to start by setting up a blog at blogger.com where you can write away and have fun - then add adsense to it at some point - some people use squidoo to set up pages where they can monetize in various ways... and newbieshield is the expert around here on Squidoo.[IMG]

    I am sure others will come by and give some advice but those are some simple places to get started and the beauty of it all is that once you just get started - you gradually pick up more knowledge and before you know it, you are having fun and making money at it.

    [IMG]

    See you around,
    Viola
  4. karma New Member

    Hi Harry, welcome.

    The above posts have given you the info all you need to start but i would like to back up what Viola said

    mountainmom5: you are a darn good writer and you are NOT braindead...lol


    I think article writing should be the first thing you look at.

    I wish you the best of luck.

    Jim
  5. aplina New Member

    l would also say look into elance and assiocted content
  6. pcwork New Member

    You need much money to start a website, domain registration costs less than $10/year and hosting less than $5/month
  7. happywife Gold Member

    Hi Harry,

    Welcome to the forum. I still do a couple of surveys now and then. It takes a long time to accumulate any money that way. It can be very frustrating when you go through a series of screening questions only to be declared not qualified (so time was completely wasted). The only one's I've kept up with over the last couple of years are ones that I don't have that trouble with.

    One in particular also allows me to accumulate points with all my credit card purchases so I exchange the points for gift cards for family members, etc.

    I wouldn't really recommend surveys as a viable way to make money online.

    Something you may want to check into is Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Basically, people (requesters) ask for small jobs to be done. For example I recently posted requests for Halloween recipes and car insurance reviews (to use on my websites). I only offered .15 and .20 per HIT (Human Intelligence Task), but I've had quite a few responses. It's a good way for me to get some interactive input/content on my site when I set up a new section and want to get it moving.

    There are all different types of tasks requested for different levels of payment. You can sign up as a member and then check in your free time to see if there are any tasks that you can do. The pay isn't great, of course, but it is more than you'll probably get from surveys.

    I'm a firm believer in just building your own web business (which you intend to do in the long run). It takes a lot more time and effort, but the rewards are much greater in the long run.

    I'm excited about the progress I have made with my own sites and the direction they are headed is thrilling and encouraging. As long as the internet stays alive and well, I feel very confident in my financial future with the Lord's blessings.

    I don't know exactly what you have in mind for your site niche, but I found that with no experience in web building, SiteBuildIt offers the best training program to get it right the first time. I've stuck with them for all of my sites, because I haven't found anything that is better value.

    Wishing you all the best for your future.
    Angie
  8. HarryPi New Member

    Hi all,

    thanks for the great advice, that's really helpful and you gave me a lot to check for.
    I really like this thought of writing articles because I like writing. Not sure how good I am when it comes to writing articles in English since German is my native language - but over time it might become more fluent.
    I will definitely check the websites you mentioned.
    pcwork, I guess you meant "you don't need much money..."? Registration and hosting costs you mentioned don't really look very expensive.
    What I will really need though is a good programmer. Even if it is possible up to a certain degree to learn things on the web I don't want to bother people that come to my website with half done things, bugs and all. It should work well from the beginning; after all I want to make a living out of it one day.
    Every day that I get up at 4 am in order to commute to my workplace makes it a little bit clearer to me that I don't want this much longer - so again, many thanks for all the phantastic tips.
    I'll be checking the forum regularly now and be assured I'll keep pestering you with naive questions [IMG] - it's all VERY new to me.
    Cheers, Harry
    (N.B. Viola, I tried to separate my paragraphs a bit better - let's see whether this more eye-friendly now...[IMG] )
  9. cupbucket New Member

    Well actually you don't need money to build a website and you don't need to pay any programmer to do it for you. For instance I am hopeless with html, and yet I have put together my own functioning website (see it by going to the link in my signature). You can have your site for free as I said, but to be hones it is better to pay a little for it. I only pat about $20 a year for mine.

    Namaste
  10. Welcome Harry,

    Good luck in your new business ventures.

    I hope you find it more interesting than your current job.

    Barb
  11. lilydab New Member

    Hello all I have just joined and am amazed at how much help you guys give.As I am completely new to internet marketing I need all the support that I can get.and hopefully it wont be long before I can give spport back .Lily
  12. happywife Gold Member

    Hi Lily,

    We're glad to have you hear with us. Are you looking for any specific help? If so, feel free to ask questions so we can do our best to point you in the right direction.

    Blessings,
    Angie
  13. Twrestler07 New Member

    Hey Harry,
    just gonna throw in my two cents. i have never found a survey site that works well and i still get spam from the ones i discontinued.

    A year ago i wanted to start my ownbusiness partnership, but decided against it, then i came to the online business, and i just have one simple question about it... I've been writing an article a day for 2 weeks and still haven't made a penny though folks have visited my sites. how long does it take to make your first penny?
  14. MyOwnBoss New Member

    There are some good people here who will give you good advice. I do believe you should rethink one thing you said in your original post. That was that you would rather not involve yourself in anything that involves selling since you aren't good at it.

    I'll tell you, everything in life revolves around selling, EVERYTHING. You need a job to be able to buy that cute girl in the bar a beer - you must SELL your services to an employer. You've been paid and want to buy that beer and start a dialogue - you must MARKET yourself as someone who's worth talking to. You want to see her naked - you need to CONVINCE her to scatter her clothes around your house. You want her to be your wife - well, you get my point by now...

    I'm not necessarily talking about fast-talking hard sells, but what makes the business world (and most of the non-business world) work is someone persuading someone else that they are offering a product or service that's worth more than the money.

    You don't need to become a greasy con-man, but until you lose the fear of selling in general you will be forced to accept what crumbs people are willing to toss in your direction because you won't be able to 'help them' decide to toss the whole loaf your way...