If you are a regular reader of my blog you’ll appreciate that the majority of my posts contain affiliate links to the sites discussed in the post.

So, am I trying to hard sell you what I discuss in order to receive affiliate commissions? I hope the answer is no, at least about the hard sell piece.

I don’t deny that I use affiliate links as I would like you to join the opportunity I am posting about given that I think it is worthwhile.

In fact I admit myself that if I see something that looks interesting but the person promoting it is doing what I consider to be a hard sell then more often that not I would go to the website directly rather than use the affiliate link. So, for me it is important that anything presented to me is given some balance. There is no perfect online opportunity (at least as far as I can tell) so I won’t believe anyone who tries to promote something as the new answer to online riches without pointing out some of the less attractive features.

Recently I’ve been looking at past posts on the blog and decided that I’ve had something of a scatter gun approach to what I post about. I need to focus more on what I consider to be true online investment opportunities so in the future you should see a slight shift of emphasis.

As far as possible anything I post about will represent a genuine online investment opportunity, some may be passive and some may require effort on your part if you decide to invest.

I will continue to use affiliate links in my posts and I hope that the information I provide will enable you to judge for yourself on whether it is worth pursuing further. If you think that I am guilty of too much hard sell then please leave a comment to that effect. Like everyone I’m not perfect so the odd pointer will be a good lesson for me.

For those of us that have been using the internet as a source of additional income for some time the ability to earn money by viewing ads online is not a new concept. Unfortunately, in the past, the businesses that used this idea fell foul of the authorities and hence weren’t that attractive to users.

However, all is not lost as the Power Bar Club has now been launched that uses a similar business model but with a twist. Previously users would need to deposit funds before they could view ads and then earn payments on their deposits. Power Bar Club do away with payments and the whole thing is free to join.

All you will be required to do is login to your account and view a number of ads, should take no longer that 5 to 10 minutes a day. Your payments come about because the advertisers are paying Power Bar Club for the service and you get a portion of those payments.

Because the whole service is free to users you are encouraged to share the service with others and when you do you will also earn additional income from the viewing they do.

So, whilst this seems something of a no-brainer I would just add one word of caution. The whole business model is based on advertisers placing ads based on the premise that the traffic generated is highly targeted and motivated. It doesn’t take a lot of thought to see that the majority of people will only be interested in viewing ads and moving on. I’m interested to see whether the long term can be sustained.

Having said that because there is no cost involved I’m happy to recommend the Power Bar Club.

One of the greatest obstacles that people face when trying to start an online business is getting traffic to their website. This is not anything you probably don’t know already, the problem is what you do about it.

Well, it looks as though you may be able to get help without it breaking the bank. I should say that I’m not a great lover of websites that hype things up to the max without actually delivering so my recommendation for Global Traffic Matrix (GTM) is based on the real potential that I see. In August they are aiming to sign up 250,000 people and you could take advantage of that fact by acting quickly.

As a result of a joint venture between Global Traffic Matrix and Giblink you have the opportunity to both get traffic to your website and create a realistic income on an ongoing basis.

To be honest when I first saw the information about GTM I was fairly lukewarm and didn’t take too much interest. The thing that changed my mind was a communication from someone that I have a lot of time and respect for and they were extolling the virtues of GTM and how it is a great opportunity.

So what’s it all about? Simply put it’s a way for people to get a significant flow of traffic to see what products they have on offer. This may be a product or service of your own or an affiliate scheme that you belong to. And, it is even for those people who currently have nothing to promote as there is a service that will provide ads on your behalf.

There isn’t room in this post to go in to all the details of GTM so rather than me waste time repeating things I’d recommend you have a look at the opportunity page. Let me just say that there will be costs involved. To join the recommended co-op for sign-ups will cost either $25.95 or $99.95 (the more you pay the greater number of people are potential members for you).

Once the service is fully launched there is a $149.95 annual fee and ad packs that cost $25 a month.

