Write for Blogs
With so many blogs needing content, website owners are crying out for writers to produce interesting blog posts on a regular basis. Writing blog posts varies greatly in pay, from $5 to $250 for 1000 words. If you are serious about becoming a freelance writer, pick a niche and become an expert on this subject.
Some subjects are much better paid than others, so although you may love the idea of writing about travel (badly paid) a better bet would be a niche like finance (much higher rates of pay). Check out the pro blogger job board for high-paid freelance writing jobs – other places to look might be Textbroker or you can look at the “gigs” section on Craigslist.
Copywriting
Writing copy for websites is another great freelancing option for those who have a way with words. Copywriting can involve writing the text for websites, press releases, promotional offline materials including leaflets and brochures, and any other professional text for businesses. While writing blog posts is well paid it won’t make you as much money as writing copy for sales pages. However, clients can be fussier, as they want the highest quality writing for the forefront of their website or advertising campaigns. Many freelance writers offer both copywriting and blog writing among their services. This can be a good way to juggle regular but lower paid clients (blogging) with the higher paid but ad-hoc project-based copy work.
Virtual Assistant
I have 3 VAs. I couldn’t function without them. It doesn’t matter how big or how small a business is, they all need help running their day-to-day administrative tasks. Virtual assistants perform a variety of tasks that a traditional assistant or secretary would normally do, including making travel arrangements, paying bills, or managing expense reimbursements. I use them to upload content, optimize images, brief writers, etc.
Virtual assistants typically work from home or wherever there’s an available Wi-Fi connection. online jobs like VAs are becoming hugely popular, due to its flexible working hours. They regularly interact with clients by phone, email, or Skype on behalf of their boss.
How much can a virtual assistant actually make? It usually depends on their level of expertise and overall experience.
Write Industry Papers
If you have a background in a specific field, you may find there is a demand for writing industry papers in your area of expertise. For example, there are often adverts for doctors, lawyers, nutritionists, and business experts from particular niches, to write white papers on different subject areas. These are well-paid jobs that you will need to stake your reputation on, but that can often be worked on from the comfort of your own home.
Editing
If you are a fast reader and have a good grasp of grammar and language then editing may be a good freelance role for you. Editing is a great way to quickly make money online, and there are always editing jobs available on freelance job sites. And the best part? Editor’s usually get paid per word, so the faster you can check through work the more money you will make per hour.
Website Design
If you have an eye for design and some experience in creating websites, then you could offer your services as a freelance web designer. You will need to create your own stylish website and have a few other projects that you can show potential clients to demonstrate your skills. You will also need to initially spend time emailing businesses to promote your services and find work.
Web design consists of mainly project-based jobs. However, you can offer ongoing maintenance for a monthly fee, which can be a good way to guarantee regular pay. Web design fees also differ greatly. So you will need to make the decision whether to target small businesses or compete for large clients with bigger budgets.
Tools & Resources: I’ve written a pretty comprehensive guide on the best web design software that covers both free and premium software packages. If you’re serious about becoming a web designer, then I recommend purchasing the full Adobe Creative Cloud Suite. At $49.99 per month, this is probably a bargain considering what you can achieve with this set of tools.
Landing Page Design
With online software such as (ClickFunnels ), (Optinmonster), or (Sumome), landing page creation is extremely easy to do, which makes this method of making money online a real possibility.
Tools & Resources
ClickFunnels is offering new customers a 14 days trial to use their extremely easy-to-use landing page/sales funnel design platform.
Sign up for a 7-day free trial with optinmonster to get a taste of how easy it is to create high converting landing pages that you can potentially sell to your new clients.
Graphic Design
There are many freelance options for graphic designers who are looking to make money online. Designing layouts and graphics for promotional material, corporate reports, magazines, or book covers, are all tasks that businesses are looking for online freelancers to complete. Due to its flexible nature, graphic design possibilities can range from one-off projects to ongoing work with regular clients.
Create Logos
Tools & Resources:
Did you know that there are logo-generating services that you can use for free? I’ve written about them all over on my Best Free Logo Generators guide.
Produce Infographics
Infographics are currently an extremely popular type of media. An infographic showing information or data in an interesting and fun way can help engage an audience and generate numerous likes and shares. As infographics take more time to create than just simply uploading an image, busy website owners are prepared to pay for custom infographics. And don’t worry, an infographic can be created using simple design software such as Canva. So extensive graphic design skills are not necessary, just a creative eye.
