MAKING MONEY IN THE INTERNET ECONOMY DECEMBER 2018



MAKING MONEY IN THE INTERNET ECONOMY DECEMBER 2018Every successful business and person has delivered a tremendous amount of value at the outset. They did the most amount of work, and they inspected every detail meticulously, to ensure that they were doing right by their customers. As long as you keep that in mind, and you don't look for a quick buck, you'll succeed?in the long term.Find your niche?— Figure out what you're good at or what you want to be good at. You don't need to be an expert right now, but you do need to decide where you're going to fit in if you're at all serious about making serious cash in the long term.Build a blog on a custom domain?— Your blog is your virtual home. Without it, you've no place to filter all that traffic and people interested in what you have to say. But don't build a blog on a subdomain like yoursite., create a blog with a custom domain like .?Always add value?— Adding value over time creates authority, and authority breeds trust, which in turn helps to grow your audience and readership. Without a significant following, you'll find it hard to gain any traction online. It simply takes time.?Create an email list?and treat them right?— One of the best ways to make money online is by marketing to an actively-interested group of email subscribers. While most people think that email marketing is dead, that's far from the truth. This is your greatest potential source of income online. Think of it as your money tree.?Don't sacrifice morals for a quick buck?— At the outset, you'll want to do all sorts of things to make money online, but don't sacrifice your morals for a quick buck. Not only will you put people off, but you'll lose Google's trust. You also shouldn't concern yourself with things like Adsense or other ads on a blog before you have around 100,000 visitors per day. Yes, per day.?The point? Think about the long-term results of your activities. It will seem frustrating in the beginning. Then again, everything worthwhile is going to be difficult. It will take time. Stick it out and don't give up. In the meanwhile, here are some of the best and most legitimate ways you can make money online in the short and long term.#1?— Write And Sell An Ebook?If you have a propensity for writing and you can slay with your prose, consider writing an ebook. While the market has certainly become saturated as of late, books that help teach people about a technical topic still sell extremely well. This is a great source of passive income but does require a large?amount of effort at the outset before any money is generated.You can sell your ebooks through?Amazon's Kindle?program or?Apple's iTunes?Connect, which gives you access to a large majority of the digital-book reading market and the barriers for entry are incredibly low. You don't need to invest lots of money to make this happen, but you do need to invest lots of time, not only in writing the ebooks, but in marketing them as well.#2 — Sell Audiobooks With?AudibleI've been in the audiobook-selling business for some time now and?have over 3 dozen titles to my name. I know a thing or two about audiobooks. And, what I've noticed recently is that audiobooks are growing in popularity as their digital-ebook counterparts are becoming less and less popular.People are turning to audio and visuals when it comes to technical subjects. However, you should consider doing an ebook first and turning it into an audiobook through a resource like Audible's?ACX?platform. You can hire a producer either through a royalty share program, so you don't have to shell out upfront cash, or you can do a pay-per-hour hire as well.#3 —?Create An App?Yes, this is far more technical. Unless you have the right app-development skills, doing this is going to be a significant undertaking. But, apps are also a great source of?passive income?when done the right way. You can reach a massive audience of smartphone users by building a great app.However, like anything else truly worthwhile, apps require a significant investment of your time or money upfront. If you don't have the skills, then you have to hire someone who can assist you in creating a great app. But first you need to come up with an idea that will sell. Do the proper market research and analytics to come up with the right app.#4 —?Use Mechanical TurkMechanical Turk?is Amazon's take on micro-jobs. These are small miniscule-jobs that you can do for other people, which they call HITs, or Human Intelligence Tasks. These are super simple tasks that anyone can do. Some examples are listing off some URLs with certain kinds of images for one cent, or recording a few phrases with a microphone for 6 cents.Yes, they don't pay much, but if you string together hundreds of well-paying HITs, you can make a bit of money quickly online if you're in a crunch for cash. Also, it's important to note that you can also employ people with HITs to help you with whatever micro-tasks you might have.