How to make money online?

How to make money online?

There are so many ways to make money online, and as I have been asked this question well over 100 times. It’s like no one wants to work for other companies anymore. We are all becoming more independent, more self-efficient as we step into this digital age. We have technology at our fingertips and it is no surprise that so many of us want to make money online.

If you want to make real money you should no longer call the money you have coming in as income. Instead, you should be calling them assets. This also means that your outcomes are no longer outcome, they are now liabilities or expenses if you prefer. Before you can make any extra income you should take a look at your liabilities (things that take money out of your pocket.) and see if you can reduce the amount of money going out.

1. Online Store

  • Setting up an online store (selling products, software, etc) – you could use free platforms such as Facebook Marketplace, Friday ad and simply be paid via PayPal. If you’d prefer you could sell second-hand products on eBay or brand new items on Amazon – Start by finding a supplier, and dropship, if successful, then buy actual stock.

2. Become an online freelancer

Become an online freelancer on Fiverr

Become a freelancer offering services such as logo design, game design, music, video production, writing services, content creation, and other things you can do for customers online. If you have a skill you could be selling a service. 

You can list your service on a website called Fiverr and this short term will get you work, which yes will cost time. Later on, when you have some money behind you, you could build a niche related website to your service, you could outsource the work and get someone else to manage it and again you could simply profit on it, whilst automating most processes to create a near passive income.

Fiverr is a growing online marketplace where you can find experts in various fields such as video, design, graphics, editing, music, translation, website, SEO and more. These experts are available to complete freelance work, for most gigs there are 3 tiers to choose from. Each tier is a different price and offers different aspects to the service.

To make any money you will need to set up an account and choose your area of expertise. You can have multiple gigs set up if you have the skillset, however, for now you should stick to one. The first thing to do would be to complete your profile with an about me description and a professional photo. You could even pay someone on Fiverr to design an animated photo for you. When writing your about me description, you should try be as detailed as possible, this will ensure that you qualify for the relevant keywords and in turn you will get found on google for your services.

Include some common questions on your FAQ’s, this will be helpful for your customers and will reduce the need for them to message you before ordering. Then you will need to do some research, search on Fiverr what it is that you would like to do for your service, look at other peoples gigs and create your own one based around being more competitive in pricing, offer slightly more in your service, and be more detailed.

Later on when you have customer reviews, you can adjust your gig in price to match competitors. When selling on Fiverr, there are three factors that could determine your success or failure.

Response rate

You will likely get messages from potential customers that may have an interest in your service, it is important that you reply fast to ensure your rate is at 100%. Even if the message doesn’t seem like it needs a reply, by not replying the algorithm will demote your listing.

As you start as a basic seller, to achieve level 1 and following levels you will need to maintain one hundred percent. A great way to achieve this goal, is to install the app on your phone and turn notifications on. When you respond, in order to get the job, you should remain professional and should keep an open mind for your customer’s project.

Deliver on Time

On your gig, if you set that you can complete the service within 3 days. Then you must keep within this timeframe, if you get a late delivery this will affect your future sales.

Order Completion

Be careful what you put on your gig, if you cannot complete the work set and you have to cancel the job because it is out of your expertise. Fiverr’s algorithm will demote you and you may not get another chance. When it comes to delivering your gig, add something extra, something unexpected so that you don’t just complete the order, you exceed expectations. Rely on your happy customers to do your marketing for you, this will be in the form of word of mouth, and your 5 star reviews. 

Stick to a niche

Staying within a niche is relevant for most businesses and on Fiverr, it is crucial. Lets imagine that you are a singer and one of your gigs offers a service where a customer can pay for you to sing on there song. Your chosen niche is music, therefore a song writing gig would also work. The way that it may get you further business is because if a customer decides to look on your profile they will see all relevant gigs, and you will be increasing your chances to be seen as an expert in your niche and may spark further interest.

Portfolio

In order to gain sales, you should setup a portfolio featuring your best work and if possible a video. If people can connect with you through a video, you will increase your CTR (Click through rate).

Increasing your prices

Perhaps you are already earning money on Fiverr but want to up your game. Before you go ahead and up your prices, I’d recommend that you change only your high end tier, so that you still have a budget option available to customers. That way you will tempt people to go all out, people who want only the best work will go for it, but you main customers will be buying in the middle so pay close attention to the standard tier as well. I wish you the best of luck, get started on Fiverr.

3. Start a blog

Start a blog

Set up a blog, writing content or leveraging it to other writers. You can create a low-cost blog with WordPress, it will cost you around £30 per year to run and if you work hard enough you could be earning loads, the sky is the limit. 

Some people can turn over £2,000 or more per month with a blog. However, you shouldn’t be expecting this straight away, this is what will come with a ton of hard work. Your main goal should be to provide value to your readers, once you have done that you will be able to monetise through things like Google AdSense and affiliates. 

We get weekly emails asking us how to start a blog. Here is our simple, step-by-step process for learning how to become a blogger. The best place to run a blog in terms of being able to make a great website, and for the cheapest possible price would be WordPress.

