R
Raymonplus
Guest
The past year encouraged all of us to embrace the great indoors. No surprise, then, that the interest in making money online from the safety of our homes is now on the rise.
What once felt like a distant daydream is now a reality for millions of people. Those of us who worked remotely from our home offices for the last few years have a lot less explaining to do at family events—the path to earning a meaningful amount of money online has become much clearer.
The magic of the internet is that it’s a sales channel, marketing network, and community hub all in one—plus so much more. There are many creative ways to make money online beyond online surveys and selling used goods on Craigslist.
That said, some businesses and side hustles are better suited to the laptop lifestyle than others. In this guide, we’ll break down the strengths and shortcomings of a few of the top money-making options.
1.Dropshipping
Business type: Product based
Last year, many worldwide trends experienced a decades’ worth of acceleration. One such trend was the rise of ecommerce. There are a number of ways to run an ecommerce business, some of which allow for minimal need to carry and hold lots of inventory.
Enter dropshipping. Dropshipping is a business model where you don’t keep the products you sell in stock. Instead, when a customer buys something from your store, a third party fulfills and ships the order for you. Because low startup costs are low, it’s an increasingly popular way to make money online for beginners and pros alike.
Dropshippers have a habit of chasing the latest trends. And while there’s nothing wrong with catching a trending product wave, know that there also are many product categories that are steady and offer similar opportunities to do well.
2. Print on demand
Print on demand allows sellers to customize white label products with their own designs and sell them only after a customer buys, eliminating the need to hold inventory (which is what makes it a subset of dropshipping). When a customer places an order, a print-on-demand company will add your design to the product, fulfill the order, and ship it to the customer.
The most significant advantage print on demand offers over dropshipping is that you have control over the aesthetic of your products—a key differentiator for product categories where the design is the distinguisher, like t-shirts or fan merch.
When it comes to making money online, you can also use print-on-demand services to:
Test online business ideas or new products lines without the risk of buying inventory
Monetize an audience you’ve already built, whether it’s on YouTube, social media, or a personal blog
Offer diverse products by selling t-shirts, books, shoes, bags, mugs, phone cases, laptop skins, wall art, and more
Sell photos online by placing your images on physical products to sell to your fans
Overall, print on demand lets you create customized products quickly. You don’t have to worry about shipping or fulfillment—it’s taken care of by your suppliers. And since you have no inventory to worry about, it’s a low risk, low investment way to make money online.
3. Sell on Etsy
Every online marketplace, from Etsy to Amazon, offers a shared set of advantages and disadvantages. The upside is that you get access to their network of shoppers—people regularly browse these sites when they need to buy something, so setting up shop lets you meet them there.
That said, since these channels can work in harmony with your own website, sometimes they’re a great place to begin. New online makers can use Etsy to grow brand awareness at first. They have an active buyer community of 45.7 million buyers. We’ve seen many businesses successfully switch to Shopify after generating their first few sales on Etsy, for example.
The benefits of creating your own Shopify store include:
You can manage the look and feel of your store. Your Etsy shop sticks to one design model with less room for creativity.
You can grow your product line. Etsy sellers are limited to selling handmade, vintage, or artisan products. Say you want to offer a complementary manufactured product that could create a better customer experience and boost average order value. You may not be able to on Etsy. Having a Shopify store helps serve your customers better and add new products, no matter if they are dropshipped, manufactured, or wholesale.
Easier inventory management. Ecommerce platforms like Shopify provider full inventory management and analytics so you can keep your records in order and make smarter decisions for your business.
If you have an Etsy shop and don’t want to leave just yet, you can always run both stores simultaneously. Once you set up your Shopify store, use a free Shopify app like Etsy Integration: Sync and Sell. You can easily sync inventories, manage orders, and make money online using both Shopify and Etsy.
4. Blogging
Business type: Audience monetization
You’ve probably read a business blog at some point in your life. Businesses use blogging to share knowledge and insights, build an audience, and get more leads and sales. Blogging has endless benefits, such as building thought leadership in an industry and improving search engine visibility for a brand.
Blogging to make money online has grown beyond big businesses and side hustles. Anyone can now build an audience by putting out great content and make a lot of money from their blog. Bloggers also tend to take a personal approach that resonates with an intended audience versus getting information from a company blog.
