Make
money from your facebook post, twitter tweets and anything you do on the
internet…
So
it turns out that the internet is good for more than just facebooking, twitting
and video games – you can make money off it too! Think of the internet as a
giant country called Imagination land. By playing your cards right, you can
make some easy money online doing things you’re already doing. Here are some ideas
to start you off:
1. Website Building
If
the internet is a country, then websites are like real estates. I’m hoping by
now you have a general understanding that real estates are valuable in the
physical world – digital real estates work the same way. By building a website,
you’re creating your own plot of online “land.”
You
can fill this land with whatever you want, but you have to promote it through
social media (and anywhere else you can think of) for this to be successful.
When you build traffic to your land, you can sell people whatever you have to
offer. In order to build a website, you need a host (i.e GoDaddy), a template (i.e WordPress), and content.
The
first two parts are easy to find, and content is only as difficult as you make
it. You can post blogs, items for sale, pictures, videos, or whatever you want.
Opening up your own website gives you the potential to make money from the
avenues I’m going to mention below.
Should you need help on creating a
WEBSITE or WANT TO LEARN HOW TO, I am good at that, so feel free to contact me.
If
that sounds like too much technical information for you, there is an easy
button – Google’s advertising platform is as simple as signing up, enabling (on
Blogger) or pasting a small code on your website, and allowing the
advertisements to automatically roll in. Once this is setup on your website or
blog, you will earn money from visits to your webpage and click on the ads. The
problem with this program is that you don’t get to control the ad content. This
is useful for some, but powerful users will want something a little more
robust.
3. Klout
If
you have a social media account (i.e Facebook, Twitter, Waplog, etc..), try out
Klout. The company tracks your social media usage, determines how big and what
type of audience you draw based on the subject matter of your updates and
posts. Using this information, you’re qualified to receive free items, tickets,
etc. Check their website often to find ways of earning free stuff by doing what
you’re already doing online…boring the rest of us…
Amazon
has an Associates program for site owners and bloggers. They offer a search
tool to find the right products and services from their site and a variety of
ad styles to display on your site, including text-based and banner images
(digital billboards).
Each
item purchased through your Amazon links give you a commission. It doesn’t take
high volume traffic to achieve results, either. I began making money with the
program when I only had 500 hits per month on my site. They can apply your
earnings to your Amazon account balance, issue you a check, or direct deposit
into your bank account. If you love Amazon, you’ll love their associate’s
program.
Amazon
and Google are far from your only options for online advertising. Rakuten
Linkshare is a great place to search for other affiliates for your ads. Through
their program, you can get customized ad links, email links, and banner ads for
Starbucks, Walmart, iTunes, and a slew of other popular brands. With this
program, you can also find smaller companies, regional or specialized brands,
and more. I run a combination of Google, Amazon, and Rakuten’s programs, and my
monthly income is approximately $150 from these programs. It’s not a lot of
money, but it’s also not a lot of work for residual (it means recurring…since
the ads are permanent…) income.
6. EBay
People
have gotten rich selling books about how they got rich selling everything on
EBay. If you have anything you want to sell, then EBay is the place you need to
seriously consider doing it first. Personally I’m not a fan of the site because
of the work it takes to build up a reputation. If you’re willing to grind
through that process, you’ll be rewarded with many privileges.
7. Amazon
If
you start getting too big for EBay or decide you want to try a different
flavor, Amazon has a marketplace as well. I prefer using Amazon because I can
depend on their shipping, have a Prime account, and trust their reviews.
The
difference between Amazon and EBay is that EBay (though still filled with new
items) is seen as a used marketplace between individual parties, whereas Amazon
(which is filled with offers for new and used merchandise from the 3rd
parties) is viewed as a Wal-Mart-type superstore. As a consumer, this
difference leads me to use Amazon, so it only makes sense to target on my own
demographic.
8. Etsy
If
you’re crafty (and I mean that in more than one way, wink wink), you’ll enjoy
Etsy. Handcrafted items are the bread and butter here. Plenty of people make
decent side money on the site, which is basically an EBay for crafters and
artists. Set up a sellers account with Etsy, and you’ll be asked to set up your
virtual storefront and put up at least 5 goods for sale.
Once
you have this down, you’ll be a budding Etsy entrepreneur. Provide great
quality to your customers, and they’ll often return. Many people are willing to
pay a premium for quality handmade designs. Etsy (like EBay and Amazon) takes a
cut off the top for selling items through their site. PayPal takes another cut,
and you have to be careful with taxes on all income, so be diligent while
building your online business.
