Earning money on the internet - what is realistically feasible

Since I have been dealing with this topic myself for years and meanwhile already earn a quite "nice", legal additional income on the Internet, I would like to take part in the blogparade.

How not to make money on the Internet

Before I get to how you can earn money on the Internet and especially how I earn my money, I would like to clear up a little bit with all the models with which you can’t make any or. not earn "good" money on the Internet.

As I said, I have been pursuing the question of "earning money on the net" for several years now and have seen and tested quite a few things in the process. Therefore, the following is a list of business models, offers and services that you should stay away from.

PaidmailerPaidmailers are offers where you get advertising mails in regular intervals after registration. Within the advertising mail there is a confirmation link or tracking pixel, which registers that you have read the mail. Per read mail come between 0,1 – and 10 Cent(!) together. With it one becomes neither rich, nor can one live from it in the approach. If you like to read 30 advertising mails a day in order to buy a single, light, normal roll later on, you are in the right place here. All others better leave the fingers of it.
Paid start pages; In case of paid homepages you get a small amount of cents per homepage call (but also only a fixed number per call/per day). The same applies here as for paidmails. The incomes stand in no relation to the expenditure.
PTC (Pay-to-Click); PTC pages are similar to start pages and paidmails. One registers on the side and gets every day on the average 1-30 advertising links indicated. These must be clicked and left open for a certain time (usually 30 seconds). For this there is again per click 0,1 – 10 Cent. Also with this one does not earn appropriate money.
Forex trading, BIT options; Forex Trading is the foreign exchange trading. Working with BIT options or binary options is betting on the occurrence of a previously defined event. (z.B. the price of currency X falls by at least 9 and at most 10 units during the course of Thursday.) In principle, you can earn enough money with both. Also legally nothing speaks against it. What is critical, however, is that many of the trading programs are sold as "the easiest thing in the world". The considerable risk involved in trading is almost always ignored. So that people, who are looking for an "Internet income", are already shortly after the registration around several 100€ lighter, however exclusively around some experiences, but not around incomes, richer. In a nutshell, yes, making money is possible, but these are usually highly risky leveraged products that should only be used by really savvy investors and traders.
E-books and "programs" that guarantee wealth ; There are them in masses. The rip-offs are almost always the same: "How I made $1000 in 4 weeks", "Financially independent in 2 weeks" or "The roulette trick – so you win in every casino!" are only some examples of such products. All these products are so-called info-products, i.e. products that consist only of information and are usually in digital form. Not every info product is bad – there are even quite good info products, but there are just also many black sheep. Special caution is required when "THE product" or "THE idea" is promised in connection with a high profit. Then you can assume that it is not much more than "hot air". Or even shorter – as soon as a "sum X" is advertised, one should leave the fingers of it, since nobody can give a warranty on profits. (After all, these depend on your effort, the quality of your work, your experience, the market and, last but not least, a little bit of luck as well.)
Paid surveysAnother source of income are paid surveys. they (like paidmailers) are more or less a classic on the Internet. Depending on the provider and platform you earn between 0,20€ and 2€ per survey, but you are also busy with the survey for between 15 and 60 minutes. For an hourly wage of 1-2€ I rather sit down in the pedestrian zone and sing until someone gives me money (so that I stop) or collect deposit bottles. This is not a significant income.
MLM and fastball systemsMulti-level marketing, does not necessarily have to be criminal, but is often a nice euphemism on the Internet for fast ball systems, the pyramid principle or the Ponzi scheme. If high returns are promised and the sale of the purchased product is mandatory to get the returns, then you can assume that at some point a point is reached where the product can no longer be sold. This sales level sits then on a, mostly worthless, product, without net yield, but with a juicy loss and a not kept net yield promise. The operation of such systems is illegal in Germany. Thus it is found in §16 para. 2 of the UWG (law against the unfair competition) following section: "Whoever undertakes in the course of trade to induce consumers to purchase goods, services or rights by promising that they will obtain special advantages either from the organizer himself or from a third party if they induce others to conclude similar transactions, who in turn, according to the nature of this advertising, are to obtain such advantages for a corresponding advertising of further buyers, shall be punished with imprisonment for not more than two years or with a fine."
Revshare, "Packs", Coins; Strictly speaking, these three belong in the "fastball systems" category above, but since they have been very popular in the last 2 years and the above section is more general, I’ll list them again here. With these offerings, you have to buy a "pack"/"package" or membership to get started. Only for the holding of the package one is to receive allegedly daily/weekly a net yield and at the end per package up to 150% of the deposited money get back. By recruiting new members, you can also generate additional revenue. These systems are usually highly unserious, because where is the profit supposed to come from if I just buy a package and don’t advertise to anyone? If I draw 150% in a year from a package, that would be equivalent to an interest rate of 50% p.a. – no bank, no ETF offers this – at most high risk financial products. But these just have an extremely high risk of loss. Where should the money come from? The platforms themselves usually claim that the revenue comes from advertising networks (BeOnPush, MyAdvertisingPays) or a cryptocurrency (Onecoin) that are not explained in more detail. In practice, however, it is quite simple: the money comes from the deposits of the newly recruited members. And as with all systems of this kind, at some point there are no longer enough new members, the system collapses and the members are cheated out of their income. Examples as well as in brackets the confirmation that it was scam, for such systems are "MAP/MyAdvertisingPays" (report about the end), Beonpush (fraud accusation) and Onecoin (critical article in the Wallstreet magazine).

