The wise work harder than others and create new products. The wiser work smarter and make money through products created by others.

“Please explain this idea with some examples and help me make money,” Niranjana requested me. “Many years ago, I read an interesting story about a South Indian poet. When a King had some questions about the fragrance of the hair of a woman, the Divine composed a beautiful poem that answered all his questions and gave it to the king through a messenger. However the chief poet in his court reviewed the poem and found fault with it. The reviewer thundered, ‘Even if you are the Almighty, even if you open your third eye on your forehead to burn me, a mistake is a mistake.’ This resulted in a debate between the poet and the Divine. At the end of it, the Divine blessed the poet with prosperity and fame for reviewing His poem. If you have lived online for a few years, you would know that hundreds of entrepreneurs have made money using the review route,” I said.

“Unless you are an expert in a subject, you will not be able to review things related to that subject,” Niranjana said. “What you say was true before the advent of the Internet. Now anyone can acquire reasonable working knowledge in any subject if he is connected to the Internet. So, reviewing is not difficult. There are thousands of online stores in the world. Amazon.com is the most successful among them. One of the reasons for its success is it allows its customers to review the products they buy. Other prospects trust such reviews and then take a purchase decision. People love others’ reviews,” I replied.

“I agree. Almost all my decisions, whether banal or not, are based on others’ reviews. Buying a new shirt, viewing a movie, investing in stock market - all are influenced by others’ words. But how do I make money through reviews?” Niranjana asked me. I said, “You make money through contextual advertisement, sponsored advertisements and affiliate programs (please read my old articles if you don’t understand what these terms mean). If you create excellent website, a big company may even buy your website for fabulous price. TopTenReviews.com is a review website. The webmaster writes reviews on top ten products in different areas of life. It helps people take informed decisions.”

Niranjana said, “That’s interesting. Can you please give me some tips about creating reviews? ”

I explained, “The first thing to do is to decide on your niche. Let us say you are a B.Com. Graduate and you know something about accounting. There are hundreds of accounting software products in the market, each claiming to be the best. You can create a website that publishes reviews about best accounting programs. Along with the review you will place Ads from Google, Yahoo or Microsoft. You can try to get the sponsorship of a software development company. You can enter into affiliate agreement by which you will get commission from the seller whenever a visitor buys a software program after reading your review. Find out what are the top selling programs in the market. Visit the websites of the developers and collect information about the products. Then visit websites such as amazon.com and download.com that give credible reviews and read them. Send emails to the developers asking questions. Now you will be in a position to quickly create your own reviews. All these steps can be completed with the help of your computer and the Internet, without stepping out of your room. If you visit 2020software.com, you will understand the concept. Recently, a big company has bought this website for an undisclosed amount.”

“Can you please give me some more tips?” she asked me. ” Don’t enter into a highly competitive area. Avoid general topic. Find your own niche and develop it. There are thousands of niches. Concentrate neither on low value products or high end products.”

“I have discovered my niche,” said Niranjana with a smile. “Last year I worked in a Call Center. I know that buying a Call Center and Customer Relationship Management software program for small businesses is a confusing and time-consuming process. I will work on this niche.”

A few weeks later, Niranjana sent by email a few web pages from her website that is still under construction. “It is really a lot easier than I thought would be,” she wrote in her email. When this reader starts making money, I will certainly share the good news with you.