I know any expenditure at the moment may hurt but if you consider what you want to achieve in the future then an investment now could pay off handsomely.

It seems that the vast majority of online investing opportunities suffer from many of the frustrations and inconveniences that offline businesses do. However, online opportunities are visible to a much wider audience and can therefore be subjected to immediate vilification if things don’t happen as quickly as people expect.

To some extent this has happened to me2everyone. Launched some months ago in a blaze of publicity it gained members very quickly and then earlier this year the momentum seemed to slow down somewhat.

However, whilst there have been significant changes in corporate structure and strategy work has been going on in the background. I know this for a fact as I have been involved in helping to create a database of potential me2everyone Customer Care Managers (CCM).

The idea is that me2everyone will have a global network of CCM’s who will be looking after individual members.

I have been reluctant to showcase me2everyone previously as the progress being made was somewhat lacklustre but there are now definite signs that things are going in the right direction.

If you sign up as a member you receive 2,000 free shares and you will have access to what will become the next generation of social networking sites. For those who want to exploit opportunities further you can learn all about what else is planned in the short and medium term. me2everyone isn’t there yet but at least definite progress is being made.

If you have been interested in making an additional income you will probably have come across several newsletters or websites that provide advice and help. Some are little more than glorified sales pages but one or two do provide better value and can give you a helping hand in finding something that you might be interested in looking into further.

One of these value added services is Shortcut Bulletin from Agora Publishing. The editor is Glenn Fisher and he comes across as enthusiastic and knowledgeable. There are two main services, firstly an email newsletter that gets delivered to your inbox on a regular basis. Generally they are short and to the point so it doesn’t take long to absorb what is written.

Secondly, there is also a published newsletter that is issued monthly and which contains a range of articles covering subjects as diverse as creating a website, copywriting or sports advisory services. Many of the contributors are well known in their field so the advice you get is up to date and reliable.

The email newsletter is free whereas the publication requires a subscription. Now, bear in mind that Glenn’s raison d’etre is to sell the products and services he writes about so keep an open mind when reading any article and do your own due diligence before parting with any cash. Having said that services like Shortcut Bulletin do provide a way for those who are looking for additional sources of income to focus in on opportunities quickly and easily.

By the way one service that they report on in the July edition may be of interest. If you have a stack of books lying around and feel like helping the planet then head over to greenmetropolis where you can sell them to others.

I will be reporting on other offerings of this type in future posts so please don’t accuse me of bias just yet!

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts I follow various forums and newsletters that are to do with opportunities for making money online.

One such service is Nick Laight’s newsletter What Really Makes Money. Interestingly enough I’ve seen quite a few google searches suggesting that Nick’s offering is something of a scam. I disagree.

In my opinion Nick provides a service to a wide range of opportunity seekers based on business models that can work as long as people are willing to put the effort in and follow the directions. This, I think, is where the perception of a scam is created. Some people do expect money to come pouring into their accounts with the minimum of effort and when this doesn’t happen they feel cheated and publish misleading statements.

Now, I’m not suggesting that Nick is a knight in shining armour as his role is to market opportunities and clearly he makes a profit by doing this. Where, perhaps he could be more realistic is in some of the claims that are made in his copywriting. As with any opportunity it is very rare for everyone to make massive profits and yet the copy we see is always somewhat hyped up. I’m not suggesting that Nick is doing anything wrong it’s just that any person considering his offers should fully appreciate the likelihood of them being able to reproduce the profits he quotes.

In most cases Nick will offer a refund period so if people are unhappy then they should ask for their money back.

In the latest edition of What Really Makes Money there are opportunities for micro auctions, the Narconomics system, Fire safety, niche group tours, upvc cleaning, wheelie bin cleaning and a simple spread betting system.

All of these would appeal to different people and have different requirements. So, there is plenty of suggestions for good business ideas.

If you are looking to find a sustainable business opportunity, especially in these difficult economic times then a subscription to What Really Makes Money is not a bad idea.