Technology's ever-pervading permeation into every last
fiber and morsel of society has caused a dramatic upheaval in the way we live,
work and entertain ourselves. Thanks to the disruptive nature of the internet,
the rate of change has only increased exponentially in recent years.
Yet, with so much change in the world today, and a
nearly-instantaneous access to the globe's population through mediums such as
social media and online search, many people are still left perplexed by how
they can utilize the powerful technology inherently available through the
internet, to actually make money online.
The truth? It's not easy making money online today.
With so much competition and so many people and headlines vying for our
attention, sifting through and finding reputable sources to generate any
respectable amount of income through the web has become an ever-increasing
challenge.
Often, what happens is that we run into unscrupulous
Internet Marketers (IMs) who have less-than altruistic intentions of extracting
money from you rather than helping you to make it. However, this isn't
something new. People have been falling for networking marketing, pyramid
schemes, and affiliate marketing scams since before the start of the net.
So, where are we supposed to turn to make money the
legitimate way online? This isn't just about generating passive income; this is
also about finding ways and means to create an active income through the
conveniences afforded to us by the internet that will not only help us with our
debt obligations, but also empower us to save, invest and get really rich in
the future.
It's not easy by any means. Anyone that tells you
otherwise isn't being transparent with you. It takes an enormous amount of
effort and authority-building before you can really start getting rich through
your online income-producing activities. However, there are some basic methods
for making a respectable amount of cash in the short term.
Pain Versus Pleasure
Before I talk about some of the methods for making
money online, I wanted to address the role of pain versus pleasure. Every
decision that we make in life is weighed on a pain-versus-pleasure scale. We
will always do more to avoid pain than we will to gain pleasure, plain and
simple. However, this is also what holds us back from succeeding in any
endeavor.
Let me explain...
Now, making money online should seem like a
pleasurable activity. Why wouldn't we do just about anything to see things
through, since it would be a major source of pleasure, right? Wrong. In the
beginning, like anything else, we might get really excited about it. We might
also set our hopes very high. But that all comes crashing down when we begin to
fail.
The problem? In order to make serious amounts of money
online, you need to the most amount of work for the least initial return, not
the least amount of work for the greatest return. Translation — major amounts
of pain. That's also the problem with how affiliate marketers, network
marketers, and IMs attempt to sell you the "dream," so to speak.
When people buy into the hype, they set their
expectations extremely high. All they need to do is send a few emails out, and
voila, instant millions overnight. Well, clearly it doesn't quite work like
that. The issue at heart is that we will always do more to avoid pain than to
gain pleasure in the short term, not in the long term.
That's why it's so hard to quit bad habits or do
anything else that requires any semblance of struggle. The human mind is
hardwired to avoid pain in the short term, not in the long term. It's part of
our survival instinct. However, you can easily overcome this in the long term
as long as you set your expectations the right way.
What Are The Best Ways To Make Money Online?
As someone who's been immersed in a number of online
industries for quite some time, I know a thing or two about what it takes to
succeed in this arena. However, just like you, I started at ground zero with
little knowledge, but a great deal of passion. What I learned along the way
were some invaluable lessons from failure that hurt at the time, but helped
immensely in the grand scheme of things.
Today, if you're at all serious about succeeding in
any endeavor, whether online or offline, you have to deliver enormous amounts
of value. Yes, you have to do the most amount of work for the least initial
return. This is especially true online. Why? Because it takes time to build
authority and create an audience, two primary ingredients necessary to succeed
in the wonderful world of commerce on the web.
Every successful business and person has delivered a
tremendous amount of value at the outset. They did the most amount of work, and
they inspected every detail meticulously, to ensure that they were doing right
by their customers. As long as you keep that in mind, and you don't look for a
quick buck, you'll succeed in the long term.
• Find
your niche — Figure out what you're good at or what you want to be good at. You
don't need to be an expert right now, but you do need to decide where you're
going to fit in if you're at all serious about making serious cash in the long
term.