There are some free sites that you can log on but they will likely be suitable for fun only. As you won't be seen as a professional, you will not grow your own name but the companies site that you host the blogs on. It's also unlikely that you will be able to make any money.

If you do, it will be a lot less, as they will be profiting from your work. Not only is WordPress the cheapest option but it also has so much functionality. There are so many WordPress plugins, you can easily get support from Bluehost if you use them as your web host and come across any problems. It is easy to learn to use. I love Shopify, but it is very expensive and unnecessary unless you want an online store.

What is a blog?

There is no simple answer to this, as a blog can be many things. It can be seen as a way for a person to express themselves publicly or professionally. Sometimes it is overlooked and the person’s hard work is ignored.  Sometimes however it can be in the form of a powerful asset that has the capabilities of turning over thousands in revenue per month. There are millions of blog websites online and not all of them are equally successful. Their success is determined by many factors, for example.

  • Start-up capital
  • Search engine optimization practices e.g. (keywords, backlinks, popularity, content length, website speed, Google ranking)
  • celebrity endorsement
  • relevance to the market and your niche
  • marketing

Writing can be a great expression, you could write about your day as part of a journal. This can help you create a better understanding of something that has happened to you.

Journalists go to events to write an article and return to the news company to get it published. By writing about new trending popular subjects, you can essentially develop a lot of traffic via Google and this makes news-based companies lots of money.

Some may write educational content, sharing their knowledge or expertise on a particular subject. This can be a great way to give back to the community, and after all, doing good can make you feel good.

I personally believe that because every person is completely different. There is a blog in all of us and each person can write different kinds of content depending on the specific topic that they are interested in, are passionate about, or have a lot of knowledge.

A blog for many can be an asset. The most wonderful thing about blogging is that you are helping other people and you have the freedom to write as little or as much as you want. Most of the content you create can be monetised and eventually it starts to earn money almost passively, provided you build the foundation. First, find a niche, and then discover how to start your own blog today.

How to make your own blog (step by step guide)

The first thing you will want to do is go to bluehost they will be your website host and will also give you a free domain, and SSL secure certificate. Once you have set up your website you will be able to go to WordPress and start designing. 

When the website has been designed you can go to posts and pages and start adding your written content. As with any business, it costs money to set up. A blog created through blue host will cost you around £30 per year which is very affordable.

How can a blog be profitable?

A blog can be profitable by using adverts from Google AdSense and including Affiliate Marketing links into your content. Affiliates are essentially you selling products on behalf of another company via a link, and when a customer buys the product from that link, you get a commission on it.

There are hundreds of companies that offer an affiliates program, and each one offers different commission percentages, the most popular is Amazon but if you use Carved Culture's affiliate program - the commission percentage is higher, and in turn, you will earn more money. If you are receiving a lot of traffic, you could offer a featured spot for bigger companies to place their ads.

If your blog is already earning money and is taking up too much of your time, you could delegate the work to a writer. The best place to find one would be on Fiverr. You can pay people from all over the world to create content for you. Freeing up your time and overall improving your traffic and future earnings.

How can I Improve traffic to my blog?

  • Utilize social media (schedule posts every day engaging with people, don't try to get sales straight away, you want people to get used to your brand and learn to trust it.) Your main focus should be creating great content, see our Facebook page and look at how we make engaging content. You could use Instagram, Pinterest, Quora, Twitter, Better yet you could get yourself in a situation where you actually meet people in person who are interested in your blog topic. Make business cards and host an event.
  • Build up credibility, if you have any reviews to showcase them. People don't want to buy any product, they want to buy what other people are buying. They must trust your product and your company before they are going to spend any money or time with it.
  • Write blog articles, this will actually bring in more customers, overall help your credibility and give you something to post about on social media. It can be related to your niche website or you can build a community (getting your customers/readers to write content for you)
  • Be patient, getting viewers, alone takes time. Continue working on your site, get advice, improve it, and work hard. Ensure that Google has the latest sitemap so that it can index your pages and build some healthy backlinks.  Also, check in the coverage section within the Google search console to ensure that no pages are being excluded from search results or are not being indexed.

Organic traffic vs paid for traffic

You can either build your traffic slowly - organically, creating articles for release each week or you can pay using Google Adwords, Bing ads, or create a Facebook campaign.

Organic is, in my opinion, the best way as it will only increase, getting more viewers over time. (as long as you are doing it right and publishing at least one article a week.) In many ways, Google is your best friend and worst enemy. You will have to play the game but only by their rules.

You should be persistent, if you release too many articles in a small time frame google could see your work as spam, focus on quality over quantity and you will be rewarded. Quality involves 300+ words for your article, any less and Google may not index it.

The optimal blog contains over 2,000 words and is highly likely to generate more traffic. Make sure your blog is user-friendly and makes sense. For example, don't just cram it with keywords.

You can use a tool like Uber Suggest - this will help you find words that are easy to rank for, helping to give you topics, and also it will give you words that actually have a high search volume each month. Also remember being active on social media, building up your following, and creating healthy backlinks is extremely important.

