5 Proven Ways to Make Money Online Investing Time and Skills

The pandemic made the mass aware that working from home is a nice way to earn money! While it is true that many of us are making money via online communication for over a decade, presently more and more people are getting interested to make money online.

If you perform a web search, you will find zillions of article on the topic “How to Make Money Online”. The deficit of the articles is commonly avoiding to answer a few questions about a particular method, which are:

1. Required skills for the particular method
2. Required time to see minimal success
3. Approximate chance of failure
4. The possible sum of earning
5. Name of some leaders in the field

Web economics is almost similar to that of the real world. In the case of the real world, the assets are physical. On the web, the assets are mostly virtual. Over the last 20 years, many of the people who succeeded on this internet (in terms of earning) found the internet to be their last way to earn money. That observation does point to the obvious conclusion of the requirement of a higher tenacity. It is also possible to make money with Bitcoin, but the topic of this article is related to skilled-based work. Let us move ahead with the 5 proven methods of earning money online.

Blogging

Blogging is the oldest method for making money online and it is the most durable. I have an detailed answer of methods on an interview published on Starter Story about earning from this website. I should answer the questions I raised at the beginning:

1. Required skills for the particular method: Of course writing skill is the tool of the trade. Apart from that, you need the spirit to learn things faster. Today, there are a lot of tools for helping your writing.
2. Required time to see minimal success: These days, it takes at least 2 years for a new domain to see practical earnings.
3. Approximate chance of failure: Very few bloggers ever earn more than $100 per month. The reason for failure is probably a lack of continuity.
4. The possible sum of earning: $100 to a few million per month.
5. Name of some leaders in the field: Too many peoples has been successful. Darren Rowse and Jeremy Shoemaker are probably a couple of well-known names.

To start a professional blog, you need a domain name, at least a shared web host and WordPress installed and running. We have detailed articles on this website about web hosting, WordPress, SEO optimized writings etc. Blogging is not an easy way but a durable way to make money. Even you can sell the website or domain later.

Blogs which earn more than $70, 000 per month usually earn from affiliate marketing (described below). $1000 to $5000 per month earning AdSense, direct ads are common and related to the quality of the blog. A major foe of the blogging business is Google’s search engine’s algorithm. Google can ban any small to medium size website out of conflict with their business interest. As it is not funny, you should have at least another blog against the name of your family member. Yes, it is a survival trick. You have to learn a lot of survival tricks to run any online business. As I have said – online and the real world are not different.

Affiliate Marketing

If you have the marketing capability to promote things effectively then you can join an affiliate program and earn a commission by promoting products or services. The method is easy. Engage the reader and when someone buys the product/service after clicking your link, you’ll receive a commission. The sum of the commission depends on the affiliate program. This can be hundreds or even thousands of dollars for digital services. You do not need a blog to promote things. You can use YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram to sell affiliate products.

1. Required skills for the particular method: Affiliate marketing demands a natural skill.
2. Approximate chance of failure : It is common to fail.
3. The possible sum of earning: Zero to few millions per month.
4. Name of some leaders in the field: Matt Giovanisci, Pat Flynn, Doug Cunnington to name a few.

Buy Sell Domains and Websites

Buying and selling domains, including expired domains, can be a good way to make money. Also, you can build websites and sell them.

1. Required skills for the particular method: General skill required for blogging.
2. Approximate chance of failure : It is rare to fail.
3. The possible sum of earning: Zero to few millions per month, but irregular in nature.
4. Name of some leaders in the field: It is almost always a side business.

Working as a Freelancer

This way is the way I suggest to the n00bs. It is very easy to register with the marketplace sites such as upwork.com. The biggest thing is that, with skills such as writing, you can make some money within some hours (it may not be huge but this way can stop becoming moneyless).

1. Required skills for the particular method: Your existing skills, and may be you need to read some articles or eBooks.
2. Approximate chance of failure : It is rare to fail.
3. The possible sum of earning: $10 to few thousands per month.
4. Name of some leaders in the field: Unknown.

Finally, Open a Consultancy

Now we are not just bloggers, but specialist consultants with our proven experience. I am telling you the basics of a marketing consultancy which manages Facebook ads. Many small business owners don’t know the value of running Facebook ads. By building brand awareness and getting new clients, you can easily earn $1,000 per month for each client you work with.

1. Required skills for the particular method: Marketing skills, experience of blogging, etc
2. Approximate chance of failure : It is rare to fail.
3. The possible sum of earning: Few thousands to few millions per month.
4. Name of some leaders in the field: Not applicable.

Of course, you can open any technical consultancy based on your training in university. Skills such as technical drawings are often valuable across the borders and also require a legitimate academic qualification.

Conclusion

The above listed 5 methods are not only the methods of earning money online. Probably there are hundred proven methods which work. However, I have purposefully avoided methods such as dropshipping, teaching, selling course etc because of lack of personal experience. Most of the people who work online combine the methods resulting in a monthly average earning of $2000 to $15,000. Making millions per month is rare if we talk from the point of statistics.