Years ago, I remember chain letters were a common attempt to earn extra money. You had to send money to people in the mail and then you would move on the list to receive money. Another attempt was to make money with envelope stuffing. It was the chain letter trying to present itself as a legitimate make money at home opportunity.
These scams seem laughable now, but they still exist. They have moved online and try to capitalize on current trends.
At the time of this blog post, the common trend with most new programs involves the incorporation of bitcoin. I fully support the use of bitcoin as a currency and the future possibilities of blockchain technology. However, it is important to know how the program generates income.
If a program only consists of gifting to another person, how is anyone receiving value. What products or services is someone receiving in exchange for their funds? At least the revenue share programs offer advertising in exchange for your funds. Some of these start ups hint at the term bitcoin hoping to attract participants. Without any value in exchange for your funds, how long can a program be sustainable? It just means the last person to sign up loses.
The key to a long term business is to focus on evergreen products. This term is used to describe a product or service that is used over and over, where someone will continue to repurchase based on the value they receive.
With online marketing, it would be the products and services that affiliates need to build their business. Some examples would be: autoresponder, lead capture pages, tracking, and hosting. This could even extend to traffic sources and training programs. Marketers constantly need these tools and will continue to pay renewals (monthly or even yearly).
You will receive commissions from renewals if you are an affiliate representing these products and services. This is a more stable long term approach to business than some launch that has a lot of hype, but does not provide a product or service that someone will need.
The one word that describes the mindset of some of these people is greed. The promise of instant riches is very appealing. However, think about some of the traditional businesses you pay every month. If you did not receive a product or service that you want or need, you just gift them some money, how long would you continue to pay? To me that is common sense, unfortunately the greed factor can override logic.
When you consider a program, focus on what they offer. If it provides enough value for someone to renew, you may have a sustainable business that will last for many years (possibly decades).
The simple lesson from this blog post is to think long term and evergreen to build a reliable and renewable income online.