Nowadays, many people look for easy methods to gain extra cash. Thankfully, there are many ways to make money online, boost your monthly income, or even begin a new career.
In this guide, we’ll focus on short- and long-term money-making ideas to make extra cash by relying on digital resources. Find what suits you best based on your availability and needs.
Let’s get started!
1. Create A Newsletter
Revenue potential: You can start with $10/month per subscription, and reach up to $2000 through sponsorships as your audience grows.
Global email users are expected to reach 4.6 billion by 2025. Consumers spend lots of time in their mailboxes daily for work or personal purposes. From communicating with colleagues to searching for product sales or new content, this channel is increasingly gaining ground in consumers’ trust.
If you enjoy content writing and have a certain expertise or passion for a field, you can start your own newsletter and profit from it by building a premium subscription with exclusive content. Exploding Topics and the Motley Fool are great examples to get inspired.
You can start small by sharing a landing page on your social platforms to gradually build an audience. Once you gain more traction, you can invest in a website and motivate your greatest fans to move to premium. Explain all the benefits they’ll reap if they do so and try to reach up to their expectations. Here’s how Stacked Marketer approached it:
Before monetizing your newsletter, check the competitors’ pricing in your niche to stay ahead of the curve. As your email list and audience grows, you can also partner with sponsors and earn more money by sharing their content or brand assets in your newsletter.
To start creating newsletters and managing your audience, you need a scalable email marketing solution with user-friendly features and pricing that only increases when your audience and revenue grow.
2. E-Commerce Platforms To Build Online Stores
Revenue potential: You can reach up to $63,000 in monthly revenue in three months and up to $127,000 in year one.
If you’re looking for a large payout that can gradually lead to a full-time occupation, you can start an online store. Setting up a small business online has never been easier, as long you find the right products/services.
To build a profitable business, find products/services you’re passionate about and conduct market research to determine their potential. Then, sit down to map the logistics. You don’t have to start big, just shape your brand and take it one step at a time.
Moreover, you can also get into the world of dropshipping, a business model that has gained many fans over the years. In short, you act as a mediator between the customer and a third-party supplier. You don’t need anything in stock, as they fulfill the orders on your behalf.
What are the most popular eCommerce websites to start your online store from scratch? Here are some options:
Shopify: One of the most popular website builders, with an easy-to-use setup and plenty of help during onboarding. The platform offers many premium features and add-ons, and pricing starts at $29/month.
BigCommerce: It includes an intuitive website builder with various customization capabilities. This platform supports multi-channel selling, SEO tools, and many payment options. Pricing starts at $29.95/month.
Wix: A user-friendly website for beginners and many designer-made templates to build a beautiful website. However, its inventory management is not the best in the market. Pricing starts at approx. $20/month for basic features.
Woocommerce: It’s a free WordPress plug-in and one of the most popular websites for eCommerce stores. Some of its pros are its SEO capabilities and customer support. However, it’s not one of the most scalable solutions.
Overall, it’s easy to say that opening an eCommerce store is not a low-effort deed. To ensure that everything runs smoothly, look at this comprehensive eCommerce business plan guide. If you’re short on time but fascinated by this business idea, consider drop-shipping as an alternative.
3. Join An Affiliate Marketing Program
Revenue potential: Novices can earn up to $1,000, mid-level affiliates can reach $10,000 while advanced affiliates can make up to $100,000+.
Becoming an affiliate marketer should be ideal for professionals interested in making a passive income. Affiliate marketing takes place when an affiliate or publisher earns a commission for a product or service they promoted successfully to their audiences.
Affiliates can choose between physical and digital products as long as they feel that they can convince their audience to buy them. Even though promoting physical products can convert faster than digital, the commission is usually lower.
Affiliates usually get a unique website link that tracks conversions. They either place it inside a blog post or promote it via social media, like Tiktok, Instagram, or Youtube.
Others prefer to run Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns if they have some money to invest beforehand to reach consumers who are very likely to convert.
4. Become An Influencer
Revenue potential: Micro-influencers (10,000 to 50,000 followers) can make from $40,000 to $100,000 per year, but it depends on many factors.
