We would all love to find a program that would make us a millionaire, but is this program really all it makes out it is?
There are opportunities with Internet Marketing, but it’s never as easy as the guys behind these programs claim it can. So, what does the Coffee Shop Millionaire have to offer? Let’s find out.
First off, it’s great to see that you’re doing your research before buying into any “seemingly good” product.
Are you any good at writing quality articles?? Then there is a real opportunity for you to make some real money from writing articles online. I will go through the main ways you can explore this opportunity with some great tips on making it successful.
The first decision you will need to make is whether you decide to offer your services out for business owners to hire you out or whether you utilise this skill to starting your own online business and making money?
Let’s explore both options…
Freelancing
If you are just interested in earning extra money from writing the odd article for someone else’s business, then Freelancing is the route you can take. There are sites like Fiverr, where you could get started relatively easily.
Website owners are often looking to offload some of the work from their businesses, and one of the ways to do this is to hire a writer to write an article for them. There are a few things to consider with this route:
What is the Good Side of Freelancing?
Your Own Schedule – You create your own schedule, work when you want to work
No Commute – being able to work from home saves you a lot of time and money by not having to drive to work
Take your office with you – work where you want to work. You could write the article wherever you liked and upload it later on when you get WIFI.
Letting your creative side out – Often this is hard to do at the day job, especially when you have tasks to complete and it is a noisy environment. Creating a calming environment at home and reap the benefits.
Time of Day – Are you a morning person…? Some of us are not, I am personally more productive on the evening. You work whenever it is best for you.
What About the Cons of Freelancing?
When Do I Get Paid? – Some sites make it pre-paid before you do the work. But the initial hardship is getting people to hire you. It is a market where you need to stand out to make it work. Others, you may not get paid until the job is completed.
Benefits? – You will be self-employed in this business. depending on the country you live in, this can have effects on your health benefits, etc. You will also have to consider filing your own tax
Distractions… – There are so many distractions at home that get in the way. The children, the chores, watching tv. You need to be quite disciplined when you work from home.
Are Your Writing for Yourself? – If you are writing for yourself, writing articles will be an easier route. But freelancing is typically writing for someone else. This means a couple of things:
Your writing will be scrutinised and need to be good enough for them
It could be subjects that you find mundane/boring meaning it will be much harder to write quality content
How Long Will This Job Last? – If you do get a good gig and they decide to hire you for a number of articles, great! But there will always be the times when you are not offered the work again. You also never normally meet your employer, so this can also present its own barriers.
As a freelancer, you will always be the employee. There will be certain elements you need to undertake and complete to ensure you get paid and receive positive feedback and hopefully repeat business. But fundamentally, you will still be answering to someone.
Freelancing is available on a number of platforms, such as Fiverr or Upwork. Freelancing is a viable option for someone looking to earn extra money, but if you are really looking for an opportunity where you are the boss, so you are writing articles for yourself – you may find my next suggestion right up your street.
Create Your Own Online Business with your Articles
There are many benefits to freelancing, but it still comes down to the same thing – you are working for someone else. They will need to be happy with your article before they pay you and they will not always be on subjects you want to write about.
But if you started writing articles for your own online business, you will be writing articles that you will benefit from and be on a subject you want to write about.
Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t all a walk in the park. But neither is freelancing. You could always freelance as a side gig until your online business takes off.
But the freedom, that working on your own online business will bring will far outweigh any drawbacks it may have.
Let’s start with how your articles will lead to your earning money. Blogging is by far the best way of building an online business from article writing.
Creating your own blog within a niche that you choose, will mean that you can stay motivated and power through writing plenty of articles in a subject you love.
Once you have started writing articles for your blog, you can then look at ways of monetising it. I personally suggest affiliate marketing and using ads. They both are a great way of monetising a blog and will lead to a full-time income with the right guidance.
Writing for yourself, means that you can concentrate on one concept – your business and its’s niche.
If you are freelancing, you could be getting inundated with orders. Which is great for earning money, but they could be on any subject. If you are a great writer, the orders will keep coming in – and it will feel like work and you will need to work really hard to keep up.
Working for your own business will be hard work, but if you are writing articles about a subject you love, it will feel a lot less like work. I love helping people, so writing useful articles is something I find easy to do, especially when it is in a field, I know a lot about.
