In this guide, I am going to walk you through over 27 ways that will answer the question ‘how to make money online’ – for 2020 and beyond. They are great for anyone who is looking for a long-term and legitimate solution to supplement their income or even just grow it.
It has taken me 5 whole years to grow various sources of income online and to earn life-changing amounts of money.
In this post, I would like to teach some of the key things I learned along the way as well as over 27 ways to earn money online to make your journey into the online world a little easier. Here is what we are going to cover:
- How to make money online: Your Foundation
- Top #1 Favourite – Create a Blog 2.0
- Top #2 Favourite – Amazon FBA
- Top #3 Favourite – Coaching & Consulting
- 24 more ways to make money online
- Conclusion
How to make money online: Your Foundation
After more than 10 years of learning the ins and outs of ‘How to make money online’ and ‘Digital Marketing’, I would like to help you understand what is perhaps the most important thing I ever learned.
The faster you want it, the longer you are going to have to wait for it.
“Huh, what?”
Let me spell it out for you:
In all likelihood, you googled “making money online” or a similar keyword and landed on this article.
Don’t get me wrong. There is absolutely nothing wrong with ‘making money’. Quite the opposite. I actually encourage this idea.
The problem here is this:
It’s very difficult to make money if you want to make money.
Sounds weird?
Yes, it might be. But the reality is that making money – whether online or offline – only works if you create value and solve problems.
Key-Learning #1
And that’s exactly where I see the #1 reason why 95% of people who want to be successful online fail.
They focus on “making money” and rather than on “creating value” and “solving problems”.
So: If you can afford it financially (you are currently still employed or you have a regular income that pays your living expenses), start something maintainable that will be around in 5 or 10 years’ time.
Give up on earning a ‘quick buck’ and focus on the end goal instead- thousands of dollars every month in passive income.
Key-Learning #2
You can earn money online in two different ways.
- You trade time for money or
- You separate the concept of money and time
Most people start with the first option and trade their time for money. That means that they work as freelancers, virtual assistants, or they coach people one on one.
This is a good start if you are still taking your first steps in the world of online business but inevitably you are going to notice a couple of things. Exchanging your time for money does the following-
- Stunts your growth. You are left going in circles and helping other people grow their business.
- You are burning yourself out with the amount of work you are taking on that has only monetary returns.
This is exactly why my recommendation is to build a system that generates income for you, whether you are working or not. In other words, a system that allows you to separate your time from your income. You will be able to make what everyone aims for- passive income.
This is what I mean when I ask you to build a system for yourself:
- A process that, for example, continuously generates visitors and monetizes these visitors (e.g. through affiliate marketing, own products (physical and/or digital), a service, coaching, consulting, etc.
- And a team (freelancers or permanent employees) who maintain, service, and improve this framework and work with you to help the entire system grow.
Especially the latter (a team) most people keep quiet about, but without this, you are permanently simply ‘self-employed’. You will always be the one taking care of everything and you will never get to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
The goal must be to achieve the transformation to ‘entrepreneur’ as quickly as possible because only then is it really enjoyable.
Here is a comparison I got from Dan Sullivan, how the world of a self-employed person and the world of an entrepreneur basically looks like (exceptions confirm the rule):
PICTURE TRANSLATION:
| Self-Employed | Entrepreneur |
| Scarcity | Abundance |
| Past | Future |
| Transaction | Transformation |
| Security | Opportunity |
| Competition | Collaboration |
| Status | Growth |
| Ego | Capability |
| Cost | Investment |
Okay, so let us get right into it. I am now going to go through over 27 ways to make money online. These are fast and realistic ideas that you can implement immediately.
I will start with my 3 top favorites. I have had the best experiences with these 3 and have seen the most success which is why I recommend them over anything else.
Afterward, I will talk you through the rest of the options, but I place more emphasis on the first three. While the others are great, the first few options have the most room for growth and can work for just about everyone.
From time to time there are options that will overlap (e.g. “starting a blog” and “Affiliate Marketing” cannot really be separated from each other).
#1 Favorite – Creating A Money Making Blog
My absolute #1 top favorite to make money online is by starting a blog of your own.
The crazy amount of advantages blogging has always seemed to outweigh the few disadvantages which is why I recommend it over any other option.
Here are some perks that come along with blogging:
[I] Stability – Compared to social media or Amazon FBA (selling stuff on Amazon), the traffic and passive income you can generate with blogging is far more stable. (YouTube is admittedly almost as stable).
No matter what online income system you are comparing blogging with, blogging always wins.
Once you rank and generate traffic and revenue (with white-hat SEO), your income will remain stable or keep rising further.
This brings an unbelievable amount of peace to the business. It allows you to plan ahead and make strategic decisions.
[II] Monetization Opportunities – Whether it’s affiliate marketing, coaching, consulting, selling services, speaking at events, digital or physical products – the list of ways you can make money with your blog are endless once you start to generate the right amount of traffic.
There are almost no limits.
[III] Passiveness – Not that you do not have to work hard to create a successful blog (quite the opposite actually), but once you have created a system that, for example, continuously publishes new articles and updates old articles, you can run your blog very passively …
… without having to post X contributions on social media every day, which after 2 or 3 hours after being posted have disappeared into the infinite vastness of the internet anyway.
[IV] Sustainability – 77% of all internet users read blogs. That means that people have always read blogs, are currently reading (77% of all internet users), and will always be reading interesting blogs.
So do not get scared off things that you are ‘too late’ or that it would be ‘too competitive’ in reference to SEO. This is also a bunch of BS.
Focus on one channel (organic traffic fueled blog) at the beginning and use it later as a foundation for your other channels. (YouTube, Instagram, Podcast, TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.).
