Web is really something. It provides “Soup to Nuts” Programs for Experts wanting to make money
If you are competent in a one or more domains that are interest to the marketplace, you now have all the tools on the web to let the world know about your expertise and start making money. This is a partial list of such resources that you can use. Some of them these services are free and some are paid.
1. Keep your collateral ready
Backpack provides a simple way to organize your information online. You can create pages and store documents, lists and to-do lists and much more. I use Backpack to store collaterals of all the companies that I am involved with, the writing projects that are in progress and the presentations that I may use for my speaking engagements. I never have to worry about missing something important when I am not at the office. All I need is access to a computer with an internet connection and I can get to that information.
2. Self-Publish a book
Publishing your book through the traditional publishing process is not only hard but it also takes time. Multiply the complexity and time taken by a resonable factor if you are a first-time author. It can be brutal at times. Forget about getting a publisher, getting a good agent is a challenge for many first-time authors. Self-publishing may be the way to go if
you are in a time crunch to establish yourself.
Related Links:
One thing to remember is that everything is not equal with self-publishing. Not all reviewers will pick up your book if it is self-published. There is this question of distribution and reach and many other challenges. All said and done, its a great start and it may land you a deal for the next book.
3. Sell your book
There are so many ways to sell your book online. Here are a few:
3.2 Amazon will allow individuals to setup shops
3.3 You can sell the digital version of the book and almost save everything on fulfillment costs. There are so many cool technologies out there that already provide DRM (digital rights management) software to use on a “pay per use” basis.
4. Start a Blog
Earlier it was a fashion, now it is a necessity. The good part is starting a blog is never easier. As long as you have good ideas to share, technology and the knowledge are available (many times for no cost) Here are a few popular technology platforms:
For a basic starter checklist, please take a look at my Squidoo lens on the same topic
Link: Blogging Starter Checklist
You can also start podcasting easily with services like AudioBlog or Odeo to supplement your blog.
5. Implement revenue generation programs on your blog
Yes, if that is your interest, you CAN make money online by offering your expertise via your blog or otherwise. Here is a partial list of programs that you can immediately implement on your blog.
Google’s flagship product to serve ads relevant to the topics that you are covering on your blog. It’s free and easy to setup.
5.2 eMiniMalls
Chitika provides a simple merchandising solution that is targeted based on the content of your blog.
5.3 BlogAds
Allow people to rent space on your blog to share their messages. In other words, BlogAds provides a service for advertisers to choose a set of blogs where they want to advertise.
5.4 Amazon Associates Program
Instread of linking directly, spend a few minutes extra and link back to the same products on Amazon via associates link and earn referral fees (5% – 8% depending on volumes)
6. Setup Squidoo Lenses
How will anyone know you are an expert?
The easiest way is to establish your expertise by creating a valuable lens on Squidoo. Squidoo is free and you will easily know if you have valuable content or not just by watching the rankings of your lenses. You might think that your lenses are valuable but ultimately its the opinions of readers that matters.
7. Sell digital content
Apart from your book, you can also audio, video or eBooks on your website. Bitpass and Paypal provide two easy ways to collect money. Bitpass also provides DRM support.
8. Publish your manifesto at ChangeThis
ChangeThis is a place where thought leaders write something, well, thought provoking. It is currently owned and operated by reputed 800-CEO-READ.
The process to publish a manifesto is simple.
8.2 All proposals will be featured to be voted upon.
8.3 If your proposal gets high marks (votes) you will be asked to submit your written manifesto.
8.4 Your written manifesto will be circulated amongst the editorial board.
8.5 If you have written a good manifesto it will published in a polished PDF format.
I published my manifesto “25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself” a few months ago and even today I get to hear from people who have recently downloaded it.
9. Setup conference calls
Want to conduct a seminar on the web? Want to do it free? No problem. FreeConference provides that facility. Its free for you if you and your participants are willing to cover the long-distance charges. If participants are participating using a Skype kind of service that should not be a problem.
10. Get Publicity
You are an expert and most probably have opinions on topics that are of your interest. You have established yourself as an expert and you now want to get the word out to media. PRLeads is a cool service that will provide you (as the name indicates) PR leads. It will try to match requests by writers and reporters that are working on stories and columns related to your field of expertise. The service costs about $99 per month.
11. Setup your virtual office
You need a phone number and a fax number and you are always moving – meaning you need broadband internet access on the go too. No problem – there are solutions for all these requirements.
11.2 Services like GizmoProject will provide a phone number + fax number for about $8 per month. The cool thing about a GizmoProject phone is that you can easily record phone calls. So if you want to conduct a phone interview of a client or another expert for your podcast, you have the tools ready. You may want to polish up the recorded file and for that you can use an open source sound editing package called Audacity.
12. Manage your customers
You may be working as a solo practitioner but you can still get to use the tools that large companies use to manage their customer relationships. There are a number of open source CRM packages like SugarCRM that offer this service. Whatever be your size, with the right tools you can still put up a very professional image.
13. Build your personal brand
Here as a quick resource (40 page FREE eBook) for starting on that journey. It’s in two formats:
All of you have a fantastic memorial day weekend!