Computer Programming
If you have previous experience as a computer programmer or have skills in this field, then there is plenty of work you can pick up as a freelancer. If lack of confidence is holding you back, then Free Code Camp is an excellent way to get your foot in the coding door. This organization provides free courses where you will build real-life apps and programs, giving you experience and plenty to add to your CV.
Tools & Resources: For the best coding tutorials and online courses check out Treehouse. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial to see if it’s for you. I’ve completed many tutorials on Treehouse over the years, and I can 100% recommend their courses.
App Development
With apps being constantly developed, competent app developers are in high demand. Again, if you have the experience or skills to create successful apps then this could be something you could end up working on as a full-time freelancer. Check out adverts for developers on Toptal, a higher-paying jobs site for experienced freelancers wanting to make money online.
Online PA
If you have experience as a personal assistant, secretary, admin assistant, or something in a similar field, then becoming an online PA may be a great role for you. Many professionals want someone to help organize their business and personal affairs. Jobs could include sending emails, managing financial affairs, booking flights, and arranging day-to-day activities. If you are interested in this line of work there are many PA agencies that are crying out for reliable assistants.
Social Marketing Manager
Another strategy to make money online is to become a social marketing manager. Being present on social media is key for any business that wants to attract new customers, promote its products and grow its following. However, constantly posting, liking, and commenting on numerous social media channels is extremely time-consuming. More and more businesses are recruiting social media managers to run and organize all their social media. And to save money, social media employees are often employed as online freelancers.
Online SEO
Offering specific online SEO services is also another online freelancer role that businesses are crying out for. If you know how to improve a website’s SEO by doing keyword research, creating content that can rank in Search Engines, adding metadata/schema to posts and pages, and building backlinks to a domain, to name a few tasks, then this could be a great line of work for you.
Fiverr
Using Fiverr is a great way to pick up work. Once you have signed up you can advertise your services. Fiver allows you to create your own gigs, whether you are offering web design, digital marketing, writing, or something else. You can choose how much you want to charge (it can be more than a fiver) and people will then contact you if they are interested in working with you. Fiverr will not only help you get experience if you are just starting off as a freelancer, but it will also help you earn some extra cash.
Create Your Own Agency
Once you have made a name for yourself as a successful freelancer in your field, quite quickly you will find that you are inundated with too much work to manage. So why not consider taking on other virtual employees and turning your one-person show into an agency.
Google AdSense
Signing up with Google AdSense will enable you to make money from advertising on your blog. Google AdSense will place relevant ads around your site, and if your site visitors click on these ads, you will earn a fee. Although each click only amounts to a small change, if your blog has high levels of traffic and lots of page views this will quickly amount to a reasonable sum.
Banner Adverts
Creating space for banner ads on your website is another way to generate revenue from adverts. However, for this type of advertising, you will need to contact businesses directly and ask them if they would like to advertise on your website. The upside is that you can charge a set amount, or even a recurring monthly fee, to businesses to promote their services on your site. Using a WordPress plugin like AdSanity is an effective way to manage this type of advertising.
Paid Guest Posts
If you have a well-known and popular website then you can charge other bloggers to guest post on your blog. Paid articles will not only make you money, they will also save you time creating your own blog posts, and provide interesting and varied content for your audience
Sponsored Posts
Sponsored posts work much in the same way as paid guest posts, but they are posted by big businesses instead of individual bloggers. Therefore, the scope for fees is much higher, as businesses have larger marketing budgets than humble bloggers. Having sponsored posts by large companies will also help promote your site as reputable and as a leader in its field.
Paid Reviews
Again, if your blog has a large reader base, then businesses may be interested in paying you to review their services or products. Not only will you get a free trial using whatever these businesses are selling, but you will also get a fee for writing them a review and posting it to your site. Paid reviews (and other paid and sponsored content) can be big money, so advertise this service on your contact page to generate business.
Other Paid Content
Some businesses may be interested in adding other types of paid content to their website. This could include videos, podcasts, or any other material that would work with your site and help a business market itself. Always make sure that paid content isn’t too promotional. It needs to add value to your audience first and foremost, and not just present as an advert.
Other Paid Content
Some businesses may be interested in adding other types of paid content to their website. This could include videos, podcasts, or any other material that would work with your site and help a business market itself. Always make sure that paid content isn’t too promotional. It needs to add value to your audience first and foremost, and not just present as an advert.
