I've Tried That - We lose money so you don't have to!

www.Scam.com is a forum dedicated to discussion of all things scam, from Internet pirates to religious scammers. (Oh yeah, you KNOW that’s a polite forum!) I recently ran across a thread at Scam.com that speaks to the heart of what many people have been asking us. Can I make money online, or are they all scams? I contacted the writer and invited him to write a post for I’ve Tried That, but he opted out, saying I could use what he wrote in the thread any way I wanted.

This writer’s points support what Steve and I have learned about the Internet as an income producing tool. The short answer is yes, you can make money online. Lots of people do—lots of money. But they don’t do it through data entry jobs or buying the latest guru’s ebook that promises them fistfuls of cash. (In fact, lots of them make money by selling the latest guru’s ebook to you.) You have to have some basic building blocks in place if you want to make money online. Don’t be taken in by the happy rich people you see in their cheesy stock photos. Making money online requires consistent effort. That is, it’s hard work built on some good foundations.

Here are the blocks of the foundation, taken from SteveCL’s thread at scam.com.

There are numerous people looking to earn an honest income online and are tempted to buy almost every money making ebook going. I was one of those people, hell, i even promoted some of this stuff (Unfortunately as most newbies do). Most people buy a money making ebook and instantly try to sell the ebook to others. The make money online niche is one of the most competitive you will find.

So if any of you want to know about making money online here are the cold hard facts.

1. You need a website or blog
2. You need to be able to write
3. You need to do keyword research
4. You need to find a market
5. You need to find a product
6. You need to find customers

Your market (#4) is your niche. You need to research that niche. How many competing sites are there? how many searches are conducted for that niche? are there any products you can sell to that niche? If so, you need to build your content rich website/blog to draw readers and customers. This takes time.

Once you have done this you need to get traffic. More traffic = more sales. You can use Google Adwords to get traffic (this costs money). You can use article marketing (free but boring). There a numerous ways to get traffic. All this takes time and consistent work to do.

Do not expect to make money from doing nothing.

Ultimate Wealth Package Example
You have just bought the Ultimate Wealth Package and got your free website. you decide to put your website to good use. You sign up for Google Adwords and bid in the Ultimate Wealth Package keywords.

Currently there are 100 other users bidding on this keyword. To get on the first page you will be bidding an average of $1. The Ultimate Wealth Package sells for around $49. You will need to convert 1 customer in every 49 to break even. The basic conversion rate benchmark is 1 -100 so, for every 100 visitors ,you should expect to get 1 sale. At 1:49 you are now losing money. Of course you may get lucky and make 2 or 3 sales, then again you might not. How much are you prepared to lose???

His closing question is one you should keep in mind as you investigate online money making “opportunities.” If you are prepared to lose that $50 on the off chance that it’s a legitimate program, then go for it. But beware: for many of these programs, the initial $50 is only the beginning. As with Ultimate Wealth Package, they often involve hidden costs that they’ll tell you are necessary to succeed with the program. Claudette found this out the hard way.

If you understand these 6 requirements and are willing to work consistently and learn how to succeed, here’s a great way to get started.