Making Money Online In The UK Using Affiliate Schemes

Affiliate Schemes Can Help You Make Money Online In The UK

When I first started seriously looking at Internet Marketing and thought it was probably just another of those so-called "get rich quick" schemes, one of the things which made me think otherwise was when I discovered which companies offered these "Affiliate Schemes".

In a nutshell, this is how it all works:

Internet marketing is not new. Each and every year Internet marketers earn tens of billions of pounds or dollars online in revenue selling products for online companies. It may sound complicated but you will be surprised at how simple the process is. Making money online as an Internet marketer is broken down into three simple steps that anyone can learn.

• As an internet marketer, it is your job to send people to company websites. This can be done by various means. It's actually not difficult-I was completely "computer-illiterate" yet was making sales within weeks of starting.

• When those people make purchases, you are paid from the company who owns the product. There are thousands of companies online who are willing to pay you up to 90% of the entire sales price just for sending people to their site.

• At the end of each pay period, you receive your commissions-either in the form of a cheque or paid directly into your bank.

Within the UK alone, you might be surprised at the types of companies who offer these schemes. They include big names such as M&S, Boots, Halfords, PC World, Amazon, eBay and the Post Office-and these are really just the tip of the iceberg! In fact most companies offer some sort of affiliate scheme.

When you think about it, for the companies it's like having lots of sales reps out there paid on commission only-for us it's a massive potential source of income. If you consider the huge ranges of products within any one of the companies I've mentioned carry, you will perhaps begin to understand the potential in this.

There are many companies set up just to manage the affiliate schemes of the businesses. These kind of "bring them all together" in one place, offering a platform from which affiliates (like me) can pick and choose who they might like to promote.

Within the UK, there are several such companies-the ones I've used are very reputable.

The one I use most is AffiliateWindow and you can get a flavour for what they do by clicking on the link.

I hope this has given you a little food for thought.

To see where I learned my internet marketing "skills" (a questionable term when me and computers are involved together!!!), visit Wealthy Affiliate.

Don't forget, you can email me on LivingTheDreamNow@hotmail.co.uk

Carole

"No Content Online=No Money"

Making Money Online In The UK

How I found A Way Of Making Money Online In The UK

Following on from my last post, I then spent weeks searching and scouring the internet for what was eluding me. I began to get little "chinks" of information and it dawned on me that what I was looking for was somehow related to actually working on the internet and not just using it as a "shopfront" to sell goods.

I came across lots of sales sites which promised to reveal how to make money on "autopilot" and whilst I could tell that they were simply trying to make money selling schemes which were too good to be true, I had a feeling that what they were talking about had a grain of truth in it somewhere.

I eventually discovered that what they were all really talking about was Internet Marketing. The problem was that nobody would really say what this entailed without having you part with bundles of cash for the privilege.

Through doing weeks of research-but without parting with any money, I learned that many of the sites which were offering to teach you how to be an internet marketer were out to take your cash, without teaching you any skills. I read hundreds of reviews of different products all promising to teach you about making money online in the UK by internet marketing. When you really looked into each one though, it suddenly dawned on me that what they were doing themselves was a kind of "disreputable" form of internet marketing-i.e selling products which sounded good but which would not deliver.

In all this searching though, one site was different-at least that's how it first appeared. However, I didn't trust my own judgement and spent more days finding out as much as I could about the online community called "Wealthy Affiliate" . At first I convinced myself that this was yet another example of online trickery, but yet no matter how hard I tried, I could not find a bad review. Wealthy Affiliate did not offer a fast way to riches, but appeared to be a sound, solid way of teaching people about making money online in the UK and indeed, worldwide.

I must have hovered over the "pay" button several times, before I committed myself to a one-month fee "just to try it out". This was in July 2008. I am still a member now.

The minute I entered Wealthy Affiliate I knew I'd make the right decision. The only problem I did have was that the amount of information seemed totally overwhelming. However, once I'd got over the initial feelings that I would not be able to do it, I took a deep breath and began slowly and solidly working through the "8 Week Action Plan". This was perfect for someone like me-you know the type of person-one who could barely send an email-let alone do anything slightly more complicated.

When I began working online, I could just about search Google for information and I could (with difficultly and help!) load things on eBay through my husband's account. I couldn't even upload photos though. I had no idea about sending "attachments" with emails or what a "pdf" file was, nor could I "print" things off-that's how basic my computer skills were!

However, what I did have was determination. In Wealthy Affiliate I read accounts from people who had started off from a similar starting position as me and who had become successful-many giving up their "day jobs". I still wasn't 100% convinced and contacted a couple of people from the forum of Wealthy Affiliate and ended up speaking to them. I was also lucky enough to "find" a lady in the USA (not from WA) who started off from an almost-identical starting point as I did. The realisation dawned that if I worked hard enough, I could actually do this.

After a week, I made a sale (well, two actually!) and received a commissions of £4.80 for each one. Ok, not much I know, but enough to prove to myself that this worked. I admit that I worked pretty tirelessly and as our household budget allowed me to work at it for 6 months, before I really had to get a "real" job, I knew I could give it until January 2009 before deciding for sure if it would work for me.

I didn't have to wait that long.

