How to Make Money Online for Beginners?
Well, have you ever wished to earn money online as a beginner? Well, you’d love to hear that there are legit ways of making money online. Whether you want to work part-time to supplement your employment income or you want to work full time, there is always joy in working online. You’ll get an opportunity to work at your schedule without the supervision of anyone. Besides, you don’t have to travel therefore spending extra money on going to a workplace.
Also, some ways of making money online will reward you highly, and if you doubt whether online money can pay your bills and leave some to spend, then you’ll know that it’s possible to make a decent living here. Some people who are working online are making even more than $10,000 per month, and you could be one too. Well, let’s not waste further time with the introduction and head to the top ways of making money at the comfort of your sofa.
Top 20 ways of making money online: The Beginner’s Guide
Affiliate Marketing for Beginners
Well, if you are a website or blog owner, then this is one of the easiest ways to make money online. Most people who’re familiar with affiliate marketing know of the amazon affiliate program, which is the biggest affiliate network in the world.
Affiliate marketing is a program in which a brand offers you a commission to promote their products or services on your site. However, unlike advertising, you are only paid for every sale you make. Most people usually dismiss affiliate marketing as a “get rich quick scheme,” but affiliate marketing can pay you more if you spend time to create good site content and have a bigger audience.
Since you know the definition of affiliate marketing, the best way to get started with it is to find affiliate programs and choose the products/ services you’ll promote. Once you identify these products, ensure they’re in your niche, and it’s what your customers are interested in. Now, spend time developing good quality content on your site to draw more traffic.
Also, check the commission rates and decide on how you’ll promote these products. You can write product reviews and include those products, or you could develop content and insert the products naturally in the article. According to Chris Brogan, most successful affiliate marketers invest in their content first. Therefore, take time to develop compelling content and start to do promote the products. Finally, ensure the product or service you’re promoting is one you’ve tried so that you’ll build the audience’s trust. FTC has also come up with new rules affecting bloggers and online influencers. This makes it necessary to declare to your audience whether you’ll make money from suggesting the products you’re promoting to them.
Online Freelancing
Well, if you are looking to make money as a beginner, then the top choice is freelancing. Most average freelancers earn more than $10,000 monthly, and you can even get more if your skills are top-notch. Freelancing does not require any investment. You only need a computer and an active internet connection to handle most jobs.
Once you have the two, you can join freelancing sites such as Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr, and create an account. Fill in your details, including contact information and your residence. You’ll then be given a sample test to review your skills. Once you pass the test, you’ll be able to start receiving work to do. The most popular freelance work is writing and proofreading. Others include translations, web design, transcription and programming.
The best part of freelancing is you’ll be able to determine who to work for and at what time. When starting in as a freelance writer, I’d suggest you begin to work with a content mill. Content mills are like brokers: they’re paid by clients, and then they hire writers to handle their work. However, they pay a little less than the amount paid by clients. Once you’re proficient in the field, you can look for direct clients. Direct clients offer the best compensation, and most successful writers around the globe work for clients directly. Also, they set up a website where clients can access their services.
Proofreading is also one of the easiest and most flexible jobs in the online world. It’s an essential component of writing and is ideal for those looking for quick cash. Also, you can do it anywhere, making it a work-from-home job. Without proofreaders, you’ll quickly be bored with misspelled words and articles full of grammatical errors.
Besides, proofreading also offers higher flexibility than even that of freelance writing. That is, you can work anywhere: whether you are at home, on vacation, or in the office, you can proofread articles and documents provided you meet the client’s deadlines. Also, it’s not mandatory to have a computer or laptop as you can use a mobile phone or tablet to proofread remotely. Besides, it’s not a necessity to have fast internet as you won’t be having files or videos in your work. Finally, you don’t need any type of office equipment, and there are numerous websites online where you can find proofreading jobs such as Scribendi, Upwork, and Scribbr.
Start a website/ Blog
If you have a website or you are passionate about writing, then you’ll enjoy blogging for money. The good thing with blogging is you have dozens of ways to make money online. You only need to choose a niche, have good internet and be willing to learn. An excellent place to start when looking for a niche is to look for your favorite topics. Even if you’re doubtful of your expertise in the field, as long as you’re passionate, you’ll find it easy to develop great content.
The posts in your blog should be well formatted, in-depth, entertaining, and informative to your audience. With that in mind, you’ll find it easier to build and maintain a big audience. You should also create social media pages for your site so that audience can reach you via these platforms. And encourage them to share your posts to social media when they find it interesting.