But if someone asked me to write an article on, let’s say “Arts & Crafts”. I haven’t got the first clue, I would have to spend more time researching the subject, before even considering accepting the gig.
So, whilst I feel freelancing is a good idea – I personally prefer writing for myself and earning money from it too. Let’s explore a little more about affiliate marketing, so you can know how you will earn money from your articles.
What Exactly is Affiliate Marketing and How Will My Articles Work?
Affiliate Marketing is where you earn a commission for introducing a buyer to a product. If you have never heard of it, you might be surprised to know that many retailers use it as a cheaper way of advertising its products. Amazon, for example is the biggest online marketplace and they have used it since it started.
Rather than spending millions on advertising campaigns they can reward referrers with a percentage of the price of the product. You will be surprised by how lucrative a model it can be if you can get it right…
So, how do your articles come into this model?
High Quality Posts (articles) are a key to making it work. High quality posts will lead to traffic – traffic is the key to either affiliate marketing or adverts to work.
Some people try and add affiliate links or adverts too soon to a blog and see no results. Normally because they haven’t got the traffic yet or the content is poor.
But if you are able to write great content about your chosen niche, with great quality reviews of products – you will start to realise the potential this model brings to you and your writing.
By all means, you can freelance and make some good money from it. My only reservations are that you are writing for someone else who may or may not like it. You could always get long term deals with website owners/companies to write articles. Great. But if you are freelance, they can end it quite quickly. There is also no guarantee, that you will still enjoy doing it further down the road.
By using your ability to write articles within your own blog business, you can easily write content that you want to write, start to realise the online potential that brings with affiliate marketing, selling ad space, etc. and realise that you will become a business owner with the freedom that can bring.
Get Expert Help Along the Way – Learn from the Best
Everyone needs help at times, and it is such a massive relief when you realise you are not on your own and you can get expert help and support at any point along your journey. I started with my own online business a couple of years ago and I would not be where I am today with the help and support from the guys at Wealthy Affiliate.
People naturally assume they are just about Affiliate Marketing, but they offer so much more.
Training on all aspects of Online Business
Tools to Get You Ahead – Websites, Research Tools, Engagement Tools
Expert Help & Support Every Step of the Way
I’ll be your Personal Coach!!
There are many reasons why someone might feel more confident writing articles for someone else, but for those that are ready to take the next step and become their own boss… Wealthy Affiliate will be there to help them. I also promise to be there to help anyone who accepts my invitation to give them a try.
With a Free Starter Membership, you can see the real potential in yourself with regards to an online business.
IF you have any questions around Freelancing, Affiliate Marketing, Wealthy Affiliate or anything else – please leave a comment and I promise to come back to you.
If you have any experience with freelancing or affiliate marketing, please share your experiences, I would to hear from you.
Have you realised the potential from blogging and want to also realise how you can start to make money too?
Blogging has become a common route for people to earn money online and with the right help and support it can be also mean you can real money and leave the day job behind too.
Over 4 billion people have access to high-speed internet and they are always looking for help and guidance on a number of different topics. This is where your opportunity from blogging lies, so let’s get into How to Make Money from Blogging Online by starting with “What Exactly is a Blog?”
What Exactly is a Blog?
The simple premise is – a blog is described as a regularly updated website or post written in an informal or conversational style. It is a way of communicating with others information or opinions/reviews on a given subject.
That is the technical term, but the reason why people love reading blogs is it is written so anyone can understand it. You are sharing a story, you are sharing your thoughts but also helping people understand something they are searching for the answer.
They don’t always have to focus on written articles too, if you are really comfortable in front of the camera, you could always start a Vlog, which is a video blog. You see them on YouTube all the time.
What Can I Start a Blog About?
This is the best part, you can write about something you are really interested in. There are some that state you have to target a specific niche if you want to earn any money. But I believe any niche is viable.
What will stand up to the test of time? A blog on a niche that is supposed to be good for making money, but you haven’t got the first clue about and have no real passion to write about…
Or a blog that is in a field that you already know a lot about and love – meaning you can write naturally for weeks and months to come – where you can engage into the community that is also interested in this niche too and is likely to invest into products you suggest and they take you up on it as you prove to be an Authority in this niche???
I know which one I would choose, all day long.