• Build
a blog on a custom domain — Your blog is your virtual home. Without it, you've
no place to filter all that traffic and people interested in what you have to
say. But don't build a blog on a subdomain like yoursite.wordpress.com, create
a blog with a custom domain like www.yoursite.com.
• Always
add value — Adding value over time creates authority, and authority breeds
trust, which in turn helps to grow your audience and readership. Without a
significant following, you'll find it hard to gain any traction online. It
simply takes time.
• Create
an email list and treat them right — One of the best ways to make money online
is by marketing to an actively-interested group of email subscribers. While
most people think that email marketing is dead, that's far from the truth. This
is your greatest potential source of income online. Think of it as your money
tree.
• Don't
sacrifice morals for a quick buck — At the outset, you'll want to do all sorts
of things to make money online, but don't sacrifice your morals for a quick
buck. Not only will you put people off, but you'll lose Google's trust. You
also shouldn't concern yourself with things like Adsense or other ads on a blog
before you have around 100,000 visitors per day. Yes, per day.
The point? Think about the long-term results of your
activities. It will seem frustrating in the beginning. Then again, everything
worthwhile is going to be difficult. It will take time. Stick it out and don't
give up. In the meanwhile, here are some of the best and most legitimate ways
you can make money online in the short and long term.
#1 — Write And Sell An Ebook
If you have a propensity for writing and you can slay
with your prose, consider writing an ebook. While the market has certainly
become saturated as of late, books that help teach people about a technical
topic still sell extremely well. This is a great source of passive income but
does require a large amount of effort at the outset before any money is
generated.
You can sell your ebooks through Amazon's Kindle
program or Apple's iTunes Connect, which gives you access to a large majority
of the digital-book reading market and the barriers for entry are incredibly
low. You don't need to invest lots of money to make this happen, but you do
need to invest lots of time, not only in writing the ebooks, but in marketing
them as well.
#2 — Sell Audiobooks With Audible
I've been in the audiobook-selling business for some
time now and have over 3 dozen titles to my name. I know a thing or two about
audiobooks. And, what I've noticed recently is that audiobooks are growing in
popularity as their digital-ebook counterparts are becoming less and less
popular.
People are turning to audio and visuals when it comes
to technical subjects. However, you should consider doing an ebook first and
turning it into an audiobook through a resource like Audible's ACX platform.
You can hire a producer either through a royalty share program, so you don't
have to shell out upfront cash, or you can do a pay-per-hour hire as well.
#3 — Create An App
Yes, this is far more technical. Unless you have the
right app-development skills, doing this is going to be a significant
undertaking. But, apps are also a great source of passive income when done the
right way. You can reach a massive audience of smartphone users by building a
great app.
However, like anything else truly worthwhile, apps
require a significant investment of your time or money upfront. If you don't
have the skills, then you have to hire someone who can assist you in creating a
great app. But first you need to come up with an idea that will sell. Do the
proper market research and analytics to come up with the right app.
#4 — Use Mechanical Turk
Mechanical Turk is Amazon's take on micro-jobs. These
are small miniscule-jobs that you can do for other people, which they call
HITs, or Human Intelligence Tasks. These are super simple tasks that anyone can
do. Some examples are listing off some URLs with certain kinds of images for
one cent, or recording a few phrases with a microphone for 6 cents.
Yes, they don't pay much, but if you string together
hundreds of well-paying HITs, you can make a bit of money quickly online if
you're in a crunch for cash. Also, it's important to note that you can also
employ people with HITs to help you with whatever micro-tasks you might have.
#5 — Offer Gigs On Fiverr
If you have some professional experience in graphic
design, accounting, social media marketing, web development or SEO training,
for example, you could offer gigs on Fiverr starting at $5 per job. You could
perform a valuable service that you could also up-sell to make more money per
gig.
