11 Ways to Make Money Online
TweetHave you explored every possible way that your site could be bringing in extra income? When was the last time you considered adding an additional revenue stream to your blog or site? You should be re-evaluating the ways that your site can earn money at least twice a year. There may be infinite ways of monetizing a site, but the following 11 ideas are a way to jumpstart your evaluation process.
In the past, I’ve described 10 methods of earning online income with definitions included. That post was a high-level summary designed to introduce monetization concepts. Other posts have focused on giving detailed, in-depth information about specific ways to monetize a site. My hope is that by giving you a mix of ideas and explanations, you can find the monetization methods that work best for you, your site, and your niche market. Generally speaking, it’s usually best to diversify, using a mix of methods, so if one revenue stream dries up for any reason, your other methods are still bringing in some income. Watch the video, or jump to the text below the video.
1. Sell access to premium content.
This works best when it is in the form of a membership site, in which members pay a monthly fee to access exclusive content. If you’ve got premium content, you can quickly make a lot from a membership site.
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2. Review products, earning affiliate commissions from referrals.
When done well, review sites can attract lots of search engine based traffic, and can be one of the best earners out there.
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3. Sell your own info products such as ebooks, videos, and audio “how-to” information.
Absolutely everyone has the ability to create their own high-quality ebooks and video products these days. And with services such as eJunkie to handle the orders and delivery of the downloads, it doesn’t get much easier.
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4. Sell your own non-info digital products such as templates, graphics, and photos.
If you have talent in these types of areas, you can sell your work not only on your own site, but also on sites like the Envato marketplaces and Fotolia.
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How To Accept Payments for Downloadable Digital Goods
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5. Sell your own physical products, such as t-shirts, hand-made items and published books.
With services such as Etsy, CafePress, Zazzle, and Lulu to host your products, you can easily sell and ship real physical goods.
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6. Run a marketplace/auction that allows others to list items for sale
You let others list items for sale on your site, and in return, you either receive a listing fee, a portion of the sale, or both. Running a classified listing service is similar to running marketplaces or auctions, but it is more generic, and with less interactivity. Classifieds would consist of simple listings, with a fee charged for each. And of course, with easy to use WordPress themes, like this classifieds theme, it’s just plain easy.
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Hosting Online Auctions or Classified Ads: An Introduction to Marketplaces
Easily Add A Classifieds Marketplace or Auction To Your Site With Premade Scripts
7. Host or share sponsored content
You are paid to post sponsored content (such as a blog post that an advertiser pays for), or you are paid to share sponsored content, such as a paid tweet. The best place to start with this type of monetization is at Izea, where you can sign up for SocialSpark, Sponzai, or Sponsored Tweets. Technically speaking, sponsored tweets aren’t exactly monetizing your “site”, but if your Twitter account is tied to your site’s brand, then in effect, it is a method of site monetization.
8. Sell your own services.
Some service examples include consulting, designing, programming, freelance writing, marketing, etc.
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9. Run a job board in your niche
Running a job board is a great add-on to any site, and with WordPress themes such as Job Board and Job Press, it couldn’t get much easier. Basically, you charge a fee for each job posted. Job seekers search for free, but you could charge for premium services such as hosting resumes, helping job seekers create resumes, selling access to premium content such as guides to successful interviews, etc. A good way to know what you can offer is to run through some of the popular job boards as if you were looking for a job. What’s missing? What do you wish they had for you but they don’t? Can you supply that others in your niche?
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Where To Find Work – Quick Resource List
10. Sell banner ad space.
This could be through ad networks such as buysellads.com or via one-on-one sales negotiated directly with advertisers.
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11. Serve Google Adsense ads or any automated ad network ads.
The easiest, but not always most lucrative, method is of course, slapping Google Adsense on your site (or some equivalent, though there’s not much in the way of equivalent choices).
Related posts:
Adsense Realities for New Publishers
Get Creative!
The bottom line here is that you can increase the bottom line of your site’s income, just by getting creative. Most of the pain has been taken out of the equation over the years, as there are services, products, and vast quantities of information to help you handle almost any aspect of monetizing your site using these ideas. Stop limiting yourself with just the occasional banner ad, and move towards an increased level of freedom. Freedom? Oh yeah, freedom. Freedom is what comes with that extra bit of security, known as a bank account that isn’t teetering on the edge of emptiness. 