#5 — Offer Gigs On?FiverrIf you have some professional experience in graphic design, accounting, social media marketing, web development or?SEO training, for example, you could offer gigs on Fiverr starting at $5 per job. You could perform a valuable service that you could also up-sell to make more money per gig.Fiverr is one of the biggest providers in the gig economy on the web and you can sell a wide variety of services and products through this medium. Do the research and find out what you can offer. However, keep in mind that like any other money-making task, it takes time to succeed here. And stellar?reviews?will help you generate more and more income over time.#6 — Sell Professional Services On Upwork or 99DesignsUpwork and 99Designs are two of the biggest resources for selling just about any professional service under the sun. If you have extensive experience in a field, you might want to consider selling your services through one of these sites. 99Designs only applies to graphic design while Upwork applies to nearly every other professional service.However, like anything else, the beginning will be difficult. Before you have a significant track record and extensive reviews, sourcing work in one of these highly-competitive platforms will be difficult. Find the most successful people?in your niche and try to model your approach and online profile after theirs.#7 — Build A BlogOne of the most exhaustive endeavors when it comes to making money online is to?build a blog. But we all know that building a blog with real readership is difficult. It takes a lot of work. And I'm speaking from experience. However, once you reach a certain point, the progress and momentum sways in your favor and it becomes far easier.Blogs can easily generate tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars per month when done right. Yes, that much. But it won't be easy to get there. However, looking back on it, a year from now you'll wish you started today. So why wait another moment?#8 —?Email MarketingEmail marketing is at the heart of every successful endeavor on the web. For those serious about making money online, email marketing is certainly where it's at. But it has to be done the right way. Before you even try to market anything to anyone via an email list, be sure that they're people that subscribed and opted in directly to you.When you try to market to people via email out of the blue, you won't find as much success. But, if those email subscribers are actively and keenly interested in what you have to say, and they signed up directly through your blog or site, your success rates will be much higher.#9 — Auction Items On EbayEbay is a bellwether. It's been around since nearly the start of the online boom. But, like any other platform, success can seem fleeting if you don't know what you're doing. Selling items on eBay, professionally that is, can be an art form. Getting people interested in your auctions isn't always easy, especially when there's hefty competition and low demand for what you're selling.Like anything else, you need to do the proper research, but you can make significant amounts of money as an eBay Power Seller. Find the most successful eBay sellers in your niche and model after their success. Find all of their listings and see just how they list the items that they're selling.#10 —?Rent Your Home On AirBnBRent your entire home or just a room on AirBnB. This is a simple and effective way to make money online, especially in the short term. While you won't get rich doing this, you can generate thousands of dollars per month for the right place. And, if you live in a sought-after vacation destination, then you're certainly in luck.Research other listings in your city on AirBnB and see what the going rate is for a place like yours. You could also just rent out a private room as well or even a bed in a shared room. In fact, that's how AirBnB got its start. However, you might find it hard in the beginning without reviews, but as long as you take really good care of your guests and provide a lot of value, the reviews will eventually come rolling in.#11 —?Sell Photos OnlineIf you're at all into photography, and you have a cache of nice photos, you could consider selling them through sites like?Shutterstock?and?iStockPhoto, two of the biggest photo resources online. It doesn't take too much effort to do this, but it does take creativity and persistence to succeed with it.You'll find serious competition when trying to sell photos online, but this is also a great method for generating passive income. If you can license your images or sell them as stock photography, you won't have to do any additional work to generate income from that sale once the photos have been posted online. Just collect your payments.#12?—?Drive For Uber Or LyftIf you live in an area where Uber or Lyft operate, why not become a driver? If you're looking to make some short-term cash, you can definitely rake it in by working for one of these popular car-hire apps. As long as your vehicle fits within the specifications of their program, and you have a clean license, you could do this on the side, especially if you're in a crunch for cash.Treat your guests right and offer them perks that other drivers don't offer, simply because you want to deliver a lot of value. You might not get that much out of it from the outset, but it will set you apart from all the other drivers and your reviews will be indicative of just that.