If you love social media and creating content regularly, you can consider leveling up your social profiles, for example, on Instagram or TikTok. If you specialize in a niche market, e.g., education or traveling, you can create more specific content and target certain people by addressing their pain points.
As long as you find the appropriate tools, you must update your content consistently to fulfill your subscribers’ expectations. Moreover, it’s important to answer your follower’s comments and interact with your audience to create community vibes.
5. Start A Blog
Revenue potential: People who monetize their blog can earn $20,000-$50,000 annually.
If you love expressing yourself through writing, you can become a blogger. To build a successful blog, targeting a specific niche market and audience is much more efficient.
If you publish great content consistently and apply SEO principles, you can turn your blog website into a real money-maker. For instance, you can add affiliate links to blog posts that drive high traffic or sell advertising space to other businesses.
To set up an online business like this, you should dedicate time and effort. But if you have a creative spirit, this safe writing space may give you the freedom you need.
6. Create A YouTube Channel
Revenue potential: The average YouTuber earns $18 for 1,000 ad views and around $5 for 1,000 video views. However, the final income varies on many factors.
If you’re more confident with public speaking and have solid story-telling skills, you can also start a YouTube channel to make money online. Again, sticking to a specific field is best if you want to gain authority and followers faster by creating how-to videos. Let’s see an example:
You need to have reached the threshold of 1,000 subscribers to join the YouTube Partners Program. Then you’ll get access to Google Adsense to start profiting from ads.
As your following grows, you may also start getting business sponsorships to promote specific and relevant products/services to your audience. You can also run YouTube Ads and leverage the power of YouTube SEO to win more traffic.
Overall, you should be 18+ years of age to get your YouTube channel monetized. However, investing in tech gear, like a good camera, a mic, and an editing tool are essential to grow your channel and sustain an excellent quality over time.
7. Open An Etsy Store
Revenue potential: A successful seller can make between $43,000 and $46,000 per year on average.
According to a recent report, Etsy, a selling platform for independent creators and sellers, had 96.3% active users, with many staying loyal to the platform over time. So if you enjoy creating handicrafts like pottery or jewelry, you can build your own store on Etsy to increase your income.
Setting up your own profile is pretty straightforward, but the competition is high, so it’ll take some time to be more visible. Read this manual and learn how to create a successful Etsy shop online.
You should be 18 years old to be eligible to open an Etsy store. Children between 13-18 are considered minors and need a parent or legal guide to manage the system. Before opening a shop, ensure that your products are allowed on the platform and that Etsy Payments are available in your location. You should also follow the laws that apply to online business in your country.
8. Sell Your Stuff Online
Revenue potential: It depends on the product you sell and their quality
If you want to make money fast and receive it upfront, consider selling second-hand items online. From T-shirts to furniture, find all the neat items you don’t need anymore and get ready to give them out. To ensure that the price you ask for is decent, search for the original price and reduce it based on the current quality.
9. Take Up Freelance Work
Revenue potential: Up to 5,000+ monthly on average, based on your expertise, experience, and effort.
Becoming a freelancer is one of the most popular ways to increase your income. This is even more workable for professionals specialized in web development, copywriting, graphic design, or digital marketing, to name a few.
You can start by building a solid portfolio and joining professional social media platforms like LinkedIn or Behance.
Once you get in the flow, ask your customers if they can leave a kind review to benefit from the power of social proof. As you get better at it, you can start increasing your payout and even commit to freelancing full-time if you wish. Or you can just roll out by doing side gigs in your spare time without sticking to a long-term plan.
10. Build A Membership Site
Revenue potential: Successful websites can make up to $200K per year.
If you already have a blog or a website with many resources, like articles and how-to guides, you can create subscription plans. Craft exclusive content for loyal subscribers or customers and make extra money.
What kind of content can you build for this purpose? E-books, infographics, and exclusive newsletters are great options. Moreover, if you’re a YouTuber, you can create backstage content or QAs to attract more community members.
Check Bookriot as a reference. It’s a website for book lovers with a community called Book Riot Insiders with three different subscription plans offering exclusive content such as podcasts, new release emails, online courses, or deals.
