Creative Ideas to Make Money Online (Updated for 2023)
As we enter into 2023, the world of making money online continues to evolve and expand. With the rise of digital technology and the internet, there has never been a better time to explore the various creative ideas that can help you earn a substantial income from the comfort of your home.
Whether you are looking to supplement your income, start a new career, or simply want to explore your creative talents, there are numerous opportunities available for you to earn money online. The key to success in this field is to identify your strengths, interests, and skills, and use them to create a unique and profitable niche.
One of the most popular ways to make money online is through e-commerce. Online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, and Etsy provide a platform for entrepreneurs to sell their products to a global audience. From handmade crafts and clothing to digital products like eBooks and courses, there is no shortage of possibilities for those who are willing to put in the work.
Another creative idea for making money online is through the creation and monetization of a blog or YouTube channel. By creating quality content that appeals to a specific audience, you can attract a loyal following and earn money through advertising revenue, affiliate marketing, and sponsorships.
If you have a talent for design or programming, freelancing can be an excellent way to make money online. Websites like Fiverr and Upwork allow you to offer your skills and services to clients from all over the world. From graphic design and website development to copywriting and social media management, the possibilities are endless.
Another popular way to earn money online is through the creation and sale of digital products. This can include anything from eBooks and courses to software and apps. With the right marketing and promotion, digital products can be a lucrative source of passive income.
If you have a passion for photography, stock photography websites like Shutterstock and iStock allow you to sell your photos to individuals and businesses around the world. This can be a great way to earn money while doing something you love.
Finally, affiliate marketing is another creative way to make money online. By promoting products or services on your website or social media channels, you can earn a commission on any sales that result from your referrals.
As we continue deeper into creating money online, below I will discuss various options and ideas for you to look at.
In the present age, the internet is helping us to sell our skills and make money. If you have the skill of making handicraft items or artifacts, there are various online stores available where you can sell your products. It will allow you to change your hobby into a business. By using e-commerce websites, it will get easier for you to find your niche market and target the right audience. In this way, you will be able to make money while having fun.
10 Steps to Start an eCommerce Store
It is reported that there are about 245,000 businesses reporting online web-based sales. Of those 245,000 there are close to 208,000 eCommerce stores generating a revenue of $1 million dollars from online sales (Oct 2017). In short, there isn’t a better time to start an eCommerce business, especially with businesses continuing to grow. So, if you’re thinking about starting an eCommerce business and selling products online, use the following 10-step checklist before you get started.
Setup a Business Plan – Before you do anything else, decide what you want to do, offer, and sell. Is it a course, instructional videos, t-shirts, or some product?
What business name do you want? Make it something memorable and impacting.
Find a Need and Fill It! Do not just look for a product to sell. See what you can fix, improve upon, or answer. When you start by being a solution to a problem, you increase your business’s success.
Set up a budget – Plan on at least a website and some type of marketing budget.
Set real expectations for 6-month and 12-month goals (Profit, Loss, or Break Even).
Get your Website & Domain Name – Now that you thought of your perfect business name, is the domain name available (www.XYZ.com)? A free tool you can use is GoDaddy’s Domain Name Tool. I would suggest avoiding anything other than the .com names. Society has been trained to prefer .com to any other extension. In the end, it is your call.
Decide your Business Structure – Now that you came up with the perfect name and claimed your online domain name, it’s time to proceed and register your name and business structure. Business Structure? Why yes, is this going to be formed as a Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, LLC, LLP, or Corporation? Now if you do nothing, you’ll be automatically considered a Sole Proprietorship by the IRS. Seek the advice of an asset professional as there are risks.
Build, Market, and Sell – Even before your website or marketing campaign is running, start creating a sales plan.
Develop your Sales Copy formula – This is the process where you will take a visitor through the sales process from start to purchase. Here are the steps…
Arouse interest with a compelling headline.
Describe the problem your product solves.
Establish your credibility as a solver of this problem.
Offer testimonials from people who have benefited from your service or product.
Talk about the product and how it benefits the user.
Make an offer. Do not give away or undersell yourself.
Start dreaming and building your website – Now that you have your business plan down and your sales formula set, its time to get your website done. I would suggest using a WordPress design and keeping it simple at first. You can always add functionality as you go. I cannot stress how many times I have witnessed business owners over developing their site and adding costly delays to their sites.