People start blogs for many different reasons, some being:
Sharing their thoughts, passions, or life experiences
Educating readers on a topic they know about
Selling products or services
Building a personal brand
The key to running a successful blog is choosing a niche. There’s really no shortage of them on the internet. You could be the expert on topics in a specific location (for example, restaurants in Toronto) or for a specific segment in certain categories (like vegan keto recipes and lifestyle). Focusing on a niche helps you speak to an audience and create high quality content for them, which in turn can result in leads and sales for your blogging business.
But how do you make money from blogging? Well, once you learn how to start a blog, you can monetize it a few different ways:
Selling physical products that your readers would enjoy, like pillows or t-shirts
Offering digital products such as designs, digital art, courses, templates, or photography that you can make once and sell repeatedly
Selling freelance services such as consulting, writing, bookkeeping, or other hobbies that make money
Becoming an influencer and doing paid promotions for brands
Selling subscriptions or memberships to exclusive content on platforms such as Patreon
While blogging is a low investment business idea, it can take time to pay off. Chances are, you won’t find yourself on page 1 of Google’s search results overnight. But with the right niche and determination, you’ll be well on your way to making money online through your blog.
5. Affiliate marketing
There seems to be a trend with online-only business models still being relatively misunderstood. Well, add affiliate marketing to that pile. There’s no snake oil to be found here.
So, how does monetization work through this model? Essentially, publishers or individuals can apply for affiliate programs, wherever they’re available, in order to be added as an official affiliate. Once you’re accepted (or simply approved), you’ll receive a way to share an affiliate link to the product or service you’re interested in promoting.
When someone buys the product after clicking your link, you’ll receive credit for the referral, along with a commission. The commission amount depends on the affiliate program and the product being sold—commodity items on Amazon.com won’t pay out much, but referring a high-ticket account may pay out hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Because affiliate marketing works best when you help a visitor understand why a certain product may be the right one for them, you’ll typically see it deployed on content-focused websites. Search engine optimization also plays an important role here and you’ll see everyone from homegrown sites to massive, globally known publications competing for terms like “best gaming laptops 2021.”
Niche-to-win applies here, too. Since you don’t have a masthead of 50 writers, you won’t outcompete with professional publications like Wirecutter as a general review site. You may, however, be able to write, rank, and differentiate yourself by covering all things terrariums or high-intensity interval training. Point being, it’s typically easier to land (pick a distinct niche) and expand (grow into new areas) than it is to compete with a general interest site, especially when you’re getting started.
The best affiliate content helps the reader both solve a problem or make a decision and showcases the right products as part of that solution
6. Online courses and workshops
Business type: Product based
Creating a truly great online course is tough. You need to know the ins and outs of a specific subject and then have the skill (and dedication) to codify that knowledge and either write or record your best advice for customers. And, of course, you need to successfully market the course once it’s made—often the most difficult part of all.
There’s a reason online courses have a pretty broad appeal, though. Once a course is created, it accrues all of the benefits of any digital product: the costs to deliver the product to more customers is essentially zero, with the exception of hosting. Compare that to the need to maintain inventory that all physical product businesses face and you’ll find yourself dealing with fewer product-related headaches as you scale.
The appetite for digital courses and continuing education is there, too. Your biggest hurdle is actually the web itself, where there are thousands of wonderful resources available for free. And content on every topic is getting better by the day.
But the seemingly unlimited options available on the web is precisely why paid courses are valuable: they filter out the fluff and just share the good stuff. Many creators have found success turning their mostly free videos or blog posts into a paid course. The reason people pay isn’t just for the information, but for the way it’s organized and presented. Part of the value is the time saved not having to filter through dozens of YouTube videos and random websites and to instead get one cohesive course from an engaging instructor.
Remember, though, that while there are a countless number of topics to create content about, there are far fewer topics that people are willing to pay for. Usually, the bestselling courses teach people a valuable skill that helps them make progress at their job or get deeper enjoyment out of a beloved hobby. That explains why courses on Microsoft Excel can become bestsellers.
Once again, it’s often best to go to a market where people are willing to spend. Professionals probably spend the most money on courses, so if there’s a way for you to take the things you know from work and package them in a course, you already have your biggest selling point: help your buyers get a raise or promotion. Help them be better at the skill creating their main source of income.