It isn’t just about picking a niche, based on metrics. It is about picking something you can build an Authority Blog in.
That is the key to making money from Blogging. People need to believe and trust in you to make any decisions that lead to them buying something. If they just feel like you are there to make money – it will be game over, regardless of the niche you have chosen.
So, my key advice for picking a niche is simple:
You know what you are talking about in this niche or are willing to learn what you are talking about in it.
You have experience in and around this niche, ideally.
It is something that you will not get bored of, easily.
There is no point starting a niche in something that you haven’t got the first clue about. Take gaming laptops, this is a massive growth market at the moment, and easily could be a great niche to target. But if you have no idea about GPU’s or why the frame rate matters to a gamer – you have no business starting a blog about it.
Pick something you love, you will be writing a lot of content about it before you start making money with it.
What Do I Need to Know Before I Start Blogging?
Before I describe the ways to make money from blogging, I want to ensure you understand the time and effort that will be required to make this work. Many people walk away from blogging because it didn’t make them any money. But when you break it down, it was because their expectations were way off of the mark. Do not expect this to make you any money within the first 2 months. It might even be the 6-month mark. To realise the money-making potential from blogging, you need to sign up for the long-term. I didn’t make any money for 6 months, but if I had given up in month 5, I would not be where I am today.
Your website/blog needs to be noticed on the search engines, and also get to page one of the search engines to make any real money.
This will take time and effort, but if you keep that in mind and work hard at it, you will find that you can make some real big numbers with Blogging.
You will also need to focus on helping the readers and not selling to them. People will always be asking why. If you just tell someone to buy a product because it is awesome. People are going to think; this person is just interested in selling a product.
But, if you help them understand why you think this product is awesome, and it helped you because…
Think about why people are searching the internet. Before they buy a product, they want to know what other people’s experiences have been. How is the product used? What benefits will this product have?
You might identify problems in your niche that do not identify to a product, this is great as it builds up your authority.
Constantly look for the questions that are being asked and answer them. They will start to trust you, and that is what is needed to promote products.
Becoming an Authority is the way to make money blogging online.
How Do I Make Money from Blogging Online?
There are three ways I want to share with you on how to make money from blogging online.
Advertising – Once your site becomes established and you are receiving high levels of traffic, you can utilise services such as Google’s AdSense. By having ads on your website, you can earn money when people click on the adverts. Be mindful, you will need a high level of traffic to even make this worth it. There are other platforms, like MediaVine, but you need to be hitting high levels of traffic before they accept you.
Offering Your Services – If you are not ready to start your own website, you could start offering your services via freelancing sites like Fiverr. You get hired by other website owners to write for them. Although you will tend to find that you will not always be writing about stuff you want to write about
Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate Marketing is an awesome way of earning money from blogging and is the way I have been earning money for the last couple of years. It isn’t a new concept, you just might not have heard of it – but Amazon started using it and still is. You earn commission for introducing a buyer to a product.
Affiliate Marketing is a tried and tested premise to earning money from blogging, and many retailers sign up for it.
By using this model, companies do not need to pay huge amounts for advertising. People often research products before buying them online. Where do they go??? People’s blogs about their experiences with these products. They read your review and decide to buy it, they follow your link to the retailer and buy it. You have just earned commission!
By building up your authority in your website, with quality content you can start to introduce Affiliate Marketing, then as the traffic starts to hit your website you will start to earn commissions, then you can introduce ads and earn additional revenue.
That is the opportunity with blogging. So how do you get started.
How Do I Get Started with My Own Blog?
There are a few things that you need to get started on the right path. First off, you need to know this will take time an effort. It will take longer than you thought, and you will need to work hard to make it work.
You also need to be willing to learn everything there is to know about an online business.
This path is so rewarding, and when it starts to pay you will feel such a great feeling, but it is not for everyone.
Then to get started you only need to read what I can offer you
What I Can Offer to Those Willing to Invest the Time & Effort
I wouldn’t be where I was today, if I didn’t get the help and support, I can offer you today. Before I signed up, I didn’t know a thing about websites, affiliate marketing, online business, nothing. All I had was a niche idea.
With the help and guidance of Wealthy Affiliate, Gem and I now have 2 successful online businesses.