As should have become clear from this short listing, there is not only one or the other "black sheep" in the Internet. So there are a few more systems and providers that would fall into the above list, but this article is not called "Black sheep on the subject of money on the Internet. If you still have a topic that you think belongs in the list above, let me know and I will expand the list.

Seriously and legally earn money on the Internet

Now we come to the "good" ones. In the following I would like to show a selection of possibilities, with which one can earn money legally in the Internet.

Note: First of all it should be said that with all possibilities the legal component should never be forgotten. Just because it is possible to earn money on the Internet without even once having uttered the word "tax office", does not mean that one should therefore continue to not think about the tax office. If you want to do business on a regular basis and with the intention of making a profit, or. If someone is doing something on the internet, he normally has to declare and pay taxes on his income. One should think about this in time.

Part-time self-employment: Taxes, law, financing, marketing

Income Statement for Dummies The Pocketbook

Taxes, but funny! Tax tips for start-ups and young entrepreneurs.: Save money from the start-up!

But now enough of the moralapostelei – these are my tips to the legal Interneteinkommen.

Affiliate marketingWith affiliate marketing, you earn a commission on the referral. Many large online stores, banks, fitness studios, delivery services and other companies offer so-called affiliate or. Affiliate programs. The registration takes place thereby either directly over the web page of the dealer/service provider or over advertising network. Advertising networks (like z.B. AWin or Affili.Net) offer access to quite a few affiliate programs with one registration. After the registration one looks for the desired product and creates an Affiliate- and/or a marketing partner. Ref(erer)-Link. If somebody clicks on the link and buys the product or a membership, the affiliate gets a commission. The commission varies depending on the product and the provider. At Amazon, for example, there is between 3% and 10% commission on the value of the goods. So if someone buys through my link at Amazon for 100€, I get approx. 7€ commission. For financial and insurance products such as z.B. smava are also gladly times 70€ and more per recruited customer in it. The actually difficult thing about affiliate marketing is to achieve unobtrusively, within the framework of the applicable laws, the referrals. For this purpose the own blog, forums but also newsletters are suitable. The affiliate marketing is therefore only the source of income. Without an existing community or website in the background, the system cannot work. But once you have built a website, whether for the masses or in a specialist niche (the so-called niche site), nothing stands in the way of revenue. In my blog you will also find a detailed article on the topic of niche sites.
Blogging; Seeing blogging as a source of income is the opposite way of looking at the affiliate example above. It is important to be a) well versed in one’s topic and b) to create professional quality content. If the blog is authentic and appeals to the target audience, growth can be seen after a while. If one has built up a stable stream of visitors, the basis for earning money is there. Now the appropriate monetization concept must be developed. You can choose between CPC (cost-per-click), affiliate marketing, subscription models or sponsored posts. With CPC one binds advertising means (z.B. banners). Per click the webmaster receives between 0,05 – 2,00€. A popular provider for this is for example "Google Adsense". If you have a niche in which there are many products, affiliate marketing is also a good approach. An alternative would be the subscription model. One offers in the blog z.B. his expertise on the topic of WordPress to. Writes beginner tutorials and tips and tricks that make hungry for more. In the paid member area there are then videos with detailed, continuing material. Sponsored posts are another alternative. Here one turns to companies or marketing agencies and/or. these turn to the blogger. The Blogger writes thereupon, as advertisement characterized, Blogartikel after customer’s request and receives for it a remuneration. Depending on the size and popularity of the blog are due for a sponsored post between 50 € and 500 €. (For very large blogs, the upper limit can of course be increased even further.)
Making movies/videosYouTube has long since ceased to be "the video platform with the funny clips", but is a hard-boiled business in many corners and ends. Who produces videos and meets the nerve of the users, can make good turnovers. About the coupling of the YouTube account with the advertising platform Google Adsense, can be earned per 1000 video views on average between 1-2 €. In addition, there is income from sponsorships and affiliate marketing for products and services that many YouTubers promote within their videos and link under the videos.
Writing e-booksIf you can write, it has never been so easy as today to publish your works. Anyone can use a PC to create an affiliate program. Internet connection to sell your books on Amazon as e-books. Customers and market are present. Unfortunately, one must also say that the market, especially on Amazon, is now already oversaturated. If you want to make good sales with e-books on Amazon, you first need a top concept/book/story, secondly you need a knack for what is in demand at the moment and thirdly, you always need a little bit of luck.
Create info productsWe already had the category of info products in the negative list. There it was about books and DVDs, which promise fast wealth, without diligence. That is not the point here. However, if you are an expert in a particular field, you should consider whether there is a market for that expertise. Let’s assume Bernd is a computer scientist and aquarium lover. Within the last few years he has added various IT measuring systems and smartphone control to his aquarium. Although there are aquaristic books and also IT books, but none, which treats both topics unitedly. Bernd finds out that all his online contacts in the aquaristic forum are enthusiastic about his aquarium. Bernd is now writing construction plans, an e-book and buying lists together and is creating a video tutorial on how to rebuild his aquarium. With this Bernd has a) created an info product and b) found a niche where there is a need for it. Since there are no alternatives, Bernd can sell his product for 99€ and still find buyers. Once created, Bernd incurs only low follow-up costs. The biggest provider of infoproducts in the German-speaking area is Digistore24. As a marketplace, this takes over the payment processing and offers the possibility to easily find advertisers who advertise one’s own info product (for a freely definable margin).
Online commerceOnline trading, whether on eBay, Amazon or your own online store, can also earn good money. The rules are similar to those in offline sales/trade. Who has the 100.000th shoe store will only be successful with low probability. It is important to have either a unique product or the absolute best price for an existing product. "Fullfillment By Amazon" (FBA) has also been very popular lately. This refers to selling products through Amazon, where Amazon takes care of both storage and shipping for a fee.

