Make money online

 How to make money online

Making money online isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme, but there are plenty of ways to start earning cash fast if you’re willing to work hard. You could take a full-time or part-time job that allows you to work 100-percent remotely, create content or courses that generate affiliate income or sales, become a virtual assistant, fill out surveys, or sell your own products or services. You can even set up your own online business.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to make money online through

• Content
• Teaching
• Online evaluations
• Media
• Selling goods and services
• Apps
• Remote work
• Establishing an online business

With so many possibilities, there’s a method that will fit your education and capabilities. This guide covers a variety of ways to get started. Hopefully, one will be a perfect fit for you.

Ways to make money online

There are a lot of legitimate ways to make money online. Depending on your skills and your goals, you can choose just one or several methods.

If your goal is to create a long-term source of income, use as many methods as you can as long as they are sustainable and realistic for you. The more sources you have for earning money online, the better.

For example, some bloggers have generated income from affiliate marketing links and online advertising placements. Then, they’ve written an e-book or e-course and used their blog to sell it, leading to another revenue stream.

Here’s an overview of the eight most popular ways to make money online.

1. Content-based ideas

There are lots of ways you can make money online with content-based ideas. Blogging, freelance writing, becoming part of a content agency, translating, editing, proofreading, and publishing e-books are all viable options. Many people have also found that YouTube can become a source of income. For some content ideas, like blogging or publishing an online newspaper or magazine, you can make money by selling ads or joining affiliate programs.

Jane Sheeba has combined two content-based ideas to earn money. She started with affiliate marketing on her blog. Right after her first affiliate sale, she sold a copy of her e-book. She still relies on affiliate income and sales of her e-book to make money for her business.

2. Teaching-based ideas

If you’re particularly knowledgeable about a subject, you can use your expertise to make money online by becoming a consultant or creating online courses, podcasts, or webinars.

Several people have made decent money with teaching-based ideas. Robert Farrington of The College Investor was able to charge a flat rate for social media and online marketing consulting, which amounted to about $100 per hour, and Joseph Michael of Easy Course Creation has earned over six figures with his e-courses.

3. Online evaluation-based ideas

Believe it or not, some companies will pay you to complete surveys. Sometimes you’ll make just a few dollars or earn points for gift cards. Other times, you’ll be placed in an online focus group that pays upwards of $50 per hour. Most of these surveys can be completed whenever you have a moment, so this method is popular among college students.

4. Media-related ideas

Photographers and videographers can make money online by selling their photos and videos. Sites like Shutterstock and other stock photo and video sites allow you to list your media, and when someone buys one of your photos or videos, you get paid.

Some of these sites pay over $100 per image. The best photographers can earn a 42-percent commission on the images they sell. If photography or videography is one of your strong suits, you could earn a decent passive income through one of these sites.

5. Selling-based ideas

Selling on the internet isn’t new. You can sell tangible items, like unwanted household goods, or — even better — create your own online store. A lot of people start earning money online by cleaning out their closets and listing items for sale on sites like eBay and Poshmark.

However, you can create your own online store for your products, either as a website or on a site like Etsy. For example, if you want to start selling handmade Renaissance Faire costumes, you could make money by taking custom orders. Some people, like Mei Ong of Vice & Velvet, have found success by selling their products — in Ong’s case, vegan soaps and lotions — and have even gotten mentions in major magazines like O, The Oprah Magazine.

6. App-based ideas

Earning money through apps isn’t strictly an online way to make money because it does require you to get into the physical world. This is known as a “phygital” model because it’s part physical and part digital.

If you have a car, you can sign up for Uber or Lyft and make money as a driver, and if you own a bike, motorbike, or car, you can sign up as a delivery person. Airbnb is an option if you want to rent out a room in your home to short-term guests. The average Airbnb host makes $6,000 per year, but hosts like Pol McCann, who earned enough from listing his apartment on Airbnb after six months to buy a second apartment, earns $100,000 per year between the two properties.

7. Remote work ideas

A lot of companies let their full-time employees work remotely, and that’s always an option if you want to make money online. If you’re looking for a side gig or part-time job, you can become a virtual assistant or remote call center agent. Those with graphic design and web design skills can create websites, logos, and or other visual branding items for people and businesses.

8. An online business

If you want to go all in on making money online, you can start an online business. It might not fit into any of the above categories; people have started online businesses that include digital media services, creating custom software, and prototyping and manufacturing a product.

