There are a lot of modern day “snake oil” salesmen on the Internet claiming that they can make you rich over night if you only sign up to their super duper Internet program. I am sure they must have good intentions. However, they make me think of the American gold rush, where the ones who made the most money consistently were the outfitters selling shovels and other mining equipment. Only a few of the gold prospectors made any money and many ended up poor. knowledgehype

Does this mean that you can’t make money on the Internet? Of course you can, and you can make lots! I just don’t buy all the “get rich quick” programmes and their claims of making millions monthly at the push of a button. Nor do I buy that such entrepreneurs are willing to give away the secrets of their phenomenal success for such moderate prices. Many are selling phoney recycled information products, with little, if any value. Their days are numbered. People are getting smarter. gossipcare

My starting point for making money, on-line as well as off line, is to follow your passion, and capitalising on some specific knowledge or capabilities you have. I am a great advocate that it is better to be world-class in a micro segment, than trying to pretend to be all things to all people and way down the ranking in terms of expertise. The are actually people out there being experts in things like transportable coffee mugs, laptop bags or Icelandic ponies who are able to live a life of passion and wealth. Finding your passion is a different subject altogether, and I would recommend you read Seth Godin’s book The Dip. For more info please visite Here:- odorix
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In the following I am assuming that you have already defined your area of expertise, which hopefully is linked to your passion.

As modern society moves from a sales-driven to a buy-driven market place an audience becomes increasingly important. Where there was once a correlation between increased marketing spends and increased sales, this is no longer the case Sellers were once able to push products or services, by bombarding their target market with marketing communication. It used to be like this. There used to be a correlation between marketing spend and your sales. This is no longer the case. We are in a world that no longer is supply-constrained both in terms of actual products and services, as well as access to information. Everybody can have everything and everybody have access to all information. We have moved to a society where buyers chose to buy from suppliers they like or want to be associated with. This is a huge difference over the old way of selling.

This is why having an audience is so crucial: Your audience has chosen YOU because they want to be associated with YOUR products or services.

This article sets out to distinguish the hype from the reality when it comes to building an audience using social media (Facebook, LinkedIn etc.),and how to use these platforms.

Using the social media to build your audience is a 3 stage process. Let me describe what you need to do with the starting pointing in Facebook (FB):

Group 1: Core group of Friends
Group 2: Established Groups / Fans
Group 3: Your website users

The first two groups have the purpose of

a) Expanding your network
b) Establishing yourself as an authority in your area (trust is key to the new buyer-driven paradigm)
c) Attracting people from your network to your website, to make them want to buy something (remember selling is out).

1) Core group of Friends
Facebook is your tool. Remember, “Friends” is a term chosen by the web site, not by you. This will mean that you will hook up with some people you would normally have no intention of having an ongoing relationship with, or people who are marginal to you, or even people you barely know. Think of them as your public. It is important to actively increase the number of Friends in this group.

See Facebook as a tool and not a representation of who you like, or who you want to be close to, or close to you. As an Authority, you are going to be (semi-) public figures, so make a public profile. Who you really like and love is your private matter and you don’t need to use FB to show this – but DO start hooking up with people.

Think of people who you knew in school, university, jobs, and projects, hobbies, and contact them. Then contact their friends too, if you know them, even marginally. When you meet new people hook up with them immediately.