My learning curve was absolutely huge, but I persevered and by Christmas, was earning enough money to know that I would not be looking for employment elsewhere!

I was actually making money online -Nobody was more surprised than me (well, perhaps my husband was, who knew full-well how lacking my computer skills were-and still are!!!)

Coming soon.....Which companies have affiliate schemes? (You may be surprised!)

Carole

"No Content Online=No Money"

Make Money Online In The UK

How I Started Off....

I don't know how you came to be reading my blog but you could be me a couple of years ago (if that makes sense!). I began using searching Google for ways to make money online in the UK and wow, what a journey the last year has been.

Presently, I make my living working from home in the UK on the internet. Sounds like a dream, doesn't it? To me it is, I have to keep pinching myself because I can't believe what I've done.

It's only now that I feel "qualified" to put pen to paper, so to speak. Indeed, qualified enough to offer advice to other people who are in the situation I was a year ago.

I'll introduce myself first.

My name is Carole and I'm in my mid forties. I've lived in the UK all my life and currently live in Yorkshire. I'm married with 3 children, plus I keep an eye on 2 elderly relatives. We have all the usual trappings, including a mortgage, pets and a couple of cars to run etc. At the beginning of 2008, our family fortunes changed pretty dramatically, meaning that we needed to reassess our finances pretty quickly. When my children were very small, I had a good career in banking, but for the past few years I had been in the enviable position of being able to stay at home to look after my children and relatives. I'd done a few small jobs within the family business but none involved the 9-5 grind which I'd previously endured.

Our financial crisis meant that I would have to start pulling in an income. Our modest savings, coupled with our existing income, meant that I had around 6 months to sort myself out and to decide exactly what I wanted to (and indeed, could) do. The ideal situation was for me to work from home. I really needed the flexibility and spent many a sleepless night worrying about how we would cope as a family if both my husband and I were out at work all day, as he was doing a job with no flexibility.

We were on holiday during Easter 2008 and had rented a house with internet access. I spent virtually the whole holiday looking for ways to make money online. Now if you've done this yourself, you've probably come across all the things I did.

Here is the list of "things to investigate" which I came home with:-

• eBay seller of "things I could pick up from the £1 shop" (!)
  
• Paid survey completion
• A "no-lose" system of playing roulette on the internet
• Dropshipping
• Buying old books from charity shops and selling them for a fortune on Amazon
• Buying old muscial instruments and selling them on eBay
• Importing goods from China to resell
• Picking up mis-spelt bargain items off eBay and reselling
• Ebay seller of second-hand clothing
• Being a "secret shopper"
  

Now if you're honest, you have maybe looked at some of these possibilities. Let me tell you what happened with them in my case:-

• The £1 shop items flopped. I bought a selection of recording pens, foldable backpacks, disposible baby bibs and a few more things. I did sell some, but I still have a number of these items languishing in the cupboard.
• I did lots of paid surveys-at best I would make a few pence per hour. At worst, I would get to the end of a long survey, only to be told I wasn't eligible-charming!
• The "no-lose" roulette system ranks as my most embarrassing blunder. After reading several "reviews" of this no-fail system, I rather scarily loaded up my new account with some super casino (yes, yes, they saw me coming) with £100 and off I went. Suffice to say, it was not a "no-lose" system. It did, however, teach me a valuable lesson about parting with hard-earned money!
• Dropshipping sounded good-you simply bought a website loaded up with goods and you never even had to own a product. You sold. They dispatched. However, a closer look at this made me realise that like most things, this was too good to be true and only now, do I understand the many flaws this can have. How on earth would "my" website get found?
  
• I never got going with the Amazon thing. I had been inspired by the story of a lady who apparently made about £30k a year scouring second hand shops and reselling the books she bought. I was put off by a comment from her husband about the house been cluttered up with books-what with 3 children and a full house to start with I couldn't bear the thought! (Plus she wanted about £50 to reveal the "secrets" of her success...hmmmm!)
• I actually visited every second-hand shop in Wakefield in an attempt to find some old brass musical instruments (just look at eBay-they sell for a bomb!). However, I came away with a new-looking bright yellow musical instument stand and figured that it might sell. After 2 goes on eBay, it still sits nicely in our garage.
• The "goods from China" thing. Well, surprisingly, I actually did this quite sucessfully. I ordered a consignment of chicken coops (yes, you read that correctly) in May and they finally arrived in December, when I was wishing they wouldn't as I was very busy working on my then-successful business by that time! However, they have actually sold very well and whilst it might not be for everyone, this was profitable for me,
  
• I didn't bother buying mis-spelt items off eBay. They seemed to be few and far between and I couldn't find anything worthwhile.
• I had a go at selling second hand clothing. I raided both ours and a relative's unwanted stocks and did make a few pounds. My conclusion was that this was good for making a few pounds but no good as a sustainable income.
• When I looked at the income of "secret shoppers" the potential just wasn't there to make the full-time income I needed so I never took it any further.
  

I don't know if you've found it yourself, but I found that the more I looked for ways to make money online, the more I felt that there was a "secret" which was eluding me. I was 100% sure that some people were making big money on the internet, but what the heck were they doing????

Carole

"No Content Online=No Money"