#13 —?Sell Products On EtsyEtsy is a great resource for those that enjoy making their own products and selling them online. If you're into hand-crafted items and you have a penchant for creating killer goods and wares that people just have to have, then you might want to consider setting up an Etsy shop and selling through a massive online portal.Etsy is a great way to go directly to where all the consumers are congregating. While the company will take a small fee to list your products, along with fees to process the transaction itself, it is easier than setting up your own transactional website. Do some research on the top sellers and try to emulate their success.#14 — Use Shopify To Build Your Own Online StoreDon't want to sell through Etsy? You could always build your own online store using a platform like?Shopify. Shopify makes it easy to build a transactional website without all the hassle, which takes much of the guesswork out of doing what some would consider a highly-complex task.The company markets their services with being able to start selling online in seconds. Well, it might not work that fast, but you could most certainly get a good transactional website up and running within minutes or hours.#15?—?Build?An Amazon FBA BusinessIf you want to go directly to the world's largest online retailer, consider setting up a?Fulfilled-by-Amazon (FBA) business. Amazon will pick, pack and ship your orders, and you'll have enormous exposure to a buzzing marketplace where products are selling every second.Clearly, there's a lot of demand on Amazon, and if any product is going to sell, it's going to sell well on Amazon. But the goal here is to source the right products that will easily sell at?the world's largest online retailer. Generally, products between $10 and $50 sell very well here. Just be sure to do the right market research before jumping on this bandwagon.#16 —?Answer Professional Questions?Are you a professional in a field that can help answer questions for people looking for your expertise? Websites like?JustAnswer?and LivePerson match you up with people looking for answers to technical or professional questions. You can make money online by simply answering these questions and providing the right information to people based on their individualistic circumstances.Depending on your area of knowledge, you could either make a lot of money or just a little bit by answering questions professionally. Do your due diligence before signing up to any website where you're providing answers in exchange for money and be sure that it's a reputable source.#17 —?Create?Video Tutorials On YouTubeThis is definitely a long-term strategy, and you won't get rich overnight by doing this, but creating engaging and well-thought-out video tutorials and posting them on sites like YouTube could make you a significant amount of passive income?in the long term depending on just how well-received those videos might be.Find a niche and stick to it. Build a YouTube channel and find something that you can do that will add a whole lot of value to the people that might be interested in that field or niche. However, keep in mind that this?will require a significant amount of time and upfront investment before this pays off at all.#18?—?Develop Educational Courses On UdemyOne of my absolute favorite sites for selling educational courses is Udemy. In fact, you can check out?the courses that I have for sale on the site here. Udemy is a great place to build out technical courses that will teach people how to do some complicated task or learn some sought-after skill.In my courses, I teach things like web development, search engine optimization and graphic design, but you can teach just about anything on Udemy. However, there is enormous competition on here, but it's a great source of passive income if you can create a course that people will love.#19 —?Become A Virtual AssistantWhile becoming a virtual assistant won't pay you enormous amounts of money, if you're looking to be?a digital nomad in a city with a low cost-of-living, this could be something that pays your bills. This will require a significant amount of organization and some technical skills as well to succeed.As long as you have the basics covered with programs like Word, Excel and PowerPoint, for example, and you're an effective communicator, able to stick to deadlines, you might find yourself excelling as a virtual assistant.#20 — Teach Others As A Virtual TutorWant to teach others directly? You can become a virtual tutor and engage in one-on-one tutoring sessions or even host Webinars to help people directly with any number of topics. This is terrific for teaching people new languages. If you have a second-language skill, this might be the right option to generate some money quickly and easily.Of course you could teach a number of things virtually. This could range from technical to non-technical skills. For example, you could use a site like VerbalPlanet to teach a language, or try to source clients directly through social media or other avenues and process their payments through PayPal.