Are you tired of online scams? Have you spent money and time on useless programs that promised you thousands of dollars a month, but you wound up losing money instead? You’re not alone!
I’ve reviewed a lot of programs on this site, and, unfortunately, the vast majority are either very poor quality or could be considered downright scams. So with all of that out there, how do you make REAL money online?
My answer to this question is to find a simple business model and a legitimate program that teaches you step by step how to do it. What am I talking about? Keep reading to find out!
A Simple Business Model To Earn Money Online
The easiest way to start earning money online is with Affiliate Marketing. That’s how I got started, and it turned out to be a very lucrative and low cost way to start an online business.
So what is affiliate marketing? Simply put, it’s the process of you creating a website that informs readers about a topic and reviews relevant products. If a reader is interested in a product, links are provided to retail websites, and then you earn a commission if something is purchased.
Commissions can range from an average of 3-5% with a retailer such as Amazon all the way up to 75-80% with other affiliate programs. Your reader becomes a referral to the retail site, and you’ll earn a commission on any item they purchase, not just the products you were promoting.
Not only that, most retailers use cookies to track your referrals that are valid for anywhere from 24 hours all the way to lifetime. What this means is that if a referral from your website leaves the retailer’s site, but comes back at a later time, you will still get the commission!
Now, commissions of 3-5% may not seem like much. But you need to remember that over time your website can grow to get hundreds, thousands, even hundreds of thousands of visitors every month.
Suppose you sign up to be an Amazon affiliate, which is one of the most popular retail sites with an affiliate program. Your site averages 10,000 visitors each month and just 10% of them make a $50 purchase. At a 5% commission rate, you’ll earn $2,500 a month.
If you’re promoting higher ticket items or sign up with affiliate programs that have a higher commission rate, you can realistically earn much more!
==>==> Check out these affiliate marketers who are earning $100,000+ <==<==
Advantages of Affiliate Marketing
So how does affiliate marketing stack up against other online business models, such as selling products online, creating and selling eBooks, or freelance writing?
There are definite advantages to affiliate marketing, and they’re the reason why I chose it for my online business:
- No inventory management
- No customer service problems
- No dealing with suppliers
- No rewrites and edits from clients who aren’t clear about what they want
- The ability to drive free organic traffic
- Working where you want, when you want
- No deadlines
- Work done today can continue to pay for years to come
- Keep your job and create your affiliate marketing site in your spare time
- The ability to create a passive income stream
With affiliate marketing, you create blog posts that help people with a problem, give them information, or show them how to do something. As your site gains authority and better rankings with the search engines, such as Google, those posts will gain more and more traffic.
So each post can continue to earn money, which means you’ll be making passive income indefinitely!
==>==> Get my FREE Proven 5 Step Plan For Making Money With Affiliate Marketing <==<==
How Long Does It Take To Start Earning Money?
I’m going to tell you something that many people won’t–it takes time to start earning money online, no matter what business model you choose.
A great number of new websites are abandoned after 4 to 6 months because people expect to start making money right away and then get discouraged.
Google knows this and doesn’t give good rankings to site less than 6 months old. Sites are expected to build authority and show content being added on a regular basis in order to start getting Page 1 rankings on the search engines.
So it can take weeks or months before your site starts getting significant traffic and earning commissions.
You can read a good general timeline that we’ve created to give you a realistic view of how long this process can take at How Long Does It Take To Start Making Money With Affiliate Marketing? or watch our video below:
Now, a lot of programs tell you that you can fast track your earnings by using paid ads. For experienced affiliate marketers who understand how to create and test ads, this can be true.
But ads can be very expensive, and there’s no guarantee you’ll earn any commissions from those who click on them. It’s not unusual to spend hundreds of dollars or more trying to create ads that will actually convert into sales that make money.
So if you look into a program that makes claims of earning fast, easy cash online, you’re most likely going to be sent down the road of very expensive paid traffic that will have little chance to succeed!
==>==> See the legitimate program where I learned to make money online <==<==
Best Program To Learn Affiliate Marketing
Like many of you reading this, I’ve been burned by scams before (to the tune of several thousand dollars!) and was very hesitant to try any MMO, make money online, program. I also was a complete newbie and didn’t really understand affiliate marketing or how it worked.
But then I found the program that changed everything for me–Wealthy Affiliate! This platform is fully designed to teach anyone to become a successful affiliate marketer, no matter how much or how little you know about it.
Now, I didn’t just jump into the Wealthy Affiliate program–I was way too gun shy to even think about paying for another program and worried about losing more money.
So I signed up for their free starter membership, and didn’t even need to put down a credit card! I was able to create a website and start my first online business literally within minutes.
Within a few days I had completed my first 3 lessons and immersed myself into their community platform to see how active it was–and it did not disappoint!
Everything I was learning at Wealthy Affiliate was realistic, up-to-date, and easy to understand. There were no promises of fast, easy money and no constant upsells.
There is just the starter membership where you get to experience the program and awesome community and the premium membership where you get access to 100% of the training, weekly live workshops, and 25 of your own websites!
