The options available for 3rd world countries as far as earning good money online are limited but that doesn’t mean we can’t join the parade :) Although site monetization methods apply to all citizens of the world, there are special considerations to take note of especially if you’re from the Philippines or another non-US country. This post aims to give you an overview of tried and tested ways to get cash by operating a website or a network of sites. But there’s a catch. You’ll read about it at the bottom of the post.
Can I Honestly Do It?
The short answer is yes. You don’t have to be a savvy Internet marketing veteran to earn good money online. But it’s not for everyone. You must either have talent or devote a lot of time and effort. There aren’t any get-rich-quick schemes available. You must be good, or you must put in the work to be good enough. Your pay level is largely dependent on those two things.
Why the Secret Remains a Secret
Some of the successful Internet marketers you might know don’t want you to know that they’re making a couple of hundred dollars a month. In fact the chances of them teaching you how to do it is practically nil. They have good reasons for keeping it a secret, the best ones are:
- It adds to their mystique.
- Keeps their monopoly going.
- To avoid taxes (and kidnappings).
January 19th, 2007 at 12:17 AM
1st unique
January 19th, 2007 at 12:55 AM
Obet, cmon now you can do better than that :P btw where can I buy a PIM shirt?
January 19th, 2007 at 2:42 AM
Another reason that income isn’t disclosed is because they can’t. If you’ve got Google Adsense adverts you’re not allowed publish how much you earn, unless you’re John Chow and then you go on and on about it ad nauseum :)
Anyway, when was the last time you told a complete stranger what you were being paid?
Go on, I’m curious, finish the post!
January 19th, 2007 at 5:11 AM
I know I can do better Marc but I’m trying to go “legit”. Re: PIM shirts, I’m actually planning to have a bunch made when Chica goes back to Manila for a few months. Also, if anyone wants to make them for themselves and sell them, go ahead. Once could make a lot of money.
January 19th, 2007 at 5:37 AM
Uso pa rin pala sa Pinas ang kidnappings? lol :)
January 19th, 2007 at 6:39 AM
While it is true that “a lot” of Pinoys operating online this way DO make a substantial amount of income, the main reason why “a lot of times” they are reluctant to provide proof of this income is because the income they are actually making is way below the income they are claiming to be making.
Hype marketing at its “dishonest best” in action.
The practice is very rampant in affiliate marketing and referral marketing and every other system where it is absolutely necessary to build “a large list” or “a large downstream” in order to be successful (multi-tier affiliate programs and online mlms for example).
Subscribe to any local “online-money-making” mailing list and you’ll meet dozens upon dozens of Pinoys claiming to have found the holy grail, calling themselves (attach superlative adjective here), offering to lead you to riches (if you pay them or join them someway), but who are actually just struggling online-businessmen-wannabees just like you and me.
Be wary.
January 19th, 2007 at 10:13 AM
Obet, don’t suppose you have some images of old designs? I’m working on a geek fashion post and PIM shirts should be on that list. I can just imagine the power of the shirt when lining up to take communion :)
Eivissu, hmmm maybe kidnapping was a bad example. No high profile kidnapping news lately. Thank god.
Chimeron, subtlety also works. You see it all the time. Obscure dude walking on the parking lot dressed doooown, then hops on to a Porsche.
On dishonest hype marketing, maybe we’re programmed for that…because we’re exposed to it on a very subliminal level. People ask how long our ‘tools’ are all the time (there’s a whole industry devoted to tool length), I would be suprised if 10% answered truthfully. I may drop hints, but damn I’m sure not gonna show everybody!
Man I visit Obet’s site too much… :)
January 19th, 2007 at 2:33 PM
>> Chimeron, subtlety also works.
Iam all too familiar with this subtlety Marc ;)
My only point is this:
Since you are talking about online income generation, the potential of simple folks to cash in on this, and the possible reasons why people doing good in this field are reluctant to publicly acknowledge their success, we might as well mention that, in this pursuit of online income, there is also this whole gang of people baiting the unwary with loud promises and leading them down the wrong road.
What is the attrition loss rate for online affiliate marketing, for example? Some say its 98% - only 2% of those who ever try makes any substantial income. How about on Adwords - AdSense arbitrage? I wouldn’t be surprised if the numbers are the same across most areas of online income generation. Ever wondered why?
