Introduction
As the economy gets tough, many people begin to look for other sources of income. Instead of relying overly on traditional jobs to make a living, people are begin to look for other options. Many people turn online looking for way to make money online from home. Working from home is not only convenient, it is also very economical as people can safe on gas.
There are many ways to make money online from home. Many of these options require very little start up budget. They however require a good amount of discipline. Sometimes, people already have money making skills or talents but just don’t realize it. Those who do, usually do not know how to use these skills to make money.
With the internet and its global reach, people can find work from all over the world. Nowadays, there are many freelance platforms like upwork, toptal and fiverr that make it possible to do just that.
Examples
Take for example, Johnny who is very skilled at graphics design. To make money online, he can join a platform like Fiverr, where he will be able to create a profile, telling people about his skill sets.
Prospective buyers who are interested in his skill set can hire him to design graphics for them. Once he completes the said task, he gets paid. People make a full time income online this way.
Another example is Marty, the all around science genius who has mad science skills, enough to teach a dummy to make an A grade in any science course. Marty could make money online by joining a platform like Johnny did, or he could build his own website where he can sell his services directly.
The difference between the two examples above is that for one, you join a social platform and sell your services through them while for the other, you build your own website and sell you services directly.
The same example can apply to selling products too. You can either sell through an eCommerce site like eBay, or you can build your own website and sell your products directly. You can also do both.
As I mentioned earlier, there are many ways to make money online from home. In this post, I will focus on the direct method where you make money by building your own website and selling your products or services directly. Below is an outline of the process;
Build a website for free with free hosting
To make money online, you need a platform where you can display your goods or services to the world. Yes, the world because when you put something online (world wide web), it can be seen any where in the world with access to internet.
This platform where you display your products and/or services is a website. Many people will try to convince you that you can do it without a website but it is harder to build an email list and build authority in your niche, without a website.
Many people hear the word website and panic because one they think it might be too technical and two they are worried about the cost. Please do not panic.
In today’s innovative world, building a website is a breeze. There are many ways you can build a website in minutes for free. One of them is through Wealthy Affiliate.
Wealthy affiliate is a place where people go to learn about affiliate marketing and other types of online marketing. They offer a free and paid plan.
They make it possible to build a free or paid website in minutes. The good thing about their program is the fact that, you do not need to download anything to begin.
Once you have a website, you can display your products and/or services for the world to see.
There are many content management systems but the most popular one is WordPress. You can build a WordPress site for free and get it hosted for free too with Wealthy Affiliate. Use the box below to start.
Buy your domain name
A domain name is a name like abc.com and is required for every site. It’s like an address to your site without which people will not know how to find your site. Most domain names cost less than $15 a year.
When you build your free website with Wealthy Affiliate, you do not have to buy a domain name as this is included with the deal. Once you build a website, purchase a domain name, and personalize your website, you can begin to write content about you products and/or services.
How to create website content
This is one of the most important stages of making money online. You need to create captivating content on your website. Before you create your content, you need to perform keyword research to find keywords that will be easy to rank with.
After you find these keywords, you can write content that address the topic of the keyword. If you do a good job at this, you will begin to get organic traffic (free traffic) from search engines like Google and Bing.
The more traffic you get, the better your chances at making money.
Keyword research for a website
As the name suggest, this is simply a research you perform using either paid or unpaid tools, to find out what keywords or key phrases, people use online to find information about your products and/or services.
For better results, many online marketers use paid keyword research tools. One of the best of these tools is Jaaxy.
For a comprehensive review of Jaaxy, click here.
To read more about keyword research, click here.
There are many free tools you can use. Two of the best free tools are Bing keyword tool and google keyword planner.
Using ads to drive traffic to your website
You can get an edge over the competition by paying for traffic. You can do this via google, bing , solo ads or through a number of social media sites like Facebook and Pinterest.
This method is meant for those who have the money to spend.
Drive free traffic your website
There are many ways to drive free traffic to your website. The best way is to create captivating content and as I mentioned above, you need to carry out proper keyword research.
Other ways to drive free traffic include, posting in targeted groups on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
On Facebook, you can ask to join groups related to your niche. Post frequently to these groups and interact with the community to gain authority.
You can also build a Facebook page for your site and begin to recruit followers.
If you niche is product related, then creating a Pinterest account and pinning optimized pins can also help drive a good amount of traffic to your website.
Monetize your website
Create and sell tutorials and eBooks
There are many ways to monetize your website. One of theme is to create and sell training materials. If you are an expert at something, you can create educational material on that topic and sell it on your website.
Take Marty the science wiz for example. To make money on his website, he could write tutorials on a variety of science topics. Then sell these tutorials on his website to his guest.
Some people generate income by writing eBooks on a variety of topics. eBooks are easy and affordable to publish. Many writers publish their eBooks with Amazon and make regular income from the sales.
Publish Ads
Another popular way to make money with your website is to publish ads on your website. There are many options but the most popular is google adsense.
Other options that pay higher per click fees, usually require that your website get a minimum number of visitors a day. So, if you can work on getting high traffic to your website, you can make more money with ads.
Join Affiliate programs
Affiliate marketing is easily the most used method to make money online. You do not have to possess special skills like those of Johnny and Marty to make passive income online.
You can generate income online by referring people to buy the products or services of others. When you do this, you get paid a fraction of the purchase price of the goods or service as commission.
Affiliate marketing is a fast growing form of business that benefits both merchants and affiliates a like. It is easy to become an affiliate marketer as you do not need to have a product or service of your own to sell.
In conclusion
I hope this post has given you ideas on how you can make money online from home. You can stop procrastinating as this line of business is not hard to begin.
If you want more information on the process of setting up your online business, Check out my #1 recommendation for online marketing to learn more.
It’s free to join and you will get to build your first website for free.
