I get asked this type of question (or variations of it) at least once a week: how do you make money online?
My favorite version of it came during a Table Topics session at Toastmasters a couple weeks ago: “Sagan, you do something on the Internet. Tell us about how you make money online.” You do something on the Internet. Heehee!
People are so confused by the concept of making money online, which totally makes sense: the Internet is still relatively new, and jobs related to it are even newer.
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It’s surprising how few people understand what a freelancer does, but when you get into answers like “I’m a professional blogger and I make money blogging,” it REALLY starts to confuse people.
The truth is that there are so many possible ways to make money online, both as a freelancer AND as a blogger.
Here are a few of the many (MANY) ways that a person can make money online (most of which I have had experience in myself):
- Writing website copy or promotional materials (this is often ghostwriting on their behalf—basically writing as though you are the company, without your name attached to it).
- Writing articles for other people’s websites (these can be either ghostwritten or written like “guest posts” in which your name is attached to it because of your experience/background or status as an influencer).
- Editing e-books for new authors.
- Managing social media for other people (such as posting to Twitter or Facebook or writing their newsletter on their behalf).
- Creating social media strategies for clients (for example, analyzing what they are doing right now, and creating a schedule/plan for how they can improve their social media posts).
- Writing about a brand’s products or services on your website (these are sponsored blog posts).
- Promoting someone else’s product and making commission on it when people buy it through you (these are affiliate programs—for example, I’m a ConvertKit* affiliate, MeetEdgar* affiliate, and Tailwind* affiliate, which means if you make a purchase through those links, I receive a small amount at no additional cost to you).
- Posting ads on your website (people usually get paid a monthly rate or a click-through rate).
- Designing logos, graphics, and websites for people.
- Creating your own product, such as a book or an e-course.
We live in a super cool time right now where we have so much opportunity to make a living doing just about anything. The sky’s the limit! (when you have a certain degree of privilege, that is.)
It takes a lot of time, effort, and hard work, but when you put your mind to it, you can truly create the business that’s right for you so that you’re doing what you love for a living. And that’s pretty fantastic.