You can try to make a go of it on your own, or you can get a business partner. You might need up-front investment, but if your business falls into some of the categories listed above, you won’t need money to start it.

The next few chapters of this guide take an in-depth look into each of these eight money-making methods. Let’s start with content-based ideas.

Content-based ideas

If you have writing or writing-related skills, you can make money online with content. This may include earning money by blogging, writing freelance articles, working for a content agency, publishing your own online periodical, or publishing e-books. You can also explore related ideas like translating, editing or proofreading documents. If you have video production skills to go with your writing skills, you can make money with a YouTube channel.

Making money online with publications

Creating a blog or online periodical is just one of the ways people make money online. To do this, identify a topic that you’re qualified to write about or are really interested in.

For example, you might be great at woodworking and designing and creating furniture. Your blog or online magazine could include articles and posts about working with different types of wood, using reclaimed wood, and finding the right finish. You could review tools and offer other resources for woodworking fans.

Some people create online newspapers, such as news aggregator sites. You can set up these sites in WordPress. Use a plugin to gather news from various sources and publish the feed on a blog. If you’re publishing an online newspaper about the woodworking industry, you might pull in articles about regulations, industry events and expos, and what large companies are doing in the woodworking space.

How to monetize blogs and online publications

The way people make money from these publications is by selling advertising, using affiliate marketing, and publishing sponsored posts. For advertising, a lot of bloggers and content creators use Google AdSense. This is Google’s advertising network that lets you put ads on your website. Google administers the ads and serves them up to the appropriate audience.

For example, someone might come to your site after searching for paintbrushes. A Google ad for an online retailer that sells the type of brushes they’re looking for will appear on your site. In exchange for visitors clicking on the ads, Google pays you a small amount of money. The only thing you have to do is place some code in certain areas of your site; Google does the rest.

Another monetization method is affiliate marketing. This means you place referral links to products in the text of your posts and articles, or offer a unique coupon code. When someone buys from one of those referral links or uses the coupon code, you get a small percentage of the sale.

Some companies run their own affiliate programs. Others aggregate different retailers that you can link to using special, shortened links. You can set up a form on your website for companies that want to work with you as an affiliate using Jotform. This will make it easier for smaller brands, in particular, to start partnering with you.

Sponsored posts are yet another content-based idea for making money online. This is when someone pays you to post an article they’ve written or pays you to write about a topic and link to them. You can post a contact form on your site for companies that want to sponsor a post.

Freelance content-based ideas

Creating your own blog or publication isn’t the only way to make money online with content. You can also do freelance writing, editing, or translating. One way to do this is to join a content agency, which will pay you to write articles, blog posts, or other materials for different companies. You can also contract directly with companies to provide translating, editing, or proofreading services.

Some people join a platform like Upwork to find one-off projects or build up work with steady clients. Others contact companies directly and introduce themselves, explaining what their experience is and what services they provide.

If you decide to sign on clients directly, you can create a content request form through Jotform, and clients can submit details when they need work done. For example, you might have a client who needs an e-book edited. They can submit the request online and attach the e-book so you can get started.

Selling content online

Another way you can earn money writing is to sell content online. You can create and publish an e-book, then sell it on your site or on Amazon. This can be a standalone effort or something you use to build credibility in your field.

For example, you might create an e-book about woodworking to complement the blog you write, then subtly encourage your readers to buy the book. You can also send traffic directly to the page to buy your book by using an email list, advertising, or social media.

Combining writing and video to make money online

If you have a knack for writing and video production, YouTube may be a great way to make money online. Instead of just writing about woodworking, for example, you could film tutorials on best practices for joinery for different types of furniture. Then, you could upload the tutorials to YouTube and monetize the content.

YouTube has a partner program that allows channels with more than 1,000 subscribers and at least 4,000 watch hours in the past month to earn money. If that’s not you, you can enable monetization, which will show ads on the bottom of your videos or before your videos begin playing. You can also sell merchandise related to your channels and work with brands to highlight their products.

Whether you create written or video content, you can promote it across social media to drive traffic to your site and earn more money. You might create a Twitter feed or a dedicated Facebook page for your site or YouTube channel, as well as post pictures of your finished products on Instagram and direct people to your blog for more information.

Writing and producing content is just one way to earn money online. You can create your own blog, newspaper, magazine, e-book, or YouTube channel, or freelance for others. But if writing and creating videos aren’t your strongest talents, there are other ways to make money online. In the next chapter, you’ll learn about using teaching-based ideas to get paid.