Paid traffic is also a good option although it requires putting money in to get traffic and if this is your chosen method you should ensure that you have successful monetization methods in place with a clear call to actions for your audience. Without ROI (return on investment) potential, paid advertising could be money down the drain.

How long does it take to build traffic?

Traffic can rush through fast or can build up slowly. Each blog article has different amounts of interested users, and not all keywords are equal. There is no specific time frame, but you should check your Google search console once a week. This is to check on traffic. If it's going up, then great, keep doing what you are doing. If it is going down, or staying the same, maybe you need to put more work in or check for a potential SEO problem.

How to choose keywords for your blog?
  • Using Uber Suggest will help you get good ideas of what keywords have a high search volume and whether they are easy or difficult to rank for.
  • Make sure that the keyword/blog topic fits into your niche, and is relevant to your blog topic.
  • Check competitors on google for that keyword, and decide whether you can add more value to your readers than what is currently out there.

Is a blog or online store better at making money?

They both have great potential, it personally all depends on your output. I have both an online store at Carved Culture, and this blogging website. They have both been going the same amount of time. With the high price for a Shopify store each month, and the cheapness of WordPress. I would say that in the short term the blog would be more profitable, but that is just my current situation, yours may differ.

Do I enjoy running a blog?

I have discovered that I really like to try new things, exploring new places and that I actually enjoy writing. I have been a musician since I was 14 years old, and whilst I haven't been making music for around 6 months I have been writing, and I don't actually feel like anything is missing.

Is it worth starting a blog, and can I make money from it?

For the money, probably not. If you enjoy writing, it could eventually make money but that depends on your determination, how much work you are willing to put into it without getting paid. With that being said, it's not how hard you work but how smart you work.

You should only do it if you enjoy it, otherwise, you will detest the experience. For me running Child Blogs and Carved Culture. I have been running them successfully for a short time, and continuous growth inspires me. Remember though it is not easy, it is a full-time voluntary job. It is good to run a blog website as a side hobby, that way you can inject a lot of time into it but at the same time earn money from something else. 

In the beginning, it lacks money which can definitely cause unwanted stress. Your workflow will need to be grand, and your expectations will need to be set to work for free mode. You have to try to enjoy progressing and building it up. You can do something in your spare time or as a hobby until it can become a full-time job.

Once it's earning money, you can use this money to outsource all writing if you wish. Taking a backseat will mean that you can plan content, and with someone else writing it, it will begin to earn even more money. Delegating work is the main goal to making your business run passively without you whilst earning, this is one of the only ways to really scale a blog unless you offer a product or service that can be sold on repeat.

Mistakes people make when starting a blog

  • Don't copy and paste from the internet, (Google will demote your site.)
  • Create great content that makes sense
  • Use images to make it interesting
  • Add the keywords you would like to rank for
  • Don’t ruin the customer experience, putting advert blocks everywhere, will surely deter readers. Placement is important, place them consistently in the same place on every page.

Why you should stay within a niche?

Why you should stay within a niche?

Finding a niche will help you stand out from competitors. Imagine for example. Someone is selling computer parts to help build your own computer, and next on Google is someone selling only computer hard drives. The customer has searched the internet to find a hard drive. Who do you think they will click on?

If you choose a niche, as your content will all be related, your readers will be able to jump from one article to another. Without feeling that the others are irrelevant to them. This will also mean that a newsletter will get better results. You will be known for your specific micro-niche, you could even add it into your pitch: for example; company name — selling the largest capacity hard drives.

An example of relevant niches would be a builder offering only building services. Imagine a builder offering to build a wall, do the gardening, fix the computer, do the hoovering, and babysit the kids whilst you are out for the night. It seems random, but that builder is also less likely to get any job because of the array of services they offer. 

The only reason that something that bizarre may work out is if it was all part of the niche. For example: "We do things that you don't want to'. A standard building firm wouldn't be able to work to that standard without losing its professionalism.

What topics could your blog be about?

You could cover topics on travel, food recipes, finance, health & wellbeing, medicine, and many more. The topics that you choose to niche should be related to your personal interests. It should be a topic that you have a lot of passion for, as you will be writing about it a lot. 

4. Make a YouTube channel

Make a YouTube channel

Similar to the above you could make videos on YouTube and earn money through adverts. 

Making money from YouTube is not an easy way to make money at all. Some consider it passive income but the income that comes from it is by no means passive. This is because passive income suggests that you can make money without having to do anything. Whilst many have been very successful making money with YouTube and you can too, it is worth knowing that building the foundations for success on the platform will take a lot of hard work, planning and research.

Once you have done the relevant research, you should go ahead with planning. Brainstorming your ideas is the best way to figure out what you are going to make videos about, what niche if any you are going to be focussing on. It’s also worth noting that anything you choose to make videos for you should either be very interested in the topic or very knowledgeable as an expert if you would like to be taken seriously as a key person of influence within regards to your chosen industry.

