We are inundated daily with get-rich-quick schemes on the Internet using methods like writing and selling e-books, being an affiliate and promoting products/services or some other ’secret’ technique. These websites always look bad but the copy (if you care to read it), the testimonials (are they for real?) and the limited-time promotions (with lots of freebies - who has the time to read all that stuff?) make it tempting. It plays on our greed, our desire to get rich quickly.

Another factor is that the ‘gurus’ promoting these schemes always give an impression that they work very little but make loads of cash. That they live the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Again playing on our greed and envy. However, what you see may not be the reality. Take for example, The Rich Jerk (www.therichjerk.com - I won’t provide a link to the site but you are free to copy and paste), gave the impression that he was obnoxious but filthy rich as he used his much touted scheme (i.e. he ate his own dog food) but that doesn’t seem to be working too well for him. The reality is that his business (or shall we call his empire) is up for sale and rumour has it that he’s going bankrupt. So much for the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

Decent money can be made on the Internet but don’t expect millions to start rolling in at the click of a button. I know people who are making about 25% of their working income as well as some running hobby sites that make them a decent amount every month. The difference is that they got there through hard work by constantly promoting their sites, interacting with their communities, feeling passionate about their site and learning through trial and error. It was never a magical secret technique. It was their sweat and smarts. Having said that, I also firmly believe that we can all learn a thing or two from the get-rich-quick schemes but the challenge is cutting through the clutter and unearthing techniques that don’t cost a fortune but work nonetheless. Just to do that, I’ll be attending a 4-day World Internet Summit in Singapore. Let’s see how good are my clutter cutting skills.