Affiliate Marketing with Amazon
One of the most successful ways of monetizing your blog is through Affiliate Marketing with Amazon. This involves adding links from your site to products on Amazon and then promoting those products in your blog’s content. If one of your visitors clicks through to Amazon and makes a purchase then you will receive a percentage of the sale.
To get started with Amazon affiliate marketing you will need to sign up with Amazon Affiliates. Then subtly market products on your site that are relevant to your niche and will be of interest to your audience. Make sure you only endorse high-quality products. If your visitors make a purchase on your recommendation but are not impressed with the item, you could quickly lose followers.
Tools & Resources:
The best affiliate marketing course bar none –Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing.
Affiliate Marketing Using Other Providers
Although affiliate marketing is extremely easy to set up with Amazon, plenty of other businesses and websites also offer this service. Find products or services specific to your site’s niche and then check out their contact page, or contact them directly, to see if they offer affiliate marketing programs.
Although having to contact each business directly can be time-consuming, often independent vendors can have much better affiliate fees than Amazon and generate a larger profit. There is also an extremely useful WordPress plugin, Thirsty Affiliates, that will also help you manage and organize your affiliate links.
Run Webinars
Running and charging for webinars can be a great way to build a following in your niche, demonstrate that you are an expert in your field, and make a profit. Hosting a webinar can be hard work. They need to first be promoted, provide original and valuable information, and include interactive elements so your audience can ask questions and engage with your topic. However, once you have built up a large blog following, each webinar can be extremely profitable.
Webinars On Air is a powerful webinar tool that will enable you to create professional webinars for your viewers. Harnessing the power of Google Hangouts, this all-in-one solution will take care of all the technical aspects of hosting a webinar, including payments. Also have a look at our guide to the best webinar software, both free and paid options.
Offer Paid Courses
Creating and selling courses on your blog can be a successful way to make money online. The course itself should be relevant to your blog, and based on a topic that will benefit your audience. Although it may take time to create the course in the first instance, once completed, you can then repeatedly make money from the course each time you sell it.
- LearnDash is a WordPress plugin that will enable you to create professional and interesting online courses. Break courses into separate scheduled lessons, design quizzes, and even award certificates.
- Teachable is another easy way to offer online courses without having to own a website. You can also recruit affiliates to help you promote your courses.
Charge to View Content
If your blog holds useful or sought-after information, you should consider charging visitors to view this specific content. WPMU DEV has a Pay Per View plugin that gives you the ability to charge visitors a one-off fee or subscription to access particular pages, posts, or media.
Turn Your Blog into a Membership Site
Once your blog starts receiving high volumes of traffic then it may be feasible to turn it into a full-blown membership site. A membership site usually keeps all content hidden from the general public, insisting that people sign up to access the website’s posts and pages.
MemberPress is a feature-rich plugin that will enable you to turn your WordPress blog into a fully functional membership site. Depending on how you want to run your membership site, you could have a mixture of free and premium membership plans. Premium plans could include no adverts, free downloads, access to extra content, membership forums, and much more. You can use payment services like PayPal or Stripe which can easily plugin to your website. However, it is important to remember that if people are going to pay to view your content then it must be high quality. Otherwise, your members won’t renew their subscriptions when the time comes.
Write and Sell an eBook
Writing an eBook and selling it on your blog can be a great money maker. Your eBook should be directly relevant to your blog’s content so you can sell your book to your existing audience. Creating a recipe eBook for a food blog or an eBook full of training plans to complement your fitness site are just a couple of examples that have the potential to sell.
There’s a great tool called Sqribble.com that generates ebooks for you, without the need for you to do any writing whatsoever!!!
The promotion of a product like an eBook on your website is as important as the content of the eBook itself. Use a conversion/sales tool like click funnels to advertise your eBook on-site through pop-ups or on a hello bar, and create specific optimized landing pages to help increase sales.
Host Podcasts
Creating podcasts can be an effective way to grow your following and reach a new audience, especially if you post them on iTunes. However, with iTunes offering hundreds of thousands of podcasts for free, charging your audience to listen to them isn’t really feasible. So how can you make money through podcasting?
Getting businesses to advertise on your podcast, either at the beginning or end or both is a great way to create revenue through podcasts. Most businesses won’t be keen to advertise on your podcast until you can prove a large number of listeners. Therefore, it is unlikely you will be able to start out from the get-go with sponsors. But once you accumulate regular listeners or a high number of downloads from iTunes, you can start to sell advertising space on your podcasts.