#21 — Write Articles For Other SitesLast, but certainly not least, is article writing. Depending on your skill level when it comes to writing, you could always find work writing articles for other people. At the outset, this won't pay you much, especially if you have little in the way of examples or portfolio pieces. But, like anything else, you can build this up over time.You could also do a number of other things related to writing such as copywriting for descriptions, emails, or other sales-related content. Do your due diligence to find out what the going rates are for writing articles, and even try to find a mentor if you're serious about making money online through this method.Author, blogger, software engineer and serial entrepreneur. Contributor to some of the biggest media platforms including Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Huffington Post and Engadget. Founder and curator of , one of the most popular inspirational blogs in t...MORER.L. Adams is a software engineer, serial entrepreneur, and?author. He runs a wildly-popular blog called?Wanderlust Worker?and contributes to Entrepreneur, Engadget and the Huffington Post.BLOGGINGHow to Start a BlogPosted By?Darren Rowse?30th of March 2016?Start a Blog??53 CommentsLast Updated November 13, 2017Do you want to start a blog? If so – you’re in the right place.In this post I want to walk you through the basics of how to start a blog, and while I do, I want to answer some of the basic technical questions that many pre-bloggers need to answer to get their first blog up and running.There are many reasons to start a blog, but the challenge that faces all aspiring bloggers (including me back in 2002) is: how to start a blog?5 Easy StepsThere are a few simple steps that you will need to complete to start your blog:Choose your blogging platformSecure a domain name and get hosting in place with?BluehostConfigure your blogDesign your blogStart creating useful content that serves readersBelow I’ll walk you through how I’d approach each step if I were to start a blog and suggest further reading that will be helpful on other important questions like: choosing a niche, finding readers for your blog, building community with your blog, and thinking about how to make money from it, etc.My hope is that this step by step starting guide will help you to start your first blog.Step 1: Choose a Blogging PlatformTo start a blog you’ll need to select a blogging platform – or a tool that helps you to get your content up onto the web.There are many blogging platforms available but in my mind the choice is clear and simple. I would set up straight away on a site, and I highly recommend you do too.WordPress is by far the most popular blogging platform and for good reason –It is free to use (although you do need to make a small investment in a domain and a server – more on that below)It is easy to set upIt has been around for many years and is a robust and secure system (although you do need to keep it up-to-date to maintain security)It has a whole industry of tool providers, designers and developers around it that will help you to customise your blog in many waysKeep in mind that WordPress offer two tools:?– where they host your blog, look after the back end, and give you access to have it on their own domain. It’s free to start but, you pay to upgrade different elements of it.?– where you have complete control and host the blog on your own server, your own domain and have complete control over how it looks, operates and how you can monetise it. It is completely free to use but you need to arrange your own hosting, domain etc. is easier to set up and means you don’t need to keep upgrading versions of WordPress but it gives you less control over your design, how you monetise and what features you can add. is free to start with but depending upon what upgrades you want to get it can end up being just as expensive as .My recommendation is to go with – you’ll have a little more work in the setting up phase (I’ll walk you through it below) but in the long run you’ll have full control over the look, feel, features and monetization of your site. It could end up cheaper for you too!I know some of you are probably searching for advice on how to start a blog for free and so my advice to invest a little in a blog might not be exactly what you’re looking to hear because there are some small costs associated with it – but you’ll be better off in the long run and as you’ll see below the expense is not great.Step 2: Secure a Domain Name and Set Up Your Blog HostingI recommend using?BlueHost?for getting both your domain and hosting set up.Choose a DomainFor the next step of starting your blog you’ll need a domain name (your blog’s address) so that you have a home for your blog online. Here on ProBlogger my domain name is – every blog needs its own domain, so it can be easier said than done to find one that isn’t taken!For the sake of this article I just want to talk about how to technically get your domain – but there are a few other factors to consider including:The Human perspective?– readability of your domain, the ease of it to say and remember, etcThe Brand perspective?– uniqueness, what the domain says about youThe SEO perspective?– choosing a domain with good keywords can help your site rank higher in GoogleThe Legal perspective?