[V] Your own land – Unlike Amazon FBA, for example, a blog allows you to build a real customer base and audience.
Even if you sell your own content, services, or product through Amazon, in the end, they are Amazon’s customers and not yours.
With a blog, you have the levers in your hand. You can collect email addresses, track and retarget visitors, and build your own customer base.
It is your foundation and not someone else’s.
If you’re looking for a step-by-step guide to building your own blog and making it successful, feel free to take a look at this comprehensive guide.
If you do not have the time to go through the entire guide and are looking for a quick summary, here are some of the most important pointers:
#1 Start a Blog
The problem with most blogging tips is that 95% of these tips are simply outdated or require too many resources (time or money), so you can’t keep up and give up too soon.
Because of this, I have looked for a way that works for the ‘normal situation’ and can be followed easily no matter what niche you are in. It is also almost infinitely scalable.
[Step #1] Don’t be a blogger
The first step is to understand that you don’t have to be a blogger to build a successful and highly profitable blog (even if that sounds contradictory).
You are first and foremost the CEO and not the content creator.
CEOs of large content marketing companies such as hubspot.com, Shopify, bluehost.com, and ahrefs.com do not waste their time sitting down and writing over 1000 words of content every single day.
… and yet their blogs bring millions upon millions of visitors in traffic every month.
They see their blog as what it should be- a marketing tool that continuously brings in traffic, leads, and new sales for their company.
And they have a content team that takes care of the content creation. They produce valuable content at scale that their audience loves.
Of course, the first objection I always get at this point is-
Well, I don’t have the money to afford a content team and I’m practically forced to do everything alone.
If you follow my Blogging 2.0 approach, you will see that this is not the truth.
More on this at step #5: Guest blogging 2.0
[Step #2] Pick a niche with monetization potential
Before you start a blog, have a rough plan of how you want to monetize your blog. In other words: How you want to earn money with it.
[A] Affiliate Marketing: If you want to run your blog rather passively and with as little maintenance as possible, there should be enough potential for affiliate income.
Are there thematically suitable, physical products that you could promote as an affiliate? If so, you can start with Amazon’s affiliate program and earn money with it.
Although Amazon and affiliate marketing are both good options, selling your own products will leave you with 100% of the profit which is why it is the most sought after option.
For example- software, online programs, online coaching, etc.
A good place to start is to see which products your competitors are going to be promoting and start promoting those. You can also use HubSpot’s list of the best affiliate programs to get a few more ideas.
Image via HubSpot
[B] Own products: If you want to be a little more active and have the ability to earn more, your niche should offer you the potential to create your own products.
Typically these are digital products in the form of online courses / online programs/memberships (whatever you want to call it), such as the online course 1-2-3 Affiliate Marketing that Pat Flynn sells for a crazy $699!
Physically products are also a good option even if the product you plan on offering is quite a niche based one- a good example would be hair extensions.
I would also check if the possibility of selling some kind of software/app exists. If there are already providers who do this, that is basically a good sign.
A software example would be Formidable Forms, a company that offers a plugin that creates amazing WordPress Forms.
Another great example would have to be Nathan Barry, the founder of the email marketing tool Convertkit. He achieves fantastic sales figures year after year thanks to the recurring revenue his business brings in- 20+ million ARR (annually recurring revenue).
Keeping all of this in mind, you have to understand that the creation of an app or software is only possible if it fits into your niche which is why selecting a profitable niche is so important.
[C] Coaching & Consulting: If there are no affiliate products and no physical or digital products that can be sold in your niche (which is pretty rare)…
… you should at least have the possibility to monetize your blog traffic with coaching and consulting.
People spend a lot of money to receive the advice of someone they trust or look up to.
(Source)
The wide variety of options you can choose from is almost unlimited. Here are a few of them-
- Online marketing consultant
- Dog trainer
- social media consultant
- Fitness Coach
- Consultant for lead generation
- Vegan Consultant
- Anti-Depression Coach
- Sales Coach
- PR consultant
- SEO consultant
- Blog Traffic consultant
- Consultant for Conversion Optimization
- Copywriter
- Sales Funnel Consultant
- Amazon Expert
- Online Shop Consultant
- IT consultant
- Start-up coach
- Weight loss coach
- Success Coaching
- Communication trainer
- Application trainer
- Real Estate Coaching
- Trading Coach
- and so on
But remember that in classic coaching sessions you exchange time for money and you can find it hard to really scale your business since it will be almost impossible to outsource work. (see Key-Learning #2).
[Step #3] Find a niche with enough search volume
An equally important step is to check whether your niche is big enough to build a large blog.
Here is a good question to ask yourself:
Is there enough search volume in your niche that you could possibly generate 100.000+ visitors per month?
You can make sure of this very easily-
Enter 5 keywords into the Google search bar that you think could bring the largest number of searches.
If I wanted to build a blog that talks about “overcoming fears”, these 5 keywords could be as follows:
- overcoming fears
- Self-Confidence Tips
- Anxiety Disorder
- Ways to think positive
- panic attack
Now, look at which websites rank at the top for these five keywords and copy the top blog domains into an SEO tool, such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Ubersuggest.
Each of the above SEO tools can show you all the keywords for which the respective blog is ranking for. You can also see the search volume for each of the keywords.
If you now go through this process with five to ten competitor sites, you should find multiple keywords that have a good search volume.
If you can easily find relevant keywords in this way, which add up to around 300,000 searches per month, this is a good sign that there is enough search volume in your niche.
If this is not the case, read this post.
.[Step #4] Create 5 traffic-generating Articles
I basically differentiate between ‘traffic-generating’ keywords and ‘sales-generating’ keywords.
Traffic-generating keywords are keywords with large search volumes and a lot of competition.
