While I agree that you need one stream of income before you can have many, I still love the multiple streams of income approach.  I hate putting all my eggs in one basket in life and especially in the volatile online world.

Besides, there are many ways that you can develop multiple streams of income within a certain online strategy.  Think about how many different ways that you can monetize blogs, mailing lists and products.

Another of the big bonuses of relying on multiple streams of income is it allows you to test what works best for your project and strategy.  People who don’t do this can potentially be leaving a ton of income on the table.

Having a Blog and Mailing List and Products

I’m not saying that you have to have all three, but if you want to maximize your earnings potential in a niche market, then I suggest it.  It gives you the chance to test the most streams of income that you can.

Think about the people that are successful online.  How many of them don’t have a blog, mailing list or product?  I think that you would be hard pressed to find many.  I bet you the most successful people have all of them. 

That is no coincidence.  Most of the gurus have multiple mailing lists and products.  They are maximizing their income potential by developing multiple streams of income and testing these streams and seeing what works best for them and they keep marketing.

A blog probably only has so much reach.  A mailing list probably has only so much reach.  A product probably only has so much reach.

Think about the power of having all them promoting each other.  You can have a series of different products.  These assets can all help promote each other and grow your online business that way.

You not only get that upfront income from products, but you also build your mailing list and blog readership, if you set it up right.  That is what I will cover in the next section.

Multiple Streams of Income Within Online Strategies

There are a ton of different ways to monetize each of your assets.  Don’t sit there and only capitalize on a few of them.  Test for yourself and find out what your biggest earners are.

Blogs

With a blog, the most important thing to promote is your mailing list.  You obviously want to have a free report or some other object to give them for free.

You get them to sign up and have an auto responder sequence set up.  This can be promoting any number of different things.  I usually have an auto responder sequence of about five messages set up.

You can either promote a product or products of yours.  You can also promote your blog etc.  Give them some good free content and they will be much more likely to take your desired action and buy.

You can obviously promote your own products on your blog, by having banner ads or blogging about them.  You can also be an affiliate or charge a monthly amount for advertising space.

You can also charge for reviews.  Put up adsense ads or similar type ads.  You can also blog about products and put up affiliate links etc.

Mailing List

One of the differences between selling to a mailing list and a blog is that the delivery of the information is different.  Remember how people learn better or worse when they get information in different forms?

Some people prefer video and some people prefer the written word.  One of the problems with a blog is there are so many different actions that a person can take.  They have banners all over the place and many different links to click on.

With a mailing list, there is a lot less distraction.  Yes, there are spam blockers and other e-mails for them to read, but if you set it up right, you won’t have much of a problem.

The first key is to get them to open the e-mail.  Intriguing them works, but it is important to develop a trusting relationship with them.

Then it is all about directing them to your link.  If you want them to buy something, it always works best to pre-sell them and give them some free information first.  Give them some value before asking them to buy.

Products

This is where you can make some upfront money, straight into your paypal account.  You can also use them to build your mailing list, either through free access or by charging and giving them the option to sign up for a mailing list, during the sales process.

You also have the luxury of the sales process.  You can offer them the oto’s.  They are in a buying state of mind, that is why every store has a bunch of stuff to buy at the checkout.  It is the same psychology.

You also have the chance to get traffic to your blog.  Also, be an affiliate inside the product and also on the download page.  Always maximize your traffic.

The material is out there, there is a plan of action.  It is just a matter of putting it to use.  Testing and tracking is always the best way to go.

I’m not some prophet that can predict your online success or failure.  All I know is that you have to go out and make your success a reality. 

Take action…