Build an online reputation and social proof for your business – Start promoting your website and domain name at every chance you can. Post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and etc. Offer to guest blog or offer free niche-specific information to other blog sites within your niche and industry. This will give your business traffic a huge boost by starting social proof early.
Start driving traffic to your site – A good organic SEO program can take 3 to 6 months to really reveal the impact on your website. This is a long-term strategy as Organic SEO means Free Natural website traffic that costs you nothing. So until you can reach that 6-month time limit, start thinking of Pay-Per-Click advertising (PPC). PPC advertising is the easiest way to get traffic to a brand-new website. It has two advantages over waiting for the traffic to come to you organically. First, PPC ads show up on the search pages immediately, and second, PPC ads allow you to test different keywords, headlines, prices, and selling techniques.
PPC and Facebook ads can be costly. Make sure you plan accordingly even if you decide to focus on organic SEO for the next 6 months.
Pay Per Click can be costly depending on the keyword and your budget. For example:
If you wanted to be found by the keyword ‘t-shirt printing’ Google Adwords will run you approximately $2.40 cents for every time a user clicks on your ad. Now there are no guarantees of a sale, just traffic, and visibility. The conversion of that traffic to a sale is completely up to you. Industry standards state that only 2.35% will convert to sale and at $2.40 per click, simply think if you would make a profit.
PPC is all about keywords and how you expect to be found. What would you type into Google to find a local plumber or tire company?
Not all keywords cost the same.
Keyword: ‘Houston SEO’ is set at a Cost Per Click (CPC) of $27.03 each
Keyword: ‘Spring SEO’ is set at a CPC of $.04 each
Keyword: ’emergency plumber Houston’ is set at a CPC of $16.24 each
Keyword: ’emergency plumber Houston tx’ is set at a CPC of $.05 each
Email Marketing – After you start driving traffic to your site, look at building a prospect list through Opt-Ins. Create a helpful guide, resource, or coupon to offer prospects for free. In exchange, they give you their email address giving you the opportunity to build a long-term relationship. That means:
They freely are giving your permission to email (market) them in exchange for their free item.
The response is 100% measurable and cheaper than conventional marketing techniques of print, TV, or radio.
Create a weekly or monthly newsletter – Offer great tips, suggestions, and industry updates. You do not need to SELL them every chance you have. Put yourself in their shoes!
Increase your sales opportunity (Upselling) – One of the most impactful marketing strategies to develop is to find value-added services or products to offer above your standard sale. Statistics state that at least 36 percent of buyers who have purchased from you will buy from you again if you simply follow up. Closing that first sale is by far the most difficult and most expensive to obtain. Suggestions for upselling:
Again, make sure to offer products that complement their original purchase.
Since you have them on your opt-in list, make sure to send out electronic loyalty coupons they can redeem on their next visit.
Offer a related product, membership, or added value item on your ‘Thank You’ page.
Marketing is all about offering great content and content specific to your industry. Stay active and post new content as your schedule allows.
Sell Photos Online
If you have to visit different places for your job, or you just love to travel and seem to never be in the same place. Then you can use the opportunity to take some great-looking pictures and start selling them online. There are various online platforms where you will get paid for the photos you sell. Even if your single photo is sold 10 times, you will get the payment each time. The best part is that our smartphones have the highest quality cameras compared to just 10 years ago. This means that there is no need to invest in any special equipment. Just use your smartphone and capture some unique and high-quality photos.
Here are 15 sites where you can gather ideas to making money online with your photos:
Getty Images – On the higher end of stock photography sites, Getty Images attracts brands and publishers looking for high-quality or hard-to-find exclusive images to license. Rates start at 20%
500px Prime – Over 5 million photographers have listed their photos with 500px. You will receive 70% of the net proceeds for every one of your images sold (standard licenses are $250).
Stocksy – is a popular photography site among publishers. Standards are high and require exclusive images. Very generous commission structure of 50–75%.
Adobe Stock – is a place to sell photos online. When you list photos with Adobe, they are also available on the stock site Fotolia. You earn a 33% commission on the photos you sell.
Fotolia – Purchased by Adobe with commissions ranging from 20 to 60%
SmugMug Pro – lets you keep 85% of the markup for your images. The catch is that you have to buy a Pro subscription, starting at $12.50 per month (there is no free option).
Image Vortex – This doesn’t require any type of exclusivity, so you are free to sell your photos to other sites. The commission is a 50% rate.