It is often overlooked that the best way to get views from your YouTube video is just create amazing content. This type of content that is worthy of being watched will be watched, people will stay to watch the whole video, Googles algorithm will pick this up and promote it higher up the results and for more search queries. 

On top of that, if people like the video and are proud to show it off to there friends by sharing it on social media, this leads the video to be seen by even more people. You should make content that is 100% perfect, that you are proud of, and is share-worthy. It is only when you have completely mastered a video that you should go ahead and do things like ‘Creating professional thumbnails, keyword research, backlinks etc.

If your focus is to create quality SEO and not quality content, then you will get viewers. Then googles algorithm will notice people only watch 10 seconds of your (7 minute video) and this in turn will make you unable to rank for all of the keywords that you worked hard for.

How to look professional on YouTube

  • A high-quality logo, preferably made by a designer who can send you all the relevant sizes, formats and resolutions.
  • Intro and outro videos for before and after the video to help with your brand identity.

When it comes to making actual videos, you will need to think about how you are going to capture high-quality audio, video as well as some other aspects including editing. 

The importance of a thumbnail

When it comes to making YouTube videos, you should not underestimate the power of a high-quality image thumbnail as the main picture of your video. You should make sure that it is a frame that actually exists somewhere in your video.

If not your viewers will likely see it as misleading and may avoid your content in the future. Misleading content is becoming more and more of a problem, many you-tubers are trying to gain more views through click-bait tricks. The best thing to do is when you are filming on set, take a quick professional image that you can later on use as the thumbnail.

For capturing high-quality audio

A great multipurpose professional microphone that I would recommend is the Rode NT1A – An Australian condenser mic that can be used for recording voice-overs, as well as recording, to capture vocals clearly and dynamically. 

For filming HD video & professional photos

Capturing high-quality HD 1080p video, and professional studio photos I would highly recommend a Canon DSLRFor editing your video. It’s no doubt that final cut pro is the best for the job but it is only compatible with an Apple computer. Other great options, in my opinion, include adobe premiere, and Sony Vegas.

How often should I upload a YouTube video?

The frequency that you upload videos very much depends on how you work. Overall, you should aim to post at least once per week, posting more if you can handle it. I wouldn’t post any more than 3 times per week though otherwise your subscribers may get fed up. Whatever frequency you go with, you should ensure that you are consistent from the beginning.

To get more views, likes and subscribers on your videos you will need to focus on increasing your traffic. Which will, in turn, help you earn more revenue. This is all a part of marketing. Here are some things that you can do to increase your traffic on your videos.

If you have a website, link to and from your YouTube channel. If you are making blogs about the same things mentioned in your video, embed your videos to it. This is because some people prefer to watch a video over reading as it is a quicker way to receive information. If you have writing and a video you can help both types of people.

SEO stands for ‘search engine optimisation and it is mainly known if you own your own website but the principles also apply to YouTube and other websites. Ensure your video title and description is a good length and contains all the relevant keywords that you would like to be found for.

To find keywords to use, I recommend using Neil Patels – Uber Suggest. It will show you the number of people searching for that word and how difficult or easy it is to rank for. To find out if something is popular, you should use ‘Google Trends’. It would be a waste of time making a video that no one will be interested in. 

How to use social media to gain more traffic?

Create social media backlinks – simply ensure you have created all social media with the same name as your YouTube channel, you should feature your logo, and ensure that each platform contains the link to your YouTube account, as this will give it a boost on googles search results.

If you are making videos say once per week, you should also post these videos to your Facebook page, twitter, Pinterest and Instagram profiles as this will likely get you more views.

How to use Quora to gain more traffic?

Quora is a questions and answers website and if your videos are answering a problem that people have. You could answer people’s questions on their using your video link as a resource. This will get you more views whilst also helping people. Even if your videos are unrelated to questions on there, it is still a wonderful tool with millions of users.

You can ask any question to professional people who will have the answers you are looking for. If you are serious about YouTube monetisation. It’s likely that you will come across a few hurdles that you will need help climbing over. Paid advertising – Whilst you could do paid advertising with companies like Google, Microsoft Bing, and Facebook campaigns. It would likely be a waste of money mainly due to a low ROI (Return on investment).

With some business models, paid advertising can be very successful but with YouTube it is unlikely.  

How to use a website to get more traffic and revenue?

A great idea, especially if you plan on making lots of videos would be to also set up a website based on your niche. You could use your logo, other media on there. The reason this idea would work so well is because you already have the content. You will not need to create any fresh ideas. You can literally watch your own videos that you have already made and start writing blog post article versions of them, with google AdSense as a monetisation method. This will require minimal effort and would, of course, be another way to make money.

From this method, you could also link to your articles from your YouTube and embed your videos on your article so that your followers have a choice of whether to read your article or whether to watch the video for quickness. This will definitely ensure better results and could give your YouTube a massive growth. If you don’t fancy making your own website, you could join the Medium partner program and write your article up on their instead, you can still use backlinks and if you get a lot of traffic, you can get paid for your article views.