There are 3 things you need to get started and this is what Wealthy Affiliate offers:
Education – A Step-by-Step guide on how to get started with a blog using Affiliate Marketing
Websites – WordPress is so easy to use and is used in over 50% of current websites, you will learn everything there is to know inside Wealthy Affiliate
Expert Help & Support – You will join a community of Internet Entrepreneurs all there to help you – You will also get me as a personal coach. Whenever you get stuck or need advice, I will be there to help you.
You can get started with Wealthy Affiliate for free, with a free starter membership account. If you would like to read my full review, check it out here.
I said earlier, that it is important to explain why you are recommending something, so here goes.
I have reviewed a lot of training platforms out there around online business, affiliate marketing, etc. and I have never come across such a supportive platform ever. You get direct access to the owners of the platform, Kyle & Carson. They get involved every day. They work hard to ensure their training stays current, their websites are second to none. They truly believe in the ‘Pay-it-forward’ mantra and focus on that key element I described earlier – Help the Reader.
If you truly want to start making money from blogging online, you will find no better companion that Wealthy Affiliate, and if you follow my lead – I will always be there to help you too.
Blogging is such a natural way of expressing yourself and being able to do it full-time and earning passive income from affiliate marketing, means you can spend more time doing what you love. Good Luck to you, whatever you decide!!
If you have any questions around blogging, affiliate marketing or anything else to do with online business, please leave them in the comments below and I will come back to you ASAP. Have you any experience with Wealthy Affiliate, I would love to hear your opinions about the platform, just leave them in the comments below.
Keeping your WordPress plugins up-to-date is key to ensuring your website stays functional and your readers do not experience any problems when accessing your website.
The last thing you want is for a reader to choose to leave your website without any action due to the form they are supposed to use doesn’t work or your email capture form doesn’t work.
Keeping your website up-to-date also stops any potential security risks that might have been exposed and is the reason the plugin developer has upgraded their program.
Let’s start with what exactly is a WordPress Plugin and then I will guide you through the steps to updating them.
What Exactly is a WordPress Plugin?
WordPress plugins are essential to your WordPress website. They add many different functions to your website to allow you to achieve pretty much anything with your website. Want a picture gallery, want to use a capture form, adding an author box, you name it there is a plugin for it. One of the most essential plugins is your SEO plugin. Whether you use the All-in-One SEO or choose Yoast. These are essential to ensuring your WordPress website is SEO friendly and found easily by the Search Engines.
SO, Why Is it Important to Keep WordPress Plugins Up-to-Date?
The number one reason why developers release updates – to keep you and your website safe. Security updates are one of the reasons, but also added functionality is also one. Whenever WordPress itself updates to the newest version, your plugins will typically have to update to remain functional with the latest release.
One of the key tips I will share at this stage, is backing up your WordPress website is a worthwhile step before installing the latest WordPress update and keeping weekly backups just in case.
How to Update WordPress Plugins
There are reasons why you may choose to install the updates individually rather than in bulk, so I will describe to you both ways.
If you have used the plugin for a while and have experience no problems installing updates in the past, then you could typically use the bulk option. You kind of build up a trust factor with plugins the same way you might with websites.
But if it is a new plugin for you, then I would highly suggest you install it individually until you build up that trust with the developer.
Step One – Login to your WordPress Editor
You will know straightaway if you have any updates available when you first log in. ON your left-hand menu, you will notice that the plugin menu item has a red circle with a number on it indicating how many plugins require an update.
If you hover over your dashboard menu item, you will notice that the same indicator is there, however the number may be different. Don’t worry, it just means that there are other updates that are available, such as your theme has an update or WordPress itself is ready for an update.
In the image below, you can see that there is one update ready for this WordPress website
There is a difference depending on which one you click. If you click plugins, it will take you to page displaying all of your plugins, including those that do not require a plugin.
If you follow the updates menu item, it will take you to page where only the items that require an update is listed. This is my preferred method, as it will also show other items (such as themes) that need updating and I can manage it all in one session.
From the image below, you can see that on the updates page, I have one plugin requiring an update and it is “WP Product Review Lite”.
Step 2 – Selecting & Updating the WordPress Plugin
Now there are a couple of things I check prior to actually updating a plugin, especially if it is the first time, I am updating a plugin.
