3. Article Marketing
What makes article marketing different from the two previous writing-type methods to make money online? It’s really a difference in context. Whereas freelance writing means writing and giving your clients partial or full ownership of the material, and writing and submitting means publishing material under your own name for the sake of writing, article marketing is more directly profit-oriented.
Article marketing refers to the set of activities revolving around the writing of articles to promote and sell various products and services. Like in the “write and submit” method, you own your material, but the principle is different. Article marketing is all about making money from your words by selling something that you or someone else is offering.
Though different in spirit, article marketing does also require research into the keywords that are popping and generating lots of interest. Aside from helping you choose a niche, you can also use the keyword variants that get more views, or you could cover the less-used keywords to take advantage of under-explored markets.
These articles are also submitted to various websites and directories where they can get more exposure. More exposure equals more hits equals greater chances of converting into a sale equals more money for you. It’s a simple equation, really.
In article marketing, you have to put on your plastic smile and pull out all the stops on your ability to act (as far as writing is concerned). Remember that you are trying to sell something, so the more convincing you are, the more effective and efficient your methodology is. Know your audience and adjust your writing style to get better results. Recommended article directories to submit to: http://www.ezinearticles.com http://www.articlecity.com http://www.articlebase.com http://www.goarticles.com http://www.ideamarketers.com http://www.articlealley.com
4. Graphic Design
Are you a deft hand at Photoshop or other image editing software? Do you have a good grasp of graphical style and mechanics? Then graphic design may be the path to your online fortune! Graphic design covers a broad range of disciplines that are highly valued in this digital age. To be a great graphic designer, you will need to train yourself to get many skills, and also develop your aesthetic sense and even a personal style.
When we talk about graphic design, we are talking about anything from simple cropping and resizing to editing for clarity and style, all the way to full-blown image creation from scratch. These images make their way into various websites, either as material for use in published articles or as elements in the design of static portions of the website. Some of these images even make their way offline, to printed ads and billboards – that’s where the big bucks are! But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.
More often than not, the images that you will create as a graphic designer will be sued as advertising material by small business owners and web developers. This is not a bad prospect. If you build up a good name for yourself, you can charge more for your work.
Of course, this entails a great amount of creativity, skill, and the ability to translate your clients’ wishes into the finished product. However, creative types will find this work fulfilling and enjoyable.
If you want to develop a sense for what’s popular, in style, and works well in various contexts, then you should spend lots of time viewing other people’s works and analyzing them.
Graphic artists can also work with physical media and translate them into digital forms via scanning or high-definition photography. You can also make a name for yourself as an artist by sharing your work on various art- oriented websites like deviantArt.
If you do share your work as art, be prepared to face both praise and criticism; as they say, beware of the trolls.
If you are going to use images that you did not make yourself, then make sure that you are allowed to do so to avoid lawsuits. Check out royalty-free stock photography options.
Also, brush up on copyright and intellectual property rules so you don’t end up “stealing” someone’s work, or having the same done to yours.
One trending niche is the creation of backgrounds for personal profile pages like those on Twitter and so on. These backgrounds can also include wallpapers for smartphones and other devices. Take a peek into this method and see if you like it.
The Warrior Forum is a great place to offer your graphic design services to fellow Internet marketers. Go to http://www.warriorforum.com/warriors-hire/ and post your service there. Be sure to include some samples of your work.