Lots of people want to make money online as a content creator, influencer, or entrepreneur. But how do people make money online? Can a blog make money? How much money can someone make on YouTube?
It can be tough to figure out what’s possible when you’re starting out. It’s even tougher when you’ve been creating content and have started to grow a following, but you’re not making money consistently, or at all.
In this post, I’ll show you the four main ways that you can make money online and earn a real (and honest) living.
Ads
The first money-making strategy that comes to mind for many people is, of course, ads. You can place ads on your website or blog through services like Google Adsense or Amazon Affiliates and make money each time someone clicks the ad. Sometimes you can even get a larger amount if that click results in a purchase.
On some platforms (like YouTube), ad placement is built in when you reach a certain number of views and subscribers. For others, you have to manually place the ads using simple code.
The problem with ad placements is that you need steady traffic to make any sort of regular income. Ads provide a few cents per impression or click, so you need a lot of eyeballs on your website to make any sort of significant money.
It’s likely that you’ll have little to no control over the ads that appear around your content. Most ad services let you filter out some obvious conflicts of interest like gambling and political ads, but there are still countless opportunities for something to appear near your content that’s in conflict with what you’re about.
You should also be careful about how many ads you place. More ads doesn’t necessarily mean more clicks. One or two per page is fine, but any more than that adds way too much clutter and inconvenience for your audience. Have you even been on one of those clickbait sites with a dozen ad popups that block your view as you’re trying to read? Don’t be that guy.
The ideal way to use ads for your business is to skip the ad services and work directly with brands that are related to your content. Once you have a lot of traffic and have a clear niche and following, you can reach out to brands that your audience will like and manually place their ads on your site. This lets you have full control over your ads, and you can make more consistent money depending on the type of deal you make (like a monthly payment instead of a per-view payment plan, for example).
Ads are a good first step, but successful entrepreneurs always mix their income streams. Don’t stop here!
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing means that you use and talk about a particular product or service that you then offer to your audience, usually with a coupon code or other discount. Then, the company kicks back some of that income to you for bringing them that business.
Once you get an affiliate deal, you can figure out how you want to share the product or service with your audience. The most successful ways I’ve seen are when the creator makes useful content to not just sell the product, but provide step-by-step guides, video tutorials, webinars, online courses, or deep dives into how they use it themselves. Anyone can be a taking head, but only you can offer unique value to your particular audience.
Affiliate marketing is incredibly lucrative because there’s truly no limit to how much money you can make. However, there are a couple trade-offs…
The product or service that you’re selling should be something you actually use and like. This might sound obvious, but when you’re trying to make a living online, it can be tempting to take deals with brands you don’t know much about or don’t have much experience with. This is a mistake—your audience trusts you, and you don’t want to blow it by selling them a product or service that isn’t very good. Your audience won’t trust your recommendations, or you, again.
Second, you must disclose that you’re an affiliate for the brand you’re partnering with. So many bloggers and online creators try to sneak in their affiliate deals to try and seem more “natural.” They don’t want to appear scummy for selling someone else’s stuff. But it reflects worse on you when it feels like you’re trying to trick people into buying something, and trust me, your audience will notice. Also, it’s the law—you must clearly disclose when you make money from someone’s click or purchase.
If you can get it right, affiliate marketing can be a great asset to your business. The key is to find a couple core products and services that you truly use and love, then reach out to those companies and inquire about their affiliate programs. Be creative about how you want to share your partners with your audience.
Sponsored Content
Some brands will offer to sponsor a blog post (or video, podcast episode, or any other type of content that you make). This means that they pay you to talk about their product or service. Often, the company will provide a script or a list of talking points that you must fulfill in order to be paid.
You probably see this a lot on YouTube, because video influencers get a lot of impressions per dollar. Maybe you’ve seen your favorite YouTuber talk about a video game app, or a beauty and blogger dedicate an entire post to a new skincare line from one particular brand. I’ve even seen sponsored posts in food blogs, where the recipe calls for canned tomatoes and a certain prominent tomato-based food company gets an entire section of the post about their organic tomatoes and creamy sauces.
The same caveats apply here as with affiliate marketing: make sure it’s a brand that you know about and like, and you must disclose that the post is sponsored. There’s also a greater danger, I think, of spamming your audience if you take on too many sponsorships. Sponsorships are generally less trusted than affiliate relationships, so even if you believe in the brands who sponsor you, and even if the products you’re advertising are life-changing for your audience, if every other post is sponsored, your audience may start to wonder if your goal is to help them or to only make money. (The exception to this is podcasts because commercial breaks are expected.)
Just like with affiliate marketing, you can make a good amount of money with sponsorships, but your income might be less consistent. Because sponsorships are often one-time deals instead of long-term partnerships, you may get a lot of money upfront but less in the long run.
Selling a Product
Last but not least, you can make money online by creating and selling your own product or service. Your blog or website is a great way to earn exposure and credibility for your own products. For example, if you have a food blog, you could write a cookbook or a field guide to a particular city or country. If you have a lifestyle and personal development website, you could write a self-help book or offer private coaching sessions to your audience. You get to decide what you want to create, and you get to set the price.
With this method, you’re in total control of the product and how you sell it. You also don’t have to share the profits with another company. However, it’s a lot more work for you, because you have to invest time in designing, creating, and marketing the product. Plus, you have further to fall if your product sucks—the failures of your creation reflect entirely on you. Don’t ask your audience to spend their money on something that isn’t fully-polished and has gone through multiple reviews and iterations.
The benefits of your own products far outweigh the risks, though, because your products give you credibility and a steadier income.
Making Money Online is Possible
However you decide to make money online, remember that at the root of it all, you must provide value to your audience. Make useful, engaging, and entertaining content that’s focused on your helping your audience succeed. Then as your audience grows, so can your business.