Everyone needs money. It is just a matter of how one gets it. Either by working for a wage - selling your time - or selling a service or a product. Then where are you going to practice your craft? Will you work away from home at the bosses place of business or will you have your own place of business? If you have your own place of business, where will that be? Many are now trying to make money using the internet, because jobs are becoming fewer and it looks as if it could continue to get worse. The internet offers the opportunity to sell your service or product to the world.

Well, that's where I am. I have decided that's where my place of business is. You see, I have not been able to work for the last several years and am now trying to see if I can make a living using the internet. This doesn't mean I can work at a physical location at someone else's beck-and-call, at a location away from home. I physically, due to health troubles, have to stay home to make a living. I also live in the country in a small town that has a high unemployment rate and low wages when one does get a job. That is why I have decided to try to make money on the internet.

Whatever your reason for wanting to make money on the internet, there are a lot of ways to go about it. There are a lot of ways to market your product (I'll just call everything you can sell - whether a service, yourself or your words, or a physical product - on the internet a product. I am in the learning process. I really haven't been doing this a long time, but I have learned a few things in the relatively short time I have been at this. So, follow along and I will tell you what is working and what is not.

Don't make the same mistake that I did. Let me list some of my mistakes:

* Not taking long enough to know what I want to market
* Taking some of the first "opportunities" that came my way
* Not knowing that I don't have to spend a lot of money to make money on the internet
* Spending a lot of money to have someone help me
* Not saying NO enough - to others and myself

1. One of the most tried and tested ways of improving online business profits is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It is common knowledge that most traffic to websites are a direct result of customers visiting a search engine like Google and using certain keywords to narrow down the search for what they want. By keeping your eye on the keywords that your customers are most likely to enter into a search engine, you could customize your website and your content to contain those keywords in relevant places. This is important as when a search engine like Google is in the process of deciding where which website gets placed on its Search Engine Results Page (SERP) one of the elements it takes into consideration is the number of times certain keywords are present on the site, so as to optimize results for the traffic to their search engine. Search engine optimization helps you draw only relevant and genuinely interested traffic to your website.

2. Blogging and social networks like Facebook and MySpace are also proven ways to increase your online business profits. Targeting a specific customer segment that is most relevant to your product category means that you need to have a tangible presence in social media favored by your target market. If your online business deals with power tools, then you need to make your presence felt by starting a blog on construction, or do-it-yourself ideas that might appeal to middle-aged men who are looking at home improvements. Or you could join a power tool based community on Facebook or MySpace and get to know the members there.

3. Online magazines provide a great platform for you to publish content relevant to your target market and validate yourself as an expert in the industry, lending credibility to your website in the bargain, which could only lead to profit.

4. Keeping your website simple and easy to navigate is also a good way to improve your online business profits. Complicated websites, with constant pop-ups and mandatory plug-in downloads only serve to drive away traffic, not convert them into sales.

5. Creating a sense of urgency around the purchase of your product or service and offering incentives for traffic that are willing to convert are also ways that many online entrepreneurs have used to improve their online business profits.