What once felt like a distant daydream is now a reality for millions of people. Those of us who worked remotely from our home offices for the last few years have a lot less explaining to do at family events—the path to earning a meaningful amount of money online has become much clearer.
The magic of the internet is that it’s a sales channel, marketing network, and community hub all in one—plus so much more. There are many creative ways to make money online beyond online surveys and selling used goods on Craigslist.
That said, some businesses and side hustles are better suited to the laptop lifestyle than others. In this guide, we’ll break down the strengths and shortcomings of a few of the top money-making options.
1.Dropshipping
Business type: Product based
Last year, many worldwide trends experienced a decades’ worth of acceleration. One such trend was the rise of ecommerce. There are a number of ways to run an ecommerce business, some of which allow for minimal need to carry and hold lots of inventory.
Enter dropshipping. Dropshipping is a business model where you don’t keep the products you sell in stock. Instead, when a customer buys something from your store, a third party fulfills and ships the order for you. Because low startup costs are low, it’s an increasingly popular way to make money online for beginners and pros alike.
Dropshippers have a habit of chasing the latest trends. And while there’s nothing wrong with catching a trending product wave, know that there also are many product categories that are steady and offer similar opportunities to do well.
2. Print on demand
Print on demand allows sellers to customize white label products with their own designs and sell them only after a customer buys, eliminating the need to hold inventory (which is what makes it a subset of dropshipping). When a customer places an order, a print-on-demand company will add your design to the product, fulfill the order, and ship it to the customer.
The most significant advantage print on demand offers over dropshipping is that you have control over the aesthetic of your products—a key differentiator for product categories where the design is the distinguisher, like t-shirts or fan merch.
When it comes to making money online, you can also use print-on-demand services to:
Test online business ideas or new products lines without the risk of buying inventory
Monetize an audience you’ve already built, whether it’s on YouTube, social media, or a personal blog
Offer diverse products by selling t-shirts, books, shoes, bags, mugs, phone cases, laptop skins, wall art, and more
Sell photos online by placing your images on physical products to sell to your fans
Overall, print on demand lets you create customized products quickly. You don’t have to worry about shipping or fulfillment—it’s taken care of by your suppliers. And since you have no inventory to worry about, it’s a low risk, low investment way to make money online.
3. Sell on Etsy
Every online marketplace, from Etsy to Amazon, offers a shared set of advantages and disadvantages. The upside is that you get access to their network of shoppers—people regularly browse these sites when they need to buy something, so setting up shop lets you meet them there.
That said, since these channels can work in harmony with your own website, sometimes they’re a great place to begin. New online makers can use Etsy to grow brand awareness at first. They have an active buyer community of 45.7 million buyers. We’ve seen many businesses successfully switch to Shopify after generating their first few sales on Etsy, for example.
The benefits of creating your own Shopify store include:
You can manage the look and feel of your store. Your Etsy shop sticks to one design model with less room for creativity.
You can grow your product line. Etsy sellers are limited to selling handmade, vintage, or artisan products. Say you want to offer a complementary manufactured product that could create a better customer experience and boost average order value. You may not be able to on Etsy. Having a Shopify store helps serve your customers better and add new products, no matter if they are dropshipped, manufactured, or wholesale.
Easier inventory management. Ecommerce platforms like Shopify provider full inventory management and analytics so you can keep your records in order and make smarter decisions for your business.
If you have an Etsy shop and don’t want to leave just yet, you can always run both stores simultaneously. Once you set up your Shopify store, use a free Shopify app like Etsy Integration: Sync and Sell. You can easily sync inventories, manage orders, and make money online using both Shopify and Etsy.
4. Blogging
Business type: Audience monetization
You’ve probably read a business blog at some point in your life. Businesses use blogging to share knowledge and insights, build an audience, and get more leads and sales. Blogging has endless benefits, such as building thought leadership in an industry and improving search engine visibility for a brand.
Blogging to make money online has grown beyond big businesses and side hustles. Anyone can now build an audience by putting out great content and make a lot of money from their blog. Bloggers also tend to take a personal approach that resonates with an intended audience versus getting information from a company blog.