Create a Video Series to Sell
Creating a video series and selling it as a digital download on your blog, much like an eBook, can be another great seller. A video course, teaching viewers a specific skill or how to achieve a particular activity, may well resonate with your audience. If you are going to go down this route then your videos need to be as professional as possible so you should consider investing in some video and lighting equipment, as well as editing software.
Sell Advertising on Your Videos
You may decide to create free videos as extra content for your blog, and not sell them at all. If this is the case then you can still make money from these videos by selling advertising space on them (in the same way as discussed for monetizing podcasts). Once you have high volumes of traffic visiting your blog, and watching your videos, you can charge businesses to advertise at the beginning of your videos. Use website’s like Izea to help you connect with companies willing to pay to advertise on your blog.
Display a Services Page
If you offer freelance services or have a physical services business, then creating a blog is a must. On your blog, you can write about the services you offer and how they will benefit your clients. Importantly you can add a ‘Services’ page, outlining the services you provide, what they include, and any other important information potential clients may need. This is an effective way to promote your services, generate leads, and increase your revenue.
If you are keen to start your own blog or website, then choosing the type of website and niche are possibly the most important decisions you can make. So let’s have a look at some of the different types of websites and blogs that can be extremely profitable.
Coupons Website
Running a coupon website can be very lucrative. Find a coupon niche, select a WordPress coupon theme, and then display relevant coupons on your site. When your audience uses the coupon codes or discount links, you will earn an affiliate cut, for example, you could set up a site dedicated to iHerb Coupons or add a page to your website with web hosting promo codes. Coupon websites are quite high maintenance as they need to be constantly updated with new offers. However, if you build up an engaged audience and allow them to post coupons and discounts they have found themselves, then quite quickly your workload will reduce
Travel Blog
Travel blogging is a hard industry to break into. However, the rewards can be worth it, and let’s face it, who doesn’t want to be paid for traveling around the world! There are numerous ways to monetize a travel blog, but affiliate marketing should predominantly be your focus. On your blog, promote hotels, tours, equipment hire services, flights, and anything else travel-related. Then take a cut of the proceeds as your audience books their holidays based on your recommendations.
Fitness Site
A fitness site can have numerous revenue streams. Create healthy eating plans and recipes and lock them away as premium content. Promote and sell a fitness training course, eBook, or a series of videos. Or advertise your own personal fitness services on your site.
Food Blog
Creating your own food blog, will not only be fun but done well it should also be profitable. Link your site to affiliate cooking products, sell your food photos, create and sell your own physical cookbook, or launch a cooking app. Equally, you could turn your cooking blog into a membership site. You would then share all your content, including recipes, how-to videos, food photographs, and much more, with only your paid-up members.
Membership Site
Although mentioned briefly earlier, membership sites are worth revisiting as they provide many ways to generate revenue. A Membership site doesn’t have to start with a blog. There are in fact numerous types of sites that are membership sites from the get-go, with no blog in sight.
When creating a membership site, always offer different plans and pricing tiers to appeal to your different categories of audience. Access to specific types of content is then dependent on the plan selected by a member. Membership fees can be a one-off payment or a repeat subscription. And you can even sell products on your membership site to boost your income.
Directory Site
Running a directory site can be a time-consuming business, but if you choose the right niche, it can be very profitable. Directory sites can be monetized by charging businesses to display their listings on your site. Listings can be paid for on a recurring monthly basis, giving you a nice regular passive income
Equally, you can charge businesses to ‘claim’ their listing, a method used by many large directory sites like Google Business and Yelp. This involves companies paying to upgrade their listing and adding information such as their web address, social media links, images, and more. Other revenue streams include charging for ad space, adding affiliate links, and even charging for services and products on your directory site.
Jobs Board Website
Creating a jobs board website can be another profitable venture. The ‘jobs’ field can be quite saturated, so it is important to find a niche that is still crying out for a jobs board website. Monetize this type of site by charging businesses to list their jobs on your site. Those searching for jobs could also be charged a fee to access the higher-paying job adverts.
Photography Site
If you are a budding photographer and would like to be paid for your craft then you should consider setting up your own photography website. This is a great way to not only promote your services as a photographer but also to sell your images. You can charge visitors a fee to download your images. Or, if you’d rather, turn your site into a paid membership site, with free downloads of all images for paying subscribers.
Lifestyle Blog
Lifestyle blogging is a popular trend at the moment and a great option for those passionate about sharing their lives online. If you enjoy posting on social media, taking selfies, and discussing what you’ve been up to with your followers, then your next step may well be setting up a lifestyle blog.
