Ten Criteria for Moonlighting Online (and earn extra income)

Digitally delivered information products, eBay, affiliate marketing, e-commerce stores, and blogging are five areas Yanik Silver and Robert Olic talked about in their book, Moonlighting on the Internet, and showed ways how one can make extra money from it. As Yanik had sold more than $10 million worth of information products, it made him an exciting author to read, page by page.

This book reminded me of Ed Dale’s Thirty Day Challenge where participants get exposed to various areas above and earn online. It is one of the best online activities I participated in 2007 and will join again this year. I also got its trial subscription but when my inquiry e-mails were not answered, I decided to put it on hold.

Yanik’s book is most useful to those who are creative, adventurous, bold to explore these avenues to earn online, and grow slowly. His criteria for finding potential moonlighting online business, that sets the tone for the rest of the book, include:

#1. Huge demand
The product must be something that there is demand for it - from various locations. This is something that have struck me when I started publishing books and create an online community. Gradually, it began attracting overseas members that created the need to come up with an international version of it. (still under development)

Exploring a demand includes doing:

• Keyword research
• Check out the ads that appears in search engine results.
  Not seeing any ads is an indication that there is no demand for it.
• Check out the forums.
  
• Top sellers in Amazon.com (products that rank 5,000 to 150,000) and develop product that can compliment it. For instance, Yanik's book is rank #6308 in Amazon.
  
  
• Sell your own or find products online to sell based on popular topics to sites like ClickBank.
  

#2. No need to bother your friends
Not all will agree, this is one angle that makes the book unique interesting. Most of us don’t want to rely on our friends to sign-up to various programs so we could just earn some commission.

#3. No inventory
Product gets delivered digitally or has a fast turn-around time.

#4. No employees
Most of the work can be outsourced and sold through affiliate marketing. Although targeted affiliates may work better if you’ll find other players who are in the field that compliments what you do.

I tried affiliate marketing with some of the loyal members in the DigitalFilipino.com Club although that did not click. I realized that they must also have something to give on top of my product in order to make it an irresistible offer.

#5. Residual income
Explore products that can be done one time and earn continuously from it.

#6. Low cost and risk
Investment does not have to be high and therefore risk is minimal. One way is to have bonuses by partnering with software providers and e-book developers who are giving their materials for free or for a low fee (and possibly re-brand it).

#7. Low maintenance
Explore business that can run on auto-pilot. If these are learning programs, this can be done through the use of auto-responders where messages are pre-filled or the lessons are posted online and will appear based on a particular schedule.

#8. Don’t have to be super-technical
One does not have to be an expert in programming and the likes to get started. Take advantage of available online tools that are user-friendly.

#9. Real business
It must have potential to become a good source of income.

#10. Fun
It must be enjoyable for you to do it.

For those who are serious in earning income online, Moonlighting on the Internet is definitely worth the read.