You Can't Make Money Online

A few days ago I read an article by a well-respected, highly-informed, talented writer who wrote an article entitled, "You Can't Make Money Online", or something to that affect. The title caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First of all, Ebay, Google, YouTube and a host of others seem to be doing a pretty good job of it. Secondly, I make money online. The author was specifically hard on those who peddle "adult entertainment" by creating small sites and posting advertising for commercial sites by means of galleries and video clips. That, as a matter of fact, is exactly how I make my money online. Now you see why I was so interested.

The thrust of the article was that anyone who wanted to make a few bucks through internet affiliate programs should just pack up his (or her) PC and head over to the local fast food place to see if they were offering any burger-flipping jobs. No money to be made online, he said. He listed a few reasons, all of which have some merit: The market is saturated with zillions of other people trying to make easy money on the net. Most affiliate programs don't pay until you reach a minimum commission, something which you are likely never to do. Nobody really pays for porn on the net, etc. etc. As a result, he said, forget that plan of quitting your job and waiting for the day that you can live off of those commission checks.

As I say, there is some merit to each and every point that he made. However, I still say that you can make money online. I say that because in a few short months I was able to do exactly that. My principle source of income arrives in a lowly post-office box week after week, allowing me to escape the rat race and live life on my own terms. Am I rich? Nope. But I wasn't rich before. Can you comfortably make several thousand dollars a month with an online business? Absolutely.

I realize that this sounds like one of those direct marketing letters. It is not. I am selling nothing. I am starting this humble blog as an experiment. I have a few specific goals:

1. I want to see if I can draw some traffic to a non-adult site. If you are looking for porn here, you have come to the wrong place. I purposely chose Blogger.com for a variety of reasons. Not the least of which is that they have a no-explicit-content rule. (Disclaimer: That does not necessarily mean that there will never be any links to content that may be considered adult)

2. I want to see if I can help others in their own online endeavors. The principles that I discuss here will be applicable to any niche - adult or otherwise. In fact. I have recently begun putting to practice some of these very principles in some very family-oriented ways. Successfully.

3. I want to begin to crystallize my own thinking. After months of experiments, trials, errors, successes and plain dumb luck, I am learning that there are some fundamentals that cannot be overlooked. By writing them out I will give myself a measuring stick to continue to apply to my own activities.

4. Let's be fair. I am in business. I hope to make a few dollars off of this blog, just as I do with my other sites. If I accomplish numbers 1, 2 and 3, I will accomplish number 4.

I have a fair amount of work to do before this blog will be of much help. Hopefully, within pretty short order those looking to add to their income will find this place to be a valuable resource.

So, welcome aboard. Let's see where things go, shall we? And good luck on your journey!