Once you set up your blog and have the right audience, the next step is monetizing it. There are over 10 ways of monetizing your website and you could integrate them all. For instance, you can do affiliate marketing, build an email marketing list or even sell your own products or services. Furthermore, you can sell an advertising space, create job boars and even offer premium content. Regardless of the one, you choose they’ll help you make money.
The most popular way of monetizing your website is by use of “pay per click” advert services. Google AdSense is the most popular provider, and Google enables you to join their large advertising network by having adverts on your site. The best thing with Google AdSense is that everything is simple as you only need to sign up, and Google will place the codes on your site that will identify your niche and post the relevant ads to your visitors. You’ll be paid between $0.50 and $5 each time someone clicks the link. The Pay Per Click advertising is ideal for websites with heavy traffic and you could end up making hundreds or thousands of dollars per month.
Buy& Sell Domain
Buying and selling of domain names is a great work for beginners who are venturing into the online industry. But when it comes to this online business, you must identify the marketplace for buying domains, the place where to sell them, how to transfer them and what you should charge for each domain. Also, it’s vital to check whether there’ll be any trademark issues from the transactions.
From those who are not familiar with domain names, these are the addresses of sites which people type into their browsers. For instance, a domain name for Google is www.Google.com while yours can be www.yourblogname.com. Domain names are like pieces of land in the internet world. In the domain selling a business, you only need to buy a domain from a hosting provider for between $10 and $15 per year. Since some of them may have quality backlinks or high traffic, they can earn you lots of money when you put them for sale in the market.
Another option also is buying a domain name using it and ensuring you generate high-quality traffic. Once it’s marketable, you can put it on domain marketplaces such as Sedo and Flippa. Also, some domain names will expire if their owners fail to renew their payments or if they are abandoned. You can then buy these domain names while they’re available and sell them in the future. Also, another way of marketing your domains is by advertising on the homepage that you’re selling it. Therefore, interested buyers will be able to reach you for a possible deal on these domain names.
So can domain buying and selling be full time and well-paying internet job? Yes, many people depend on this business to pay their bills. You should only focus on popular domain names, i.e., generic names, business names, and geographic names. If you do so, then getting buyers will be easier. And besides, you’ll receive higher hundreds of thousands of dollars for your sales.
Print On Demand
Have you ever had an amazing t-shirt printing idea and wondered whether you could make money from it? Yes, Print on Demand sites enables you to set your designs online, connect you with an e-commerce manufacturer, and ships the product for you. For instance, you choose a sweater, send the manufacturer the image or drawing to be printed on it then buy it at $10. Now you list it on your site at $30, and when a customer wants to purchase it, then the manufacturer fulfills it and ships it to the customer. Therefore, you’ll spend $10 and earn $30. You’ll make a profit of $20 without involving yourself in the manufacturing or shipping process.
Print on Demand (POD) services enables many people to make money online without investing in any equipment or shipping services. This business model has been in the market for a long time but recently advanced during the last few years. It’s simple as you only create the designs and let the POD company handle the rest. The most common merchandise in POD businesses is t-shirts, tops, hoodies, bags, cups, coffee mugs, and accessories. Also, there are tons of ways in which you can make money with your designs, and you have to pick the one that suits you. You can set your POD e-commerce site, create listings in marketplaces or upload the designs to Print on Demand platforms. Using the existing platforms is easier than creating yours from scratch.
But like most things in life, the hardest method will require you to invest heavily, but they have higher earning potential. The easier methods, on the other hand, require less investment but also have less earning potential. POD method is best for those who love creating designs only, and earning more; you have to create thousands of designs. You can also hire a designer from Fiverr. Popular POD marketplaces include TeePublic, Zazzle, Spreadshirt, and Merch by Amazon.
Sell on eBay
If you’re a regular user of eBay, then you’ll love to hear that you can make money on the platform. Besides, the platform requires no or little investment, and there are numerous benefits of working with this platform. These include its faster payments, millions of customers, and minimal or no investment. But though it requires less investment, you should make a plan and implement it to succeed in this business.
The first step on selling on eBay is to take a test drive on it to become familiar with the system. Also, it will enable you to know whether you can handle this business. First, sign up for a free account with eBay and buy an item from the site. When buying, pay attention to the small details that attract you to the product, i.e., price, heading, and photo. There are two types of sales in eBay: auctions and fixed prices. Items with fixed prices do not allow any negotiation, and they’re bought right away. The items on bidding on the other hand have a minimum and maximum price. You’ll be required to indicate the price you’re willing to pay, and if your bid wins, then you’ll take the product home.
