5 Ways to Make Money Online

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Guy on ComputerBelieve it or not, making money online is relatively easy to do – with some hard work and a little luck. These days, people use the internet for two things – to solve a problem or to answer a question. Some people are just looking for information while others are looking to purchase something to solve their problem. Think about the last time you went online. What were you doing? Were you searching for something? Most likely you were.

All you need to do to make money online is figure out what people are looking for and help them find it. It might be with a website that provides solutions to a particular problem or it might be selling an eBook to people looking for more in-depth answers. There are many ways to solve problems and provide helpful information that can also earn you an online income. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Blog/Niche Website

Blogging GuyA blog or niche website is a website that focuses on a specific topic or “niche”. It is fairly easy to set up and you don’t even need money to get started. There are many free options for blogs such as WordPress.com, Blogger.com or Tumblr.com.

Once you make an account, you just click on “New Post”, fill out the title and blog post forms, hit “Publish” and you will have a shiny new post show up on your blog. Once your blog starts to get more traffic, you can transfer it to a private domain (instead of dogswelove.wordpress.com it would be dogswelove.com).

Pros:

  • Easy to set up, publish and customize.
  • Allows you to share your knowledge with others.
  • You can build a following and establish yourself as expert in the field.
  • Can be a jumping point for promoting your own eBook, course or product.
  • Costs little to no money.

Cons:

  • Burnout is real – it gets tiring writing about the same topic over and over.
  • It can take years to get any real traffic.
  • Certain blog topics require constant updating.
  • Most blogs will need to be promoted on social media to gain any real followers.

Income Opportunities:

  • Advertising such as Google Adsense or private ads
  • Sponsored posts
  • Affiliate links
  • Product sales – eBooks, courses, t-shirts, etc

More Info on Blogging/Niche Websites:

eBooks

How To eBookOne of the more popular ways to make money online is with an eBook or electronic book. Anyone can write an eBook using a word processing software and then reformatting it into a PDF so it can be read on any computer or tablet. They can also be formatted for Amazon’s Kindle device or Barnes & Noble’s Nook.

There are many places to sell your eBook. An eBook can be sold right on your website or blog or you can sell it on Amazon.com. You can also upload it to Clickbank and let their affiliates sell your book for you.

Pros:

  • You can write and publish the book yourself – no need to have a publisher or editor.
  • No inventory to store – the book can be kept as a single file on your computer.
  • You get to keep 100% of the profit if you sell on your own website.
  • Can be a passive income source as you won’t need to keep working on it once it is complete.
  • You can get others to promote and sell the book for you as affiliates.

Cons:

  • It can take a lot of time and hard work to write an eBook. You will need to find friends or family to proofread the book. Then you need to add pictures to the book, if desired, and format it so it looks good. This can take many weeks or even months and hours upon hours of work.
  • It can be difficult to sell an eBook on your own. You will need a website or blog that gets a lot of traffic. An alternative is selling on Amazon, however, you will then have to pay Amazon part of your profits plus you will be competing with other eBooks similar to yours.
  • If your eBook becomes outdated, you may have to edit it and release a new version of the book.

Income Opportunities:

  • Sell your eBook on your blog or website
  • Sell your eBook on Amazon or the Barnes & Noble website

More Info on eBooks:

Membership Site/Forum

large billboardMembership sites and forums are quite different from each other, yet very similar. Membership sites are websites that charge for access to the information on the site. Forums are websites where people can create their own posts and respond to other posts. Forums can make money either through advertising or, similar to membership sites, they can create a special forum area and charge for access. Both membership sites and forums allow you to create an online community of like-minded people.

Pros:

  • Since most memberships sites have monthly subscriptions, you will get paid each month instead of a one-time fee like when you sell an eBook.
  • A membership sites/forums create a community that will be more likely to trust you and buy what you have to sell.
  • Forums require no content creation on your part. The members will create the content all on their own through discussions and posts.