If we stay with the example blog that talks about ‘overcoming fears’, these would be keywords like:
- depression (91.000 monthly searches)
- anxiety disorder (21.000 monthly searches)
- panic attack (21.000 monthly searches)
- mindfulness (18,000 monthly searches)
- self-confidence (12.000 monthly searches)
The goal is to create a mega article for each of these 5 keywords. Focus on creating 5,000 – 10,000 word articles and thorough guides, which are not yet available.
Let a lot of passion, creativity, and time be thrown into these articles. The best way to approach this is, “These five articles will be better than anything currently online.”
I know that sounds difficult and scary, but start small and work your way up piece by piece. Then it’s not too much of a problem.
Once you’ve done that (I know it’s a lot of work but it’ll be worth it), all that is missing is the last piece of the puzzle:
[Step #5] Guest Blogging 2.0
A blog will only be successful if you create good content and build backlinks. Period.
We just discussed how you can create good content (if you want to go deeper into the topic – read this) and now let us look at the second half of the puzzle- building backlinks.
To see success from your link-building efforts, you need two things:
- Backlinks from other websites with a high domain authority (DA)
- A passive system that creates these backlinks for you without you having to write content to the point of insanity.
Install the Chrome Extension from MOZ in step 1. This will show you the Domain Authority (DA) of any website directly in the search results.
Make a list of 100 websites with a DA of at least 30- the higher the better.
In step 2, you need to write an email to the content managers of these websites (you can find an email template here) and ask if you can publish a guest article on their site.
If they agree to let you publish a guest post, you need to decide upon a topic in step 3 and use a freelance ghostwriter to create the content for you.
You can learn how to get this content for free by following this guide here.
Now that we are at step 4, you have to include 2 to 3 links to your own website within the guest post and send in the completed piece to the content manager you have spoken to.
As soon as the article is published – step 5 – you will receive valuable links from domains with a high DA.
Your rankings, visitors, and income will increase with every backlink you get.
Pro-Tip: If you want to learn how to outsource the entire process (find blogs to guest post for, send emails, suggest article topics, write guest articles, include links, etc.) …
… and make money while you do it, you should read this guide here.
This way you can focus on your own content and build backlinks and domain authority through an automated process.
Top #2 Favorite – Amazon FBA
My second favorite way to make money online is Amazon FBA.
I started selling products on Amazon in the early months of 2017 and 2018 was the first year I made over 1 million dollars in sales.
I still look back at the moment when my daily earnings hit the $1,100 mark (which is about $1,100) for the first time.
I still have the business today, even though my own blog is now my main focus.
If you want to start with Amazon FBA today, I recommend you follow these steps-
#2 Amazon FBA
First of all: What is Amazon FBA?
Amazon FBA means “Fulfillment by Amazon”. Amazon takes over the job of shipping your products and everything that needs to be done with it. This includes stuff like warehousing, packaging, returns, refunds, etc.
But for the person making money online and selling their own products using Amazon FBA, it means much more than that. We are building a complete business based on this.
(Quelle)
[Step #1] The product research
Similar to the keyword research you have to do when creating a blog, you have to focus on product research when you want to sell on Amazon.
The first step is to find products that sell well (10+ sales per day – preferably more), have a sales price of about $20-40, and, if possible, are not subject to seasonal fluctuations.
A few tools that make your research work extremely easy are Helium 10 or JungleScout. Both of these tools give you everything you need to sell products on Amazon.
Once you set it up, all you have to do is set up your desired filters…
… and you receive hundreds if not thousands of product suggestions.
You can even consider using a FBA Chrome Extensions like Helium 10 which can be extremely helpful when you are researching products.
All you have to do is enter relevant search terms that are associated with potential products in Amazon. Then activate the extension, and you will get deep market insights such as search volume, average price, sales volume, amount of sales per product, revenue per product, etc.
Whether or not you become successful with Amazon FBA depends on the choice of your product.
The odds of you succeeding with Amazon are much higher if you launch a product that is significantly better than what is currently online.
And by ‘better’, I mean something that has-
- New features / new functions
- Better design, Better Color Palette
- Better price/performance ratio
- More content
- Product bundle
- Larger color/variant selection
- Significantly better product presentation (e.g. 3D renderings instead of photos)
Try to get away from the ‘me too’ thinking as quickly as possible and create something that has visibly more value for the customer and sets you apart from your competitors.
I know this is hard, but if it were easy, 95% of all people that tried to sell products on Amazon would not fail.
[Step #2] Sourcing your product
Once you have created a list of potential products, the second step is to calculate your profit margin.
Only when you have found a potential product that meets the above criteria and for which you can expect a margin of at least 20% – 30%, you can proceed to the next step.
Example:
Our product research has revealed that ‘men’s wallets’ could be a potential product category.
First, we look at the prices and try to understand what the average pricing is.
Once we understand what the average pricing is, we can move on to the second step and go to alibaba.com or 1688.com (you can find more alternatives here) and search for manufacturers of this product or similar options.
Most of the time, you are going to be bombarded with countless manufacturers.
Now you are going to have to filter out options you do not want by adding certain filters (verified supplier, how long the company has existed for, price, etc.) and contact 20 to 30 (or more) suppliers by email.
After this, you will receive numerous quotes from different manufacturers with which you can make your final price calculation.
To help you do this, you can use the Amazon FBA calculator, which you can download here.
(Source)
When the purchase price and the rest of the details are finalized, you can place the order. Usually, you pay 30% upfront and make the rest of the payment when the entire production process is finished (and after inspection of the final product).
You can take a look at some of the pictures of our products shortly after production here-
[Step #4] Product Listing
While your product is being manufactured and shipped, you can take care of setting up the Amazon listing. For this, you need to create an Amazon Seller Account.