Fiverr is one of the biggest providers in the gig
economy on the web and you can sell a wide variety of services and products
through this medium. Do the research and find out what you can offer. However,
keep in mind that like any other money-making task, it takes time to succeed
here. And stellar reviews will help you generate more and more income over
time.
#6 — Sell Professional Services On Upwork or 99Designs
Upwork and 99Designs are two of the biggest resources
for selling just about any professional service under the sun. If you have
extensive experience in a field, you might want to consider selling your
services through one of these sites. 99Designs only applies to graphic design
while Upwork applies to nearly every other professional service.
However, like anything else, the beginning will be
difficult. Before you have a significant track record and extensive reviews,
sourcing work in one of these highly-competitive platforms will be difficult.
Find the most successful people in your niche and try to model your approach
and online profile after theirs.
#7 — Build A Blog
One of the most exhaustive endeavors when it comes to
making money online is to build a blog. But we all know that building a blog
with real readership is difficult. It takes a lot of work. And I'm speaking
from experience. However, once you reach a certain point, the progress and
momentum sways in your favor and it becomes far easier.
Blogs can easily generate tens of thousands of dollars
to hundreds of thousands of dollars per month when done right. Yes, that much.
But it won't be easy to get there. However, looking back on it, a year from now
you'll wish you started today. So why wait another moment?
#8 — Email Marketing
Email marketing is at the heart of every successful
endeavor on the web. For those serious about making money online, email
marketing is certainly where it's at. But it has to be done the right way.
Before you even try to market anything to anyone via an email list, be sure
that they're people that subscribed and opted in directly to you.
When you try to market to people via email out of the
blue, you won't find as much success. But, if those email subscribers are
actively and keenly interested in what you have to say, and they signed up
directly through your blog or site, your success rates will be much higher.
#9 — Auction Items On Ebay
Ebay is a bellwether. It's been around since nearly
the start of the online boom. But, like any other platform, success can seem
fleeting if you don't know what you're doing. Selling items on eBay,
professionally that is, can be an art form. Getting people interested in your
auctions isn't always easy, especially when there's hefty competition and low demand
for what you're selling.
Like anything else, you need to do the proper
research, but you can make significant amounts of money as an eBay Power
Seller. Find the most successful eBay sellers in your niche and model after
their success. Find all of their listings and see just how they list the items
that they're selling.
#10 — Rent Your Home On AirBnB
Rent your entire home or just a room on AirBnB. This
is a simple and effective way to make money online, especially in the short
term. While you won't get rich doing this, you can generate thousands of
dollars per month for the right place. And, if you live in a sought-after
vacation destination, then you're certainly in luck.
Research other listings in your city on AirBnB and see
what the going rate is for a place like yours. You could also just rent out a
private room as well or even a bed in a shared room. In fact, that's how AirBnB
got its start. However, you might find it hard in the beginning without
reviews, but as long as you take really good care of your guests and provide a
lot of value, the reviews will eventually come rolling in.
#11 — Sell Photos Online
If you're at all into photography, and you have a
cache of nice photos, you could consider selling them through sites like
Shutterstock and iStockPhoto, two of the biggest photo resources online. It
doesn't take too much effort to do this, but it does take creativity and
persistence to succeed with it.
You'll find serious competition when trying to sell
photos online, but this is also a great method for generating passive income.
If you can license your images or sell them as stock photography, you won't
have to do any additional work to generate income from that sale once the
photos have been posted online. Just collect your payments.
#12 — Drive For Uber Or Lyft
If you live in an area where Uber or Lyft operate, why
not become a driver? If you're looking to make some short-term cash, you can
definitely rake it in by working for one of these popular car-hire apps. As
long as your vehicle fits within the specifications of their program, and you
have a clean license, you could do this on the side, especially if you're in a
crunch for cash.
Treat your guests right and offer them perks that
other drivers don't offer, simply because you want to deliver a lot of value.
You might not get that much out of it from the outset, but it will set you
apart from all the other drivers and your reviews will be indicative of just
that.
