You’ve probably heard of the many perks of being a digital nomad. The freedom to work remotely, the flexibility of scheduling, and the opportunity to be spontaneous—the list goes on.
While there are many upsides to this new way of life, there are also a few downsides. One of the main ones is that, as a digital nomad, you’ll most likely be working for yourself. And self-employed folks, specifically entrepreneurs and digital nomads, can struggle to make money. Specifically, you might find it difficult to convert ad revenue into cash.
In this article, we’ll discuss how you can make money online. We’ll cover everything from the basic building blocks of a website or blog, to more advanced topics like affiliate marketing and how to get paid per click (PPC) on a crowded platform like Instagram.
The Basics
Before you can start generating income online, you’ll need to take the time to build a viable and profitable business. This means getting a website or blog up and running, and then finding the right niche in which to fit.
On the surface, building a successful website or blog looks quite easy. All you need is a place to put your content, some creativity, and a bit of know-how. If you keep these three essentials in mind, the rest will be easy. You’ll just need to follow some basic steps to make money online.
Step 1: Choose A Niche
There are many ways to generate revenue online, but before you can begin to think about earning money, you’ll need to pick a niche.
A niche is a “small market or segment” within the general population. For example, “gym wear for women” is a niche within the general category of “fitness”. When you choose a niche, you are narrowing your target audience and tailoring your content to appeal to a specific group of people. When picking a niche, make sure that there is enough demand for the products or services that you are offering in your niche. You can use free tools like Google Trends to easily find your niche’s search volume.
For instance, if you are passionate about dog grooming and love to groom dogs yourself, you could start a blog dedicated to dog grooming. Or if you are an avid swimmer and love to talk about the benefits of swimming, you could create a blog around that topic. The demand for your services will dictate your pricing, and you will be able to profit from the work that you put in.
Step 2: Create Quality Content
The second step to making money online is creating quality content. When people visit your site or blog, you’ll want them to stay for the long haul and keep coming back for more. To achieve this, you’ll want to create helpful guides and tips that are both entertaining and insightful. If you can nail these two traits, you’ll be able to generate some decent amounts of revenue online.
A good rule of thumb is to write content that is going to be worth at least five minutes of someone’s time. Having content that is worth your time and effort is essential to creating a successful site or blog. If you can, invest in some good editorial writing software, like DocuSign’s Storyteller, that can help you automate the process of creating high-quality content. The better the content that you can produce, the more people will want to read your work and the more opportunities you’ll have for making money online. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different publishing tricks to see what works best for you.
Step 3: Build A Viable Business
Now that you have a healthy blog or website, you can start to think about the third step to making money online: monetizing your site. You have a couple of options here. You could try selling and displaying ads on your site. You could become an affiliate marketer, where you’ll earn a commission from recommending products that you think will help your audience grow their businesses. Or, you could try selling and displaying ads on your site, and then using a tool like Google Adsense to monetize your content. Which one you choose depends on your specific situation and how much money you’re looking to make. But, the important thing to keep in mind is that there are many ways to monetize a site or blog.
If you’re looking for the easiest way to make money online, you should try affiliate marketing. You’ll be able to get started with a simple affiliate marketing program, like the Amazon Associate Program, for literally any niche imaginable. You’ll simply need to sign up with Amazon, choose a niche, and then create content around that topic. You’ll then be able to promote products that are relevant to your niche and make a profit off those sales.
Beyond The Basics
Once you have a successful website or blog, you can begin to think about taking your business to the next level and actually making money online. There are a number of topics that you could explore, from monetizing affiliate sales, to how to write effective SEO-optimized content, to building a membership site or e-commerce store. The sky is the limit here.
The important thing to keep in mind, though, is that all of these topics are simply tools to help you make money online. Ultimately, you’ll have to decide how much money you’re willing to make and how successful you want to be. Everyone’s situation and goals are different, so take some time to think about what you’re looking for and how you want to approach this new way of making money.