You’re here because you want to learn how to make money online. And, you’re not alone. Most people do and we all have different reasons for doing so. If you’re like me, then you want to spend more time with family and avoid the hustle and bustle of a daily commute. For others, making money online means owning their time and not having to answer to anyone else.
Now you may be asking, how can I really make money online? Is it legitimate? Is it possible? Yes and yes. You can make money online and there are tons of legitimate opportunities for you to do so. We’ll cover a total of 15 ways to do so here but we will make this a 3 part series since I want to go into details with each way to make money online.
Start a website or blog
- Personal finance blog
- Weight loss blog
- Relationship blog
The above-mentioned websites are really popular and of course come with the ability to make money. Specifically, personal finance, weight loss and relationship websites are of high interest and are very lucrative when monetized effectively. This is because they represent vices that we all struggle with in some way or another.
As a result, people are always looking for ways to improve their lives in these 3 specific areas. These sites can be monetized via lucrative social media campaigns for large brands, freelance writing for other sites and of course advertising.
When I started Girls Just Wanna Have Funds, I had no idea about all of the resources available to make money online and offline with this site but it has been a blessing! Now, I am in no way advocating that you only start a site for the purposes of making money. Especially in personal finance. You will fail miserably because it will come through in your writing. Pick a topic that you are truly invested in and start there.
Before getting started determine how you can effective monetize it and create a monetization and marketing plan. Sorta like a business plan for blogging. Sounds weird but trust me, when you have a plan laid out for what you want to do and how you plan to accomplish it, everything falls into place.
Start here and in this order: (I am very partial to WordPress for obvious reasons: I use it here 
)
- Decide on a domain name. Make sure that it’s memorable and catchy while instilling a deeper meaning to your readers. Don’t get too deep with it but keep it simple
- Purchase, register and host your domain name. I love Liquidweb. Do all 3 with the same company. It is a hassle to register and host your website with 2 different companies
- Install WordPress. WordPress is king in the content management system arena. Please don’t use Blogger. If you have aspirations of taking your site to the big time, you will eventually want to switch to WordPress. Liquidweb will often (if not always by request) help you with this part because it is super easy. WordPress has one click installations now so you’re lucky. Back in the day I was still fiddling with the FTP server in hopes that my files would transfer completely without a hitch.
- Install a WordPress theme. Find one that is clean and laid out in an intuitive manner. Choose between one that looks like a standard website or a straight up blog. You decide.
- Add a few plugins. WordPress is king in this area which is why I advocate starting out with them. There are plugins out there for pretty much anything you can think of website related but starting out you may just need WordPress Jetpack. As you blog more and network with other bloggers, then you’ll realize what they use and go through a trial and error period to see what works for you.
- Start blogging. Now. Do it often.
Website design or Fairy Blogmother services
If you have a penchant for design or are familiar with blog/website set up, then this is a service that you can create and market to others. This involves creating logos, social media icons, headers and other design elements of a website. I like to refer to this as fairy blog mother services for newbie bloggers who don’t have a clue around how to set up a properly structured blog. I’ve done this often for new bloggers wanting to set up a website but who have no clue about where to get started.
Affiliate/Internet Marketing
When you visit a website and there’s a product being offered there, it’s more often than not an affiliate product being marketed to you. How affiliate marketing works is Big Brand A approaches a website or the blogger/website owner may go through sites like CJ.com to sell a specific product. That product is then offered on a website for sale with the compensation for doing so varying between brands.
For example, if a website displays an ad cable TV or Internet, then this might be an affiliate set up where the site gets $10 per sign up. The same ad can be set up as a CPM model so not all ads that you see on websites are affiliate based.
A great example of this is the website: flexsealspraycan.com. Keep in mind, this is a niche website that’s hyper focused on one product: Flex Seal. The money maker here is that for every sale they make, they get a split percentage from the sale. This varies with each affiliate company but it can range from $8-$12 per sale depending on volume. So you see, you can focus on several products at a time or one as with this example.
Network marketing
Network marketing is also known as multilevel marketing (MLM). You may know this as Avon, Mary Kay, Amway and the like. Some tend to turn their noses up at this, but don’t sleep on this just yet. I know several ladies making bank doing this and they love it. And there are others who do not make money from this so the success stories tend to vary.
However, those who are successful control their time while marketing a product they love and stand behind. Success for me means replacing a “day job” income and being able to control my own time. I’ve been considering this for some time with Visalus but I have my hand in too many pots right now to add something else to the mix. I find that those successful in this arena are because they are really committed to the program because there is no other option for them.
So the key is to make sure that you’re selling a product that you can genuinely get excited about while understanding that in order for this to be successful you need to get committed and be willing to fail often, but cheaply.
Fiverr
Fiverr is a website that allows you to sell “gigs” for $5. The products and services vary widely but you’d be surprised as what you can find there: video editing services, ebooks etc You name it, it’s probably there or soon will be. Think about Fiverr as a way to get exposure for a larger service that you offer. Fiverr services tend to be limited in their scope so don’t go there looking to get a 6 hour job done. However, you can add to the service requested of the seller offers this as an option.
Making money online will take work and dedication. This series is not meant to be a get rich quick scheme on how to make money online. You will often do just as much if not more work as your day job. The difference is that you will love what you’re because it’s something that allows you to control your time while doing something you love or are at the very least skilled or interested in doing.
That’s it for today! Come back tomorrow and later this week for part 2 and 3 of making money online.
