Surveys - Make Money Online

Make Money Online: How to Make a Living Outside of a Traditional Career

Making money online is possible, and it doesn't have to involve buying a course or subscription to do so. Whether you have a traditional nine-to-five job and you're looking for a way to supplement your income, or you want to dive into freelancing completely, it's possible to (make money online). In today's pandemic economy, getting creative to earn money has never been more important. Earning money via freelancing or an online business takes effort, and mistakes will inevitably happen. But, with time and effort, you should see some fruits from your online labors.

Start a Blog

Create a niche blog or website and integrate affiliate marketing. If you have a specific skill or interest that you could monetize, start a blog and use affiliate marketing. Starting a blog is relatively inexpensive, and most people have the basic computer skills necessary to get a blog up and running. After starting a blog or website, the next step is finding companies or products you can partner with as affiliates. The goal is to offer these products on your website by referring your readers to another company's online store.

Choose a name for your blog that fits your niche. Your blog name should match your domain name. You'll need to explore various domain names to find one that's available and fits your niche and blog name. Use a domain name availability checker to find the domain name you want. After finding your desired domain, you'll need to purchase it from a registrar.

Next, you'll need to choose a platform for your blog. You have some free options, which may be ideal at first. These options enable you to build a basic website. You can also choose to start a self-hosted website, which helps you build more credibility as an affiliate. Your next step will be choosing a content management system that you'll use to build your blog. Many bloggers use WordPress, as it's user-friendly and powerful. WordPress allows you to choose themes for your blog layout, many of which you can customize to fit your style and needs.

After launching your blog, creating content will be your next step. Your content will pull in traffic, which will benefit you and any affiliates you attract. Make sure your content is unique, high quality, and that it contains organic keywords that match your niche and subject matter. Focus on providing your readers with the information they want. As you add quality content to your blog, you will be able to add affiliate links that visitors can click through to make purchases.

Suggestions for finding affiliates:

  • Become an Amazon Associate and use a keyword planner to find a niche. Amazon's affiliate program has many products available.
  • Use Google's keyword planner to research keywords to find popular ones.
  • Find other reputable affiliate programs and networks that connect affiliates with merchants.
  • Look for companies that sell services or products in your niche and approach them directly as an affiliate.

Grow a Startup

Launching a startup business can be challenging, but the rewards are significant. Create an online service, a marketplace, or a tool that fulfills a need. To be successful, you'll need a complete understanding of the niche in which your business will operate. You'll need to understand your customers and their needs, and you'll need to be able to create a service or product that will solve your customers' problems or meet their needs. It's also important to understand your competition. Launching a startup usually requires seed cash. Self-funding your business keeps you in complete control of the company, and the payoff can be substantial if your company succeeds. Approaching angel investors is another option if you're willing to give investors a stake in your company.

Build and Sell Software

While many successful apps are created by big businesses, this is not a hard-and-fast rule. Creating useful software to solve a problem can be the start of a successful venture. Explore consumer needs or wants to find a problem you can solve with an app or software. If you have an idea, validate it by doing some market research to find out if the idea is viable. If it is, you can hire a developer to build, launch, and scale the software for you. Ultimately, you want your software to be accepted in both the Google and Apple stores. If you have the skills to design and develop your own app, you might be able to cut costs by doing the work yourself instead of hiring someone else.

Start an eCommerce Website

An eCommerce website enables you to sell products online. You could either create your own products to sell or purchase goods to resell on your website. Creating your own products can be a successful venture for many entrepreneurs. But, if you can find a product that someone else is already making that you can resell for a higher price, you might also have a successful business. You'll need to decide how much product you will stock, how you will pay for purchasing costs, and where you will store inventory. Some people also opt to drop-ship their products, which means that you don't have to pay upfront purchasing costs, and you don't need to store inventory. Instead, you offer the products but another company fulfills the purchases. Some companies to explore for drop-shipping include Amazon, Etsy, and eBay.

Freelancing to Sell Services

If you have a skill you can market, try freelancing. A freelance business can involve many different skills, such as writing, photography, graphics design, web design, and more. You can scale a freelance business to be full- or part-time, and you can serve customers completely online or you can provide your services in person. Perform some market research to identify your target customers and to set your prices. Finding your first customers can be challenging, but you might reach them via social media, emails, or by creating a website.

Online Coaching

If you have skills or knowledge you can offer to others, start an online coaching business. Billing yourself as an expert, you can offer your services as a coach or consultant. Some experts create subscriptions or packages to provide their services. You can charge for your time and for the information you provide to customers.

Online Course

If you have information to offer, create a course to sell to customers. Your course might contain video content as well as written content. The time and effort it takes to create your course may be significant, but once the course is finished, most of the hard work is done. Then, you'll need to market the course to customers. This type of passive income can keep coming in for years. You can market an online course on a niche blog, too.

YouTube Channel

YouTube offers options for a monetization program for users that meet minimums for subscribers and hours of view time. If you meet these requirements, you can make significant money on a YouTube channel. Viewers who watch your content translate into money you earn. YouTube channels fall into two categories: educational and entertainment. Set up your channel and begin creating content. Make it easy for viewers to find your channel by adding keywords that fit your niche. Your content needs to be high quality, and plan to upload on a regular schedule. Add descriptions that grab attention, and add tags to your previews.

