Our guide to making money online and creating freedom in life

Here at Addrevenue, we have always enjoyed evaluating various sources of income online. The thought of finding sources of income online that are to some extent passive has alvays been an intreeging notion to say the least. Maybe it's because of these thoughts, daring to think different in terms of living an alternative lifestyle, that we finally ventured on to this entrepreneurial jurney that we've embarked upon? More specifically, maybe that's why we chose to start our affiliate network?

We think that all this research we previously did in our spare time could actually result in a nice series of articles about various passive income sources online. We have already published articles in this series about how to make money on YouTube, how to make money on TikTok and how much you can earn in different affiliate marketing niches.

We will try to make this series of articles a clear guide on how to invest your time in different sources of income online. But first, we want to set the tone by discussing the various benefits and motivations behind creating an extra income online. An extra income that in the long run might become that dream project that could set you on a great new course in life.

Why make money online?

Yes, why should you make money at all? Freedom? Status? Fast cars? Yes, why not all of the above if you are so inclined.

But if look at us founders behind addrevenue.io and our motivations, it probably comes down to two things. Freedom and self-realization. Being able to build an alternative source of income from scratch, without being lulled into a system with a 9-5 job. Your own idea that you've thought of by yourself. Your own lines of code that built the platform or your own words that people are reading and get value from. To be a producing part of society instead of being a consumer, which sadly is the norm in today's society. Therein lies the great allure to us. What is your motivation? Feel free to send us an email at info@addrevenue.io and tell us about it, we'd love to meet and get to know more like-minded souls.

What perks are associated with being your own boss and location independent?

Ok. That's perhaps a leading question, obviously there are a huge number of advantages to being location-independent, especially when it comes to managing your everyday life. A couple of very clear examples:

• You can handle errands, such as doctor's appointments and parent-teacher conferences without a thought of having to check in with your manager.
• You can work from anywhere and get the geographic flexibility that so many strive for. Very instagram worthy…
• You get a 100% connection between your own effort and the outcome of your work. You have no one else to blame, but there is also no one who can steal your glory when you hit it out of the park.
• Being burnt out is often due to an inability to set boundaries and possibly not having the full mandate to create space for yourself. If you run your own business right, you can always sleep in until 11 or take two days off in the middle of the week because you need it. There is no one who can hold you accountable, and it's such a godsend to be able to provide that respite for yourself.

How do you determine what's a good way of making money online?

Now that we have concluded that making money online undeniably comes with its perks, it may also be good to find your method on how to evaluate the different ways of doing it. Each person is unique with unique strengths, which should be taken into account when assessing which avenue to explore first on your journey to making money online. When going through the ways to make money online, it is important to assess the following aspects:

• Commercial upside and the initial time commitment
• Degree of passiveness (once the income source is built up)?
• Cost-effective to implement?
• Sustainable income over time?

What different ways are there to make money online?

Here below, we have compiled a shorter list of perhaps the 13 main sources in our opinion to make money online. We will over time dive deep into a couple of these and write separate articles to really give you all of the tools to try it yourself. But just by getting a first glimpse here via this article, maybe the seed that starts your journey can be sown here already? That would be a dream for us at least. Here we go!

1. Affiliate marketing

Simply put, ad links on your channel/domain. Either you get compensated for the click itself or for every 1000 page views on a banner, but as a rule there needs to be a conversion (a purchase, completed form entry) for you to earn compensation from the company. What should be considered here? The key thing is to only feature advertisers that are relevant to your readers/followers. How do you do this in a good way without damaging your brand? Choose partnerships wisely and be very responsive to any backlash from your audience. 

Is there money to be made via affiliate marketing? Definitely. On a small scale, it can be a few hundred USD per month, but when you reach a certain level, it can be a multi-million dollar venture. We recommend that you try affiliate marketing via addrevenue.io, we are already present in 28 countries and growing extremely fast with 1000+ advertisers.

2. Youtube channel

Pretty obvious to most people at this point. Starting your own YouTube channel that you fill with exactly the type of content your heart desires. After you reach a high enough level, you can turn on advertising on your videos and earn money via Google AdSense. You can also switch on affiliate marketing by featuring links in the description below the lip and recommend products that fit your content. Here's a more in-depth description on how you make money on YouTube.

3. Podcast

This is also a fairly well-known phenomenon for most people today. Starting a podcast within a specific niche, how you build an audience and what commercial benefits you can leverage via this platform though, might not be common knowledge. You build an incredibly close relationship with your followers given that it is a longer format where the listener really has time to get to know you as a creator. So the podcast can be the main content hub from which you can leverage the audience and earn money via sponsorships on the podcast or to sell courses or push products/merchandise you own yourself. The latter is one of the most interesting methods of monetizing this source of online income.