– copyright and trademark factorsWe cover all four of these areas in our post?4 Things to Consider when Choosing Your Domain Name. I would highly recommend reading that post before you go out and grab a domain.Depending upon where you get your domain and which domain you choose, a domain isn’t a super-expensive thing to secure – but it will cost you at least a few dollars a year.Set Up Your Blog Hosting with BluehostPerhaps the simplest way to get your domain is to do so with the same place that you get your blog hosted. My recommendation for a good place to start is?BlueHost.WordPress has been recommending Bluehost for blog hosting since 2005. With 1-click WordPress installation, 24/7 support, and a super affordable rate, Bluehost is a great option for building your first website or blog.Special Offer for ProBlogger Readers: As I write this article,?BlueHost?have an offer exclusive to ProBlogger readers to get set up for just $2.95 USD per month (including a domain name!). This is a 63% saving.Step 3: Set Up Your BlogIf you’ve gone with Bluehost as your domain and hosting provider, installing WordPress is super simple. In fact Bluehost have created a simple video to show you exactly how to do it:If you have any trouble during this process, they have a live chat support system which enables you to ask questions of their support team.Note: other hosts including inmotion have similar simple install systems for WordPress but if you run into trouble WordPress have an?installing WordPress page too here.Once you’ve completed this process, you now have a WordPress blog installed! You started a blog! Congratulations – you’re almost there!Step 4: Configure and Design Your BlogIf this is your first experience of WordPress you might be looking at the dashboard and wondering what you’ve done by installing it – it feels overwhelming doesn’t it!Don’t worry – you’ll pick this up in no time and just need a good walk through!Configuring your blogLuckily the team at?BlueHost?have put together a great series of tutorials that will help you with becoming used to WordPress and also setting things up to make your blog look and operate just right.Here’s a good video that introduces you to what you’re looking at on your WordPress dashboard.And here is another on creating categories and tags for your blog:One of the most powerful things in WordPress is that it allows you to install and use plugins to get extra functionality on your blog. You might want to save this one to watch later but it will help with making your blog more feature rich.Designing your blogAnother thing you’ll want to do now is to think about your blog’s design. First impressions count for a lot so you’ll want one that says something about the type of brand you’re trying to create and that helps you stand out in the crowded blogosphere.Bluehost have a?video?that shows you the basics of setting up and choosing a design theme but can I echo the advice in the video about investing in a ‘premium theme’ for your blog.While there are many thousands of free themes out there, this is an area that it can be well worth investing in.Last time we surveyed ProBlogger readers, we found that most ProBlogger readers agree with this, and have premium themes as the basis of their blog designs. While they will cost you to buy, if you get one from a reputable source they’ll be secure, fast, have good search engine optimisation, will be designed for mobile as well as desktop, and be easy to install and customise.>> Podcast:?How to Decide on a WordPress Theme for Your Blog?with graphic designer and developer Kelly ExeterThe premium theme supplier that I have used over the years and highly recommend is?StudioPress?(aff). I’ve used their themes in the early days of numerous blogs and love their design but also support.If you’re looking for a really easy solution, check out the new?StudioPress Sites,?a fully hosted, all-in-one WordPress website builder that will give you:The Genesis Framework?– Industry Standard Design Framework that makes WordPress easier, without sacrificing power or flexibility20 Mobile-Optimized HTML5 Designs?– sleek professional designs that provide beautiful frames for your contentFast Loading Cloud Performance?– cloud infrastructure that’s optimized specifically for peak WordPress performanceZero “Hosting” Hassles?– with a fully hosted website that will grow with you and your website trafficOne-Click Install of Included Plugins?– Never wonder which plugins are trustworthy, thanks to your StudioPress Site’s repository of one-click solutions for the functionality you desire.Rock-Solid SecurityAdvanced SEO FunctionalityAutomatic Plugin and Theme Maintenance?– Many WordPress site owners spend $$$ every month to have an outside service keep things updated and safe.World-Class Support?