Foap – Unique method to pay commissions. $5 for every photo sold, $100–$2,500 for Missions, $0.25/photo for album-specific photo sales.
Twenty20 – Initially started as a tool for Instagram Photographers to sell their images. It gained great popularity because it is a full-stock photography site.
Alamy – Sales through their website can earn photographers 50% commission; distributors earn 70%, and novel use earns 50% commission. Payments are deposited monthly.
Shutterstock – This site has a complex pricing structure and shows that you can earn Up To $120 per image. The site sells video footage as well as stock photography.
iStockphoto – In business since 2001, they have an extensive network of photographers. They thoroughly check out new contributors/applicants to ensure they’re a good fit before allowing them to add content.
Etsy – They are not just for crafts, dresses, wedding decorations, custom Halloween costumes, and quirky cat-themed gifts. They are an additional source for you to sell your photos!
Dreamstime – offers a generous payout for contributors. However, they require more of a commitment… You must have at least 70% of your portfolio on their site for at least six months.
123RF – pays freelance photographers based on the number of downloads and purchases. Commissions range from 30% to 60%.
Work From Home – Become a Remote Worker
We all have had the dream of working from home. We’ve all seen the ads and online job postings in craigslist and wondered if they were legit or not; but just maybe… they might actually exist. Well, they do! There are actually legitimate ways to work full-time from home and some actually offer benefits.
Work for a Call Center – Customer service jobs are common with companies that hire at-home workers. You spend your days in front of a computer screen, talking to customers on the phone.
VIPdesk Connect – award-winning English language-learning services company. Rated number 1 on top 100 companies with remote jobs in 2018.
Appen – is a technology services company with over 20 years of experience working across a variety of industries to improve its products with high-quality, human-annotated data. Rated #2 on the top 100 companies with remote jobs in 2018.
Sykes – Named #8 on the top 100 companies with remote jobs in 2018.
Convergys – 401K, paid training, full benefits, and even paid vacations. Named #16 on the top 100 companies with remote jobs in 2018.
For a complete list of the top 100, please reference the FlexJobs site.
Be a Virtual Assistant – you will answer calls, send emails, prepare reports, and do any number of other tasks for busy executives and business owners.
Become a Social Media Manager– Many companies are looking for individuals to manage their social media networks. Create ad campaigns, post on Facebook, respond to comments, and update customers on upcoming events.
Write Resumes and College Papers – Writing a resume for a client is one thing, but ghostwriting for college students may be the most ethically questionable opportunity here (but possibly quite lucrative too). One anonymous academic paper writer says he makes about $65,000 annually helping students cheat their way to degrees.
Write for Revenue Sharing Sites – you can be paid up to 70% of what they make from your work, while others pay per view or comment, but either way, if nobody reads your article, you make nothing.
Check out: HubPages, Teckler, BubbleWS, ShoutMeLoud, iWriter, Textbroker, and Listverse.
Invest in Cryptocurrencies – The day of Bitcoin and 100 to 1 returns may be over, but there are other currencies that may be just as popular. Check them out.
Become an online teacher for Udemy – You don’t need experience or a degree to make money teaching on Udemy. If people want to learn what you have to teach, you can create a potentially profitable video course at home.
Earn Through Entertainment
You will be surprised to know that there are some ideas to make money online by getting entertained. There are actual sites that will pay you to listen to music and review it before it can be introduced. Here is a short list:
Platforms like Netflix will pay you for watching the movies and seasons that they are planning to introduce. It means that you can make money while having fun.
MusicXRay.com is one of the better-known websites where you listen to songs (typically for at least 30 seconds) in exchange for cash or points that are redeemable for gift cards.
Download HitBliss (software/app) for your computer, and you’ll get paid to watch commercials. The big drawback is that you’ve paid with points that you have to spend in their store.
Paid2YouTube – is a site that pays you for watching YouTube videos. (About each video only pays half a cent).
Both Gawker.com and EntertainmentCareers.com have been known to post jobs looking for professional TV watchers. Pay is less than the minimum wage.
Be a Professional Video Game Tester – Hourly wage is between $8 to $15 per hour. Many game development companies are based in Dallas and Austin, Texas; Los Angeles, Montreal, San Francisco, and Redmond, California. Indeed is a great source, as well as ZipRecruiter.
There are hundreds of creative ways to make money online. Make sure that you always target the best niche market to assure that in the limited time you have will grant you the ability to generate leads and increase your revenue.
