Now that the world is on the road to recovery, more and more people are looking for ways to make extra cash flow through a side hustle. In traditional jobs, you have bills to pay, mortgage or rent to pay, and the occasional car repair to make. Not so with a side hustle, where you’re usually only required to show up and get paid. Legitimate side hustles can range from copywriting for local businesses to taking online surveys for market research or getting paid to take photos for stock photography websites. The opportunities are endless. You just have to know how to make the most of them.
Start A Blog
Blogs are one of the easiest and most accessible ways of making money online. They can be quite the moneymaker, largely due to the fact that there’s seemingly an endless stream of content that one can write about. Simply pick a niche (such as money management or blogging for beginners), create a blog for that niche, and you’re good to go. If your content is of good quality, you’ll be able to draw in some serious website traffic, which in turn makes money flowing in.
The great thing about blogs is that they’re extremely easy to set up and require very little maintenance. It may take a little bit of research to find your niche, but once you’ve got a good sized audience, it’ll be worth it. When creating your blog, make sure that you build a quality brand that will be associated with a high degree of trust. Ideally, you’ll want to choose a niche that has both deep historical significance as well as high income potential, so that you can ride the wave of goodwill that comes with establishing a reputable brand.
Get A Domain Name
Your domain name is quite possibly the most important element of your blog’s branding. Ideally, you’ll want to choose a.com or.co.nz domain that is loosely tied to your product or service. For example, if you are working with a niche that is heavily associated with the travel industry, you might want to look into getting a travel blog with the domain name travel.blog. When choosing your domain name, make sure that you register it with the proper extensions (i.e.com,.net,.org, etc.).
With a good domain name, you can truly build a reputable brand for your blog. When people come across your name in a search engine, they will immediately think of your website. If you are worried about being able to find the right name, worry not — there’s hundreds of brandable domain names out there, and the chances of you stumbling upon the perfect one are very high. Simply create a short list of candidates and choose one that fits perfectly with your blog’s content.
Use The Right Platform
Choosing the right platform for your blog is just as important as picking the right domain name. When it comes to starting a blog, WordPress, Ghost, and Medium are the big players. WordPress is a content management system, which makes it extremely user-friendly. Not only that, but it’s one of the most popular platforms out there, meaning there’s a lot of experience and knowledge in the WordPress community.
Ghost is similar to WordPress in that it’s a content management system and a very user-friendly one at that. However, instead of focusing on blogs, Ghost is used for creating websites and doing all the heavy lifting for you. It’s highly optimized for website speed and search engine visibility.
Medium is similar to Ghost in that it’s a content management system and also very user-friendly. However, instead of powering websites, it is used to publish articles, books, and other media for a variety of businesses and individuals. This makes it a must-have for serious content creators who want to make money off their work.
When it comes to choosing a platform, it’s important to think about your blog’s goals and what you want to use it for. Do you just need something simple to get you going or are you looking for a fully-fledged content management system with a lot of features?
Once you’ve chosen your platform, it’s time to move on to the next step — picking a topic for your blog.
Create A Product Or Service
Now that you’ve got a blog with a decent amount of content, it’s time to start creating products and services that you can promote online. The great thing about a blog is that it provides you with an unlimited supply of content, whether you want to create a product review or develop new products and services to promote.
The most important thing to do is pick a niche. This is similar to choosing a domain name, in that it will determine the content that you create and promote. Your product or service won’t be relevant to everyone — after all, some people might want to travel and some might want to stay at home — but it will be relevant to your target audience. When picking your niche, make sure that there are people who are looking for your product or service in your chosen niche. In the example above, perhaps the niche is money management for women or teens. Chances are there are a lot of women and teens who are looking for products and services related to their personal finances. This is a very narrow niche, but it’s also extremely profitable.
Once you’ve chosen your niche, it’s time to move on to the next step — determining the kind of content that you’ll create. This is a personal choice and you have to determine what works best for you. In general, you’ll want to create content that is going to be valuable to your audience. Ideally, you’ll want to create content that is helpful and answers questions that your audience might have. When creating FAQ pages or product reviews, you’ll want to be sure to add value by adding unique details, including your own personal insights on the matter.
Build A Following
After you’ve picked a topic and developed a few FAQs or reviews, it’s time to move on to the next step — establishing yourself as an authority in your chosen field. To do this, you’ll want to build a following. Start by engaging with others in your niche on social media. It doesn’t have to be extensive. Simply like, comment on, and share other peoples’ content. In addition to social media, you can also join communities (i.e. Reddit, Quora, and forums like Warrior Forum and Ask-A-Pro) that are relevant to your niche.
As you start to build a following, make sure to engage with others on social media, join relevant communities, and build a small but respectable audience. Then, it’s time to ramp it up — get involved with social media marketing, participate in webinars and live chats, and develop affiliate partnerships with brands, businesses, and other individuals.
Make Money
Finally, you can begin to make money with your blog. There are several options, including becoming a social media influencer, getting paid to take online surveys, and becoming a ghostwriter for businesses.
If you’re looking for a reliable and legitimate way to make money online, you could try getting paid to take online surveys or get paid to write for small businesses. Both of these options provide you with a steady flow of revenue and give you the flexibility to work remotely.
As a content creator for an online community, you’ll be able to engage with potential customers, develop relationships, and eventually get paid to promote their products or services. This is one of the most legitimate ways to make money online, and it provides you with an incredible amount of flexibility. Simply choose a niche, build a following, and you’re good to go.
If you think that blogging is a legitimate way to make money, it’s time to get creative — develop a profitable blog model that will allow you to scale and make money online.