Record a Podcast

Start a podcast that offers entertainment or information. Podcasts that have a big audience can attract advertisers, which translates into income for you. Your podcast needs to be interesting, engaging, and updated regularly. You'll need a microphone to record yourself and software to create the podcast. Podcasts shows can be interview-style with guests or you can just tell stories.

Work for a Remote Company

Many companies offer remote work opportunities that allow you to work from anywhere. These companies may offer full- or part-time work. Positions are often customer support, and special skills usually aren't required. Some positions have flex-time schedules, too.

Additional Online Earning Options

  • Online Surveys - Online focus groups offer opportunities to consumers to take surveys, and you can earn money from completing surveys.
  • Test Websites - Some companies need websites tested, paying out money for testers recording reactions and thoughts.
  • Narrate Audiobooks - If you have a voice for it, you can make money recording audio versions of popular books.
  • Write and Sell an eBook - Write a fiction or nonfiction book and self-publish it to sell it.
  • Do Micro-Tasks - Perform microtasks for Amazon such as checking spelling on search terms, categorizing articles, or translating.
  • Join Freelance Job Websites - Find more freelance gigs by joining a freelance job website that connects freelancers with people needing work done.
  • Sell Services - Promote your services in design, marketing, or software development on a specialty marketplace.
  • Graphic Design for Local Companies - Offer your graphic design services to local companies.
  • Email Marketing - Promote yourself with email marketing.
  • Sell Products on Shopify - Create an online shop on Shopify.
  • Sell Products on Etsy - Make and sell products on Etsy.
  • Instagram Influencer - Make an Instagram account and build a following, then approach major brands to pitch their products.
  • Sell on Society6 - Upload designs you've created to Society6 to create a shop.
  • Local Consulting - Offer your consulting services to local businesses.
  • Sell Stock Photos - Take photos and sell your images to a stock photo company.
  • Rent on Airbnb - Rent out your home or room on Airbnb.
  • Online T-shirt Business - Create unique T-shirts and sell them online.
  • Sell Your Expertise - If you have expertise in a specific industry, create a profile on a website such as Clarity.fm to sell your expertise.
  • Answer Questions - Get paid to answer questions on a website such as JustAnswer.com.
  • Virtual Assistance - Become a virtual assistant to help others with organizing, data entry, travel booking, or email management.
  • Sales Gigs - Get a job as a sales representative, working for commission only.
  • Virtual Tutoring - Teach skills or classes virtually for pay.
  • Guest Posts - Offer your services as a guest poster on other people's blogs.
  • Write for Medium - Medium has a Partner Program that offers pay for articles based on views.
  • Tax Preparation - Offer tax preparation services during tax time.
  • Transcribe Audio Interviews - Get paid to transcribe interviews into text.
  • Proofread Articles - Work for companies or individuals proofreading articles.
  • Sell Products on Amazon - Buy items and resell them on Amazon for a profit.
  • Travel Consultant - Offer your services to find and book travel arrangements for customers.
  • Odd Jobs - Advertise your services for odd jobs such as shoveling snow or walking dogs.
  • Search Engine Clean-Up - Make money by researching predefined search queries and providing feedback on results.
  • Online Contests - Enter online contests to win money or product prizes.
  • Stay Healthy - Earn money by exercising and taking online surveys.
  • Write Reviews - Write reviews about places you visit or products you use.
  • Data Entry - Make money by entering data for companies.
  • Essay Editor - Work for colleges editing admissions essays.
  • Sell Teaching Plans - Offer your assistance to teachers by selling teaching plans.
  • Fan Page Maintenance - Musicians and artists may pay to have their fan pages maintained.
  • Pet Care - Offer your services for pet care.
  • Sell Old Electronics - Sell your old and outdated electronics to make easy (cash back).
  • Sell Books - Sell books to stores that will buy them, or sell your books directly to consumers.
  • Sell or Rent Clothes - Sell or rent out clothes you don't want anymore.
  • Online Dating Consultant - Help others find dating matches.
  • Rent Your Car - Rent out your car to other drivers.
  • Online Columnist - Write a column and publish it online, adding advertisements to generate money.
  • Buy and Sell Domain Names - Start a domain name trading business.
  • Data Analysis - Provide data analysis for companies.
  • Personal Training - Help others reach their fitness goals as a personal trainer.
  • Sell Music - Write songs and sell them.
  • Online Agency - Work as a freelance booker to provide freelancers to companies that need them.
  • Cooking Videos - Record videos of cooking processes and upload them to a blog.
  • Edit Videos - Offer services to edit videos so others can publish content.
  • Niche Website - Start a niche website about a personal interest.
  • Contract Customer Service - Work as a contract customer support specialist.
  • Buy a Website - Buy a website that already exists and use it to make money.
  • Online Notary - Offer services as an online notary public to notarize documents.
  • Corporate Workshops - Run corporate workshops for companies.
  • Voiceovers - Work as a voiceover provider for videos.
  • Small Business Marketing Consultant - Offer your services as a marketing consultant to small businesses.
  • Rent Camera Gear - Rent out your camera gear to others.
  • Customer Retention - Help businesses bring back old customers.

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