Snow Birds

Many people who live in a colder climate go south during the
winter, and are often referred to as "Snow Birds". Others move
there permanently after retirement, and some find it's not all
"peaches and cream". Their retirement income may not enough to
live the life style they wish, so they look about for other ways
to generate additional earnings.

Many are attracted to the Internet, and some do very well while
others do not. Those that do not may get quickly disenchanted,
and write the Internet off as just a lot of hype, where you can't
earn anything. That's like getting a flat tire in your car, and
swearing that the automobile has no future.

Anyone going into business on the Internet, must do several
things if they hope to achieve success. Probably the first thing
is to recognize and avoid the "get rich quick" schemes, that
promise great earnings in a short period of time, with little if
any effort on your part. People quickly find their email
overflowing with all kinds of offers like this. Everything from
illegal chain letters, to the Nigerian money laundering scam that
promises you 25 percent of 35 million dollars, start arriving and
unfortunately a lot of people bite.

Believing the hype of some affiliate deals, they join a few and
quickly find that they don't have to install a bigger mailbox to
hold all the payments they thought they would get. Many of these
programs require that you pay a monthly fee to be involved, and
the founders are the only ones making money. If someone tells you
that you don't have to work, forget about it. Like any other
business, if you don't put forth any effort, your chances of
success are slim to none.

Even if you do all the right things, like your car, you may get a
flat tire along the way. That is not the time to quit. You may
experience several failures before finding the right one.

Before "jumping in with both feet" however, examine some of the
offers being made on the Internet. The very best way to do this
is to subscribe to some online publications and review the ads.
Paid ads that appear on a regular basis are a good sign of
potentially good opportunities. If the advertisers were not
making any money, they wouldn't be spending their hard earned
money for them.

While free advertising has its place, it cannot be the only
method you use. The old saying "that you have to spend a buck to
make a buck" is equally true on the Internet. Consider placing
your ad in the ezines or newsletters that have a high repeat rate
with their advertisers.

Your ad headline and copy are critical to your success. Don't
use the copy supplied by the affiliate program, as many people
use them, and those ads get tired very quickly. If necessary,
get some professional help in writing your ad. A good ad will
pull - a bad or tired ad won't.

Target your ads toward those you think will become a prospect.
Millions of ads sent out as unsolicited email (spam) will do
little if any good. A well constructed ad in an ezine, targeted
to the proper audience, even if they only have a few thousand
subscribers, will out pull the spam.

Something as simplistic as being a Amazon.com affiliate can
generate income. If you are an expert in your field, and get
recognized as one, an affiliate program with Amazon might be the
way to go. You may not become wealthy overnight, but as your
exposure grows, so will your income.

If you don't have your own web site, forget about it. That's
like a merchant without a store trying to do business out of the
back of their car. The cost of web space is so low today, that
you can't afford not to have one.

If you are a "Snow Bird" or simply someone wishing to supplement
their income, you can achieve success on the web. But it does
take work and some common sense. If you don't, it just may be
your business that "went south".