People start blogs for many different reasons, some being:
Sharing their thoughts, passions, or life experiences
Educating readers on a topic they know about
Selling products or services
Building a personal brand
The key to running a successful blog is choosing a niche. There’s really no shortage of them on the internet. You could be the expert on topics in a specific location (for example, restaurants in Toronto) or for a specific segment in certain categories (like vegan keto recipes and lifestyle). Focusing on a niche helps you speak to an audience and create high quality content for them, which in turn can result in leads and sales for your blogging business.
But how do you make money from blogging? Well, once you learn how to start a blog, you can monetize it a few different ways:
Selling physical products that your readers would enjoy, like pillows or t-shirts
Offering digital products such as designs, digital art, courses, templates, or photography that you can make once and sell repeatedly
Selling freelance services such as consulting, writing, bookkeeping, or other hobbies that make money
Becoming an influencer and doing paid promotions for brands
Selling subscriptions or memberships to exclusive content on platforms such as Patreon
While blogging is a low investment business idea, it can take time to pay off. Chances are, you won’t find yourself on page 1 of Google’s search results overnight. But with the right niche and determination, you’ll be well on your way to making money online through your blog.
5. Affiliate marketing
There seems to be a trend with online-only business models still being relatively misunderstood. Well, add affiliate marketing to that pile. There’s no snake oil to be found here.
So, how does monetization work through this model? Essentially, publishers or individuals can apply for affiliate programs, wherever they’re available, in order to be added as an official affiliate. Once you’re accepted (or simply approved), you’ll receive a way to share an affiliate link to the product or service you’re interested in promoting.
When someone buys the product after clicking your link, you’ll receive credit for the referral, along with a commission. The commission amount depends on the affiliate program and the product being sold—commodity items on Amazon.com won’t pay out much, but referring a high-ticket account may pay out hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Because affiliate marketing works best when you help a visitor understand why a certain product may be the right one for them, you’ll typically see it deployed on content-focused websites. Search engine optimization also plays an important role here and you’ll see everyone from homegrown sites to massive, globally known publications competing for terms like “best gaming laptops 2021.”
Niche-to-win applies here, too. Since you don’t have a masthead of 50 writers, you won’t outcompete with professional publications like Wirecutter as a general review site. You may, however, be able to write, rank, and differentiate yourself by covering all things terrariums or high-intensity interval training. Point being, it’s typically easier to land (pick a distinct niche) and expand (grow into new areas) than it is to compete with a general interest site, especially when you’re getting started.
The best affiliate content helps the reader both solve a problem or make a decision and showcases the right products as part of that solution
6. Online courses and workshops
Business type: Product based
Creating a truly great online course is tough. You need to know the ins and outs of a specific subject and then have the skill (and dedication) to codify that knowledge and either write or record your best advice for customers. And, of course, you need to successfully market the course once it’s made—often the most difficult part of all.
There’s a reason online courses have a pretty broad appeal, though. Once a course is created, it accrues all of the benefits of any digital product: the costs to deliver the product to more customers is essentially zero, with the exception of hosting. Compare that to the need to maintain inventory that all physical product businesses face and you’ll find yourself dealing with fewer product-related headaches as you scale.
The appetite for digital courses and continuing education is there, too. Your biggest hurdle is actually the web itself, where there are thousands of wonderful resources available for free. And content on every topic is getting better by the day.
But the seemingly unlimited options available on the web is precisely why paid courses are valuable: they filter out the fluff and just share the good stuff. Many creators have found success turning their mostly free videos or blog posts into a paid course. The reason people pay isn’t just for the information, but for the way it’s organized and presented. Part of the value is the time saved not having to filter through dozens of YouTube videos and random websites and to instead get one cohesive course from an engaging instructor.
Remember, though, that while there are a countless number of topics to create content about, there are far fewer topics that people are willing to pay for. Usually, the bestselling courses teach people a valuable skill that helps them make progress at their job or get deeper enjoyment out of a beloved hobby. That explains why courses on Microsoft Excel can become bestsellers.
Once again, it’s often best to go to a market where people are willing to spend. Professionals probably spend the most money on courses, so if there’s a way for you to take the things you know from work and package them in a course, you already have your biggest selling point: help your buyers get a raise or promotion. Help them be better at the skill creating their main source of income.
