Can You Really Make Money Online?

The idea of trying to make money through online freelancing came to me when I started to tire of my job. I needed some distraction and a possible income alternative in case I decided to quit. Aside from that, we got ourselves a new car and a house, and so, any additional income would be welcome. It was these combination of factors that made me decide to check out online freelancing.

Like they say, good ideas are born when there's a need.

Can you really make money online or are they all scams? That was my question too. You can stop wondering because I can attest that you CAN make money online, if you know what to do. If you don't know what to do, and if you don't have a plan, you'll encounter scams and unprofitable ventures which can discourage you from continuing.

There are hundreds of ways to make money online, working from home. It all depends on your skills and your determination to succeed. People think that working from home is easy and not time-consuming. Don't start off with that mindset. The only difference between working from home and having a regular job is that you own your time. What you do with that time will determine if you become successful or not. I, personally, spend too much time on my laptop. Freelancing eats up a lot of time, if you don't manage it properly. But those are the sacrifices you need to make in order to learn and build an online career.

In the short time that I've freelanced, I've managed to earn a side income of $500 a month on average. That's peanuts compared to other online freelancers. Writing is my game, and this income is solely from my part-time writing projects on Upwork.

If you're not a writer, how else can you make money online? Here are some examples:

You can start a Blog and earn from Affiliate Marketing - This is when you link to websites like Amazon or eBay, from your blog. Some people start blogs solely for this purpose. A blog focused on Affiliate Marketing will choose a product from Amazon and promote them through articles and product reviews. Every time someone clicks on the links, they get routed to Amazon. If they make a purchase, the blogger earns a commission. There are many companies who offer affiliate marketing. Bloggers who have successful blogs, with heavy traffic, earn big money from this method.

Image Courtesy of tbsmo.com

Freelancing Websites - If you're not a blogger, and you don't like the idea of blogging, you can join freelancing websites such as Upwork - where I launched my freelancing career. You can create gigs on Fiverr too. The secret to being successful on these freelancing platforms is by building a credible reputation and choosing a niche. On Upwork, I specialize in Content Writing and eBooks. In the beginning, my rate was $1 an hour... I didn't know what  I was doing obviously. But when I started getting good customer feedback, I slowly raised my asking rate. Now it's at $22 an hour or $1 per 150 words. So, if someone hired me to write a 1000 word article, I make $15. Not bad. I can write that article in a couple of hours.

The jobs available on these websites vary. Freelancers who are good at Graphic Design, Websites or HTML and CSS Programming command a higher rate than writers. But there's never a shortage of writing jobs there for someone with good command of the English language. There are legitimate data entry jobs there too, but those projects pay peanuts and is not a good option if you want to earn a fairly decent income.

Sell Your Products - Frankly, I think that for an online freelancer to succeed, they need to have a blog or website. That is if you want to venture beyond working from Upwork or other freelancing platforms. When you have a blog, you can sell your own products. If you're a teacher or trainer, you can create videos or training modules for your target audience and sell them through subscriptions. You can be as creative as you want to be. Starting a blog is not as hard as you think. Weebly is a very easy way for beginners to start a blog.

To be a successful online freelancer, you need to read everything you can about the business. See what other freelancers are doing. What services are they offering? What can you offer? The learning is endless and you constantly need to update your knowledge on what's available on the Internet and  where the demand is for the service you plan to offer. There's no need to reinvent the wheel. There are proven ways to go about it,

Read the eBook, "You want to be an ONLINE FREELANCER... Now What?" It's a freelancing guide based on the author's own experience. Although the options are as vast as the internet itself, you need to start somewhere... and this book can get you started right away.

It's the age of freelancers. Join us.

Get to know more about the eBook on Eeva Lancaster's Desk.