by Doreen Martel

Created on: September 08, 2010

There is really no mystery to making money online.  The simple secret to making money online is nearly the same secret that is used to make money offline. Identify a need and fill that need.  No big mystery, no big secret, but it is a big challenge.  How you go about identifying that need is where the work starts and it does not end until you have properly identified just how you can fill that need. The simple secret to making money online is identifying your skills, finding the market for those skills and then marketing your skills.

Assess Your Skills

Before you are ready to identify a need and begin filling that need, you first need to do a skills assessment.  List your marketable skills and the level of skill that you have. Remember, you need to be brutally honest as at this stage, the only one you have to fool is yourself.  If you are not honest with yourself in this stage, you should forget about trying to make money online. If you ultimately find clients and you have mis-represented your skills, you will lose any credibility you might have developed.

Identify Potential Markets

Once you have identified your skills, it is time for you to search for marketing outlets for those skills. Much of this will largely depend on what your overall goals are. For those who are interested in part time assignments, freelance marketplaces may be your best outlet. For those who are seeking full time work, a combination of freelance marketplaces and private clients may work out best.

Create a Marketing Plan

Once you have identified your skills and your potential markets, it is time for you to create a marketing plan. One of the first things that you should do is create an online presence so that you can be contacted by potential clients. You can do this by creating an account on a freelance marketplace website, creating a blog that displays your contact information, setting up a free LinkedIn account or creating a website.  You may find that creating a combination of these works best for you, again this will depend on what your long term goals are.

Approaching Potential Clients

Once you have everything you need in place, ti is time for you to begin approaching potential clients and selling your services. You will have to be thorough in your explanation of what services you provide, why they will benefit the client and how much your services will cost.  Keep in mind that you may be rejected several times before you finally land that first client.  Once you do land a client, make sure that you do your best work, that you meet your deadlines and that your leave a good impression. Do not forget to ask for a recommendation once the job is complete.

Summary

The simple secret to making money online follows many of the principles of making money in any market.  You must identify what you are good at, how your skills can benefit others and go after the market.  Anything less than 100% effort on your part will result in failure just as it would in any offline endeavors.

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