The ability to make money online fascinates just about everyone on this planet. In fact, the mere thought of it can bring wild-eyed wonder and imagination to the mind. The truth is, it’s a dream that lives on in the hearts and minds of people everywhere.
However, we all know that this dream of not just providing for life’s necessities but also being able to have a bit of its luxuries is often elusive. Knowing how to actually make money online seems easy when internet marketers portray it, but that’s far from the truth. Most who’ve continuously tried and failed to generate any semblance of an income on the internet have been.
No matter where you live, you can make money online as long as you adhere to certain principles, which we’ll talk about below.
How to Make Money Online
Anyone who’s serious about creating a real income on the internet (whether active or passive) can do it. But there’s something important you have to realize about succeeding in an endeavor so many are clamoring to get a grasp on. Three things currently separate you from making the amount of money you dream of or potentially replacing your full-time income with the ability to generate that same amount (if not more) on the internet.
The better and more able you are to master the following three things, the likelier you’ll be to succeed at generating the income of your dreams. However, before you even get there, you have to believe you can achieve your goals. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will. It’s your deep-rooted beliefs that will help you succeed at generating any amount of money. Nothing else. Without that belief, you’ll falter and you’ll fail.
We see evidence of people succeeding at things quite clearly thanks to the internet. But how many of us actually believe we can see things through and generate a respectable amount of cash online? Not many. But when you do harbor a deep-rooted belief, the rest is simply methodical. You just follow a proven system to get you from Point A to Point B.
Time versus Money
One important distinction to understand is the time-versus-money paradigm. Often, we have one or the other. Usually, we have more time than money. In order to really make money online, you have to detach your time from your ability to earn. Meaning, you need a system that will help you earn that income on autopilot, also known as “passive income.”
There are passive income streams that if you put in the work one time, you’ll get paid repeatedly for it. For example, if you provide a low or mid-ticket service like graphic design or coding, you’ll do the work for one project and then get paid once for that project.
To earn a real income (online or offline), you have to extricate your time from your ability to earn. As you read the coming list of how to really make money online, think about that. If you think about doing something that’s going to be directly exchanging your time for money, understand you’ll be limited in that endeavor. That doesn’t make it bad. It’s just something to keep in the back of your mind.
Funnel Hacking
ClickFunnels offers one avenue for helping you to build a business and generate a real income online. Whether you’re looking to directly exchange your time for money, or you’re looking to build a passive income business, our money funnel approach is one way you can get from zero to hero quickly. When you go out there and you model what the most successful people in the world are doing, that’s where the real magic happens. Russell Brunson calls this funnel hacking.
Now, when it comes down to it, whoever you follow or whatever medium you use, in order to be successful with your online business, you need to be able to do the following three things. The better you are at doing these three things, the more likely you’re going to succeed in the long term.
1. Create a Targeted Message to the Right Audience
The first component for generating any semblance of an income on the internet is to ensure that you have a targeted message that’s directed to the right audience. Without the proper message that’s custom-tailored to your specific audience, you’ll find it difficult to make any progress.
Why does the message matter so much? Well, most of you already know that fancy designs or graphics or websites don’t work on their own these days. Today, it’s about the copy. It’s about creating sizzling headlines that help to catch the attention of potential customers or clients and using weird, have-to-do-a-double-take images to pique the interest of people who are used to scrolling and skipping around from page to page.
That message has to be tailored to your precise audience. You have to talk to the prospect. Address their pain. Relate to them with the vehicle of a story. That’s how it works. That’s how you create a bond. It isn’t easy, but it’s well worth it once you have their attention.
Where does the message show up? Everywhere. It’s on your squeeze pages, on your ads, and in your copy. Everywhere. It’s crucial to really simplify that message and ensure that it properly hooks your prospects in.
2. Drive Traffic to Test Your Offers
It doesn’t matter what strategy you use to earn online, you need a way to drive traffic in order to test your offers. You’re either driving free traffic in terms of social media, email marketing or SEO. Or you’re driving paid traffic in the way of PPC ads on sites like Facebook, Google or YouTube, for example.
If you can’t drive traffic, you can’t really earn money whatsoever. Period. End of sentence. So you have to figure out where that traffic is going to come from because it’s the lifeblood of your business. Your potential to generate an income is going to be directly tied to your ability to get prospects to visit your landing pages, offers, and sales funnels.
