Content is a force to be reckoned with. You’ve probably heard stories of influencers cashing in on the photos they take and the online content strategy they develop. You might’ve even compared your audience and thought, “Maybe I can do that too.” As online content has gotten incredibly popular and many influencers have been able to attract tens of thousands of social media followers or equal numbers of regular readers, we decided to cover some of the best monetization strategies to make money from creating exclusive content.
10 Realistic Ways to Make Money Online From Home
As you probably know, making money from online content implies leveraging content so that, when users consume it, you earn money. You can be paid either by the users themselves, or a third party that promotes products through your content.
In a nutshell, online courses and subscriber-only resources are the most effective ways to get paid directly by users. As you dig deeper into advanced affiliate marketing you’ll discover that product placement, and pay-per-click (PPC) ads are the most common ways to get paid by third parties. With so many ways of monetizing your content, how do you know which one is the right choice for you?
It’s easy to begin comparing performance metrics of your content. For example, YouTube and Facebook already have built-in services that let you benefit from PPC ads once your engagement reaches a certain threshold.
But what are the options out there when it comes to making real money from content?
Making Money as an Influencer Tip #1: Develop Online Courses
If you’re an expert in your field and don’t want to compromise your content for revenue then online courses offer one of the best ways to monetize content. Share your knowledge with the world and do what you do best — converting your passion into developing content your followers love. Without compromising on quality and spending a lot of time on marketing.
From pre-recorded materials to fashion design to email marketing, the options are limitless. Consider hiring a marketing writer who has experience with educational materials to help you create an engaging and challenging online course. Learn about your target audience to answer the most common questions. If you want your online course to succeed make sure it offers value and fills an unanswered niche.
If you run a website, you can easily host your own online course to start making money from your content. WordPress offers courseware plug-ins such as LearnDash and LearnPress, but standalone software can get you covered if you blog on a different platform.
In case you have established yourself as a trustworthy authority whose words have weight in your area your online courses can quickly become a certification program within your niche. This model can increase brand awareness and command a higher price for your services.
Making Money as an Influencer Tip #2: Offer Premium Content
If you have a loyal fanbase, you can build on it even further by offering your community premium content in the form of an ebook or one-time digital downloads. Typically, premium content is more in-depth and more exclusive than your typical work and sometimes involves the use of a paid membership platforms like Patreon.
Some digital publishers also create online monetization strategies with a private website available exclusively to your logged-in members where they offer premium content. Your readers can pay a monthly or annual subscription fee for access to discounts, custom photo presets, private discussion boards and forums, podcasts, webinars, tutorials, and other actionable resources that solve their problem or address a certain pain point. This model allows taking advantage of recurring income.
Making Money as an Influencer Tip #3: Branded Sponsorships
Influencers can work with sponsors to create everything from short in-feed posts on Instagram to Reels or Instagram Stories, podcasts, videos, and reviews. With brand sponsorships, you get paid to create and publish the content regardless of whether it drives clicks and sales. And that is the major difference between affiliate content and sponsored content.
When creating sponsored content, disclosure to your readers is a must. Doing so ensures that you stay in line with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines and remain a genuine source of trustworthy information for your followers.
On average, publishers recommend that content creators charge at least $250 for every sponsored post. High-traffic influencers report earnings of $3,000 to $5,000 for an average sponsored post.
Making Money as an Influencer Tip #4: Social Media Ads
When you successfully build valuable relationships with your followers you also unlock opportunities to work with brands that want to sell goods or services that serve a specific customer base. By creating and promoting affiliate links on your blog or social media channels, you get a commission every time a user visits the merchant’s website and performs their desired action.
This monetization method offers one of the most common ways to make money from online content. If your content strategy is good enough, you can seamlessly integrate affiliate links without annoying your readers and provide your users with only a positive and useful experience.
What you really should care about while working with affiliate programs is product quality. The product or service you promote must offer value to your followers. Otherwise, you run the risk of ruining your own credibility – a fundamental basis for your business.
Choose your products wisely, look for partnerships that correspond with your industry niche, and be sure to disclose all affiliate links as advertising to avoid violating Federal Trade Commission regulations.
As long as you produce content that resonates powerfully with a specific audience and your followers love what you do, you can get started with affiliate marketing as an online monetization strategy.
By the way, did you know you’re only a few clicks away from the opportunity to generate passive income! Check our extension to generate links to any product in the catalog and share with friends or subscribers.
Making Money as an Influencer Tip #5: Offer Consulting Services
You have come a long way in building your audience and creating a successful blog, so why not offer consulting services on the side for an hourly fee? If you’re an expert in your particular field, give your followers the opportunity to learn from you 1-on-1 by offering personalized coaching and consulting sessions. It doesn’t even matter which field you specialize in.
