By Jonnah Nduta
So, you have always heard that people make money online. You have even subscribed to sites that promise to help you make money online for free. Only that they are never free — there is always an upfront payment! Worse still, the majority are a scam, and you end up losing your hard-earned cash! But here I am, listing and explaining to you ten realistic ways to make money online.
Most of the ways to make money online discussed here are free, but you have to be committed and ready to work hard. Some require some consistency and patience, while others may be quite competitive. The good news — they are all legit, and if you follow the rules of the game for whichever strategy you choose, you are guaranteed results eventually. So, yeah, people are making money online, and you too can start your side hustle or even create full-time online employment for yourself as a stay-at-home mom or dad, a recent graduate, or a passionate entrepreneur.
Here are the ten tried and tested ways to make money online in 2022 and beyond:
1. Become a Freelancer
Whether you are a writer, a designer, a web developer, or a songwriter, the easiest way to make money online is by selling your services online. The good news is that almost all professions and skills have a place on the Internet. For instance, if you are a teacher, you can start offering classes online and build a successful career as a self-employed tutor. For years since the advent of the Internet, thousands of writers around the world have become successful and achieved financial freedom through freelance online writing.
2. Review Websites and Apps
Another realistic and effective way to make money online is by reviewing websites and mobile applications. Most entrepreneurs pay for users to give their honest opinions about their user experience on a website or an App. There are many platforms online that offer such opportunities, for instance, UserTesting is a site that hires passionate users to review diverse brands.
3. Sell Photos Online
This is an excellent example of how you can turn your passion and skills into an online business. If you love taking photos and you are confident that you produce high-quality images that can be used by people on their websites and blogs, consider starting an online venture. You can make money online by selling your photos on such sites as Burst, Shutterstock, Alamy, and iStock. You earn a commission each time a user downloads any of your photos. You could even consider focusing on one niche, such as nature, travel, food, or technology, and make a collection of high-quality and unique images to sell.
4. Start a Blog
Are you a seasoned writer? You could make a living as a blogger. Successful blogs are one of the greatest online businesses in our generation. You only need to identify a niche that addresses an issue that people are interested in, and you can begin making money online. Once your blog posts are attracting high traffic, you will qualify for ads by Google, which means you earn from the brands that place adverts on your site. You can also earn through affiliate marketing on the blog.
5. Start a YouTube Channel
Another tried and tested way to make money online is by launching a YouTube channel. Millions of people and entities are reaping big from making videos about topics that interest the general public. Like a blog, once your channel is getting tons of views and has enough subscribers, you qualify to earn through adverts, and you can also make money through other strategies like affiliate marketing, product placement, and so on. Simply identify a niche, create a YouTube channel dedicated to topics in that niche, and commit to posting regularly and promoting the videos! You will soon smile!
6. Consider Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a great way to make money online for people who love selling items online. For instance, if you have been trying to sell goods by posting on your WhatsApp status or Facebook page, dropshipping is for you. The concept is simple — You market the items in your niche — e.g. shoes — a customer likes an item and places an order, but you do not have any of the items in stock. You contact a third party, such as a wholesaler or a retailer, and they deliver on your behalf. It is like selling without a shop.
7. Start Social Media Consultancy
Many individuals and brands desire to leverage social media but have no effective social media strategy. If you are skilled in social media marketing and has experience driving traffic and making brands stand out on different social sites, this is your opportunity to make money online. As long as you know how to gain followers on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Reddit, and any other social site, you can promote yourself as a social media consultant, and you will soon begin making money online by helping brands achieve success online.
8. Become an Influencer
Like social media consultancy, becoming an influencer requires great social media skills. If you are the person who effortlessly gets a huge following online, you can reap big by becoming a brand ambassador for big companies. The celebrities we all adore earn huge amounts of money through sponsored videos and posts.
9. Start Affiliate Marketing
One of the most effective ways to make money online is to become an affiliate marketer. It is among the most stable ways to make money through the Internet. Affiliate marketing works best with blogs, YouTube channels, and websites, where you promote diverse brands, and every time a person buys an item through your link, you earn. Bloggers and YouTubers earn a lot through affiliate marketing by partnering with big companies, such as Amazon, Shopify, and AliExpress, among others.
10. Create an Online Course
Yet another great way to make money online — selling your courses online! Millions of people want to learn a new skill. Personal finance experts, musical instrumentalists, music producers, chefs, graphic designers, web developers… The list is endless. Whichever your skill set, you can create an online course and begin earning handsomely online.
In summary, there is a multitude of methods to make money online, legitimately. You just need to identify your area and commit to it. The most important thing to remember is that you must be consistent and patient. When it comes to making money online, persistence is crucial. All the best as you consider the method that suits you best as you plan to make money online.