However, there’s a risk-to-reward ratio here. In the beginning, most people try and fail with both methods. Free traffic takes a long time and it’s highly complex. Paid traffic, although fast, can also see your funds dry up quickly. And if you don’t know what you’re doing, your entire budget could fly out the window in days or even hours. Ouch.
3. Convert Prospects into Buyers
Conversion optimization is the third thing that you need to be really good at if you’re serious about making any money online. Now, conversion doesn’t just happen on the spot. In fact, most people won’t buy on the spot unless we’re dealing with a sexy tripwire offer that includes a sought-after tangible product or a free-plus-shipping offer that you’ve seen countless savvy marketers running by now.
Conversions have to happen everywhere. No matter what you’re selling. Whether you need to display a portfolio that will help you convert prospects into buyers. Or, whether you’re building out your own sales funnel and creating the entire process yourself with all the email sequences, up-sells, one-time offers and so on. No matter what, you need to learn how to convert.
Conversion can seem like tricky business. It’s a combination of elements that gets prospects to whip out their credit cards and start spending. Establishing a relationship is one thing. Follow ups are another. And actually being front and center in their lives is an entirely different thing.
Ways to Generate an Income Online
I know how frustrating it can seem to launch an online business and watch your spirits fizzle and you struggle to earn money. I also know how it feels to listen to all the naysayers casting their doubt. But the truth is that anyone can succeed as long as they stay persistent. Remember, this isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon. You simply can’t expect overnight results in your search for the perfect money funnel.
In fact, most “systems” that are sold by most internet marketers, are largely fluff. Most of them promise you online riches, but few deliver. Keep in mind that whatever you buy, take it with a grain of salt. Always approach it from the angle that if you can learn one new thing from any book or system, then you’re better off than where you started.
1. Build Sales Funnels
Clearly, if you’re a fervent proponent of ClickFunnels, why not build sales funnels for a side income? Not only is this a great part-time gig, but you can actually generate a substantial amount of money doing this. Seasoned funnel builders like, say, Stephen Larsen, can charge a significant amount of money to build that funnel. Why? Because there’s a clear return on investment here.
Not only can you charge a flat fee, but you can even charge a small percentage of the take. It all depends on your experience and how savvy you are at building funnels. If you’re not already a ClickFunnels Certified Partner, get your certification and get the accolades and acknowledgment you need for breathing assurances into just about any potential client you’ve got the so-called skills to pay the builds.
2. Start an Ad Agency
There’s been an ad agency crazy on the internet lately. Everyone wants to learn how to run an ad agency so they can charge clients and hopefully replace their regular income, and more. However, starting an ad agency isn’t as easy as most make it out to seem, know that you’re going to have to get out there and hustle.
However, when you succeed, you can definitely make lots of money online. Not just a little bit. Some successful ad agencies are making five to six figures per month in revenue. That’s significant by anyone’s standards. But then there are people like Nicholas Kusmich who are absolutely crushing it in the ad agency game. Just ensure that you do your due diligence before you sign up to anyone’s program or buy anyone’s course to start your own agency.
3. Do Social Media Marketing
Another great approach for how to actually make money online is If you’re savvy with social media. You can start a social media marketing business and make money that way. It doesn’t take much effort. Get a grasp on the big platforms like Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat. Then get out there and market your services. That’s pretty much what it takes to win in this field.
The best part? Businesses know and are very willing to spend money on social media marketing because the potential for return on investment is very fast. So, they’ll open up their checkbooks to you. This can definitely supplement or even replace your full-time income quickly and effectively. But you have to know what you’re doing. Don’t try to sell social media marketing if you’ve never done it before. Learn the ropes first. Work for free. Get results. Collect testimonials. Then start charging people.
4. Write Ebooks
You can always write ebooks if you want to make some side income. Simply publish them on Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon’s publishing platform, optimize the description and listing, and away you go. You’ll tap into one of the biggest markets for selling ebooks in the world. Of course, that does limit the amount of income you can earn. Amazon will take a big chunk of that revenue, depending on what price-point you publish your ebook at.
You can also convert those ebooks into audiobooks using ACX, which will publish to Audible, also owned by Amazon. You can hire a producer or do it yourself. If you don’t have the funds for a producer, you can always share the revenue by doing a royalty split. You’ll need to give up some of your income, but if you don’t have the funds, it’s an easy way to get the audiobook produced for free.
5. Do Search Engine Optimization
One of the most lucrative skills to have when it comes to making money online is search engine optimization. Whether it’s online or offline, without virtual traffic or foot traffic, your chances for sales severely diminish. To stem the tide, you need to understand how to drive traffic. And that means search engine optimization.