How compatible is it with your current WordPress version? I like to check this, because if it is 100%, I am more inclined to include it in a bulk update. If the answer is not 100%, I would choose to update it on its own or maybe wait a couple of days to see if they include a newer update.
If you are choosing to update all the plugins that are listed, use the ‘Select All’ option, if you are choosing which plugins to install individually, use the check box at the left hand side of each plugin:
Once you are ready to update, press the button saying ‘Update’. This will take a few seconds, depending on how many are being updated and then will return a completed screen.
That is it! You have now completed the update on your WordPress Plugins. If you have been using the plugin for a while and have never had problems with it, then I cannot see why you wouldn’t install an update straightaway. Some will advise you wait a week just in case, but I would tend to do this with a new plugin that I haven’t had a lot of experience with. It is prudent to read what the actual update is for.
There is a way of setting your WordPress plugins to automatically update, find the related post here. Whilst, personally I wouldn’t recommend it as if it breaks your website, you won’t know until you next log in and could be missing a lot of traffic. But still it might be useful to at least know how to do it.
Want to Know More about WordPress?
WordPress is becoming the most popular website content manager online. With over 50% of websites now using the platform it shows the versatility WordPress brings with it, and plugins is how this is achieved. There is so much to learn about WordPress, so if you would like to learn everything there is to know about WordPress you might consider learning from the best.
Whatever the reason you have a WordPress website, you need the best support there is the industry to improve your knowledge and internet marketing skills. Wealthy Affiliate offers top-quality training materials on WordPress and Internet Marketing Skills with some awesome features for WordPress websites all included in its membership. If you would like to learn more, check out my Wealthy Affiliate review, it is not all just about Affiliate Marketing.
If you have any questions about WordPress, WordPress plugins or anything else please write them in the comments below and I will come back to you ASAP with an answer.
WordPress’s versatility comes from the number of plugins that are available. Plugins are an integral part of the appeal of WordPress so knowing how to install them is a key step.
We will be exploring what a WordPress plugin is and show you a step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
What is a WordPress Plugin?
WordPress plugins are essential to your WordPress website. They add so many different functions to your website and they allow you to achieve pretty much anything with your website. Want a picture gallery, want to use a capture form, adding an author box, or even adding social share functions, you name it there is a plugin for it. One of the most essential plugins is your SEO plugin. Whether you use the All-in-One SEO or choose Yoast. These are essential to ensuring your WordPress website is SEO friendly and found easily by the Search Engines.
There are also a few checks you want to do before installing a plugin, which we will discuss before we go through how to install one.
Plugins on WordPress.com Websites
Just a note about if you have a WordPress.com website, whilst these are free websites you will have to have a paid site to install any plugins. WordPress.org sites have much more functionality. Our No.1 Recommended hosting site for WordPress.org sites is SiteRubix, learn more here.
Step-by-Step Guide on How to Install a WordPress Plugin
Before I describe to you the couple of different ways to install a plugin, there are a couple of watch outs before you do…
There are many free plugins out there, and many of them are great. But doing a few checks before installing one will help you avoid installing one that breaks your website.
I highly recommend you backup your website before installing a new plugin.
There are a couple of checks I always do when checking out whether to install the plugin.
How many downloads the plugin has had
When was the last time the plugin was updated?
The reason I check these is, if a plugin hasn’t been updated in a while, it means the developer may have given up on the plugin – it hasn’t, been kept up-to-date with any WordPress updates and more importantly hasn’t been updated to keep up with security.
The number will determine how many sites it is installed on, if it is on a lot it is less likely to break a site. If it isn’t that popular, there may be an underlying reason.
Let’s get down to the ways to install a WordPress plugin.
Using the Search Function (From the WordPress Directory)
This is the way you will install free plugins, First you will need to go to your WordPress editor.
From your menu, hover over Plugins and you will see the option for a “Add New”. Select this.
This will take you to the Plugin Directory. If you know the name of the plugin you want to install, type it into the search bar. If you are looking in general, you can search in the same way and see the options that come up. In my example, I am going to install ‘AMP for WP” By searching for this, it has come up where I can see the details around the plugin and see if it has been updated recently and is the right one for me. You will also see the install button. Once you are happy with your selection, choose to install.