Now, start by selling a few things, i.e., items you don’t need in your home at eBay. Take high-quality photos of these items, write good descriptions, and set a low opening bid to attract many bidders. Also, indicate your after-service, i.e., shipping policy and whether you’ll offer refunds for customers not satisfied with the product. If you are successful in your test drive, then you’ll need to pick a niche and find the source of items you’ll be selling. Finally, if you want to invest full-time in the business, then set an office and license it with your state.
Sell on Etsy
If you’re not familiar with Etsy, then it’s an online marketplace for selling unique items. It can be anything from candles to clothes, greeting cards, and bath bombs. There are about 40 million active buyers on the platform and over 2 million active sellers, so you’ll easily get a platform for marketing your goods. The amount of money you’ll make on this platform depends on the success of your shop. Some people make between 20 and 30 euros per month while others earn an amount higher enough to make it a full-time job. However, to be successful in Etsy, you’ll have to set up your business and take time to make it popular. It’s not a set it up and forget it type of business. However, the time you spend will pay off in the long end.
When joining Etsy, it’s essential to do with a plan. You should first figure out the logistics to know whether it’ll be worth it working on the site. Also, check the items allowed on the site, seller fees and do a proper market research. This is because Etsy has strict rules and doesn’t allow you to sell items that are not vintage or handmade. Therefore, the handmade products should be sources from you or your business while the vintage products should be 20 years and above old. Therefore, it’s not easy to buy cheap stuff and resell it in the platform. Once you check the essentials, such as fees and market the next task is creating your Etsy shop.
Creating an Etsy shop takes only a few minutes but you may spend other time customizing the site pages. Also, the name, logo and bio should match your business and connect you with clients. Next, create good product descriptions and market your shop through social media platforms. Once you are up and running, make sure you sell quality items at reasonable prices and offer good customer care services. If you provide quality items and services, you won’t take long to make hundreds or thousands of dollars on Etsy.
YouTube
YouTube is one of my favorite ways of making money online. Its free to open a YouTube account and you can easily create a community around you. Besides, you can do what you love and be paid for it. To make money from YouTube, you’ll have to create good content on the internet: it can be free guides, lessons, or even entertainment. Most celebrities make thousands of dollars from money, and you can do it too, without being a celebrity.
You only need to open a YouTube channel, and you’ll bump into many opportunities of making money online. Once you open a channel, you should focus on building up an audience. YouTube doesn’t pay you to upload videos on their site. Therefore, to make money on the platform, you’ll there are two ways of making money on YouTube: by advertising ads or by acting as an ad platform. You can get ads from other brands to advertise in your channel or you can advertise your products or services with YouTube ads. When such occurs, then you’ll pay YouTube to make your products more popular. And since customers can click the links to your products, you’ll end up making sales from YouTube.
Another way is by acting as an ad platform. With that, you can monetize your website with YouTube ads. Your earning potential does not solely rely on the number of views or subscriber you have but other factors such as levels of engagement. However, even if there are thousands of views on your video and no customer clicks the ad link, then you’ll not earn any money. You’ll only earn money for any ad click. Another new way of making money via YouTube is the YouTube Premium account that allows your viewers to support you without placing ads in your videos. The viewers pay some money for these accounts, and you’ll be paid based on how people watch your content.
Dropshipping
The last way of making money online in our review is via drop shipping. When venturing into an online business, most beginners wander where to get products to sell or even how to get customers. However, buying products and even shipping to customers are expensive investments which you could bypass by choosing the drop shipping feature. Drop shipping is one of the most popular ways of making money online as its easy, doesn’t require investment, and is a low-risk business.
With drop shipping, you don’t need to sell any product, look for a business model, store inventories, ship out products, or look for up-front capital. With this business, you look for distributors or wholesalers that are offering drop shipping. You then pay them the wholesale prices for their items and give them the customer addresses where they’ll deliver the products. Also, other times you can automate everything to enable you to focus on your business operations and marketing of your products. The drop shipper will also handle the logistics and deliver the products to the customer as it comes from you. To make more profits with drop shipping, raise the prices of the items to offset the drop shipping fees.
Therefore, work on getting an audience, then money will automatically flow to your account. The next task will be promoting your blog. Use SEO optimized articles, social media platforms, and email marketing campaigns to reach out to a larger audience.
Making money online as a beginner may seem a challenging task at first, but it’s possible for anyone. Just pick an online job you can handle comfortably and proceed to build your reputation in the industry. As your portfolio and reputation increases, you’ll also receive more payments for your services. Also, note that it takes time and patience to be established in the industry, and therefore, don’t give up when things don’t seem to go your way.