Your product listing is where you get to show customers what your product is about and what makes it special. It is important to get the most out of this opportunity by making your listing as appealing as possible to potential customers.
Here is a great example:
As you can see we have:
- a visually appealing product image (the most important element)
- more product pictures with descriptions of the product
- An eye-catching headline with great keyword usage
- Attractive bullet points that communicate both customer benefits and product features
Pro tip: Use 3D modeling software to create images for your product instead of normal product photos. Your product will be designed from scratch using this software and then adding the necessary materials or lighting to make the pictures perfect. You can do all of this without touching a camera.
The final result is simply amazing and is far more attractive to potential customers.
(Source)
We were able to permanently double the turnover and profit of one of our products by simply replacing the main photo with a rendering created using 3D modeling software.
[Step #5] Product launch
Once your listing is live and your first batch of products is ready to be shipped, it’s time for the big launch.
There are many ways to get the word out whether that is through your own email list, influencers, or external traffic.
We have had the best experience with the following method, which is also very simple but incredibly effective.
- Lower the price so that you can reach a break-even point. (no profit-no loss)
- I would also suggest you get some initial reviews for your new product. You can use Amazon’s internal rating system (Amazon Vine) or use external review providers like FeedbackExpress.
- Switch over to using Amazon ads for two to three of your main keywords (exact match). Do this as much as you can afford to.
- After about 8 to14 days (depending on the competition), you should rank on the first page of Amazon’s product listing for your desired keyword.
- Increase your sales price gradually without sacrificing your sales or your sales rank (Best Seller Rank).
Here you can see an example of a successful product launch which was started with only 9,99€ …
… and moved it’s way up to 17.98 as you can see below:
My experience with Amazon FBA:
I think it’s a good business model. It can be operated very passively. You don’t have to go out in public and you can handle almost everything remotely ‘in a quiet little room’.
However, the downsides should also be mentioned:
- Dependence: Be aware that you are dependent on many different third parties if you decide to go this route: Amazon, manufacturers, logistics companies, etc. It often feels as if you are dependent on Amazon and cannot make certain business decisions for yourself.
- Slow growth: Since you have to pay for your goods before you can sell them, you need start-up capital to make this business model a reality and because of this you can only grow slowly.
- You do not own your customer base: For me, the biggest issue with this model is that I have no customers of my own. Even if they buy my products, I don’t have the email address of the customer nor does the customer say: “I bought this from you”. They will always say, “I bought this from Amazon.”
Top #3 Favorite – Coaching & Consulting
My third favorite way to make money online is Coaching & Consulting.
This market has been growing consistently for several years …
(Source)
…and will most likely continue to do so in the years to come.
(Source)
So, there is obviously a need for knowledge and information. If you enjoy the concept of helping companies or individuals solve their problems, you can make a lot of money as a coach or consultant.
But, how can you start?
#3 Coaching & Consulting
Well, if you want to earn money with Coaching & Consulting, you are usually faced with two major challenges:
- What is my exact positioning/niche?
- How do I get new customers?
A good book, which I would recommend you read in advance and which tends to provide more clarity, is Expert Secrets.
It is one of the few books I recommend to my readers and with good reason-
After this, I recommend you follow the next few steps I have laid out-
[Step #1] Find your niche
In the beginning, it is important to find your niche and your positioning, because you do not want to be caught being a jack of all trades and a master of none. Simply put-
It is extremely difficult to be the best in the world at everything but it is surprisingly easy to be the best in the world when you focus on one specific thing.
In order to create a certain amount of clarity for yourself, place yourself and your niche in one of the following 3 main markets:
- Health
- Relationships
- Money
If you find it difficult to place yourself in one of these 3 main markets, you can also consider the ‘Hobby’ market (4th market).
Now try to narrow yourself and your market down further so that we get to a submarket level. That would look something like this:
- Health
- Nutrition
- Losing weight
- Training, etc.
- Relations
- Dating
- Love
- Divorce, etc.
- Money
- Investments
- Online business
- Selling Stock
- Real estate, etc.
Now, take the final step of delving even further into your sub-market so that you arrive at the niches you can possibly focus on.
That could be something like:
- Health > Losing weight > Losing weight for women who are in their 60s
- Relationships > Dating > Dating tips for women over the age of 50
- Money > Online Business > Search engine optimization (SEO) for eCommerce
Now that you have narrowed down on your niche, you still need to create an elevator pitch for your services.
Your elevator pitch is a brief description of your services that are going to be on offer and it is your best chance of convincing a potential customer to hire you.
This is why it is exceedingly important to get your elevator pitch just right.
To create a great elevator pitch you need to ask yourself, ‘Why are potential customers paying me?’
Answer: ‘Because I help them move from their current situation that feels like hell on earth to their desired situation (heaven).’
A good start for your elevator pitch would be the template below:
I help {group of people} with {solving the problem / achieving the result}, so that they have {the greatest benefit / value}.
An example:
I help {single people who are over the age of 40} to find {their soulmate} so that they {never have to deal with loneliness again and always feel like they have someone to speak to which is how they can experience an all-round happy love life}.
This brings me to an important point- Do not emphasize only the features that your service is offering, but focus on the benefits a potential customer may gain through your coaching/consulting.
This is a great example from the health market-
Old: I’m selling a fitness class.
New: I help entrepreneurs with little time to lose weight healthily and permanently, so that they can achieve their dream figure without giving up great food and give 100% in their business again.
New: I help people who are strapped for time loose weight quickly and permanently so that they can knock off the pounds that are keeping them from having the figure of their dreams. These classes help you do this without giving up the food you love so that you can give 100% whenever you get to work.
My second example comes from the relationship market-
Old: I have an online course in the relationship market
New: I help couples who are trying to save their marriage take the steps they need to save it and fall in love with each other all over again.