Once you have installed it, you need to activate the plugin. There are a couple of ways of doing this. In the image below, you will see the box that said ‘Install’ has now been replaced with ‘Activate’. This is the easier way of activating the plugin.
But there are times that you are wanting to activate it at a later date. (there are times when you notice one of your plugins might be the issue, but not sure which one is causing the issue. So, you spend some time activating each one at a time to identify it). I will show you the other way of activating a plugin too.
If you go to your plugin list, you will see all of the plugins you have installed listed there.
If all of your plugins are activated you will only notice a deactivate option, but if you have a plugin that is not activated you will see the option to ‘activate’ the plugin.
This the other way of activating a plugin.
Uploading a Downloaded Plugin
There are also a number of paid plugins that are available, but typically you will need to buy them at another place than the directory and you will need to ‘upload’ these plugins.
Go back to the ‘Add New’ Plugin page and you will see at the top an ‘Upload Plugin’ button.
Once you click this button it will allow you to select a file from your computer.
The plugin you have downloaded will be a zip file. Select the file and click install now. Once you have installed the plugin, you will need to activate the plugin from your plugin list.
Now that you know how to install a WordPress plugin, let’s just also show you how to uninstall a WordPress plugin.
How to Uninstall a WordPress Plugin
Go to your WordPress Editor and go to your Plugin List. This will show all of your installed plugins.
Under each of your installed plugins you will see several options, please note that you must first deactivate a plugin before being able to uninstall it.
One of the options will be ‘deactivate’
Click deactivate and let your website do the work, shortly it will return you back to your list and now the options for the plugin will change and there will be the option to delete it.
You have now successfully uninstalled your WordPress plugin.
Plugins allow you to get the right look and feel on your website to ensure it gives the readers exactly the what you want them to when they hit your website. Now you know how to install and uninstall WordPress plugins, you can get started on creating the website you want.
There are many different factors to consider with a WordPress website and if you feel like you could benefit from more in-depth tutorials around WordPress and the wider Internet Marketing field, I highly suggest you check out where I learned everything there was to know about both. Read my Wealthy Affiliate Review to see how they could transform your online business, it isn’t just about Affiliate Marketing. I learned so much that helped with Gem’s Wedding Stationary Business too.
If you have any questions about WordPress or WordPress plugins, please write them in the comments below and I promise to get back to you ASAP.
There are many reasons why you might be trying to escape the rat race and finding something where you can work on your own terms, with much more freedom to pursue your own interests and work on something that gives you a real buzz and you feel is very much worthwhile…
For me, it was the realisation that in my day job I was leaving the house at 6 most mornings and getting back until after 6 every day. Just to do either a 9 to 5 job or maybe a retail role where the shifts were even worse.
Traffic is getting worse every time I got in the car to drive to work, meaning you leave earlier. Now this is often the reality, and I kind of accepted it until Will (my son) was born. I was missing out on so much, like seeing him grow up. I often got back in time just to take him to bed.
Then there are the people you sometimes have to work with, or your boss that is becoming the bigger reason why you want to leave.
Surveys have often shown that the main reason why people are looking to leave their current job is down to their boss.
There could be many reasons why you might be looking of a way of escaping your current job, and this can often be that you start looking for another job in a similar field – but this will mean that you will still be affected by the commute, having to answer to a boss and still miss out on a lot of family time or time to pursue your own interests.
This was the place I found myself in a couple of years ago…
I didn’t want to find another job that didn’t improve my situation with my commute, family time and answering to a boss. I decided the look to see if there were any other ways of achieving my goals.
Now looking for a way to earn money online is easier said than done. There are a high number of scams out there, products that promise the world and everything will be done on auto-pilot and it ends up being a load of crap.
But once you sift through all of it, you can find that there are some real opportunities to earn money online and with the right mindset, you could easily be leaving the day job behind in a year or two.
You might think that is a long time… I want it sooner! Wouldn’t we all, but the reality is any product that promises you a full-time wage straightaway is not genuine, and you will have lost your money.
If you are fully versed in the world of Internet Marketing, then you could easily achieve it sooner. Otherwise, having realistic timescales and goals are really needed.