Boost your income by offering virtual classes. Dedicating just a few hours a week will create an additional income stream simply because consulting is a low-volume enterprise. Starting with little things – you can provide consulting services even when you have only a few hundred followers.
If you’re into speaking in front of an audience, consider hosting conferences and workshops or even attend a public event with folks within your niche. You may also want to publish online videos and encourage social shares with a unique hashtag.
Making Money as an Influencer Tip #6: Sell Your Own Products
As an influencer, chances are you have quite a big fan base. Whether you’re a fashion, kid, travel, or lifestyle influencer, set up a store on your personal website and give your readers the opportunity to show their support for your work!
There are many ways you could use Instagram to drive traffic and make sales! For example, use your bio or Instagram Stories to add links and turn your profile into a valuable traffic driver.
Alternatively, you could make products, like shirts, hats, or mugs with your branding, available in various marketplaces as well as on your website.
Making Money as an Influencer Tip #7: Donations
Put your ask out into the universe and you will see your most loyal fans will be happy to donate. While membership and subscription content usually imply a paid access to your content, asking for donations implies free access and you’re asking your readers, viewers, or listeners to financially contribute to your content and support your openness.
Platforms like Patreon and PayPal make it easy for influencers to accept donations for their continued work. If you’re creating content on a regular basis, your supporters may sponsor you with a monthly or quarterly donation to keep you floating. To make things even simpler consider adding a PayPal donation button and sprinkle a few links throughout the content.
Making Money as an Influencer Tip #8: Stock Photo & Video
Every business needs high-quality photo and video content, period. And, with so many challenges businesses face today, many brands have put their in-house content creation on hold and tend to source high-quality content from stock websites.
If you’re an experienced photographer who knows how to take good photos, consider uploading them to royalty-free image libraries like Unsplash. Naturally, you won’t get rich overnight, but it allows you to build relationships that could lead to big pay in the future.
How does it work? Let’s say one of your photos is really popular with many views or downloads, check on Google where it’s being used. Then you can contact brands that already use your photo to introduce yourself and let them know more about your services — turning that relationship into something a little more official.
Making Money as an Influencer Tip #9: Diversify Your Social Media Mix
No doubt you’re used to hitting targets in your professional life and creating content for your favorite social media channel is something you’re best at. However, it’s worth diversifying content for multiple channels — it can benefit you in the long run!
Let’s say you own a food or beauty channel with a strong online community on Instagram. To grow and reach new audiences it could be super effective to diversify your content and start creating for Pinterest and/or YouTube. These are the platforms that offer the opportunity to reach new target audiences.
You might also consider repurposing your Instagram content for other platforms like TikTok. This allows brands to discover powerful voices in your industry. Make yourself stand out from the crowd!
That said, some influencers receive millions of viewers on Pinterest — that’s millions of potential new followers! And with new readers and new viewers comes new money!
Making Money as an Influencer Tip #10: Sell Your Channel
Are you thinking of creating new channels, moving into a brand new niche, or otherwise expanding your horizons? If you’re looking for ways to monetize your existing content try selling it along with your account.
When you have an account with great content, an impressive number of followers, and a good reputation, you can sell it to someone else in the industry who wants the benefits of blogging without the labor and much effort.
Selling an account can result in revenue in the six figures when you are able to display impressive numbers for social media followers, conversion rates, traffic, and efficiency ratio. Your specific niche also plays a role in the valuation of your account.
Making Money as an Influencer Tip #11: Make Money from Dropshipping
Last but not least, dropshipping is something you should consider if you want to make money online. There are many bloggers making six figures for just selling products to customers through their influence. You can find many proofs that Dropshipping is one of the real ways to earn money online.
The major difference between dropshipping and selling your own product is that the influencer or an online retailer does not keep the products it sells in stock.
Instead, when a customer buys a product using the drop-shipping model, he/she receives it from a third party, not from the drop-shipper that promotes the product. As a result, the drop-shipper doesn’t have to take care of product delivery. Brand stores, packs, and ships the product to the customer.
If you’re looking to learn how to start a dropshipping business, there are many dropshipping networks where you can pick the product images and edit the items’ descriptions and place them on your Instagram or YouTube. Do a great review and promote the products to make potential customers want to purchase from you. Then you’ll get a commission from the product owners.
Conclusion
Monetizing your online content can help you achieve multiple streams of income. Remember to try out new and unfamiliar methods and strategies. By making real money from content, you gain more financial freedom, improve your financial situation, and one step closer to living life on your terms. You actually can earn a living by monetizing your content if you work hard and stick with it.
So, which of these strategies will you try out first?
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