5. How to get started with Affiliates

You could become an affiliate for Carved Culture or Amazon. The way it works is that you sell products for them using an affiliate link and you can earn a commission of up to 10% per sale. Combine this with your own niche blog and you could make yourself a nice asset for the future.

If you have a lot of money behind you in terms of savings you could straight up purchase a business that is already earning, keep everything running as it is and hire someone else to do all of the work, you will simply be profiting on it. You could also consider purchasing real estate and renting it out privately.

The bigger you build any of these assets, the more money you will earn. It’s all about taking the time to build the foundations and once you have got it to a certain point, all of the work can be outsourced and you can successfully build your empire.

6. How to make money from Twitch 

How to make money from Twitch

It is no doubt that streaming is becoming more and more popular. This could be because it can be an enjoyable hobby that you can, of course, turn into a full-time career if you know how to. Streaming could potentially earn you enough money to make a comfortable living. 

However, not all streamers make enough money and there are various factors that can be a decider of whether you succeed or fail. These are usually linked to your popularity and marketing skills.

Marketing involves a lot but in terms of streaming. Some great things that you could do to get yourself seen would be to create promotional content for use on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. 

You should use YouTube as a place to upload videos related to your niche linking to and from your twitch account to help you boost your viewers and followers. You should post content regularly so that your followers are always up to date with your work. Another benefit of using YouTube is that you will be able to earn money from that platform as well.

Ensure to write a detailed description on your Twitch profile with all the relevant keywords that you would like to be found for on Google. A great keyword tool is Uber Suggest, here you will be able to get keyword ideas, and you will be able to get a rough idea of how many people search monthly and the difficulty of ranking for that word.

If you can, you should either setup a website where you can write blog posts related to your niche, and set yourself up to become well known as a key person of influence within your field. Alternatively, write some guest posts on platforms such as Medium, or get involved in the Quora community answering questions based on your expertise whilst providing some external links that could potentially turn your readers into followers.

What is streaming, and what can you stream?

The difference between streaming online and making videos for the likes of YouTube is that streaming is live. This means that there are no cuts, edits or special effects on your video feed. It is kind of like a live chat but with video capabilities. 

Whilst gaming is likely the most popular thing to stream, it’s not limited to just that. In fact, there are so many types of things that you could do live streams about. You can do streams about pretty much anything but to name a few:

  • VLOGS (Video blogs)
  • Makeup tutorials
  • Arts & craft
  • Educational
  • Gaming
  • Dance
  • Eating

Some of these types of videos can be extremely random, and there are many variations. It is somewhat a new craze to listen to others doing videos whilst eating loud crunchy foods. Nonetheless, there is a wide community for gaming that is spread across many different games from classics such as Runescape. 

League of Legends and the faster action shooting ones for the leading consoles. It is common for the person vlogging to be seen as an expert that gains loyal fans that respect them for dedicating their time to help others and for showing other people how to complete a difficult level.

How to become a successful streamer?

Be interesting for your viewers, you must make your streams interesting enough for people to actually want to watch you. The best way to keep it interesting is to either be knowledgeable about something or to be a friendly person that people enjoy watching.

Your setup will affect your quality, in fact, the right setup is also crucial to success, if you have a cheap microphone that is buzzing, that will only annoy your viewers. You need crisp audio that sounds clean and is easy to listen to. Your video feed should not be blurry and pixelated, you will need a professional setup with either a high-quality webcam or if you can find a suitable DSLR / video camera for footage. If you are planning on doing game streams a good quality software that captures your screen gameplay should suffice.

When you first start streaming, you will likely not be as professional as you’d thought. This is not something to worry about, despite the fact that you may get some comments about how nervous you are, or perhaps how you don’t talk very much. Whilst this is something that you will definitely need to improve on, no one is perfect straight away. With any craft or skill, practice makes perfect. The more you stream, the better you will get at it. Soon enough, you will be confident and will be speaking to your viewers at a conversational level. Even if it is just you talking!

Whilst you may associate success with the ability to earn money from doing something that you enjoy. It is not limited to just that and if your focus is to earn money then you may not earn very much. Sure, you can have it as your determination to work, but it is vital that you actually do enjoy what you are doing. Your main focus should be to help other people. After all, people are watching you because you can provide something they need, whether that be educational knowledge, entertainment or comfort. If you can provide at least one of those things, I can say to you that the money will follow.

How do I start streaming?

When you are planning to stream, you should know that you are not just limited to Twitch. In fact, there are many other platforms that you could use such as YouTube Live, Facebook Live, Periscope, Younow, IRIS, Ustream and Dacast. However, getting started on twitch is easy. Simply head over to their website at twitch.tv and sign up. Once you have become a member you will then need to get a software that links to your account. A popular one is OBS, once you have downloaded that, you can then stream online.

How can streaming on Twitch be profitable?