Ways to Work from Home
There are a number of genuine ways you could earn money online, earning a few extra quid completing surveys, etc. is fine if that is all you want. But, being able to start your own online business where you can earn enough to achieve your goals of giving up the day job and spending more time doing what you like doing is a great feeling and was something, I was keen on working towards and wouldn’t have achieved it without the help and support I got. But before I discuss that further, let’s explore a couple of ways you could work towards that goal…
Freelancing
There is an opportunity to earn good money by offering your services to online business owners and making some decent money from it. To start with, it is easily something you can offer in your spare time and there are many different services you could offer. For example, many website owners are looking for people to write articles for them. Researching and writing an article can take a while, so people hire writers. If you are any good at graphic design or photoshop, there are opportunities to earn money there too.
Here are some other ways you could earn through freelancing:
Graphic & Design
Logos, Illustrations, Flyers & Brochures, etc.
Digital Marketing
SEO, Social Media Marketing, Online Marketing, etc.
Writing & Translations
Website Content, Translations, Proofreading, Research, etc.
Video & Animation
Promo Videos, Music Videos, Short Video Ads, etc.
Music & Audio
Voice Overs, Mixing & Mastering, Jingles, etc.
Programming & Tech
WordPress, Website Builders, Ecommerce, etc.
Business
Virtual Assistant, Data Entry, Market Research, Business Plans, etc.
Fun & Lifestyle
A number of different topics
If you are so inclined to earn some extra money online, with a view of turning freelancing into a full-time income many people have actually chosen this path and have succeeded in it. The only thing I will point out with this one is… you still have to answer to someone, most freelancing sites like Fiverr have a review process, so making sure your first few clients give you great feedback will mean you can get more gigs to continue earning money this way. You will also have to work to deadlines and submit it work on time and ensure it is high quality and they are happy with it too.
Once you have established yourself into freelancing, you can easily get a lot of work, just remember not to take on too many gigs at once otherwise you will not be able to keep up with deadlines.
Selling Your Own Products
This is the one many people think about when we talk about being our own boss. Selling your own products online is a very viable way of achieving your goals of working for yourself.
There are multiple ways of doing it too. The example I always use my wife’s wedding stationary business – you can order using the website, Amazon, eBay, Etsy and we use social media to attract traffic to those places.
Now some of you will be thinking, I am crafty but not really sure where to get started – well, I will share with you the best ways shortly.
But, if you aren’t particularly creative and haven’t got your own products to sell, don’t worry I wasn’t either – I started an online business and sold other people’s products for them for commission. I’ll go through Affiliate Marketing in the next section.
If you have your own products and have them on eBay or wanting to get your products to a bigger audience, the best way is to create your very own website. The reason I say that is, it is yours. You will not be paying eBay every time you sell something, so you can earn more from the sale, which will lead to you being able to leave the day job behind and dedicate more time into your business and increases your sales and your profit.
You can get your very own website very easily and, in most cases, free (to start with) but what you need is a way of getting that website to the first page of Google. If people are finding your website easily, they will be able to find your products and buy them and give you the income you need to say, “I don’t need the 9 to 5 job anymore”. Learning marketing methods like Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media Marketing and Website Design all seem daunting but our No.1 Recommended Product helped me learn everything I needed to know to launch and improve my Wife’s Wedding Stationary business to the stage where she left her office job over a year ago to just focus on the orders that were coming through for the wedding stationary business.
But like I said not everyone has the inclination or ability to create and sell their own products and freelancing still means you have a boss. So, I explored an option where I started selling other people’s products for a commission and I used that same training platform to learn everything I needed to know too.
Affiliate Marketing – Selling Other People’s Products!
If you haven’t heard about affiliate marketing, just know that it is one that is giving people the opportunity to leave the day job behind and is classed as ‘passive income’.
Passive income is where you can earn money without an action. Every time Gemma (my wife) receives an order there are a number of different actions in the production process before they are shipped. Affiliate Marketing doesn’t require an action, as you are only introducing a buyer to a seller via your website.
Amazon is actually one of the biggest marketplaces in the world that utilises Affiliate Marketing. If you introduce someone to a product on Amazon and they buy that product you earn a commission. This is typically a percentage of the purchase price. So, you could be earning money whilst you sleep.
