Maybe you are a boomer looking around to see what kind of job you can do to supplement your retirement income? Or maybe you want to treat yourself to a few luxuries you can’t easily afford on your current salary?
Are you ?looking to supplement your income?
I think that I can help you with this.
I am a recently retired baby boomer too. When I left my job I was wondering how I could fill up my newly found leisure time. Sure I am able to travel a lot more which is fantastic. I decided to start a website about boomer travel. I even started another site devoted to technology and its relation ?to us boomers since I know a lot about technology due to my career. And then there is site about making money online.
Find a niche you know about and build a website about it
So I guess you can say that my job is now a website owner and blogger. You probably are wondering how this happened. I wonder that myself at times. But I guess it comes down to what you like in life; what you feel strongly about; or have a talent for.
What I find is key to working online is that you find a niche that you are an expert in. If for example you love remote control airplanes you could start a site around this topic. And you will write about the topic using your knowledge.
Affiliate marketing is a good way to make money
OK. So now you have a topic you can speak about. But how can you make any money from it as well?
The answer to this is to become an affiliate marketer. You can apply to be one through several resources such as Commission Junction, Linkshare, and Share a Sale ?to name a few. You apply to be an advertiser for companies that fit your topic of remote control airplanes for example. You then can display banner ads or use links to products that your visitors can buy. When a sale is made using one of your links you get a commission.
Writing quality and original content is key
The key though to being successful is in becoming a trusted expert for your topic. This is achieved by writing quality and original content that will captivate and inform your audience. This should help you to get return visits and ?also the possibility that your readers will share your content with others. It’s about building a following.
Once you have a steady following there will be a good possibility that your visitors will also become your customers by purchasing products you recommend because they trust you and your point of view.
You are probably wondering at this point how you will go about building a quality website that can become money making.
I can help you here. I have been down this road.
Look for quality online internet marketing training
The first thing you need to do is choose the technology upon which your site resides. I highly recommend WordPress.?Wordpress is the most widely used website platform.?See my article.?You cannot go wrong with this choice. I exclusively use WordPress for all my sites after exploring several other platforms.
You will then need to learn how to build up your site. This will include:
- Navigation menus
- Key topics and theme pages
- Colors and typeface
- Add ons for comments and sharing
- Security and Spam filters
- Page layout and presentation
- Keyword selection
- Content creation
- Niche market selection
Fortunately there exists several good learning resources available for the above that will teach you the proper way to building a quality website that can earn you money. I reviewed one of the very best here. Stay away from the offerings claiming to help you to make money fast or to make money easy online. These are usually scams. Trust me I fell victim a couple of times.
Avoid the get rich quick scams
A good online training program for building a website will combine the technical and internet marketing aspects in a structured set of courses. For example Wealthy Affiliate?provides two main courses supplemented by additional topic specific lessons such as:
- Online Entrepreneur Certification
- Affiliate Bootcamp
- eMail marketing
- Local marketing
- Video marketing
The good programs offer their material by learn at your own pace videos supplemented with tutorials. Also access to experts is provided via chat or forums. This is essential as I know you will have questions. It’s good to have access to a community of experts and other students to bounce questions and ideas off of.
I hope that I have helped you see that ?it is possible for just about anyone to build an online presence, build a following and earn some money too. One of the best jobs for boomers is being online and showing off your expertise. But you must follow the right steps.
If you have any feedback or comments on anything related to this article, I would love to hear it. ?Please drop me a note in the comments below! I try to respond within 24 hours.
Mike, founder of The Wealthy Boomers