Amazon Marketplace: The handbook for manufacturers and dealers

I think this list should be enough for now. If I have forgotten something you would like to see here or think is a good business idea, please write me a comment so I can extend the list.

This is how I earn my money on the Internet

Let’s now briefly discuss how I generate my income on the Internet. I combine several of the above mentioned possibilities, because they complement each other partly very well.

On my blogs I mostly combine Google Adsense (CPC) and Affiliate Marketing (mainly the affiliate program of Amazon). In addition now and then Sponsored Posts. Further I offer my help with programming (web and windows applications) and configuration of web projects.

Over the past 3 months, my earnings have been as follows:

36% Cost-per-Click
20% services (programming, etc.)
19% direct marketing
17% Affiliate Marketing
8% Sponsored Posts and Sponsoring

Monthly cumulative income was between 700€ – 1000€. This is not the world, as a side income from the Internet, however, quite a different "house number" than the options presented at the beginning such as paid mailers or paid start pages.

Good sources on the topic: Internet income

Now let’s go to a few sources worth reading resp. my favorites about the different topics around earning money in the internet. For those who are not interested, please scroll past the list benevolently and please take the conclusion of this article to heart again.

My Niche site beginner articles, offers a good overview of what a niche site is, how to set it up and how to make money with it. To the article
The Affiliate Guide by Peer Wandiger. Peer is no longer a stranger and what he says usually has "hand and foot". The Affiliate-Guide is a free, 7-part tutorial about affiliate marketing. About the guide
Independent on the net (SIN) is the main project of Peer Wandiger. Here you can find everything about affiliate marketing, starting a business and self-employment. To SIN
The backlink building plan by Sebatian Czypionka (better known as Bonek) is a good help to think outside the box when it comes to link building. Because without a good backlink profile it will be nothing with the well running website, which is the basis for further income. The other content on his blog is certainly also worth a look. To the backlink plan
The article series to the web page structure by Danosch are another good source. On his blog "one-million-earn.de" he documents his attempt to earn a million euros on the Internet. (He makes good progress so far.) To the article series (Unfortunately, after a hack, Danosch’s projects are currently completely offline.)
Everything worth knowing about business registration you will find z.B. on the pages of "fur-grunder.de", which has created a huge database of expertise on the topics of "company formation", "business registration" and "taxes". To the knowledge base
WordPress& SEO – General questions is the title of the Facebook group which I would like to give to you still to the hand. If you ask in a friendly tone, you will also be helped. And not only quickly, but also very competently. To the Facebook group

Printed matter – book recommendations

If you prefer the smell of freshly printed paper, you might find what you are looking for in the following book list. I have read all the books linked below over the last few years and can recommend them without reservation.

The Slow-Grow-Principle (Svenja Hofert)