Its noble to point out to fellow hunters on which part of the forest game can be found. But don’t forget to mention about the lions on the way there. :)
I would be suspicious of the motives of any person flaunting his paychecks. More so of persons making income claims without showing their paychecks. Quite a contradiction, ain’t it.
I wonder how many marketing professionals would advise a business to base a marketing campaign around subtleties. That will be very hard to sell. Hence, my point to mention “reminders” when threading on this topic.
January 19th, 2007 at 4:00 PM
Please, go on with the top 5 things… those of us with a non-SEO related day job want to know for the sake of our extra income…
January 19th, 2007 at 4:41 PM
i live in an island in the visayas, and i am getting checks monthly, and i am jobless, hehehe. my neighbors are wonderin what i do for a living…my carpenter neighbor is working so hard…everyday..yet i earn what he earns probably in a few hours…when they asked, i tell them i get my money from the internet. only the bank teller and me knows how much i earn!
internet can employ almost everyone that is jobless like me! that’s a possibility.
January 19th, 2007 at 5:51 PM
Congrats. But you’re not jobless if you earn from the Internet.
January 19th, 2007 at 7:30 PM
spill the beans!
anyway, your captcha is buggy. it previously required me to type characters not found in a regular EN-US keyboard.
January 19th, 2007 at 10:32 PM
I will disclose! :P
coz i dont earn much: $100/mo on adsense, even takes as long as 2-3 months coz the minimum adsense cheque is $100 :-( Its maybe bcoz im devoting too less time on it nor expand aside from adsense and a single blog :P
I really don’t rely on earning online so far.
My day jobs takes care of SSS, Pag-ibig, taxes, medicare, insurance, food, and clothing allowances.
Until these can be suplemented by just working online alone then i cant consider going full time.
A plus on working with a company is the fun aside from perks like business travels, company vacations, sponsored conferences/workshops, etc.
If really wanted to earn online then I would prolly need to create a community site (the sleezier the better) with paid banners (as low as 5K/mo per banner)
or…
I can just join the russian cyber mafia who harvest emails, sends spams and phising. They also pay as much as $50K for infecting computers with rootkits and trojans — so ill just visit every known internet cafes on manila and infect them regularly.lol
January 20th, 2007 at 7:28 AM
people like me are more interested on how to do it (earn money from the net) not why they don’t tell their true income. if it’s not going to cost you anything, may be you can just save us the so many hours of browsing needed.
January 20th, 2007 at 9:21 AM
Don’t worry, I won’t flaunt or make income claims. You have my parents to thank for that :)
Migs, it won’t be just me. From how this thread is growing, I’m hoping other players in hiding will step up and help contribute for the rest of us. At the minimum, tell us where and where not to swim.
gcol, which part of the Visayas? I’m from Leyte.
hip2b2, i know I can’t find a suitable replacement yet Actually tinatamad lang ako :( I’m planning a WP upgrade next week so I hope to get another captcha script too by then.
godie, errr ok… the Russian mafia example is less SEO and more criminal I think :) I too have a day job that pays the bills and then Internet income’s gas money. I thought I always wanted it to be the other way around, but I’m a segurista by heart. Fluctuating SERPs and Smart Pricing give me more stress than preparing the next email campaign for the mother ship.
g, that’s the thing. It is going to cost me something. More competition - for sure. The goals of the exercise will be to teach you how to swim, where to swim and what to expect when you get there. That would mean more browsing hours for those really interested in the subject.
January 20th, 2007 at 9:45 AM
Marc, I am also from Leyte. Lifestyle here is cheap, and jobs that pay well are next to impossible to find. But I guess I am doing fine with my internet venture…though I am not an expert (1 year old blogging on free sites). My income sources are paid posting (500 pesos a day is possible, we all know this), not to mention linkworth and TLA, Adsense etc. that send checks monthly.
I can live with 500 a day here in Leyte…so its actually not bad.
January 20th, 2007 at 10:37 PM
People are ALWAYS interested in ways to earn money online. They’re not really that much concerned who’s saying it. As long as there’s an opportunity, people are sure to jump at it. Just tell us what those ways to earn are, Marc, whether you get 36 unique comments or not, they will surely be of help to some poor soul out there.
I’d have to agree with my good friend Chimeron here (Chimeron, is that you? We meet again, buddy.). Prevalent in the online arena are whores who lure newbies into believing that they (the whores) are earning. They “teach” unwitting victims using e-books which come at a price, and only later would the victim find out that majority of the whore’s earnings actually come from the sales of those e-books. There are some too who would aggressively recommend you to join a program. Whether you can earn there or not doesn’t matter anymore, the referrer is happy after receiving referral commissions.