Finally, here is a third example that focuses on the money market-
Old: I am a business consultant.
New: I help online businesses attract new customers and make more money with each new visitor so that they have higher profit margins, a better ROI, and can grow twice as fast.
[Step #2] Focus on one traffic source
Every company always needs one basic ingredient: traffic.
I recommend that you focus on a traffic source for your coaching & consulting business that suits your abilities and personality.
A few options would be-
- Audio (Podcast)
- Video (YouTube) or
- Text (Blog)
You can also choose to follow the ‘PPC’ route (i.e. Facebook ads, YouTube ads, Instagram ads, LinkedIn ads, etc.), but for most people, this is out of the question due to a lack of disposable cash.
Because of this, I would suggest you focus on organic traffic instead of spending tons of money needlessly.
If that works and you have a constant and dependable stream of organic traffic, you can give advertising a try to further boost your reach.
If you are interested in starting a podcast of your own, I recommend you check out this guide that Pat Flynn created. He knows everything there is to know about podcasts and runs an incredibly successful one himself.
If you would rather create video content through a platform like YouTube, I recommend this guide by Brian Dean.
And if you want to attract coaching and consulting clients by starting a blog of your own, you can go through Ryan Robinson’s extremely thorough ‘How to start a blog’ guide.
[Step #3] Create a product that reflects your coaching abilities
Classical coaching & consulting happens 1:1 or in groups. That means you exchange your time for money.
If you are happy with that- great! Keep up the good work.
On the other hand, if you become increasingly dissatisfied with this because you do not want to be tied to a constant schedule and location, you could consider creating products for your coaching business as soon as you have a few customers.
This will allow you to expand your reach while also having more time for yourself.
Turning your service into a product.
Most of the time, every method of coaching, consulting, or passing on knowledge can be digitized in the form of online coaching.
This can be incredibly liberating for you without your customers having to deal with any loss in quality. More often than not, it is the opposite.
[Step #4] Scale and dominate
Once you have transferred your knowledge into a product format through online coaching, it can be really exciting since you now have the necessary resources and profit margin to scale.
In step 4, focus on building systems that make your work easier and lead to further growth.
Also, build a small team to maintain and grow these systems. This team will also take over the parts of the company that cannot be automated so that you can take a step back and make your income mostly passive.
Always deliver the best product possible.
At this point, you can move from being just self-employed to being an entrepreneur which for the majority of people brings with it freedom and the ability to have fun.
My experience with Coaching & Consulting
Coaching and Consulting is a great business model if you enjoy helping other people/companies with problems they are facing using your own expertise. This is why it is in my top 3 favorite business models.
Here are some of the things you should keep in mind if you decide to start a consulting business of your own-
- High-profit margins – Almost no other business model has profit margins that are as high as the margins you will enjoy with coaching and consulting services. The disadvantage with this option is that because of the classic 1:1 dynamic, you have to exchange your time for money.
- 1:1 cap – When it comes to your resources (mainly time), you will soon reach your limits. This is why digitizing and creating a product as quickly as possible is imperative to your business model. You can then sell it in the form of an online program/online coaching, for example. This also reduces the risk of burning out and lays the foundation for further growth.
- Creating a team – Even if you are the face of your brand (personal brand), you do not have to do everything alone. As soon as your cash flow allows you to, you should build a small team and outsource parts of your coaching / consulting to that team. These parts can be areas within your business model that do not need your personal attention and can be handled by someone else.
- Traffic – No matter what business model you choose- every business needs a customer base and visitors. When you are just starting out, choose a traffic source that suits you the best. This can be- Audio (podcast), video (YouTube), or text (blog). Your aim should be to master this traffic source before you scale your business.
24 more ways to make money online
The first three business models we covered (#1 starting a blog, #2 Amazon FBA, #3 coaching & consulting) are my all-time favorites when it comes to making money on the internet.
If you need more suggestions or inspiration, you can find 24 more ways to make money online below.
However, I can only recommend these to a limited extent since the first three we discussed are the most profitable from my point of view. The options below may also overlap with the three we just went through.
#4 Become a highly paid freelancer
Freelancers are in great demand today – whether on-site or remote. If you have digital skills, you can start your career online as a highly paid freelancer.
In the first step, take a look at PeoplePerHour. There are thousands of freelance projects in various industries:
Apart from this, there are also sites like Indeed, ProBlogger, UpWork, freelancer.com, Craigslist, and others that allow freelancers to connect with high-paying clients.
#5 Launch your own YouTube channel
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YouTube is one of the most fascinating and powerful platforms of this decade. When you combine your YouTube channel with a blog, it can be an absolute gold mine.
When most people think of YouTube, they only think about the direct ad revenues, which, as you can see in the example above, can be quite substantial ($129,000 USD per month).
But making money with YouTube doesn’t stop at ad revenues. You can use your YouTube reach and:
- Advertise products as an affiliate
- Promote your own products (digital or physical)
- Enter into sponsorships with other companies
- Promote your own Merch
- Promote your own services
Since the medium of video can convey more emotions and trust than text can, a dedicated YouTube channel is normally really good at converting an audience into buyers or fans.
If you do everything right with your YouTube channel, you have the advantage that a video, once recorded, will generate views, subscribers, and income for years to come. This is very similar to the blogging business model which also has the possibility of passive income.
If you have a problem with being in front of the camera – that is okay as well!
It is not a requirement. There are countless channels out there that bring home thousands of views, subscribers, and a good amount of income without showing their faces. For example:
You can go ahead and grab the Social Blade tool and analyze a few existing YouTube channels of your choice. This will show you that there are hardly any channels that do not grow- even when new videos are not constantly being uploaded.
