To achieve any goal in life you have to have a strategy, and it has to be the right one, not just in principle, but also one that works for you taking into account your resources and strengths. In a previous article I discussed the five proven strategies - today's article looks at two of those strategies in more detail.

Finding the best way to make money online is no different so let's take a closer look at the two of the top proven methods to understand what is involved.

1. Subscription - a place where like-minded people pay to become members, and involves setting up an online membership site. a link to a like-minded community and/or a niche market and provide valuable content. It can be incredibly hard work to set a forum up and administer it and keep it thriving. However once set up and a vibrant community has evolved, it can be a great way to make money online with minimal effort if you can find good people to administer the forum for you.

Conclusion: Low cost (but build in an allowance for transaction costs per subscription if using paypal or shopping carts), Fairly high technical knowledge to set up the forum or membership site software, Very high ongoing maintenance in moderating, dealing with membership queries and payment issues and keeping the forum vibrant and high added value , High set up time. Biggest challenge = getting a like minded group of people together online and running the forum once live is very time intensive. Yield per unit sale: Low but high volume can make it very lucrative

2. Participation - Here you will be typically be talking about services like mentoring, coaching, conferences, online training webinars etc which can command substantial fees but also an expert status and high web credibility. Unless you already have an offline following, this is not an entry level market place. Typically 'participation' services are upsold to existing online customers once they have got to know, like and trust you and the value you deliver

Conclusion: Low cost (but beware potential costs of pay per click campaigns), Low technical knowledge in respect of online tools abut high technical knowledge in your chosen area, Low ongoing maintenance, Low-Medium set up time but depends what your site is designed to do. Biggest challenge = reaching expert status with a willing market of buyers Yield per unit sale: High- Very high

Of course you can hire professionals/freelancers to undertake almost any task you do not have the time, skills or inclination to do yourself, so do not be put off any of the two strategies above in your quest to find the best way to make money online for you. As with the offline world the biggest issue is finding reliable and trustworthy people at the right price.