– friendly support team standing by 24/7To be honest – the design part of setting up a blog is the bit I find hardest. It is definitely possible to do it 100% yourself (and there are many tutorials around that will help you learn the skills to do it) but for 99.9% of new bloggers a theme that you tweak is the way to go.The other option if you’re super serious is to hire a designer to do a custom design for you. But that is likely to cost you some significant cash to get a reputable designer and so a them is probably the best place to start.Don’t stress too much in the early days – we all start with a design that we later look back on and cringe a little at. The main thing is to get set up and evolve from there. My key tip is to choose a simple, classic and clean design that you can add a simple logo to to make it a bit more individual and then get on with blogging!Step 5: Start creating useful content that serves readersOK – hopefully by now you’ve got your domain, hosting, have installed WordPress and have your theme installed. You have started a blog… but you’re not a blogger until you start creating some content for your blog!I can’t really tell you what to write on your blog for your first post – because it is something that will vary a lot from blogger to blogger – but I’ll share some links below that might help give you some starting points.What I can point you to is a couple of helpful videos from our friends at Bluehost again.There are two types of content that you are able to create for your blog in WordPress – ‘Pages’ and ‘Posts’.PagesPages are the ‘static’ pages on your blog that won’t really change that much but which you’ll link to from your menus and navigation areas on your blog. For instance here on ProBlogger my ‘About Page’ and ‘Speaking Page’ are created using a ‘page’.Your first page should probably be an ‘About Page’ – a page which tells people about you and your blog. It’s a page you’ll want to show up in your navigation area/menu and is going to get quite a few people read it to understand what you’re about as a blogger.Need help with your about page – check out our previous post on?what to include in your About Page?PostsPosts are a little different and what you’ll spend most of your time creating as a blogger – they’re where you create your regular blog posts. Posts will appear on the front page of your blog once they’re published. They usually have comments and a date to show readers when it was published.Let’s start by creating an ‘About Page’. It’s easy to do – in fact if you know how to use a word processor like Word then you should be ok!Here’s exactly who to do that with our friends from Bluehost:Next it is time to write your first blog post.Once again the content is going to vary a lot from blog to blog but how you get that post up onto your blog is a relatively simple process and one that you’re going to become a master at in no time!In fact you’re going to find this process very similar to creating a ‘page’ for your blog. Here’s a last video from Bluehost on creating ‘posts’.Further Reading on Creating Content for Your BlogThere’s a great deal more that you could read about starting a blog but the process above should get you going. Once you’ve worked through it here are a few other suggested articles to read to help you take your next steps.I would also highly recommend that you check out our?Guide to Your First Week of Blogging eBook?which is perfect for anyone who has just set up their blog to help them to think through some key challenges that face bloggers like how to come up with an editorial strategy, how to find readers and much more.It presents a series of 32 achievable tasks that will not only get your blog going but that will help you to develop the skills you need to achieve your potential as a blogger.ast Updated Jan 31, 2017On this page I want to walk you through the process of how to make money blogging. It’s perfect for those who already have a blog but if you don’t I recommend you?check out our guide to starting a blog?(it’s step 1).My Story Of Making Money BloggingIn 2002 I began to blog one day on impulse after seeing another blog and being fascinated by the medium. I had no idea at the time that what I was doing would ultimately lead to a complete change in my career path and end up being something I’d make a full time income from in several years later.I had no experience or profile in the online space, no technical ability and while I had done some public speaking had done very little in the way of communicating through the written word.I did not make any money from my first blogs for almost 18 months (I didn’t even know you could so did not try) and when I did start to try to make money from them the first income was just a few dollars a week – but gradually in time my income grew from a part time income to a full time income and then beyond.How to?make money Blogging?I’m often asked how to make money blogging so want in this article to lay out some basic steps that I see most bloggers who make a living from blogging go through.Here is how to make money from a blog:Set up your blogStart creating useful contentGet off your blog and start finding readersBuild engagement with the readers that comeStart making money from the readership you have through one or more of a variety of income streamsSounds easy doesn’t it! On some levels the process is simple – but you need to know up front that there’s a lot to each step and below I’m going to give you some pointers on each including some further reading.Here’s how to make money from a blog.1. Start a BlogIn order to make money blogging you’re going to need to have a blog. While this is pretty obvious it is also a stumbling block for many PreBloggers who come to the idea of blogging with little or no technical background.If that’s you – don’t worry! It was my story too and most bloggers start out feeling a little overwhelmed by the process of starting their blog.If you need a little help I would highly recommend you check out my article?How to Start a Blog?in