Cons:

  • It can take a lot of time and effort to get started. Most people don’t want to post on a message board that appears dead and empty. You have to either hire people to get it started or provide some sort of incentive to get people to post.
  • Once you get a lot of people signed up to a forum, you will need to constantly moderate the posts for bullying, inappropriate content and spam. You may have to hire a moderator if you can’t do it yourself or if there are too many posts to monitor.
  • Membership sites need a constant stream of good content. People won’t pay for bad information and poor quality posts just as they won’t pay if you don’t keep adding new content. If you leave the site for a while and stop posting, people will eventually stop paying and leave.

Income Opportunities:

  • Advertising – Google Adsense, private advertising
  • Members pay a monthly fee for content or access to a special message board

More Info on Membership Sites and Forums:

Selling Your Own Product

shopping cartA growing trend in the online business community is selling your own products, specifically Amazon FBA. FBA stands for Fulfillment By Amazon and it allows you to develop, manufacture and sell a product without ever seeing the product itself. Most products are purchased from wholesalers in China and shipped to the Amazon warehouse. Amazon will ship the product directly to the customer.

Other places that allow you to sell your own product include Etsy and eBay. Of course, you could also create an eCommerce website that will allow you to sell your product yourself.

Pros:

  • You get to keep most of the profit, especially if you sell the product on your own website.
  • The profit margin can be very high for smaller products that don’t cost much to ship.
  • You can sell the product offline by getting it into stores or selling it at flea markets or art fairs.
  • You will not need to store inventory if using FBA.

Cons:

  • You will have to answer customer questions and help them out when they have a problem with their order. Amazon usually does this themselves but there are times when the customer will need to discuss their problem with you directly.
  • If you are selling on your own website, on Etsy or on eBay, you may need to purchase and store the product yourself.
  • If you make your own product to sell, you need to be able to make a lot of product quickly if you get a lot of sales. You may have to hire people to make the product for you.
  • Start up cost is very high. Most companies will require you to purchase the product in bulk. It can easily cost thousands of dollars to get started.

Income Opportunities:

  • Sell your product on your website or blog
  • Use Amazon FBA to sell your product on Amazon.com
  • Sell a handmade product on Etsy
  • Sell your product on eBay

More Info on Selling Your Own Product:

Design

hand writingIf you are a talented designer, you could design and sell your own websites, logos or WordPress themes. Some people also design graphics for t-shirts, stationary, mugs, keychains and other products. These products are manufactured and sold by companies such as Zazzle.com, Teespring.com or CafePress.com. All you need to do is upload your design and then promote your product on your blog or social media.

Pros:

  • There is no inventory to keep in stock.
  • The profit margins can be very high.
  • Costs nothing to get started.

Cons:

  • High learning curve if you have no experience in design or using design software.
  • Must make sure your designs are original and don’t contain trademarked phrases or photos.
  • If you don’t pay to advertise, it can be difficult to sell any products. Most t-shirt designers don’t make a profit for the first 2-3 months.
  • Most t-shirt designs will fail. It can take up to 25-30 designs before finding one that will sell.
  • Website designs and WordPress themes need constant updating.

Income Opportunities:

  • Selling T-shirts with a custom design
  • Selling website designs
  • Selling WordPress themes
  • Creating logos for companies/websites

More Info on Design:

The ways to make money online are endless. These five methods are just the start. Other ways to make money online include starting a YouTube channel, doing a weekly podcast, selling a course, teaching an online class, transcribe files, freelance writing, selling stock photos, etc.

I don’t recommend doing just one method. You need a variety of income streams for security. It’s always good to have a backup plan. For example, if you depend completely on Google Adsense, you would be in big trouble if you got banned from the program. It also makes sense to combine many methods on one website. You could have a website that sells eBooks, has a YouTube channel, has a membership section, has a forum for members, sells Amazon products and advertises with Adsense – all at the same time. It all depends on what you feel is best for your readers and what you feel comfortable doing.

If you are just getting started out, I would suggest starting with either a blog or a niche website. It’s practically free to get started and once you get some traffic, you can start to monetize your site by either selling an eBook or putting up Adsense ads.

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