So start thinking, and start working towards that extra level of freedom. Good luck!
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26 Responses to “11 Ways to Make Money Online”
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An ebusiness coach, web developer, Internet Marketer, SEO, and all around web geek who makes her living from home doing all of the above.
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I’ve actually got a couple projects in the works which incorporate many of these ideas. I can’t spill the beans just yet but I think the real bonus comes when you can combine many of these together.
For example: What if you reviewed a product for a commission and after how well you see it goes you find a supplier and sell it directly?
I know this is a larger step but it’s quite easy now with websites like Alibaba and wholesale sources like World Wide Brands.
In fact, you could go to the extent of having your own small eCommerce store right on site – build an empire!
Excellent collection Donna. Was great that you didn’t over bog it down which actually helps to open a conversation – haha, maybe thats why this comment became a bit lengthy!
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Aw c’mon, spill the beans…we won’t tell. LOL. Ok, ok, I’ll be patient, but I sure hope you return when you can spill the beans and let us know what you’ve got going. Thanks for the thoughts on wholesale options. I’ve occasionally considered doing dropship stuff, but something always distracted me, and I never “got around to it”. Maybe one day.
Thanks for sharing this great tip and information. I would want to ask, when should one monetize his or her website? I want to start a new blog and want ideas so as to how to go about it so don’t I don’t flop. Hope you can help me out. Will come back to check for your reply soon. Thanks for the info. It was great being on your site.
I monetize from the very start so that visitors don’t get any surprises in the future. However, others wait so they can more easily get backlinks from people who are leery of linking to an ad-filled site. That’s a fair reason to wait, but I think if you give out great content, you can get the links with or without ads.
You have got quite a few compelling reasons to review your website on a semi-annual basis to find new monetization methods.
I take a different approach though. I have a number of websites, not just one. Maybe that is why I take the approach that I take.
When I launch a new website, I already know (almost always that is) how I am going to monetize it. I will stick with one primary method of monetization and build everything I possibly can into that site to generate more money with that method.
Then I have some sites that serve completely different purposes, that I just throw some basic Chitika ads on that might cover little more than the hosting and domain costs.
If I was only running one blog though, I would definitely consider your advice.
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Totally agree with all your tips and using creativity with all these money making ideas is must.Having a job board is something which i never tried.Thanks for sharing.
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Let me know if you try a job board. Interested to see if it works for you or not.
That is really a great list. I know most people stick to one field, but its easy to diversify, as long as you’re not doing it all at the same site. One reason many people fail online is because they cannot concentrate on one niche.
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Hopefully they work with a niche they love – then it’s a lot easier to stick with it.
Hi Donna,
This is an useful post for me as am going to monetize my blog. Of-course it my blog is only 1 month old. Next week, I am joining post graduation course. So I thought it will better to do the monetization before I get busy.
BTW, Is there no word such as ‘monetization’?
Thanks for the awesome post
Jakes
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Monetization is a word, yes. http://dictionary.reference.co.....netization
Good idea to start monetizing before you get busy, but at some point, you’ll need to test different methods – or just test one method in different ways. So you probably will still need to spend some time on it but there’s no reason to make it wait completely. Might as well start it now and make changes as needed when you have some time. Good luck!
Well… that’s quite a list of ways to make money online, but most of my earning comes from yahoo ppc and google ppc as in selling as an affiliate for products that’s not in the make money online niche.I have try to sell the make money online niche products but is just to competitive for me.
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These methods can be used for any niche. They certainly aren’t just for the mmo niche. And of course, you can always supplement your PPC efforts with onsite efforts. Never restrict yourself.
Hi Donna,
Your list summary of 11 ways to earn money online is such a great list. Most people start off writing reviews, promoting other people stuff and then they promote to start selling their own products and services and I think it’s very interesting to take a look at the path people are following.
And as the first commentator points out, I think it’s great idea, too!
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Once you have the traffic, the opportunities to make money are endless – no matter the niche. The hardest part is establishing that first static stream of visitors at around 500-1,00 “uniques” a day. Once you have the traffic, with a little determination there are so many money-making options to explore….These 11 ways are pretty awesome and standard for any web blog – but it is just the tip of the ice berg
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