Subscriptions

If users enjoy watching you, they may choose to subscribe. This will cost them $4.99 per month and the revenue will be split 50/50 with Twitch and the creator of the live stream. If you manage to secure a lot of subscriptions, then you could be earning a lot of money. To be able to accept streams you must register for the 1sttier Twitch Affiliate program. To become a Twitch affiliate you must exceed the requirements which are:

  • Stream for at least 500 total minutes, and broadcast within the last 30 days.
  • Stream for at least 7 unique broadcast days in the last 30 days.
  • Reach an average of 3 viewers or more over the last 30 days.
  • Gain at least 50 Followers.
Ad revenue 

If you are already an affiliate, you won’t be able to make money from adverts unless you become a 2ndtier Twitch partner. Revenue from adverts varies in price from video to video depending on the advertiser’s budget and some other factors. If you join the twitch partner program, when people watch your videos and see the displayed advert, you will earn money from it.

Donations

This is exactly that; people may donate to you if they enjoy your streams. Whilst twitch does not take any cut from the donations that you receive, you may have to pay other service providers such as PayPal a percentage of the sale for securing the payment. Twitch partners can also take part in the direct purchase program, where they will be able to sell games and in-game items on their profile to get a 5% share of the revenue. 

Paid Live streams & Sponsorship

If you become well known and respected in the twitch community, you may be approached or be eligible to approach game developers who may personally pay you directly for fulfilling streams in regards to promoting their game. Later on, they may choose to sponsor you. Thus paying you a nice hefty wage for working full time as a sponsor for their company.

There are many more ways to earn through twitch but the above are the most popular methods. It should be known that all of the methods will be subject to tax and it may need to be declared depending more specifically on your financial situation. 

How can I grow a following on twitch? (and get more viewers)

To grow a following on twitch and to get more viewers you should focus on providing real value to your viewers. Ensure that your profile is complete and if you can get your twitch profile link available on all social media and on other niche based websites. Doing this will help increase the google presence for your profile and will help you get found online. Even if that means reaching out to website owners personally and asking them to provide a do-follow backlink.

Common mistakes people make when streaming

Playing mainstream commercial music can cause your audio to get muted. Whilst live this is not a problem, although when your followers watch your video back. If the audio is muted and they cannot hear you talking.

This could negatively affect your viewers’ opinions on your stream and repeatedly doing this will make you lose even more followers. Another problem is using poor quality equipment that is just not up to the job. No one wants to hear audio that contains lots of white noise that has such bad latency issues that it skips out on some things that you say.

Why you should stream based on a niche?

Imagine two different people, one plays all types of games and streams all of them. They get a lot of different types of viewers with various interests. The new viewers end up following them to keep up to date with future streams. When this person is doing their next stream about a different game, the person who is following them sees the stream and dislikes that particular game, and now they unfollow.

Now the other person, the other person plays only the same game (sticking to a niche) and all of their followers are loyal and know what to expect. A niche is important on many platforms, not just Twitch. YouTube is a place where a niche is a must, as well as your own website. If you don’t stick with a niche you will likely gain fans, then lose them.

The NT-USB microphone is a great microphone for streaming if you have a low budget or are a beginner. It is easy to set up and has fantastic sound quality. The microphone itself is lightweight and reliable.

Rode microphones are far superior in comparison to other leading brands. Assembled in Australia, this will give you high-quality audio and will be an asset to your streams. For now, and in the future, it’s likely that you will not need an upgrade! This professional microphone features an on-mic mixing control. Going the extra mile, it comes with a pop shield filter.

If you a slightly bigger budget the Focusrite Scarlett CM25 MKII pack is the best option. The microphone is a professional studio-grade piece of equipment that comes complete with an audio interface which will allow you to have more control over your equipment. This does take a bit longer to set up but it will definitely be worth it. 

Whilst this is not a common choice for gaming microphones it will, in fact, work exceedingly well and people will be able to hear you crystal clear. Its cardioid pattern enables you to record or live stream quiet or loud sounds. This microphone will with no doubt sound better than the others on this list. 

 For recording your video we recommend the Logitech C920 webcam HD. This webcam records 1080p full HD video as well as high-quality audio. It will take care of all of your streaming needs. It has autofocus capabilities whilst fine-tuning your lighting to bring a nice bright image. 

7. How to start an online course?

How to start an online course

Selling online courses nowadays seems to be a new, yet already flooded market. Despite it being so flooded, and it being hard to stand out. As long as you find somewhat of a unique niche, it is still possible.

Why do people start an online course? 

Starting an online course can be somewhat of an asset that at the start will require a ton of knowledge, hard work, and dedication. Once it has been created, the asset can be developed, promoted, marketed and essentially people will pay for the course. Using many types of automation, they will receive the course instantly and after the asset has been developed. 

It will require little to no work whatsoever which essentially means that you will be earning a passive income from it. It is possible to sell courses without owning your own website but it is likely to earn less money. This is because there are many companies that have dedicated websites to learning. And they are generally run by content course creators.

You will need to do a ton of research beforehand in regards to setting a price, outlining your course details. And it may be worth even giving the course away for free to (X) amount of people. Just to get some positive reviews which will, in turn, bring in more customers. Also, you will need to make more relevant blog articles that can help your sales funnel to increase sales. 

What to make an online course about?

