5 Different Ways To Make Money Online

make money online

True or False?

You can make money online.

It’s true. In fact, the internet has opened the doors for people to make money in ways that weren’t even conceivable just a few short decades ago.

Now companies can sell to anyone in the world instead of needing a store front; writers can write for online media outlets instead of hoping and praying that a magazine will give their pitch a shot; and people are making money without very much overhead.

However, I often times see people making the mistake of thinking all they have do is hit publish on a blog post, sit back and watch the money start rolling in.

Sorry to break it to you, but this isn’t even remotely close to how money is made online. Don’t get me wrong, blogs and social media posts are important and play a major roll, but they are just marketing tools which lead people to purchase in other ways.

Below you’ll find the multiple ways you can make money online. I use most of these in my own business (I like my money coming from different places) and have found that a blog makes the money-making process easier.

1. Creating content for others

I get paid to write on other blogs. I get many of those gigs because of the content I’ve written on my own blog. You see, back in 2010 when I couldn’t find a job and was taking a stab at freelance writing, I knew I needed a portfolio. What better way to build a portfolio than to create my own blog with topics I wanted to specialize in?

That’s not all though, because of my own blog I have positioned myself as an expert in the realm of coaching, business and finance. This is what compels people to hire me to write for their own businesses.

Money is not the most important thing in the world. Love is. Fortunately, I love money. ~ Jackie Mason  (Tweet this)

2. Selling your products, services and events

My blogs are just a sneak peek of what you get from my products and services.

  •  People buy my book because they see it linked in a blog post.
  • Or they sign up for a coaching call with me because of calls to action I have around my blog.

As you can see, your blog is just one part of the sales process. The rest is up to you to move people through your sales funnel. One of the ways to make money online is to get clear on what kinds of products and services you offer in exchange for money. This will depend heavily on your business model.

For example, if you want to use a one-to-many model, meaning you want to reach as many people as possible, you may want to focus on creating more scalable offerings like products. If, on the other hand, your business is more service-based then you need to figure out what those services actually are. If you’re not entirely sure about what to do here, you can test your market in multiple ways  to see what it is they need from you.

3. Affiliate sales

While I am no expert at making a full-time income from affiliate sales, I do often times make money on a monthly basis from recommending other people’s products. I also recommend products to my coaching clients based on their needs and they often times purchase via my affiliate link.

Affiliate sales mean you make a commission for recommending products created by someone else. Some people, like Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income, make much of their money online this way. Pat Flynn in particular is a great example of this model because each month he publishes a detailed report of his earnings where he tells his audience what worked and what didn’t.

It takes time to build this kind of a business model, but the effort is well worth it. However, in order to be successful with affiliate marketing there are some things you need to keep in mind.

  •  Only recommend products you’ve actually used.
  • Always disclose affiliate links (it’s the law).
  • Keep a running list of recommended products handy so you can share them with people you meet.
  • Write honest reviews of these products and publish them on your site.

Alternately, you can create an affiliate program so that other people sell your products for you. After all, there are no better sales people out there than those who have used your products and services. Again, this takes time and effort but the results are well worth it.

4. Ads can also make money online

There is a wide world of ads. There are banner ads, sponsored posts and ad networks. For the sake of simplicity I’m only going to talk about sponsored posts. I personally do not join ad networks like Google AdSense as I prefer not to have ads messing up the design of my blog. However, for some people they can easily fit banner ads into their overall site without a problem.

So what is a sponsored post? It is a blog post you write which is sponsored by a person or company. The post is usually a topic that is discussed on the blog and the company gets a link and a shout out. Similar to affiliate links, you need to disclose when you’ve published a sponsored blog post. In accordance with FTC regulations you should always mention that it’s a sponsored blog post, usually at the end of the post with a byline such as:

“This blog post was sponsored by (Name / Brand Here).”

5. E-Commerce

I already mentioned how you can sell your own products online as a means of making income, however it requires a little more discussion. Reason being, there are multiple ways to run an E-commerce business.

For instance,

  • You can create your own store front on your own site. If you run a WordPress site, then you can have your own e-commerce platform with woocommerce!
  • Alternatives include using peer-to-peer marketplaces like eBay and Amazon.
  • And finally, you can’t mention e-commerce without mentioning Etsy.

Truth be told the internet has revolutionized the way we sell products online and there’s more than one way to go about doing it.

Final Thoughts

While it’s totally possible to make money online, the fact of the matter is you need to get crystal clear on the streams of income you will use in your business.  You can even combine any or all of the above methods to make money online. It takes time to build products and services, grow an audience and see some traction, but the ability to do it from anywhere in the world is what makes it most appealing.

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About the Author

Amanda Abella is an online business coach, speaker and author of the Amazon bestselling book - Make Money Your Honey. She is committed to helping individuals have a better relationship with work and money through entrepreneurship, online marketing and money mindset. Her work has been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, and more.

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