Chimeron’s right, one should be wary of people flaunting their cheques but also of those who claim they are earning without any income proof.
I was (probably still am LOL) partly guilty of this. Here I have screenshots of my online survey cheques. Yup, these are proofs that I’ve earned a few bucks, and yes, the idea is for you to join using my affiliate link after seeing the screenshots.
But at least in terms of HYIPs, I never recommended anyone to take HYIP investing seriously. I did earn thousands of dollars from these (story in Part 2 which will be out tomorrow) and I still believe IT IS POSSIBLE to be rich through HYIPs, but I never, ever told anyone HYIPs are reliable and can become a long-term investment.
Probably you can learn from other people I know who are earning online: bizsum, who earns thousands of dollars month after month with his online business; Ian del Carmen, earning from his affiliate marketing biz; and Monching Romano, from his online biz Divisoria.com.
People can tell you the ways to earn but they can’t exactly show you how. But you can earn by learning from them and then doing it your way.
January 21st, 2007 at 2:28 AM
Hey Marc, me too I’m all ears. =)
I suppose those who could really zero in on profitable niches and stick to it with zealousness and creativity would eventually make a killing.
I consider myself an onlooker in the internet marketing scene for the longest time. Like any other industry, there’s the ugly side.
The ugly side happened one day when a lot of so-called gurus sprouted almost at the same time parading their hefty checks with claims that they made a lot of money on the internet by selling how-to’s on how to make a lot of money on the internet. And oh, they sounded the same in their hyped sales copies on steroids. It’s an awful sight.
The pretty side shows up more often than not when ordinary folks offer some sensible advise and actual accounts of how they’re earning their decent incomes through the internet with a non-internet-marketing related website. I guess we should tune in our ears to this side.
January 21st, 2007 at 11:52 AM
It’s getting interesting!
Another possibility is: even if people tell you how they earn, you cant’ duplicate it. There are barriers to entry. For example, if it needs an upfront investment, or if you need certain connections.
Another thing is focus. I’m trying to earn from Adsense, Text Link Ads and the like. What’s keeping me is I only have so many hours a week to work on it, since I have a fulltime job already. The myth might be is that these are “money making machines” (hey that’s what the ebooks for sale say, right?) but in reality they need quite a bit of work and research - right, Marc?
January 21st, 2007 at 10:58 PM
gcol, small world! :) asa man sa Leyte? 500 a day is not bad indeed.
Pinoymoneytalk, thanks for the links. Always a pleasure to meet other Filipino marketers in the Internet space :) hope you can convince some of those people to help us out at SEO.ph.
Abel, I think being an onlooker allows us to try a lot of things as opposed to being ‘out there’. If you’re very visible, there are some concessions to be made, e.g. niches to target, methods, etc.
You said it Migs, work and research talaga. One doesn’t need a college diploma to realize that “if things are too good to be true, they’re false” hehe :)
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:56 PM
Another thing is identifying trends and what people want. Which is a lot of luck.
I got a bit lucky on something. I’ll share it at the Blog Parteeh.
February 27th, 2007 at 10:35 AM
I’m a month late. But please post it online! Or probably put it somewhere with a password that only a select number of people will have access to.
I do have the distinct feeling that I am being played for a fool.
March 26th, 2007 at 6:32 PM
Hey Dude!
Congrats and just like the others, I’m all ears. Please continue with the article. Pls don’t wait for the 36 comments. Go!!!!
Thanks and regards
April 9th, 2007 at 4:36 PM
hi!ur article is something…got me hooked to the last word. am dying to hear the top 5 ways.i need to earn more for my family. and if this is gonna help me do that..wow, then i have to thank u in advance. i’ll look forward to reading the continuation…..thanks
April 21st, 2007 at 7:29 PM
weeh, 36 unique comments…count me in…
May 15th, 2007 at 6:04 PM
This is good.
July 17th, 2007 at 4:39 PM
ano ba yan? where’s the top 5 ways? its not around here!
September 4th, 2007 at 5:31 PM
wala naman.. looks like the solution to alleviate poverty still remains a secret
September 11th, 2007 at 5:19 PM
please share your secrets… hehehe. I’m jobless and i need to earn some income. thanks!!!