In less than a week, I had gone from a complete skeptic to someone who was ready to become a Premium member of Wealthy Affiliate! I was totally confident that this platform would give me everything I needed to reach my goal of being a successful, money-making affiliate marketer.
You Can Make REAL Money Online!
Today, I’m working from home and have 6 websites with Wealthy Affiliate! Is it your dream to make money online? Do you want to work at home and be with your family more? Are you willing to put in the time and effort it takes to become successful?
Then I encourage you to check out this fantasic platform and see if it’s right for you.
Check out the video below, Make Real Money Online, and get ready to start your first website!
==>==> Get Your FREE Starter Membership Now <==<==
Need more information about Wealthy Affiliate? You can read my full review here and see everything they have to offer!
Janelle, the article is great. Truly the review is very helpful for everyone.
Thanks so much for sharing this post with everyone.
I watched your YouTube video. Very clearly explained about wealthy affiliate. I hope to open a wealthy affiliate account very soon and take training first. I think I will be successful in making money. Your 5 step plan will benefit me greatly. It is possible to make money online through the planning and hard work.
I hope others like your post. And they too will benefit.
I’m so glad you found it helpful! If you are interested in making money online, Wealthy Affiliate’s starter program is available completely free–no need to put down a credit card. You’ll be able to start a website and experience what they have to offer and really see if it’s right for you.
Good luck, and be sure to look me up in the WA community!
Definitely a good article that is right on the money! lol. You know how you can tell this is a honest article? Well, it doesn’t come out saying you are gonna start making money instantly. It’s right on point when it says it’s gonna take some time and some real work to achieve your goals!
Real work, time, and commitment are definitely what I promote here at Build Your Early Retirement because it’s the only way to be successful with an online business. Too many people claim they have the secret to making fast, easy money, but they offer mediocre materials or just links to make them money.
With the right training and realistic expectations, anyone can reach their goals!
Hello Janelle,
Thank you for sharing your experiences in this well-written article. I think all of us have been scammed at some point. We are promised the idea of making alot of money and then get to a point where we realize we made a mistake. I’ve always been skeptical of building websites and what the intentions were of marketers.
But now I don’t see affiliate marketing in the same way anymore. Thanks to wealthy affiliate, I see it as an opportunity to help others and solve problems for people in a particular niche. Giving consistent value is a great way to build a following and a brand. This platform allows you to do that while learning from others within the community who have a lot more experience.
I think the ability to create our own training and voice our own opinions through blog posts on the platform truly differentiate this community from others. It is a social community and not just an affiliate marketing machine. The founders really care about seeing people create their own success while learning the ropes.
I appreciate you sharing your story and I look forward to seeing more of what you have to say. Keep up the great work!
Your experience with Wealthy Affiliate is the same as mine, there is so much value to their program and desire to see you succeed in whatever niche you choose. Thank you for sharing and good luck with your online business!
I never thought there is real money in the online world, it is because I have encountered scams promising easy money and when you signup to their platform you will go nowhere because they offer you an expensive starter payment and followed by so many upsells.
If you really want to make money online the first consideration is to know which you are investing your money. Find the legit one and thank you, I found Wealthy Affiliate.
So sorry to hear that you encountered those scams! After seeing those, Wealthy Affiliate really stands out as providing a ton of value. It’s definitely a legitimate program that will help anyone be successful if they are willing to put in the time and effort!
Hi Janelle,
Another great review. I’m also a member of wealthy affiliate and since I signed up, I have no regrets about joining the platform. I’ve learnt a lot about affiliate marketing and I’m still learning. The support system is really amazing. I encourage those searching for ways to make money online to check out this platform. You’ll surely be saved tons of time and money.
Thank you for sharing your experience and opinion about Wealthy Affiliate, and it’s good to know that you see the same value in what they offer!
I don’t think people realize how impressive having 6 websites is until your try to build 1! I think that it is truly amazing to build something using your own imagination and your own hands. I think this site is great for people of any age but especially for youngsters who don’t really think of retirement (because it seems far away).
I believe that if you dedicate a few years of your life to building a legitimate and strong online business that will be of use to people, that you will set your future self up for a truly comfortable and exciting life. My own Goal is essentially to work on maybe own terms and to be able to spend money on truly important things while also helping people.
I think it is good to thoroughly research any programme before joining it and the best programmes usually offer a free trial with no obligation to sign up. I think once you try Wealthy Affiliate for yourself you will definitely see the opportunity to build the future you want!
I wholeheartedly agree! The time and effort you put in now can pay rewards years down the road.
I haven’t found anything that offers the same value and support that Wealthy Affiliate does. The fact that you can sign up for a starter membership completely free and create 2 websites is awesome and ensures that you will know exactly what you’re buying if you decide to upgrade to premium.
Good luck with your online business!
Hi Janelle. Thank you for sharing your experience with affiliate marketing. It was indeed inspiring to read this knowing there is a way to get income while having a website. Hope to read more about your success with the websites you have. 🙂
Kudos to you! Going to recommend this to people around me.
Glad you found it helpful, and if you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them for you!