9. Indeed
Maybe
what you need is a job. It doesn’t matter which job search site you prefer
using (even Craigslist) – Indeed tracks them all, and then some. You can find
jobs posted on company websites, through temp agencies, and more at Indeed. If
money is something you really need, Indeed is most definitely the place you
want to visit to browse career opportunities.
10.
Elance
Where
Indeed excels at finding job postings across the web and acting as a search
crawler for employment, maybe a full-fledged career is too big of a commitment
at this point in your life. Elance is a site to find freelance work of all
types.
Elance
offers a wide array of technical, data entry, accounting, and other freelance
and temp gigs. If you’re just looking for something short and sweet, log in,
input and showcase your marketable skills, and begin searching through their
job database, using any parameters you desire. Once you submit a bid, you’ll
receive an acceptance or denial – you may get a few rejections, but don’t sweat
it. Negotiate the terms of your bid, and get to work. You have money to make.
11.
Mturk
If
you’ve heard of crowdsourcing (and even if you haven’t), Amazon’s Mechanical
Turk program is a great place to get involved. Much like at Elance, you input
your info and skills. You then are able to search for different menial tasks ranging
from identifying inappropriate web content to transcribing audio recordings to
basic data entry work.
Just
like at any other job, the more work you do, and the better your quality, the
more opportunities you’ll have to make money. The payouts are often small, and
your payment is received in Amazon credit, but Mturk is a great place to make
mindless money while veg’ing on the couch watching TV.
12.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn
is a social media site for professionals. This isn’t a direct way to make
money, but it’s a great way to connect to your current and potential peers,
customers, clients, vendors, and more here. You’ll build a reputation and get
in the loop on important developments in your chosen career path and/or
industry. One day an old college buddy may hit you up for a dream job you never
considered at the exact moment you are looking for a new vocation. Whether you
like it or not, keeping your LinkedIn profile current is a great way to get
surprised with new work opportunities out the blue.
13.
Care.com
If
you’re an experienced nanny or babysitter, Care.com is the place you want to
make money. By listing yourself on the Craigslist of Childcare, you’ll broaden
your reach and increase your odds of finding the right gig at the right time.
You can be pickier with what kids you watch when you have the reputation and
traffic to pull in more customers. Join Care.com and start making money by
investing in the future of our youth.
14.
iTunes
If
you’re a musician, writer, artist, tech nerd, pundit, or can produce any type
of audio, video, or text worth consuming, you may be able to sell some stuff in
Apple’s flagship iTunes store. By selling your work here, you’re able to stand
next to the marketing clout of big business. You can make a healthy living off
the iTunes store, and there’s no better time than now.
15.
Wikipedia
Another
seemingly free site you can make money from is Wikipedia. People who say it’s
easy to edit Wikipedia have clearly never tried editing Wikipedia – it’s a
pain. Thankfully it’s a pain for companies as well, so many of them are willing
to pay editors to assist them in the editing process. You’ll become a bounty
hunter in a way, choosing your own lines to cross and keep. If editing is
something you like to do, and you’re willing to put in the work it takes to
learn Wikipedia’s dispute process, roll up your sleeves and try this one out.
16.
Blogging
I
make the bulk of my money from blogging. In addition to the advertising revenue
streams mentioned above, I also receive flat rate payments for blogging from
various blogs throughout the web. I’m paid to write as a whistleblower, financial
analyst, reviewer, commentator, and more. Writing for other sites builds
traffic to my personal blog. The traffic for this blog gives me clout to
present to advertisers.
To
create your own blog, you don’t even need a web domain. You can start a
completely free blog on either WordPress or Blogger. Each of these sites has
its ups and downs, but you can’t beat the price. You generally want to keep
blog posts between 150-500 words until you have a few dozen under your belt.
Links between your blog posts encourage people to stay on your blog once they
find it, increasing traffic. Once your blog is up, promote it on social media
for the greatest effect.
17.
Kickstarter
If
you have a passion project, Kickstarter may be exactly what you need to get it
off the ground. All you need is a dream, a goal, a budget, and a great pitch to
convince people to come to the site and donate to your Kickstarter campaign. Celebs
like Zach Braff and Melissa Joan Hart have used this site in attempts to fund
their movie projects. Panhandling isn’t dead – it’s gone digital…
18.
Social
Media
No
matter what you do to make money online, promote it on your social media
accounts. You have a base of people who are already interested in you and have
a vested interest in your brand – why would you not want to take advantage of
that? By promoting yourself and your projects on your social media accounts,
you’re greatly increasing the chances of people actually giving you money in
exchange for your goods and services. Stop being shy and get out there.
