Are there any ways to earn online?
This question regained its actuality after the outbreak of the COVID-19 and the global lockdowns, imposed by law. Many businesses have switched to the online regime, long before the outbreak - but the online competition had only risen as a result.
The most common, entry ways to earn any money online:
- video blogging - 'YouTubing'
- classic blogging
- content creation
- content management
- content promotion
- social media promotion
- content distribution
Fore the more skilled approaches:
- brand promotion
- graphic design
- app development
- affiliation marketing
- SEO services
- financial services
And most of them require not only proper tools, but experience.
The 'simple' ways to earn money
The more simple ways mean - the tougher competition, because the more people would have an access to the same tools. It is especially apparent in the hardware-based niches of photo-video blogging. Therefore, building up your personality (image) would be of much benefit - this is something hard, or impossible to replicate.
- extreme YouTube talent
- TikToker
- an Instagram diva
- engaging comedian
- interesting product reviewer
Difficult, 'classic' ways to earn money
Get your niche - blog, website, channel, etc and create content diligently. For example, Minds.com will pay you for writing content for them on their subscription basis. But this means, you would have to write constantly (because you're paying monthly subscription) and not for your own platform, but for someone else. You can create your own platform, if you're able to uphold it in a long run.
Get your own website. Get into affiliation programmes, or set-up the subscription-based service. This all sounds, simple, but it is the most choresome, technical and a conservative way to use your time. The income may come in years or so.
- creative writing
- photo blogging
- social network promotion
Requires:
- meticulous content creation
- winning personality
- disciplined approach
This field was used in the classic days of the Internet and is still used for add targeting, and traffic channeling. Once your own niche gets the fat of the content, you may set something out. Your cups and T-shirts - any merchandise that goes with your brand, will come into venue.
Prepare to get overlooked and ignored for a while. This choice is a long term - could take from 4 to 10 years to attain something tangible.
Hard ways to earn
Become your own branded content king! Or it could be your own branded social media platform. This takes decades to attain and does not guarantee, that you will stand out from the crowd of others. You can use the open-source social media frameworks, that are ready to use with o$ budget, in order to generate communities. Eventually, most of the startups write (hire) their own frameworks, when they grow any further.
Requires:
- legal incorporation
- investment
- business plan
- your own establishment
- occasional traffic circulation online/offline
- celebrity affiliation
- original design
- original persona/corporate tag
Hardest ways to earn
Establish your original product/service company. A software/app developing company, that offers something other competitors lacking, or missing. Innovate the current product offer and make it 'scream' again.
- apps
- services
- wares
Requires:
- finance
- skills
- business plan
- team
Prepare everything related to the product listing, distribution, updates, support, etc. Develop your own social media frameworks for licensing, MySql editing tools, content aggregators, custom webdesigns, any new product you could create from scratch. Even your own financial service platforms, such as: online loans, brokerage, insurance, payment systems, etc.
The 'impossible' ways
Develop your groundbreaking technology, a novelty, a script or a new type of product, that changes everything radically. Think of iPhones, AirPods, E-paper, artificial meat, 3-D printing, VR-goggles, droids, air-jets, various robots, AI-assistants, etc. A revolutionary idea, that will change all of the previous steps radically. Requires not only a crazy brain, but most of the time, side-financing.
Requires:
- finance
- business plan
- extraordinary skills
- the new product
- the market vision
- the team
Where to begin with?
Everything is basically based of what you:
- could express the best
- have an expertise in
- could project in 10-20 years ahead
Do not funnel into something, because others are doing it. Do not use the same style, or replicate the 'narcissist' image of the online celebrities. You will be fine on your own.
Be real
Put your pink goggles off for now, because many make online earning sound easy. It is in fact, harder than working in McDonald's as a dishwasher, or on a construction site. In the beginning, you don't have solid, tangible prospects - you need to understand the demand and the traffic flow to your product. But once it's all automated - it turns out to be an easy way. You must mark out some other things in advance:
- the niche
- the demand
- the supply
- the audience
- the leads
- the format
- the product
- the direction
- the pivot
Many other factors, that will change or divert with time - technology and competition will 'play against you', if you are not pivoting well. Research more, on why most of the online startups fail during the first 2 years, before going into any enterprise.