This comes back to the money-versus-time paradigm. If you have the money to run ads and traffic, great. If you don’t, you need other alternatives. In fact, this specific dilemma forced me to learn search engine optimization. And it was one of the best decisions I ever made. Not only is this great for running your own traffic, but you can also work with clients and charge untold amounts of money to optimize their sites for keywords.
Keep in mind that SEO can be very hard. However, understanding this one specific area can quite literally make you filthy rich. No, seriously. If you know how to organically rank listings on Google’s lucrative SERPs, there’s sincerely a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Learn this one skill immediately.
6. Do Gigs on Fiverr
If you have some skills that you know could benefit others, why not do gigs on Fiverr? You can sell just about anything. From web development to data entry and beyond. However, you are directly exchanging your time for money. If you’re okay with that, it’s a great way to supplement your income with a so-called side hustle. You can do this while you’re still working your full-time job.
You don’t need to only use Fiverr. There are plenty of sites where you can market your services. For example, you can use Upwork, if you’re looking for more serious clients. Or, Freelancer.com. You can always find work. You can even source jobs yourself by building a very simple funnel and running some ad traffic to it. It might be harder at the outset, but you’ll have less competition than you would on these marketplace websites.
7. Create a Webinar
Want to know how to really make money online? Then create a webinar. This single medium for selling is probably the most potent forum for selling high-ticket products and services. You can sell almost anything through the medium of a webinar. From $100 to $100,000, you’re only limited by your beliefs.
Webinars are powerful because you have an active and engaged audience with you live. Sure, you could automate your webinars. But, when they’re live, that’s when they’re truly powerful. Russell Brunson always says that if you do a webinar every week for a year, you’ll be a millionaire by the end of it. Now, that doesn’t guarantee you anything. You might make no money at all. But does show how powerful this forum is for selling.
If you’re serious about building a webinar, download the Perfect Webinar Script. Remember, this isn’t about teaching. This is about breaking and re-building false beliefs. It’s about conveying your message through the vehicle of stories, and really hooking people in to the end of your presentation. When done right, it’s revolutionary.
8. Do Coaching or Consulting
Another way to make money online is through coaching or consulting. This works if you have a proven track record in business or whatever vocation you’ll be coaching in. Don’t just fake it until you make it here. Remember, in order to make money in any capacity, you need to add loads of value. And you can’t add value if you have no experience in whatever it is you’re selling and providing a service for.
However, if you do have business experience, or are versed in a vocation, then do coaching or consulting. You can earn a full-time income if you understand the mechanics of client acquisition and online marketing.
9. Sell E-Commerce Products
E-commerce is huge and growing exponentially, so why not sell products online? You can use the drop-shipping model or do it yourself. Go and find high demand, low-competition products on a site like Alibaba.com, then turn around and sell those products using Facebook ads or through an Amazon FBA.
Setup a powerful free-plus-shipping offer and sell them using your own sales funnel with landing page software like ClickFunnels. This way, you have control over the entire process as opposed to sourcing through a major player. Or, try all of the above and really go at this with full force. There’s a huge money funnel to be made with the right products targeted to the right audience.
10. Join the App Economy
Why not make money by leveraging the growing app economy? You can drive for Uber or Lyft. You can also do deliveries for a company like PostMates. You can also use a variety of other apps to do things like surveys or clip coupons and so on. There are plenty of apps you can leverage to generate the cash you need. Again, it boils down to whether you want to directly exchange your time for money.
No matter what method you choose, true freedom lies just outside your comfort zone. You can’t make money (online or offline) without getting a little uncomfortable and really putting yourself out there. Don’t worry about what others think. If you try and fail, keep going. Don’t give up. Push. And push some more. Eventually, you’ll hit your target. Just don’t expect to get filthy rich overnight.
Hi Robert, Thanks for the interesting post. Really I got different ideas here to make money on online. Thanks for sharing this post.
worth reading,I am sure all ideas will be useful for making money at home.I am going to do one of these jobs ,keep doing this quality work.
Thanks for sharing. I have learnt A lot.
Very informative. Thanks again
I am a struggling writer and a YouTuber & online Gamer. I would like to know more on how to work for clickfunnel. Thank you.
I apperciate the info, but i,m looking for something a 13 year old could do Online so i,m not sure if i can do these. But still thanks!
You might be surprised to know that we have teen #funnelhackers who do quite well with their online businesses