There are many ways of making money online, but which one will your schedule and lifestyle best? How will ensure a relative guarantee of success? What should you do to make a name for yourself and turn a profit?
The good news is that you don’t need much fancy knowledge or equipment to be able to launch an online business or to become an online freelancer. The Internet is a gateway to lots of exciting, new, and creative enterprises that can help you augment your current income.
Take Facebook, for example. It’s possibly the world’s most active social networking site. It’s about 30 million users strong, and more people are joining every day. But rather than just being a place to maintain connections with friends and family and post the latest updates about your life, Facebook could actually be your ticket to a successful online career.
Set up your Facebook Fan page
A hugely busy online community like Facebook presents online enthusiasts with unique opportunities to generate profit. The most obvious way to do this is to use Facebook as your free advertisement/promo site. If you can’t afford your own website just yet, your Facebook page can still help you reach your target market and sell your products or services.
Likes can go a long way to let people know about your business, and the more of them you have, the bigger your chances of actually closing a deal. People will see your brand on the timeline of their friends, and are thus likely to click on it as well to check out your fan page. This unsolicited advertising will build your reputation and help you connect with more people.
Be sure to include information about your products and services, give free tips and promos, and post testimonials about happy customers who love what you have to offer. This way, page viewers can immediately decide whether they want to try you out, instead of messaging you to ask for further information.
One more tip: create a separate account for your business instead of using your personal account. Encourage your friends to add the new account in order to generate even more publicity.
App it up
Downloading and installing Facebook applications can likewise help you make the most out of your Facebook account.
- Radical Buy: eBay pioneered the era of reliable online shopping, so it’s no surprise that app developers have picked up on this same concept and adopted it to Facebook. You can sell virtually anything and everything: old CDs, crockery, statement T-shirts, and collectible items. The other cool thing about this app is that you can allow other people to sell your merchandise for you for a small commission, which means that you’ll get to reach more potential buyers easily. And if you don’t have anything to sell, you can sign up to be somebody else’s agent and just collect commission.
- Lending Club: who needs paper money when you can transfer funds, pay your bills, and get loans through wireless transfers? With Lending Club, you can lend money to other people and make money off the interest they pay you. If you think that lending to complete strangers is risky business, you don’t have to worry—Lending Club has everything covered so it’s safe and reliable.
- Ether: don’t have anything to sell? That’s all right, you can just offer your services to the public. Some people are really good at giving advice through phone or online chat, and you can do the same thing through this Facebook app. You can also teach foreign languages to other people if you have the patience and the time for it. Just open an account with Ether, set your rates, and Ether will generate a number through which customers can contact you. The call goes through to your personal telephone number.
- Music Blaster: convert your Facebook page into a music outlet by selling all your favorite songs through BlastMyMusic.com. You earn 5% commission for every song you sell. The big plus is that you get to show your support for your favorite artist or band as well as help them gain more exposure and more fans.
- Garage Sale: good old garage sales have been brought online to reach even more buyers. All you have to do is list everything you want to sell, and Garage Sale does the rest. For example, when someone clicks the buy button, his credit card is automatically billed for the transaction. The money is deposited to either Pay Pal or your checking account. Garage Sale lets you know when to ship the product, and takes only 5% commission from the total sale price.
Facebook is a stepping-stone to making money online, but remember that you also have to put in hard work, careful planning, and imagination into making your project work. For most people, online jobs are only a way to augment their monthly salary, but once you’re set up and earning well, you may also want to consider holding a full-time online career.
Ally is part of the team that manages Budgeting Spreadsheet and How To Save Money, which are personal finance websites based in Sydney, Australia. Before joining the BS & HTSM, she was a Media Planner in McCann Worldgroup Philippines, Inc. wherein she had the opportunity to work on several innovative and globally recognized projects.
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