Teaching-based ideas

Having a lot of knowledge about or passion for a subject may be your ticket to earning some cash. If you can explain something clearly or are good at showing people what needs to be done, you may be able to make money online. As with content-based ideas, you have a few options: becoming a consultant, creating online courses, tutoring, or creating a podcast. 

Earn money online as a consultant

One teaching-based idea is to become a consultant. You don’t have to go out into the physical world; you can run online coaching groups and provide personalized advice from behind your computer screen. 

To be successful, make sure you take the time to build an audience that will find your expertise valuable. You can do this through speaking gigs, writing, or using your previous experience. You might also create a Facebook group to answer basic questions, establish a community that would be interested in your consulting services, and upsell them on premium products.

First, pick a niche that you’re really good at. There are all kinds of online coaches out there: career planning, life planning, debt management, self-publishing, and health and fitness, to name a few. 

For example, you might be a great personal trainer who gets amazing results for your face-to-face clients. You could turn that into a successful online personal training business in which you provide workout routines and meal plans for people around the country based on their goals. 

Creating online courses

You can also use your knowledge to create and sell online courses, either on your own website or on a platform like Udemy or Teachable. To do this, you’ll need to film videos and create webinars that are full of valuable information. 

After you choose a topic, create an outline of the entire course, including the modules in it. Then decide whether the module will be a “talking head” — you on camera explaining something — or a voice overlay of a PowerPoint or similar presentation. Being on camera is helpful if you’re demonstrating something or filming an introduction to your course. Voice overlay is a good choice if your course is mostly text-based, like a course about setting up a business plan.

Successful courses often include handouts that can be downloaded and printed. When you’re creating modules, think about what the key takeaways are for each module and how those can be included in a handout. If one of your business plan courses is about conducting a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, include a downloadable PDF with a SWOT template for your students.

Using webinars for coaching and online courses

When you want to have a one-off class, host a webinar. You can turn webinars into modules for online courses or use them to sell your courses or coaching services. If it’s just you speaking on the webinar, it will be fairly easy to record.

After you decide on the format and create visuals for your webinar, choose a tool to broadcast and record the webinar. Services like Adobe Connect, Webex, and ClickMeeting all have different price points and features, so look for one that will help you meet your goals. 

For example, if you’re promoting your business, the goal of your webinar would be to attract a large audience. This requires a platform that can handle a lot of people logging in. A webinar just for your clients, on the other hand, would be a much smaller audience and wouldn’t require that capability. 

Webinar clues: How to record a webinar

The webinar presentation tool you choose should ideally have a built-in recording feature. That way, you can run your webinar from your computer without having to worry about a separate recording device.

However, if you’re not conducting live webinars and just want to publish a voiceover module for your course or coaching business, you can use the voice recording feature in PowerPoint. In the PowerPoint menu, the Slide Show section has a Record Slide Show option. Once you start recording, speak clearly into the microphone as you go through your slides, as if you’re giving a live presentation.

Make money tutoring online

If you have a lot of knowledge about an academic subject, you can make money online as a tutor. Sites like Skooli and TutorMe connect students with tutors. Set up a profile that includes your qualifications and decide on a rate. You might also set up a curriculum for tutoring if that’s something you’re familiar with. 

Tutoring platforms will usually have a way for you to communicate with the students you’re tutoring, but if you’re setting up your own online tutoring business, you’ll need to choose something like Skype or Google Meet so that you can meet with your students.

Podcasting as an income generator

If you do your best explaining when you can just talk (instead of writing, as discussed in the previous chapter), a podcast may be a great way for you to earn money online. You can set up a podcast as a standalone way to make money by taking sponsorships or ads from companies or by using affiliate marketing tactics like bloggers do. You can also use podcasting as a way to grow your coaching business or sell your products and services. 

As with the content-based ideas and the ideas listed in this chapter, you’ll need to choose a topic for podcasting. Think about who you’ll interview and what you’ll promote on your podcast. 

If you’re going to be interviewing people over the phone, choose a platform with high-quality audio so the podcast won’t sound tinny or have a lot of static, delays, or other distracting interruptions. Once you’ve edited the podcast and published it to a host like Buzzsprout, you can submit it to Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Hopefully one of these teaching-based ideas will help you make money online. If you want to add more income streams, the next chapter will cover how to make money with online evaluation-based ideas.