#6 Start a Podcast
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If language is your strength and you are great at expressing your thoughts, you should consider starting a podcast. The number of podcast listeners is only growing.
In the U.S. alone, there are over 165 million people who have listened to a podcast!
There are also more than 850,000 active podcasts at the moment and the number is only growing.
You can build up an audience just like with a blog or a YouTube channel and monetize it.
To get started, all you need is minimal recording equipment and the right podcast hosting provider. If you have that, you are ready to go!
#7 Create meaningful niche sites
The very first online successes I had were with niche sites.
I had only made the mistake of thinking that sustainability was not that important. This led to my revenues decreasing over time.
This is why I recommend that you create meaningful niche sites. Or even better- niche blogs.
A good example is GearPatrol– a niche blog that reviews tons of products while also targeting a predominantly male audience. Their whiskey and bourbon reviews bring in a consistent stream of visitors every month.
Once you have built up your organic traffic, you can also include other channels in your marketing mix (YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Podcast, etc.).
You can also choose to monetize your website in different ways. Here are some examples: your own physical and digital products, coaching & consulting, affiliate marketing, etc.
After this, you can use your surplus earnings to hire a small team that can take over most of the work for you.
#8 Earn money online with dropshipping
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Dropshipping can be a good business model for you if you are just starting out in the world of online businesses.
You set up an online shop (You can use Shopify for this), list products that you would like to provide, and then make sure that targeted traffic is directed towards your shop (more on this in a moment).
As soon as you receive the orders, you alert your supplier and send over the details of the order. He will deliver the orders directly to your customers.
This means that you do not have to pay for anything in advance since you first receive the order (and the money for it) from your customers before you place the order with your supplier.
| Dropshipping | Amazon FBA | |
| Investment | low | high |
| Profit Margin | low | higher |
| Risk | low | higher |
| Customer Base | Your own customer | Amazon’s customer |
| Shipping | slow | fast |
| Competition | high | higher |
| Customizable | yes | no |
Of course, dropshipping as a business model has a few downsides, but show me one that doesn’t!
Ben Francis, the founder of Gymshark, for example, also started out with dropshipping because he did not have the capital for inventory in his early days.
Today, Gymshark has an annual turnover of more than 300 million.
Recommendation:
Most people who decide to start dropshipping tend to rely on ads for their traffic (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc.).
However, I do not recommend this, because you will completely ruin your profit margins that are already quite low. (If you can make it profitable at all).
My recommendation is to rely on influencers instead.
Find suitable micro-influencers (Instagram, TikTok, etc.) for your product, make a list of influencers you want to reach out to, and make a deal that suits both parties.
This way you have no ongoing ad costs and can grow organically quickly.
#9 Start your affiliate marketing business
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Affiliate marketing is a fantastic way to monetize traffic that comes to your website.
You don’t need your own product and you can earn most of your money passively.
During my early days, I specialized in Amazon Affiliate Marketing and built up several affiliate projects in different niches.
This generated about $6,000 in profit every month and at the same time opened my eyes to the possibility of a ‘whole new world’.
From time to time I shared my insights, successes, and failures on AffiliateProjekt.de
If you want to make money with affiliate marketing, take a look at this comprehensive guide: Affiliate Marketing for Beginners that will teach you how to start with a step-by-step process.
It does not always have to be physical products that you are an affiliate for. Digital products (software, online courses, online programs, etc.) usually have much higher commissions for you as an affiliate. Some affiliate programs also have recurring payments every month which makes them a consistent source of income as you refer more customers.
So, if you refer a customer to a subscription-based product where they would be making monthly payments, you would get a consistent percentage in commission every month that they use the service.
#10 Launch your own SaaS company
Start your own Software as a Service (SaaS) Company That sounds pretty ‘big’ – doesn’t it?
Yeah, I guess so. But if you take it one step at a time, it’s not much different than creating a blog, starting a YouTube channel, or building up an Amazon FBA business.
A good example would be Syed Balkhi, who is the owner of WPBeginner and the creator of multiple well-known software products like OptinMonster and WPForms.
Another great example would have to be Nathan Barry with his email marketing software ConvertKit. This is a great example of how you can create a SaaS company that generates thousands every month and is a business in its own right.
ConvertKit currently generates over 20 million in ARR (annual recurring revenue) and there is no end in sight in terms of growth.
#11 Buy and sell domain names
Even if domain trading is not as easy as it was 10 years ago, you can still make good money with it.
The principle behind it is as follows:
You buy popular domain names for price X and then sell them for a much higher price to interested customers so you can pocket the profit margin.
If you are interested in this business model, check out Sedo. You will find countless potential domains there that you could consider buying.
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As you can see, especially for .com domains, prices often reach 6 or 7 digits, which shows you the increasing demand for them.
For example, I originally wanted to buy BeAwesome.com, but the owner wanted $350,000 which is why I decided to buy the AwesomeX.com instead as it was already available for a much cheaper amount.
#12 Host webinars
Hosting webinars is a fantastic way to make money online for a bunch of reasons.
You are offering tons of value, drawing attention to your offer, and generating sales all at the same time.
Even if you don’t have a product of your own, you can host webinars and earn money by promoting products as an affiliate.
Some webinar providers such as WebinarJam and EverWebinar allow you to host Evergreen webinars.
This means that you pre-produce your webinar/video and can then run it in a continuous loop on autopilot whenever a new customer signs up to watch it.
Create a visually appealing PowerPoint presentation (Windows) or Keynote presentation (Mac) and add in some of your best content for the first 30 minutes.
Afterward, you can pitch your (affiliate) product and generate sales.
#13 Become an influencer
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As an influencer, you hold an extremely important asset right in the palm of your hand: the attention of your target audience. This is the internet’s new currency and everyone wants a slice of the pie.
