7 Tips to Make More Money Online

by Startacus Admin

Thinking about taking up an online side hustle? Here are a few of the ways that you can do just that...

The pandemic has nudged the population world over into pivoting their business as the restrictions ravage their revenues. COVID has certainly had a massive impact on the global economy. 

Some switched their industry, while others took up a side hustle to get through the rough patch. Even without a pandemic, it never hurts to have a side hustle to get some extra dollars into the bank. 

The pandemic, fortunately, sped up the process of digitization of businesses. It has compelled businesses to get comfortable with a fully online setup. This also means more opportunities for people to work online. 

An increasing number of millennials are choosing freedom over a large paycheck and the security of a full-time job. Make no mistake, though; working online comes with its set of challenges. If someone says they’re working online and it’s a piece of cake, they’re lying.

Everybody wants to be their own boss, but it’s important to realize that this freedom comes with responsibilities. Making money online requires individuals to be ace time managers who can effectively communicate with clients, manage deadlines, and deliver a top-notch quality of work consistently.

In 2021, there are countless options for increasing online income, but some are better than others. Let’s talk about some of the best ways to make more money online.

1. Trading cryptocurrencies

Traditionally, investments were an offline-only scenario. However, the 21st century is all about one-touch access. This is great for traders because they can now work from home full-time. There’s never a need to leave the house because everything from documentation to execution of trades can happen online.

While stock trading has happened online for almost a decade and a half, there’s a new asset being traded online that’s creating quite a stir – cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, was introduced in Jan 2009, but it started to gain traction only in the latter part of the previous decade. 

Since then, however, cryptocurrency traders have made a fortune. As digital currencies revolutionize the world, traders are busy pocketing gains from this new asset class. How? Well, cryptocurrencies are highly volatile. They allow traders to take high-risk bets that can generate superior returns.

One of the best cryptocurrencies to trade right now is Ethereum. Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain network that uses Ether (ETH) for transactions. Ethereum remains at the forefront of the development of decentralized finance (DeFi) and is fundamentally one of the strongest cryptos around. Before deciding to buy ETH, let’s look at the associated risk.

This is a price chart that illustrates how the prices of ETH behaved over the past year. The price went from $500 to over $4,000 and back to almost $2,000. In one year, an investor could have grown their wealth 8x or lost half their investment based on when they entered the market. Mind-boggling, isn’t it?  Volatility means more risk, but it also means there will be ample opportunities for traders to generate profit. Trading crypto requires knowledge and experience, though. Therefore, it is best suited for someone who already has some experience either trading crypto or at least stocks.

2. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a no-frills online business; well, almost. It demands little to no upfront investment, which makes it a great side hustle. Affiliate marketers don’t need to come up with their own products or services. Instead, they sell others’ products and services for a commission. 

For instance, think of a blog that reviews home appliances. The blog owner doesn’t manufacture those appliances, of course. 

The owner of the blog would have signed up as an affiliate with a company that pays a commission on a per-sale basis. The company provides affiliate links that the blogger uses in the reviews to redirect a reader towards the product page.

When a reader clicks on the link, the website registers that the visitor has been directed from a particular blog. If the visit ends in a purchase, the commission is made payable to the blogger. 

Note that if the visitor leaves the page without making a purchase, and later returns to make a purchase directly, without going through the blog, the blog’s owner still gets the commission. This is accomplished by saving cookies on the visitor’s browser on their first visit through the blog.

While affiliate marketing sounds like a dream, beginners may find it challenging. There are tons of affiliate marketers out there trying to make it big. However, only a few succeed. Think about it, why would someone trust reviews written on a blog or social media account? 

One word – trust. Affiliate marketers need to build a large group of followers who trust the reviewer. They also need to feed their audience valuable content consistently to become an authority on the subject. Plus, there are other things to take care of such as SEO. Affiliate marketing isn’t easy, but can be very lucrative.

 3. E-commerce

E-commerce is a great way for small businesses to survive during the pandemic. Since people are skeptical of visiting brick and mortar stores, small businesses can set up shop online. Although a tad similar, e-commerce and affiliate marketing have several differences.

The primary difference is that e-commerce requires investing in inventory. The products on offer are products of the e-commerce business and not a third party. A common method of fulfilling orders is through drop shipping, where the e-commerce website takes the orders and forwards them to a third party that warehouses and ships the product.

This is why e-commerce requires a bit more legwork than affiliate marketing. Another difference is that the owner of an e-commerce business earns a profit on the sales instead of a commission. 

For beginners who manufacture products, it’s ideal to also use a middleman like Etsy to get their foot in the door. Once a healthy customer base has been established, the business can be moved entirely to a website, eliminating the middleman. E-commerce businesses can also monetize their website with ads using platforms like Google AdSense.

 4. Freelancing

Those with a specific skill set may choose to sell their services online. Freelancers offer a wide range of services online, from copyediting to machine learning. However, again, this is a business and it comes with challenges.  That being said, many freelancers have managed to build a full-time career out of their freelance business. Freelancers often sign up on freelance platforms such as Fiverr and Upwork, where clients post requirements and freelancers bid on these requirements. Clients can interact with freelancers to discuss the project and close the deal.

5. Online courses

Someone with a specialized skill who is driven to help others succeed in their careers may create online courses to supplement their income. Again, several platforms such as Udemy and Coursera allow course creators to sell courses. 

Students access these websites looking for courses and buy the one they think will best fit their needs. When a course is purchased, the proceeds are forwarded to the creator after deducting a fee.  This means it’s a passive source of income once the course has been created. However, the content may need to be updated periodically to ensure relevance.

6. Surveys

Online surveys are a straightforward way to make some extra cash. However, these aren’t half as lucrative as the previous options. Most surveys pay about a dollar per survey and also require the participant to provide a ton of information while signing up.

These are suitable for someone who doesn’t have an in-demand skill or someone who doesn’t want to put in a lot of time into making money online. Aggregators such as Swagbucks are generally a good starting point. 

There are many others, but it’s best to stick with reputable ones. Some websites run scams and lure people in to collect personal information. It’s important to note that not everybody is eligible to take every survey. Surveys often have requirements in terms of demographics, and if a participant is too old or too young, for instance, it may make them ineligible.

7. Publish online

E-books can be sold on websites like Amazon. Those who are already well-known in their field can also create a website for selling directly to their audience. Even those who aren’t great writers can publish e-books by collaborating with writers and editors. As long as the ideas are original, it’s okay to get outside help.

Publishing an e-book establishes a person as an authority in that field and also generates passive income. After the book is published, the author doesn’t have to make any efforts to generate revenue since the publisher takes care of these aspects.

 Another Day, Another Dollar

The online economy is quickly saturating given the job losses resulting from the pandemic and people’s preference of working on their own terms. There’s always room for someone who can provide more value, of course. People who can improve their skills consistently can continue to earn more money online with each passing day. 

Succeeding online takes discipline, persistence, and most importantly – lots of patience. All skills that are key to a traditional business’s success (i.e., communication, quality, and reliability) are also important for an online business. Many have tried their hand at generating income online; some have made millions, while others have lost money.

 

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Published on: 14th July 2021