One of the best ways to develop an income that travels is by building a presence on the internet.  On the internet, you can sell your own products and services, or someone else’s.

Everyday, millions of people scour the internet, searching for a solution to a problem.  Some people capitalize on that by providing these people with solutions based upon their own expertise.

Other people capitalize on it by directing those searchers to someone else who is the expert.

In both cases, you can make a significant income.

Sell your own stuff

If you have the ability to do it, the best way to make money on the internet is to sell your own stuff.  This can be in the form of a newsletter, a course, coaching, or an ebook.

In any of those cases, the product is delivered digitally, which means you can be anywhere in the world, and your business will still be able to make money for you.

For me, I’ve always felt that the best option is to sell a course or ebooks.  With these products, you are not required to constantly produce new content or have daily contact with customers.

Instead, you can focus more attention on sending traffic to your offers either through advertising or content production.

If you do it right, some pieces of content will continue to drive traffic for months or even years.

Keep it simple

When I look back on all of my efforts at developing digital products to sell, I think my biggest mistake was in constantly trying to make the delivery special.

Some internet marketers are very skilled at that, while others have a team around them to help generate the products.

I’ve seen some really good products presented in video form that really stood out.  They made my efforts look pretty blah.

With that in mind, it’s a good idea to keep it simple and play to your strengths.

My own personal strength is that I can write fairly well, and I’ve learned a bit about search engine optimization (SEO) to help some of my posts rank well on Google.

My biggest weakness is probably that I come off a bit bland on video.

Therefore, my primary focus is on writing blog posts and ebooks, rather than try to develop fancy video courses.  While I do use Youtube a little, it’s simply to have that presence, and to drive a little more traffic.

Sell someone else’s stuff

One of the coolest things I ever learned was how to write a blog post that sends traffic to someone else’s offer, and then get a commission when my referral generates a sale.

However, so called super affiliate marketers take this to another level completely.

Through the use of a variety of mediums, these marketers send a ton of traffic to offers that are not their own, and make big money.

It’s clear that they work quite hard at doing this (in spite of what they say), but they are able to work on their own terms and from anywhere in the world.

The bottom line is that every business on the planet is looking for more potential buyers, so if you have an expertise in a particular niche, you can be one of those people that sends them a lot of business.  In return, you get commissions, and an income without needing to sell your own stuff.

Or, you can do both!

Nobody says you can’t do both either!  For instance, I have a couple golf websites where I sell my own information, and I refer golfers to products I think they will find useful.

These are typically found on Amazon, or other online retailers.  I then get a commission if someone makes a purchase based upon my referrals.

If you have expertise in a niche where you can sell your own information and somebody else’s physical products, you literally have the best of both worlds.

Final Thoughts

We live in fast changing times, and it’s becoming more clear that we can’t just rely on our regular jobs to meet our financial goals.  The ground is literally shifting beneath our feet.

Therefore, it’s a good idea to begin to take action so you are prepared in the event you lose a chunk of your income.

Take the time to think about your areas of expertise (if you know just a little bit more than the average person about any topic, then you are an “expert”).

Write down these areas of expertise, and think about your own strengths and weaknesses.  Are you good on camera?  Do you write well?  Can you build a website?

Once you start to zero in on your ideas, you can then begin to develop a game plan for building an online business.

Now, get to work!