Whether you are a blogger, a YouTuber, an Instagramer or a TikToker… the most important thing is that you have visitors, page views, subscribers, and a loyal audience.
Building that audience is the hardest part. Once you’ve built that audience and set up various systems to keep it growing, there are no limitations to your overall income growth.
You can then monetize your social media channels with affiliate marketing, your own physical and digital products, sponsorships, services, and numerous other opportunities.
#14 Start your own Airbnb business
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If you want to make money with real estate, starting an Airbnb business could be something that would work for you.
What does this business model look like?
You rent or buy a property (or use one you already own), and then rent it out by making it available on the Airbnb platform.
Research tools like AIRDND, help you make data-backed decisions which will help increase your chances of walking out of the deal with a profit.
Usually, you furnish the apartment in an aesthetically pleasing way, set up the listing on Airbnb, and help your listing rank by focusing on Airbnb SEO.
I can only recommend this business model to a limited extent since it is quite a platform-dependent way to make money.
You can only customize your online business to a certain level and you don’t really have a firm grip on the steering wheel since your business model is heavily dependent on another company- in this case, you are dependent on Airbnb.
#15 Sell your knowledge through an online course platform
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Udemy, Skillshare, and other platforms are fantastic ways to monetize your expertise and knowledge.
If you start selling courses online, these platforms offer you a decisive advantage: traffic.
So you ‘only’ really have to take care of the creation of your online course. This is different from other options on this list since you will not need to create a blog or YouTube channel to market your course. You will be benefiting from their already existing customer base so there is less work involved.
If you publish an affordable but high-quality course on these platforms, you can also include upsells to more expensive courses, which you can then sell directly on your website (away from any competition).
In this way, you can also direct the traffic from Udemy, Skillshare, and other platforms to your own website.
#16 Make money online with your coding skills
In the digital world, there is one thing that will always be a necessity: Coding.
If you know your way around code, you can offer your services to companies and get paid for it.
Specialization would be a good call if you want to get into coding since this field is simply too large to always be able to implement everything perfectly.
For example, I really appreciate when a coder has different perspectives in mind (Examples: the customer, the entrepreneur, the marketer, the SEO, etc.) and is then extremely adept in a certain field such as User Experience (UX) or Website Performance Optimization.
#17 Make money as a Ghostwriter
What do you think will always be needed in the era of content marketing (today’s era)?
Content and marketing of course!
And if we limit ourselves to just the written word when it comes to content, you are going to need someone to create that text.
If languages are your strength, then you can start out as a ghostwriter for other bloggers and entrepreneurs and get paid for each project while you build up your own business on the side so that you can become more independent and make your income more passive.
Having your own blog that you work on is also really appreciated by clients (at least I do) since it shows them that you really know the ins and outs of creating stellar content.
By the way- I am always looking for new talent and creative people who love to create unique content. If that is something you may be interested in, I would love for you to reach out.
#18 Launch a membership site
No matter what niche you are in – Memberships are a great way to monetize your audience or followers by giving them extra value for an additional cost.
The owner of SucculentsAndSunshine.com (a website about succulents) …
… makes over $200,000 every single year!
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While the above example is a website, it does not always have to be. You can also create a membership service with the help of an app. Gymshark is a great example of this:
#19 Earn money as an app developer
This brings us to the next opportunity to earn money online – as app developers.
Whether it is for the financial industry, gaming, automotive, medical technology, telecommunications, electronics – app developers are always in great demand.
Similar to website developers, you should have the ability to talk about any topic under the ‘app developing umbrella’ while also being an expert in one or a few areas in specific.
#20 Create an eCommerce website and sell physical products
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The eCommerce business is still booming and always will be!
In 2021, 2.14 billion people will shop online. With a total population of around 7.7 billion people, that is 25% of the world’s population – and no end in sight.
What does that mean for you? eCommerce is a fantastic way to make money on the Internet.
Take NanoHearingAids.com as an example.
The owner, Robert Carlson, sells hearing aids directly to consumers through his Shopify store and has a daily turnover of over $100,000.
The products are purchased at an absolute bargain from China…
… and resold to customers with a great profit margin.
…and his main traffic comes from Facebook and Instagram using ads that are as cheap as a few cents per visitor…
Once you have set up a system like this one, you can reinvest a portion of your profits in additional traffic sources and more long-term products to establish yourself in the market for good.
#21 Use your knowledge to create eLearning programs
Selling eLearning programs can be extremely profitable.
You only have to create the course once as compared to physical products that need to be manufactured constantly for every new customer. After you create a course, you can then sell it a million times over with no additional effort.
Of course, you will have to update the course regularly over the years, but the fact remains: eLearning and online programs are highly profitable.
The calculation is simple:
- 100,000 visitors come to your blog every month
- 1,000 visitors convert to email subscribers (1% opt-in rate)
- 30 of them buy your online program (3% sales rate)
If your program costs $297: 30 sales x $297 =$ 8,910 in sales per month
If your program costs $497: 30 sales x $497 = $14,910 in sales per month
If your program costs $997: 30 sales x $997 = $29,910 in sales per month
These are average figures I have calculated, and it could increase substantially for a couple of reasons-
- 1% opt-in rate and 3% conversion rate (which are both quite low and you may see higher rates for yourself)
- no upsells, downsells and profit maximizers were considered
- traffic could be increased tenfold (by focusing on growing your blog or adding other social media channels to the mix such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, etc.)
#22 Working as a Virtual Assistant (VA)
Never before has the demand for virtual assistants been as high as it is today.
Whether we are talking about preparing the business accounts, research work, managing emails, customer support, writing texts, customer acquisition – the list of tasks you could take on is practically endless.