Knowing what online course you should create is difficult ground. Realistically, you should make sure that it is based upon a subject that you are very knowledgeable about or something in which you have a lot of passion.

Knowledgeable

Of course, if you want to be successful in selling a course teaching other people how to do something. You must have an extensive amount of knowledge on a topic. Especially, if you want to be taken seriously. No matter what way you think about it, you are technically not selling a course, you are selling your knowledge and so if you do not have any regarding the topic, you cannot provide any value to your prospects. 

Passionate

Even if you have a ton of knowledge about something, if you lack the passion it will show. Imagine a café, or restaurant. The food in this situation is (the knowledge) and it tastes delicious, however, the waiter who brings it to your table is moody and rude to you (lack of passion.) You may end up eating your food, but will you come back? It’s likely to be a resounding no.

You may be thinking so what? If people buy my course, I don’t need them to come back. In one way you are right and in the other, you are extremely wrong. This is because if you exceed your clients’ expectations and make them happy. Not only will they be happy with your service, likely end up following you on social media, reading your posts, sharing things that you share with them, but they are also likely to talk about your course with their friends and family.

With mentioning your course and some information, this could provide more customers and essentially you could have all of your customers complete all of your marketing on your behalf which means that you will not need to pay for any marketing.

Word of mouth after all spreads like wildfire. So not only would a lack of passion have a negative impact on your business model but even if you ‘fake it, and continue regardless, the person or competitor of what your doing who is more passionate than you will likely score those other clients and you will always struggle to obtain customers because your work will be very average.

How can blog articles help with marketing?

Before you can start an online course you will need your own website or platform. This is so you can use it to reach many people. Your marketing will be focussed around writing blog articles related to your course, and this is many ways will be your free gift to the many interested readers.

When people are searching online for answers to something, your articles will be there to provide a solution. The article must be useful, but should also invoke somewhat of an intrigue. If you manage to pique your readers’ interest by providing true value. It is likely that they will want to learn more.

How to be successful with my online course?

On your website, you can have your course advertised. It can, however, be very difficult to compete when it comes to online courses and this is because of the competition. For example, there is a website called ‘Master-class’ it is a showcase of hundreds of online courses and is the home to many celebrity endorsers who offer courses based on acting, music, photography, cooking and much more. 

For this reason, if you would like to be successful within selling a course, you must either become an expert in a specific field. This can be easier than it sounds, you will simply need to read many books on the topic. Doing a ton of research, and to be an expert it doesn’t always take that long, especially if it is in a niche area.

The other option, if you are not going to go the expert route, would be to become an internet personality. This works by building up a foundation of content online such as blogs, videos, etc. If you create a lot, and people enjoy watching you, you can create quite a following and these loyal fans are likely to want to take your course especially if you seem knowledgeable.

Now going forward, assuming you are either an expert or an internet personality. That you own your own website and have already started giving away free content in the form of blogs and short videos. The next step would be to brainstorm and plan what it is that your course is about. Once you are sure of what it is that your course will involve, you can then begin creating your course. It can be in the form of multiple videos taking the viewer through stages teaching them specific building blocks to form expertise in a specific field.

Utilise social media

I cannot stress enough how important social media is with any business model. Nowadays every business is on social media and if you are not, you are missing a huge opportunity. You don’t have to be active every day, the main important thing is that you set up the accounts for the top platforms and get some posts online. This is because when people are looking for you or your course, they will likely search it on google and your social media accounts will appear at the top of the results. 

When prospective customers go on to your social page, they should see content that funnels them towards purchasing your course. Must have social media are – Facebook, twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube.

For each platform your content will slightly vary but the same content can be adjusted for each. On Facebook and Twitter, whilst some marketers say that you should try to post everyday, if you are not too keen on using lots of social media, try to at least post once per week.

You can connect your Twitter and Facebook account so that you post on one and it automatically posts to the other. With Instagram and Pinterest simply upload your images if you have any that are related to your course / company. Use relevant hashtags and once your profile is set up with some basic content that contains links to your website or course, you don’t need to do anything more if you don’t want too.

YouTube is a wonderful platform for creating some videos that explain your core offering. You can either make the content yourself or you can outsource it on a website like Fiverr and get fantastic content made for you. Videos will help bring in an already interested community of people and will help funnel them to your website or course. YouTube can also be used to make money.

Understand your audience

This concept is not just related to making your own course but to most business models in the world. Yet it is often overlooked as something that can be skipped. To help give you concept. Let’s say you are selling a course about how to market yourself on YouTube to gain subscribers and thousands of views.

Ok, so you know that your target audience is people who are interested in being successful on YouTube. With this concept in mind, it would be completely pointless targeting people who are already established on YouTube and have a huge following, it would also be pointless to target the general public who do not make videos for YouTube.

In order to be successful in selling your course, you must know a lot about the person that you want to sell it to. You need to speak their language and understand them and their communication preferences so that you can be understood by them. This is, unfortunately, research that you will need to do and you must not skip it.

