6 Best Ways to Make Money Online

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6 Best Online Home Business Ideas: Which One is Right for You?

Make money online you thought.  That is how I can break free and stop working for “the man”. But how do you find an online home business that will give your freedom and money. You found home businesses and side-hustles that promised good money with little expense or hassle. 

Photo by Magnet.me on Unsplash

Instead you have worked your fingers to the bone, strained your brain, spent countless hours and your hard-earned money, and ….what?  Nothing?  A dribble?  Whose bright idea was that? 

Every online guru claims to have struggled through it and finally figured it out.  They have the answer and if you only just follow their plan, you’ll have the life of your dreams. The problem is you don’t. 

So, why doesn’t their solution work for everyone?  It's because we are all different.  We write differently.  Our style is different.  We attract a different audience.  We work differently.  We choose different marketing options. We have different skills.  

There are many ways to make money online and each is not suited to everyone. The first very important step is to figure out which one is a fit for you. It is the first thing that determines success or failure.

Are You a Bread Maker or a Cake Baker?

Like 6 different bakers baking the same cake following the same recipe, each will come out a bit differently.  Some baker’s cakes will fail.  “Ridiculous'', you say. Not a professional baker!  Actually, no - some cakes always fail.  Have you ever followed a recipe and done everything it said, measured every ingredient, but it still didn’t turn out?  

Even with a good recipe, the results will vary with each different baker. Well, it is the same with a business recipe. Personal nuances matter. We each have our own special touch.

Source: Creative Alchemy Online

 So, what is the real problem then?  How do you fix it so you succeed, make the big bucks, and live the life you want?  Let’s start with the cake. 

Maybe baking cakes just isn’t your thing. Maybe you are more well-suited to baking bread.  The same goes for the poor baker slaving away at a French baguette recipe. His hard work ends in disaster while the French Boulanger does it in a flourish.

By the same token this frustrated bread maker may turn out a cake that is so light and moist it could make Marie Antoinette faint. Are you a cake baker or a bread baker?  You can still succeed in your online home business.  The first and most important thing is to choose the right path.

Source: Canva/Creative Alchemy Online

Types of Home-Based Online Businesses

Every online guru claims to have the answer. Follow them and you too can succeed. The problem is you don’t. 

So, why is that. If they have the answer, and you follow the formula, why doesn’t it work? It's because we are all different. 

We have different skills.  We communicate differently. We write differently.  Our style is different.  We do the exact same things, but differently. We attract a different audience. We get different results.

I am going to break it down for you so you can easily see where you fit and where you don’t.

6 Legitimate Ways to Make Real Money Online 

There are only 6 categories of online businesses: Marketing, Content, Publishing, Creatives, Services, Investing.  We start by narrowing down your choices.(Take the Quiz!)

#1.  Online Marketing Home Businesses

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There are 3 types of online businesses that fall into the category of pure marketing:  Affiliate Marketing, Network Marketing, and eCommerce.

These three are very different but they are all commission sales. You don’t have to create products or provide services. You just sell. That doesn’t mean it is easy or inexpensive.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing  is simply commission sales for various companies. You can choose your niche and the products you want to sell.  

To make real money, you need a high volume of traffic, a large email list of qualified buyers, and either good content marketing or money for ads. 

You can make a million and there is little start-up cost, risk, or expense - unless you are advertising. That is expensive. 

The advertisers I know claim each advertising campaign pays for itself and generates more than enough profit for the next campaign. 

That’s the dream. You need money to start with and you must be really good at marketing, copywriting, and advertising.

This is best for bloggers, content creators, social media influencers and email marketers who already have a large, loyal following.

In that case it is just something you add on to what you are already doing and make a ton of extra money.

eCommerce

The highest failure rate is eCommerce (90% first year per HBR).  That is still better than its brick and mortar retail counterpart which has a 95% first year failure rate (HBR).  

You have the extra costs of inventory, warehousing, shipping, and supplies, returns and refund.  There is also customer service, product description copywriting, and product photography. You can’t be successful and skim on those.

Network Marketing

Network Marketing is people intensive and relies on signing up everyone you know and any new contacts. The money is in signing people up, not in selling a product or service. 

This is good for people who love meeting people, selling to people, and bringing them into the group. This is good for joiners.

#2. Content-Based Home Businesses

A content business is one that makes money on the content it creates. Create content, promote it, and monetize it. 

Content is monetized by sale, subscription or membership, advertising revenue, or affiliate marketing.

Content-Based Businesses

Have you ever thought about writing your own book? Sure you have.  It used to be hard to get publishers to pick up your book, but now you can self-publish.

You can publish print on demand books, eBooks, and audio books through Amazon or other publishing companies. You can also make money publishing low content books. 

It is quick and easy to create journals, planners, diaries, and such.  You can create, publish and market on Amazon all at one.

If you like to write or create design layout and writing prompts you may enjoy this. Success, as always, is in marketing. You have to do the marketing.

Publishing Businesses

#4.  Creatives: Online Businesses for Creatives

Creatives includes handcrafted goods and other home made items. It also includes digital creations like graphic design elements, templates, and printables. Arts includes painting, photography, calligraphy.  You name it. There are just too many possibilities to go into. 

If you’re a crafter, a potter, a photographer, or if you make anything yourself, you can create a business selling what you make online.

Whether you create it on a computer or with your hands, it is a creative. 

This is where you find some very creative designers and artists. If you are that sort of creative person with the skills described, you may have thought of selling your creations online. 

Some of the best creative marketplaces are Etsy for handcrafted goods and Creative Market for digital goods.

Creative Businesses

#5.  Service-Based Online Businesses

Source: Creative Alchemy

Business Services include consultants, coaches, freelancers and small businesses.  

Creative Services include photographers, graphic designers, illustrators, videographers, sound engineers, voice over actors, narrators, musicians, and artists.. 

Coaches and consultants often make a living online. It is the best way to build and scale such a business. 

Freelancers provide a variety of online services like writing, copywriting, editing, web design, and many more.

One key to a service business is the desire to help people and love of working with people. 

If you are a people person and don’t want to go online because you want to maintain those connections, this is for you. 

You have a lot of interaction and you can run a hybrid online/offline business.

#6.  Online Investing

Source: Creative Alchemy

You know what investing is: stocks, mutual funds, crypto currencies.  I consider this somewhat different from a business because you don’t have so much to “run”. It can be side investments or it can be a business where you are active in trading daily.  This requires no infrastructure or staff, but you need a significant amount of money to get started. It can be very stressful, and you can lose a lot of money. 

If you are analytical, like gambling, and have a lot of money that you can afford to lose, this may be for you.

So, What Are You Going to Do?

The first thing that anyone wishing to start a business from home must do is to choose a type of business. So, it didn’t work out before. That has nothing to do with the next time.  

This is a different time, place, event, and business. This time you will be prepared. This time you know what to look for. You are not just following someone blindly.

How to Choose the Right Online Home Business for You?

Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash

There is an Online Home Business for You

Having your own business, working from home online and making great money is possible. You know what your next steps are. 

You can be confident in choosing the right online business for yourself.  

Once you start digging in and learning more about your chosen path you will be more motivated than ever! So, why are you still here?  Get started!