Money-Making Methods That Don’t (and Will Never) Work

How many times you’ve heard people promising you “ways to make millions with little effort, working from home in your pajamas?” Claims like these are all over the place. The truth is, well…different. Here are some methods of making money that will either a) make you very little money or b) make you no money at all.

1. Blogging For The Sake of Blogging

Stay-at-home moms fall for this often. The basic promise is: You can write on whatever you want and make money! Yes, if you stumble on some profitable niche you will make money! If you write about finance, you’re probably going to make some case. However, if you write about your life and your thoughts, then don’t expect much money. People usually want to read auto-biographies, but only by celebrities.

Don’t get me wrong; blogging works and makes serious money for some people. They question I would ask is, however, what percentage? You’ve probably heard about the statistic that only 10% of products succeed. In reality, having your own product gives you most control and the smallest chances to fail. Yet, according to this statistic, your chances are 10%! Now, imagine what the percentage would be for blogging. Maybe 2%? Less than 1%?

Solution: First, define on WHAT you are going to write about and research whether there are buyers in that market. Eventually, you’ll want to promote some products there. Want to write about dog training? This may be a good choice because there are a lot of products on that market out there.

You also might want to eventually sell your own info-product after a while…for example, I’ve been writing for a while, publishing posts like this one on people search engines and soon plan to also write an e-book on this topic and sell it.

Anyway, don’t expect to make money if you blog for the sake of blogging. Pleasure and freedom? Yes. But money, not really.

2. PTC (Paid to Click) Programs

Bux.to, NeoBux, you name it…there are a lot of programs out there promising to help you make money by just clicking on ads! Now, the truth is, yes, you CAN make money via those programs. The twist is, the best people there make max. $200 a month. That’s WITH A LOT OF WORK. Most people don’t make more than $10 per month.

The ironic thing here is, those people (doing PTC) probably spend the same time clicking on ads that someone would spend on creating his own product or doing affiliate marketing…and make 10x more.

Think about it…the web is huge. If PTC programs worked really well then wouldn’t everyone do it? It’s supply & demand 101, the easier something is to start with, the less money you’ll generally make. Read this section of Barriers to entry by Michael Porter. High barriers to entry = more profit, low barriers to entry = less profit. Now, I’m not saying you should go to markets with a REALLY high barrier to entry, you can go into lower ones, work continuously and make stable profit.

I’m just saying to avoid programs which are too good to be true. This is one of them.

3. PTS (Paid to Surf), PTV (Paid to View) and Other “Paid to X” Programs

How many times you’ve heard marketing messages like: Just install this toolbar and surf…you’ll make money while you’re browsing! Again, too good to be true. Or…watch your favorite movies and get paid! Again, too good to be true.

People will always have this ‘get rich quick’ fantasy. That’s why lotteries exist. That’s why casinos and betting schemes prosper. And that’s why these ‘paid to X’ programs will never cease to exist. But you don’t have to be a part of them.

4. Nothing Works!

This kind of mindset also guarantees you’ll never make money If you have already tried and been disappointed over and over again by those get rich quick schemes, then you’ll probably go to the other extreme and say: Well I have to be innovative (like Google, Amazon and so on) and need a big investment to make money online, I can never make money as the ‘little guy’ online. This is FAR from the truth.

This blog, for example, offers a lot of reliable methods for making money. Here are some:

- Starting to write on a niche that makes money and putting AdSense on your site.

- Doing affiliate marketing

- Creating your own info product (e-book, online course)

- Paid traffic brokering via affiliate marketing (you take an affiliate product and promote it by buying traffic)

- Freelancing

- Offering consulting services for something you’re good at

Now, those things are not guaranteed to make you $$$$$ but they’re far better from the above methods.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.