If you’d like and it will help. Draw a picture of someone who might be interested in your course. Better yet, become them so that you understand their desires and then include it all in your course. If you struggle to emphasise with them, then get out there and speak to the growing YouTube community and listen to what they have to say. Knowing your target audience is one of the most important aspects and it will decide whether your hard work does well or not.

8. How to make money selling music

How to make money selling music

Many musicians and passionate songwriters alike wonder how they could make money from their music online. 

The good news is that it has become easier now in the digital age. Before music-minded people had to get a physical copy made and had to get it available in mainstream music stores such as HMV, this would be a difficult task within itself to get them to sell your product and the fact that this required some investment to create the stock, this made more room for risk. Imagine getting all of those albums made and not selling even one. 

There are many ways in which you can make money from your music online such as creating a music video on YouTube and monetising through Google AdSense. The more traditional way is digitally selling records through trusted online music stores such as Amazon Music, iTunes, Google Music, Band camp and more.

Alternatively, you could create your own website niched around your style of music with your own online store section where people can purchase your singles, albums as well as play your music through a player such as Spotify, which you can earn money from.) To be successful, you will need a lot of traffic, which you could get from starting a blog.

Selling merchandise

This is not directly correlated with making money from your music online. However, it is part of the sales funnel and could be a great monetisation opportunity. Having music online for sale can attract a fan base, and once you have this type of following you could then have certain products which would be great to sell to prospects and your loyal supporters.

This merchandise could be anything from shirts, hoodies, hats, headphones or notepads. The choice is yours, to get started you will need a platform in which you are going to use be using, this could be Amazon, Etsy, eBay or even your own website. You could get the products made by another company, and you can handle distribution. (Customer service, packaging items and sending at the post office.) 

Alternatively, you could work with a business partner and use some kind of drop shipping strategy in which someone will do the work for you for a percentage of the profits. 

Most of the major platforms such as Apple's iTunes will not work with you directly and will only work with a third party network that they trust such as CD Baby, Tunecore, etc. I have personally worked with CD Baby, and they do exactly as promised. You pay them, and they then distribute your song/s and information to those mainstream networks.

How to setup CD baby? 

Head over to CD Baby, then click get started and register as a member. Once you have done this and have filled out all of the payment information. You will be able to distribute your single or album to their networks and also get access to their sales, reporting, tools, and promotions.

How do you get paid from iTunes?

It can take a while to get paid from all of CD baby’s partners such as iTunes, amazon, google, Spotify, etc. Usually, if someone buys your album. It could take up to 2 months or more before you will get the money. The money will be sent to your CD baby or the third party network that you set up your account with. They will only pay you when your account reaches the threshold that you set. 

Current problems with the music industry?

Despite the fact that it has got easier to make your music available for sale online eliminating most of the risk related to creating a physical copy. it is still very difficult to get people to buy any. This is because of a few factors. The main one is because people don’t need to buy it. Why would people buy something that nowadays they could just get for free in regards to platforms such as YouTube? People can happily enjoy your music on the likes of YouTube, Spotify, etc. They don’t have to even pay a penny. 

It is a tricky situation because you want your music to be heard. However, the only way to do that is to give it away for free on those mainstream platforms. With the hope that people are going to want to support the artist. With the money removed. The risk then becomes spending a lot of time making singles, albums and music videos without any return. Even those things can get expensive if you do not do all of the work yourself.

In today’s world, it is harder than ever to make a living from music. The main reason why people carry on trying is that they have passion. Many people aren’t driven directly by the money itself. Me for example, I love making music and release a new single every now and then. I am not driven by the money because realistically it’s just an expense. It does, however, provide happiness to me. Making me feel proud of what I have created, as well a creative outlet that helps me express myself through lyric writing and recording.

Common problems with record labels

Even if you achieve mainstream success, you are taken in by a record label. The record label themselves spend lots of money on creating the best content from lyrics, to productions, to videos, directors, editing, and even promoting your content.

They spend a lot making you stand out. This is to help people like you and to want to spend money on your songs. Within your contract agreement with your record label. When you start to earn money, the record label will need to get every penny back before you see any of it. Even after that, you will have to give away most of it to others who helped make you successful. In the end, you would be lucky if you see 0.05p of the £0.99 iTunes sale. 

I am not saying this to put you off. Just to make you aware that very few people make it mainstream. If you have a passion and a dream then please do go for it. If you are committed enough you will be successful.

Independent record label 

Alternatively, you have the option of going at it as an independent record label. Meaning that you will find the cameramen, you will make productions or buy them.

The main risk associated with this method is the fact that you will need to invest your own money. With the lack of industry knowledge, it could easily end up as money down the drain. 

If you go this route, you will need some friends who know the industry better than you do. This could mean collaborating with other musicians who have been doing it longer. Or perhaps by finding the best directors to create your music videos, the best songwriters to write your songs, etc.

It is extremely hard to be successful in making a career in music but anything is possible. I saw the lack of exposure problems right at the beginning when I first started making music which is why I created Real Raw Talent TV to help other musicians get more exposure.

Up next: How to Start Your Own Business

Back to blog

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.