How Does The Internet Work? | can you make money online?

That is a good question, how does the internet work? And is it possible for you to make money on the internet?

I guess it is kind of like how a microwave works, except more complicated. Do we really understand or care about the technical part of how something works?

Usually, the answer is no; we just care that it works! So back to how the Internet work…..

The Internet is the World Wide Web that connects computers all around the world. Each computer has its unique I.P address.

You access the Internet through an Internet service provider. Without getting more complicated, once you have accessed the Internet, you can communicate with other computers.

I came across a white paper article from 2002 that explains all of the technical aspects of how the Internet works. So, what is more, important in terms of how you make money online? After all, that is what my blog is about! 🙂

1. You need a way to make money online.
2. You need a website to do it on.
3. You need visitors to your website.

Don’t you love how I can take even the most complicated subject and break it down to a point even I can understand! 🙂

Let’s think a little more about how the Internet works to make you money if you work with it correctly.

Money Making Strategy

In the past, I have referred to ways to make money online as business models.

These strategies are methods and nothing more until you refine them and begin using them in a personalized way.

I am partial to the affiliate marketing business model.

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing method where the affiliate merchant rewards the affiliate marketer for completing a particular action.

You can make money in 5 different ways in affiliate marketing.

1. Pay per click. Get paid when a web visitor clicks on an ad on your site supplied by the merchant. Think of Google Adsense to see this in action.

2. Pay per lead or cost per action. Get leads for your merchant, or get your visitor to do something such as download software. Look at Offer Vault to learn how.

3. Pay per sale. In the early days of affiliate marketing, this was referred to as selling other people’s stuff. Check out Amazon or Clickbank.

4. 2-tier affiliate marketing. Recruit affiliates and earn commission on their actions. Check out the 2-Tier Directory. http://twotier.com/

5. Start your own affiliate program. Go from an affiliate to an affiliate merchant. Here is the article “How To Set Up Your Own Affiliate Program” in 8 steps. http://www.wikihow.com/Set-up-Your-Own-Affiliate-Program

There are many ways besides affiliate marketing to make money online in various business models. Others include, but are not limited to, network marketing, email marketing, information marketing, providing a service, getting paid-to-programs, blogging, e-commerce, and much more.

Let me say one more thing about affiliate marketing. It is easy to start because the merchant gives you products, marketing aids, and training and provides product fulfillment.

Your focus is on marketing and nothing more. Once you can do that effectively, you can make money in affiliate marketing, or any business model for that matter.

Get Your Website Up & Running

This is accomplished in 4 steps.

1. Buy a domain name.
2. Set up website hosting.
3. Design your site.
4. Add content or products.

Today many Internet marketers use blogs as a website. Here would be an example of doing that using Godaddy.

Buy your domain name. Set up your hosting account. Use the WordPress blogging platform and choose a template.

Easily install it without any technical ability. Start blogging by adding articles, videos, and graphics.

This may sound too simple, but it is not hard to get your website up and running. The hardest part may be choosing a niche for your business and deciding what you will sell on your website.

I want to suggest taking some of the free courses at Wealthy Affiliate. This is excellent training and can help you get your online business off the ground.

I call this an online business because that’s really what you’re doing. Outside of working a job on the Internet, everything else you do involves a website of your own will be running a business in one way or another.

Don’t worry if that’s not anything you’ve done in the past. This is not rocket science, and there are many examples of ordinary people just like you and me who make money online every day with their own websites.

Drive Traffic.

Once you have everything in place, you are ready to start driving traffic to your site. This is really where you see how the Internet works in action. Somebody surfing the Internet has to find your website somehow. You do this by creating backlinks that someone clicks on where they end up on your site.

Today the most common way to drive traffic to a website is to use social media marketing. You may already have an account set up on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, or other social networks.

What you do is start talking about your website and what it offers in various social media avenues. Always include a link back to your website for someone to click on and come to find more information.

This is why blogging is so effective. As an example, you could write an article on a topic relating to the niche your business is all about.

After you publish it on your blog, you begin to promote it on your various social sites. People will read this, and if they’re interested, they’ll click on your site and come to it to learn more.

One other standard method at this point is to build an email list by offering something of value to your new website visitor. Your goal is to capture their name and email address so you can follow up with them in the future.

This is a great strategy for driving repeat traffic to your website. Email marketing is also a great way to sell products over and over in the future to your existing mailing list.

Final thoughts

What I have tried to do in this article is briefly explain how the Internet works and break it down into how you can use the Internet to make money online. Hopefully, you got something of value from it, and if you have any questions, please feel free to leave your questions or comments below; I would love to get your feedback.

If you are interested in creating your own home business, check out my #1 recommendation on building a successful business online. You can get access to hundreds of training videos, 24/7 support, professional consultations, private access to training guides, tools, and much more.