which I run through the steps you need to take to get up and running. It’s really not as hard as you might think!Further Reading on starting a blog:How to Start a Blog2. Start Creating Useful ContentA blog is not a blog without content so once you’ve set your blog up you need to focus your attention upon creating useful content. What you choose to create will depend a little on the topic that you choose to write about (on that note, most successful bloggers have some focus to their blogging whether that be a?niche or a demographic?that they write for).The key with creating content is to make it as useful as possible. Focus upon creating content that changes people’s lives in some way will be the type of content that people will value the most and it will help people to feel like they know, like and trust you – which is really important if you later want to make money from your blog.s you’ll see there are quite a few options that bloggers have to derive income from their blogs.Don’t worry though – while this map is quite overwhelming at a first glance there are a few main ‘clusters’ of income streams that you might want to focus upon rather than all the specific ones.1. Advertising IncomeThis is where many bloggers start. In many ways this model of making money from blogs is not dissimilar to how a magazine or newspaper sells ads. As your traffic and brand grows you’ll find advertisers will be willing to pay to get exposure to your audience.While you need decent traffic to do a direct deal with an advertisers there are ad networks (like Google AdSense) that act as a middleman and enable smaller publishers to run ads on their blogs. This is where many bloggers start (I did too).2. Affiliate IncomeA recent survey of ProBlogger readers found that affiliate promotions was the most common type of income that our readers have.To put it most simply – affiliate income is when you link to a product that is for sale on another site (take Amazon for example) and if someone follows your link and ends up buying that product you earn a commission on that sale.There’s more to it than that but this is another great place to start with monetising your blog as affiliate programs are easy to sign up for and if you have an engaged audience you will find they follow the recommendations that you make on products.Further reading on affiliate income:The Ultimate Guide to Making Money with the Amazon Affiliate Program10 Popular Affiliate Programs for Small and Medium Sized Blogs3. EventsWhile not something most bloggers do I have noticed an increase in the number of bloggers making money by running events.These range from big conferences and events like our?ProBlogger Conference?which hosts hundreds of bloggers every year right down to smaller meet-ups for a blogger’s readers where money is made either through charging readers to attend or by finding a sponsor for the event.Alternatively online events or summits are getting more popular.4. Recurring IncomeAnother growing category of income that I’m seeing more and more bloggers are experimenting is recurring income streams (sometimes called continuity programs or membership programs).This is where readers pay a regular recurring amount (usually on a monthly or annual basis) for access to either premium content, a community area, some kind of service, tools, coaching (or some combination of these things).6. Promoting a BusinessMany brick and mortar businesses indirectly make money from their blogs by using their blogs to grow their profile and direct readers to their business.7. ServicesA common way that many bloggers make money is through offering services to their readers. These might be anything from coaching and consulting, to writing or copywriting, to design, training or other freelance services.8. ProductsWhile I started out making money from my blogs through advertising and affiliate promotions today my #1 source of income is through selling eBooks and courses on my blogs. These ‘virtual products’ take work to create but have been lucrative for me and many other bloggers.Products can of course take many forms and income virtual information products like eBooks or courses but also other virtual products like software, reports etc.The other type of product some bloggers sell is physical products. This is most common when the blogger has a business but sometimes bloggers also create merchandise (T-shirts etc) or other physical products to sell.Other Income StreamsThere are of course other forms of income that bloggers experiment with. Some include asking for donations, syndicating content to other sites and lastly selling their blogs.Multiple Income StreamsMost full time bloggers make money more than one way and end up with multiple income streams.Diversifying your income in this way not only is smart and helps you spread the risk from having all your eggs in one basket but it also speeds up the journey to going full time.I learned this lesson the hard way after having most of my income coming from one source in the early days but after a bit of a bad experience began to diversify my income streams (read about that here) – it was one of the best things I ever did!Today I make money from around 12 different streams. ................
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