4. Writing and selling E-books

Are you an expert in an area that many people could benefit from learning more about? Write a book about it and sell it via Kindle or similar platforms. Write it once and let it sell itself as part of your other entrepreneurship endeavours forever. It's a great opportunity to create further familiarity and strengthen the relationship with your followers.

5. Blogging

Blogger, Wordpress, Nouw or your own domain perhaps? This is a classic method of making money online that trains you as a creator to express yourself in writing. You'll probably also become more familiar with SEO optimization of your content, which is a super power that you shouldn't take lightly. Anyways, blogging is a nice way of getting paid for the commitment you have in a specific area and it can become a six digit source of income at scale. To make money blogging, you can connect to AdSense, affiliate marketing or make sponsored posts. But you should be careful about having too many sponsored posts, as blog readers usually don't appreciate this.

6. Dropshipping

To sell other companies' products (many times Chinese products) via an own e-commerce platform. The beautiful part of dropshipping though is that you bear no responsibility for storage or shipping the product to the customer. You simply get access to the company's marketing material, which you can then use on your own site. After that, you can calmly drive traffic, build a customer base and hopefully make a solid profit. Dropshipping has become a relatively common phenomenon in the last three years among younger entrepreneurs.

7. Online courses

Are you an expert in an area that people could benefit from learning more about? Create a course on the subject and receive compensation for your knowledge - FOREVER. This is an exciting topic that we ourselves are passionate about, because of its long time potential and high grade of passiveness. Do you have cutting edge skills? If not, team up with other talented people and do a course on their topic. You don't need to build your own website to upload your content, instead you can use platforms such as Udemy or Skillshare.

8. Advertorials

If you run your own site, you will probably be  approached by companies that want to make sponsored posts on your site. These are called advertorials in the industry (mix of advertising and editorials). How to think here? Is it good for your brand? Is it possible to make passive income from this? We'd be cautious to overdo this source of income online due to it's lack of long term potential and because it'll usually take a lot of effort up front.

However, if you want to pursue this route - don't be afraid to charge a lot for your work. And, if possible, have the client do all the work of writing the article. This way, you'll at least save your time.

9. Amazon FBA

FBA here stands for Fulfillment By Amazon. In short, you as an entrepreneur have a product, let's say tooth brushes, and you can let Amazon sell these for you on its platform. A form of reverse dropshipping so to speak. You avoid inventory and marketing costs to drive your sales, but on the other hand, Amazon takes a large cut of your profits.

10. Consulting

Fairly self-explanatory perhaps, but this is of course something that is more common than ever given the new ways of working after Covid-19. You can often take a higher fee as a consultant than you would normally as an employee. The reason you can charge more, if because you don't have the same benefits and security as you would have as an employee. More jobs than ever can be done remotely and therefore this is a very good way to make money online.

You still exchange your time for money, but given the right circumstances you could actually do more than one full time job at the same time and really grind your way to a huge sum of money. Not the most sustainable route perhaps, so tread lightly if you choose to go down this path.

11. Set up your own e-commerce store

Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento. There are many options when it comes to creating your own e-ommerce store. The e-commerce sector continues to grow incredibly fast and it is a very stimulating way to earn your stripes as an entrepreneur. You learn marketing, logistics, design and tech. There is also huge money to be made in case you succeed with this endeavor, but it requires a certain financial investment upfront if you are going to sell physical products. If you want to help drive traffic and sales to your e-commerce, you can connect to affiliate marketing as an advertiser to find performance-based collaborations with talented publishers. Sorry, but we just had to do a plug there, didn't we?

12. Influencer

Every other teenager's dream job today? You can become an influencer via a multitude of platforms, build an audience, and then plug in affiliate marketing or other forms of sponsored content. YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram are some of the platforms you can use to build your audience.

13. Creative work

Are you a musician, video editor, graphic designer or photographer? There are several different ways to make money this way. Either you can consult via a platform like Fiverr or Upwork. Or you create material that you then sell via platforms like Shutterstock and other platforms like it. A nice little side job, but it's hard to make huge sums here.

Summary

Making money online comes with great benefits, whether it is part-time or a full-time endeavor. Who hasn't dreamed of making a mark on the society we live in? Crossing the line from employee to entrepreneur? There are several different ways to make money online that we've outline in this article that honestly don't require much effort or capital to get started. What are you waiting for?

Which passive income source attracts you the most? Is there  a source of income you're missing from the list that you'd like us to dig a little deeper into? In that case, please email us at info@addrevenue.io. And of course don't forget that of course we recommend becoming an affiliate as a first step in the journey to find sources of income online. Do you have an Instagram account today? Good, then you can get started as an affiliate right away. That's all it takes. 

No matter which path you choose for your own journey to making money online, you should be proud of yourself for taking the plunge and daring to do it. Many will doubt you, so don't forget to pat yourself on the back just for taking the plunge. Most people wouldn't do it. But you're not most people, are you?

Thank you for your attention and we hope you will get in touch with us with your thoughts and opinions! Good luck!