Many people search for ways to make money online. Many bloggers find a way to create that extra income. Often what one person does online to make money is not what the next person does. Everyones skill sets and likes and dislikes are different. But there is money to be made out there. I have been online for about 10 years and blogging for about the last 2. I have found ways that works for me, and had friends find ways to make money that works for them.
If your goal in 2011 is to make money online, I will share my story with you. I dont by any means think I am a pro blogger, but just like I started out, everyone needs to.
I started making money earlier this year after I lost my job. Since I have a degree in graphic design I decided to put it to good use. I started offering graphic services to other bloggers. That business has really taken off and I am now making half of what I was making outside my home designing sites print materials. I also transfer content from Blogger to WordPress. I still needed a way to make up the difference in what I was use to making. So I stopped blogging for free. I now reply to every pitch with pricing, then I delete the email. If they are interested they will email me back, if not, I keep moving on. I believe about half the time I get a response accepting a paid option. Doing this has gotten me almost to my monthly income goals.
To bring in even more money, I also utilize affiliates, there are many affiliate networks out there. You can pick and choose which affiliates will work for you. Since I am a graphic designer, I am an affiliate for all WordPress theme developers and all hosting services. When a customer needs a premium theme or hosting services, I just forward them a link. For me this makes me a pretty good bit of money monthly.
I also utilize advertising on my site with ad networks and Google Adsense. I don’t make that much money with those yet, but with a bit of work on placement I can increase my monthly earnings easily.
These are several good tips on how I use my skills and interest to make a monthly income from online activities. Like I said everyone is different, do what you like, let others know you offer services, and put your self out there. Getting started making money online takes some time, but once you get going, your online income will only grow. Some options to look into are:
- Paid to blog networks
- Writing content
- Paid survey websites
- Affiliate product selling
- Freelancing jobs
Good luck in the new year to your money making goals.
thanks for the tip on replying to pitches
I often get a lot of things that people want me to write about, and although the topic may be of interest to me, I don’t have a hue desire to jump on writing it.
If It were a paid opportunity, I would be much more inclined to invest to the time and thought.
you are a smart smart lady!
Every day more and more people are looking for alternative ways to make money, or to earn a living, both in the online and offline worlds people are starting realize that having a “job” and working 40 hours a week for 40 years is not the ideal way to live.
Hey Jessica,
Contextual advertising like adsense is super hard from blogging and as you discovered, selling a product or service online is where most of the money is at. Without a product or service you need hundreds of thousands, if not millions of visitors a month to make enough from people clicking on your ads, especially if you’re in a low bid rate class that isn’t something like insurance, credit cards, or cd rates.
I like the look and feel of your idesign site, you’ve also got a lot of backlinks pointing back to it, so hopefully it’s pulling in good business for you.
Enjoy your holidays,
Ryan
Thanks for stopping by Ryan,
Fortunately I dont only use Google I also use a CPM ad network so that helps that I dont necessarily have to have the clicks. I am currently working on a few other ad networks too trying to find which ones are best for this site.
So share…. what is your preferred online money maker…
My favorite online money maker is local offline businesses since most don’t have a clue about social media, so local lead capture, mostly real estate… and of course niche sites like the one I’ve started today that I’m posting under 😉