As a virtual assistant, you get to work remotely, be independent of location, and you can also usually schedule your own working hours.
If you are thinking about earning money online as a virtual assistant, consider joining a few Facebook groups to connect with the community.
If you are part of some of these Facebook groups, you can use them to find new job postings since most groups have new ones added almost every day.
Here are some of my favorites:
- Virtual Assistant Hiring- Homebased Jobs
- Virtual Assistant (VA) Jobs
- Virtual Assistant Savvies
- Virtual Assistant Tribe Job Board
My recommendation:
Working as a virtual assistant means you have to work 1:1 with your client, you can’t really scale your business, your income is capped, and you are basically trading your very valuable time for money.
So instead, you should build up your own business or side hustle at the same time, which will allow you to stand on your own two feet after a few years of growth.
Whether it is your own blog, a YouTube channel, or something similar, the focus should be on gaining digital assets that will allow you to stop trading your own time for money.
#23 Write and sell eBooks (Amazon Self-Publishing)
So many people dream of writing a book, but they never go through with it.
If you put your skills and knowledge into a downloadable eBook that helps people learn a skill, advance their career, or start a business, you can change someone’s life and even make some money out of it online.
Even better, you can upload your own book to the world’s largest bookseller: Amazon.
With Amazon Self-Publishing, you set the price.
Plus, you keep the rights to your book while gaining access to Amazon’s vast audience.
For every sale you bring in 70% of the profit goes to you while the remaining 30% is given to Amazon as part of their cut.
And when you ‘see the bigger picture’, your own book can be the starting point for many new possibilities. It can also be the first step of a future sales funnel that you can create.
#24 Get paid for your creativity (graphic designer)
In this day and age of content creation and creativity, the demand for graphic designers is constantly on the rise.
New talent is introducing itself into the market every day which is why it is imperative that no matter what industry you’re in, you give yourself a way to stand out and differentiate yourself from your competitors.
Besides your work for clients as a graphic designer (logo design, web design, t-shirt design, packaging design, illustration design, app design, etc.), I recommend every designer should also take a step into the world of marketing and build up one or two additional sources of income that can be your safety net.
This could be through your own blog, a YouTube channel, an online course, affiliate marketing, etc. I think it is important not to put all your eggs into one basket.
#25 Email marketing
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Email marketing is anything but dead. On the contrary, emails are one of the few marketing channels that generate the highest return on investment (ROI).
With a well-thought-out email marketing strategy, you will get better conversion rates than, for example, via social media.
How does it work?
- In the first step, you are going to need to grow your organic traffic.
- Then you offer your visitors something free but valuable to download. This can be anything: a case study, a crash course, a 7-day challenge, a guide, a whitepaper, etc.
- In return you will receive the email address of the interested visitor.
- Now you set up an email sequence to promote your offer. This could be for an online course, your software, affiliate products, events, seminars, physical products- pretty much anything.
- This follow-up Sequence will be sent out automatically over the next few days or weeks to your prospective customers using an email marketing service like ConvertKit.
- A certain percentage of your email list will buy the product and you get to earn money.
#26 Find a remote team (part-time or full time)
The number of companies looking for remote employees is only growing and the classic office is no longer a necessity for businesses across the world.
This could mean an opportunity for you since you are no longer limited to finding a job in your local town- you can find a job pretty much anywhere whether that is in Europe or Australia is pretty much up to you,
You can find tons of remote job opportunities on these job boards-
#27 Master SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the channel that enjoys some of the best conversion rates.
More than anything else, SEO is not dead either. In fact, SEO will exist as long as people search for content. Whether it is Google, Voice, AI, or YouTube.
If you are passionate about SEO and seem to have a knack for it, it is definitely worth pursuing. The more knowledge you gain in this field- the better.
You will then have numerous possibilities to choose from-
- SEO Consulting: Companies are willing to pay you in the thousands if you help them to become organically visible. This could be through content marketing, link building, blogging, etc. You can advise companies as an SEO consultant and get paid for it. You can also choose to specialize in a certain topic. This could be Google SEO, Amazon SEO, YouTube SEO, etc.
- Own projects: Even at the risk of repeating myself: I’m a big fan of focusing on your own projects because you are your own boss and make all the decisions for your company. If you choose to set up your own projects such as a blog or a YouTube channel (also possible on the side), you can be living the life you envisioned with the help of SEO. This would mean being able to work remotely, be financially independent, and even being able to find your purpose.
- Online programs: As soon as you have achieved real success for yourself or your clients, you can pack all of your knowledge and the process you used to get real results into an online course so that you can sell it to your audience. This is often a great way to bring in a constant stream of revenue. It can also help your profits double or triple with the help of your own customers and pre-existing clients.
- Software: If you know your market inside-out and have built up a dependable source of income through it (for example through your own projects), you can think about developing your own SEO software and selling it to interested customers. As you have seen in the example of Convertkit, SaaS companies can be extremely profitable and can give you a long-term place in the market.
Conclusion
Today there are countless opportunities to earn money online.
I recommend building digital assets (blog, YouTube channel, podcast) so that you can make money without using up every spare second of your day.
Once you have set up a system that brings you continuous traffic, you can monetize it in multiple different ways. This could be through affiliate marketing, physical products, digital products (software, online courses), events, merchandise, etc.
I suggest you take the ‘audience-first’ route where you build up a small audience first and then launch a product. This has a lower risk attached to it, is more promising, and is far more sustainable.
Building up your audience is the hardest part but if you can get through this phase, you are virtually unstoppable and you can continue to grow your income in numerous ways.
After all, Steve Maraboli said it best, ” Get-rich-quick schemes are for the lazy & unambitious. Respect your dreams enough to pay the full price for them.”
Which way to make money online are you going to try for yourself?