A lifestyle blogger writes about their everyday life, hobbies, and interests. From fashion, beauty tips, and male grooming, to food, restaurants, and travel, anything that you experience can be blogged about. And famous lifestyle bloggers can make big bucks. Once you have built up a following, there are many ways to make a profit. Add affiliate links to your website, promote sponsored services, create your own product range, and much more.
Parenting Blog
Once you’ve had children, many parents find themselves caught in the trap of needing to work but wanting to stay home with their kids. Creating your own parenting blog can not only be a way to make some money, but it can also help you connect with other parents and make sense of those crazy sleepless early parenting years (it does get easier don’t worry!)
Both mum and dad blogs have become very popular in recent years, often with bloggers creating best-selling books based on their blog’s content. The baby business is also a multi-million-dollar industry, and influential bloggers can be well reimbursed for discussing and subtly promoting different products.
Multi-Vendor MarketPlace
Multi-vendor marketplaces, like ThemeForest, can be very successful. Chose a niche and create a vendor website for it. Your marketplace could be anything, from a platform for local artists to sell their work on, to an online digital product store. Once set up, invite people in that industry to sell their products on your site. You take a percentage of their profits when items sell.
Dating Site
Dating sites and apps are extremely popular and have become more and more niche as the industry develops. They can also be very profitable, as there are many ways to monetize them. You can charge a joining fee, provide premium subscriptions, or make money from advertising on your site. White label Dating provides a pre-built dating platform for your project. You simply choose the niche and branding for your new dating site. Once your website goes live, you just need to promote it, manage the users, and collect the earnings.
Selling products or services on the internet can be a very profitable venture. You may want to create your own products and eCommerce store or sell other people’s goods through a range of different online platforms. So let’s take a look at some of the different ways to make money online through selling…
Selling on eBay
If you are really short on cash and need some immediate funds then you should start by looking around your house. Clear out your cupboards and find any items lying around that you don’t need or haven’t used for a while. Then sell them on eBay. Just because they are gathering dust in your cupboards, doesn’t mean someone else won’t snap them up. Simply sign up with eBay, list your products, and then, as they are sold, send them off to the buyers.
Sell Using the eBay Valet Service
If you don’t have time to waste creating listings and promoting your products on eBay, then you should consider using eBays valet service. Simply drop off the products you are selling at an eBay drop-off center and then let eBay’s experienced valets do the selling. When your items sell you will get up to 80% of the profits.
Retail Arbitrage
If you have nothing of value to sell from home then retail arbitrage might be a better option for you. Many people partake in arbitrage to earn a little extra money, and for some, it has even become their full-time job. Retail arbitrage is the buying of goods at a low price and then selling them on a different platform at a higher price. Sales in shops provide ideal opportunities to pick up products for next to nothing. These can then be sold on eBay or Amazon for higher amounts, making you a nice profit.
Amazon FBA
Have you ever thought about selling your own product on Amazon? Did you know that you can send products to Amazon to sell for you? This is called Amazon FBA.
If you find the right products to sell via Amazon, this type of business can be highly lucrative. I know a guy pulling in close to $80,000 per month profit on just 4 or 5 products that he sourced from China.
Amazon offers a service called Fulfilment by Amazon, which can be extremely useful for arbitrage sellers, or others selling their own products. If you opt for FBA, Amazon will store, pick, pack and deliver your products. That means you can scale your arbitrage business quickly as you don’t have to store products in your own home or waste time with postage.
FBA stars is an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to starting a successful Amazon FBA business. The whole course is presented by Vik JC, a full-time Amazon FBA pro who guides you through every single step to becoming your own boss and making 5 figures from Amazon FBA.
Create Your Own Product
Many people fancy themselves as designers. If you have a unique idea for a new product then it may be time to get it designed. This can be a long process involving prototypes, discussions with factories, package design, and much more. However, the profits once the product is on the market could be substantial. And remember, with Amazon FBA, your products can all be stored and shipped by Amazon, giving you time to think up your next invention.
White Label Products
White labeling products involve purchasing pre-made products from a supplier and then adding your own labeling and branding. Products could range from candles to gym equipment or even tea, but all will come without labels, allowing you to create your own new range of merchandise. Most suppliers will advertise the fact they offer white labeled goods on their websites, so pick your niche and then find the right supplier and product for you. Once labeled, products can be sold via sites like eBay and Amazon, or from your own eCommerce store.
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