#13 — Sell Products On Etsy
Etsy is a great resource for those that enjoy making
their own products and selling them online. If you're into hand-crafted items
and you have a penchant for creating killer goods and wares that people just
have to have, then you might want to consider setting up an Etsy shop and
selling through a massive online portal.
Etsy is a great way to go directly to where all the
consumers are congregating. While the company will take a small fee to list your
products, along with fees to process the transaction itself, it is easier than
setting up your own transactional website. Do some research on the top sellers
and try to emulate their success.
#14 — Use Shopify To Build Your Own Online Store
Don't want to sell through Etsy? You could always
build your own online store using a platform like Shopify. Shopify makes it
easy to build a transactional website without all the hassle, which takes much
of the guesswork out of doing what some would consider a highly-complex task.
The company markets their services with being able to
start selling online in seconds. Well, it might not work that fast, but you
could most certainly get a good transactional website up and running within
minutes or hours.
#15 — Build An Amazon FBA Business
If you want to go directly to the world's largest
online retailer, consider setting up a Fulfilled-by-Amazon (FBA) business.
Amazon will pick, pack and ship your orders, and you'll have enormous exposure
to a buzzing marketplace where products are selling every second.
Clearly, there's a lot of demand on Amazon, and if any
product is going to sell, it's going to sell well on Amazon. But the goal here
is to source the right products that will easily sell at the world's largest
online retailer. Generally, products between $10 and $50 sell very well here.
Just be sure to do the right market research before jumping on this bandwagon.
#16 — Answer Professional Questions
Are you a professional in a field that can help answer
questions for people looking for your expertise? Websites like JustAnswer and
LivePerson match you up with people looking for answers to technical or
professional questions. You can make money online by simply answering these
questions and providing the right information to people based on their
individualistic circumstances.
Depending on your area of knowledge, you could either
make a lot of money or just a little bit by answering questions professionally.
Do your due diligence before signing up to any website where you're providing
answers in exchange for money and be sure that it's a reputable source.
#17 — Create Video Tutorials On YouTube
This is definitely a long-term strategy, and you won't
get rich overnight by doing this, but creating engaging and well-thought-out
video tutorials and posting them on sites like YouTube could make you a
significant amount of passive income in the long term depending on just how
well-received those videos might be.
Find a niche and stick to it. Build a YouTube channel
and find something that you can do that will add a whole lot of value to the
people that might be interested in that field or niche. However, keep in mind
that this will require a significant amount of time and upfront investment
before this pays off at all.
#18 — Develop Educational Courses On Udemy
One of my absolute favorite sites for selling
educational courses is Udemy. In fact, you can check out the courses that I
have for sale on the site here. Udemy is a great place to build out technical
courses that will teach people how to do some complicated task or learn some
sought-after skill.
In my courses, I teach things like web development,
search engine optimization and graphic design, but you can teach just about
anything on Udemy. However, there is enormous competition on here, but it's a
great source of passive income if you can create a course that people will
love.
#19 — Become A Virtual Assistant
While becoming a virtual assistant won't pay you
enormous amounts of money, if you're looking to be a digital nomad in a city with
a low cost-of-living, this could be something that pays your bills. This will
require a significant amount of organization and some technical skills as well
to succeed.
As long as you have the basics covered with programs
like Word, Excel and PowerPoint, for example, and you're an effective
communicator, able to stick to deadlines, you might find yourself excelling as
a virtual assistant.
#20 — Write Articles For Other Sites
Last, but certainly not least, is article writing.
Depending on your skill level when it comes to writing, you could always find
work writing articles for other people. At the outset, this won't pay you much,
especially if you have little in the way of examples or portfolio pieces. But,
like anything else, you can build this up over time.
You could also do a number of other things related to
writing such as copywriting for descriptions, emails, or other sales-related
content. Do your due diligence to find out what the going rates are for writing
articles, and even try to find a mentor if you're serious about making money
online through this method.