Let’s say you have a real interest in technology and want to start a blog reviewing gaming laptops, which is a big growing market at the moment. You would naturally write reviews about gaming laptops and accessories, etc. Someone lands on your review of a gaming laptop they are interested in, they read your thorough review and decide that it is the laptop for them and follow your affiliate link to the retailer (in this cases Amazon) and they decide to buy it. You will earn a % of the sale. A typically gaming laptop is about $2,000. Amazon will reward you with 4-8% of the sale price – at 4% this is $80. Doesn’t sound that much, but when you start introducing 10 people buying a $2k laptop – that is $800. On just one review. People are earning $5k a month using this model and others have scaled their business earning a lot more through multiple websites. The opportunities are endless!
That is when you start to realise the potential in Affiliate Marketing. That is why I have used it to improve Gemma’s business to one that uses 3 different types of business – Selling your own Products, Drop Shipping and Affiliate Marketing.
What Do I Need to Start an Online Business???
Whether you choose to start an Affiliate Marketing business or Sell Your Own Products – You need to understand there are a few factors you need to consider before jumping in both feet. I mentioned all those programs that tell you that you can earn thousands overnight – yeah, they kind of give the general impression that is possible everywhere. If you start today, you will be giving up your day job in a couple of weeks. I wish!
The main reason why Online Businesses or Affiliate Marketers fail is, they give up before they reach their potential.
Let’s just give you a clear understanding of the timescales, so you know what to expect. Most websites will not get a clear cut-through with the search engines until your third month. So, if you follow all of the clear training I will share with you, and follow all of the steps that you are set to follow, you will not really get noticed by the search engines until you are into month 3. Why is this important?? Let me ask you a question – when you search for something on google, how often do you go to page 2 of the searches???
Exactly…
You need your content ranking on page one of the search engines to benefit from people ordering your products or from your affiliate business. This can typically happen by month 3. But if you give up after 4 weeks, because you haven’t earned anything yet. You have the wrong mindset to make this business work and leave that job you do not like behind…
This is an honest, genuine way of earning money online and will definitely get you to a place where you can leave your day job behind… BUT, if you are not prepared to put the time in and stay determined that it will work and that it requires effort, then this opportunity is not for you.
Where Do I Learn Everything, I Need to Know…? With Expert Support
I wouldn’t be in the position I am in today, if I didn’t find the platform, I started using a couple of years ago…
The knowledge I have learned has led me to be able to transform Gem’s dream of her own wedding stationary business – She is now getting regular orders across the world with her personalised wedding stationary a hit.
But it also allowed me to pursue my dreams of an online business, I love helping people and love the fact I am now in a position to help other people realise their dreams of giving up their day jobs, leaving the commute behind and spend more time with their families by building an affiliate marketing business.
Below, are the things that you need to bring to the business:
A Willingness to Learn!
Determination to Achieve Your Goals!
Understanding That This Will Take Time!! and I mean more than a month of hard graft.
What Will Wealthy Affiliate Bring to Your Business?
When I first started out, I knew I wanted to find something that could help but didn’t know where to look. There are plenty of platforms that have great marketing campaigns but end up being full of false promises. I even tried binary options to see if I could earn any money, but all I did was lost money – but it led me to a training program that changed my life!
There are 3 things that you will need to become successful online:
Education – You need to commit to the fact that you will need to learn what it takes to get started and be successful online.
You will need a website, you will get instant access to 2 free websites
Expert Help & Support – You will need someone there to help you every step of the way. I offer that support, along with a community of Internet Entrepreneurs all there to help you as well.
The platform that I am talking about is Wealthy Affiliate. Their training, websites, online tools and their community is the reason I can confidently state that anyone who follows their guidance properly will succeed with their goals.
Whilst at first glance, it seems like only potential affiliate marketers will benefit from their training – I can actually state that anyone with an online business will benefit, purely due to their emphasis on ensuring there is training on all aspects of internet marketing. Many of their techniques have helped in Gem’s wedding stationary business, my affiliate marketing business – but there is a whole load of other training in there and it just keeps getting better.
The websites and web hosting focus on user experience, to ensure that your audience get the best experience.
Online tools like a content creator and keyword research tool are included inside the platform and are key to your success.
But by far the best thing about Wealthy Affiliate is all members get access to the owners of the platform, Kyle and Carson. No other platform gives you direct access to the owners. They are constantly involved in the live chat, answering questions from anyone. They helped me decide on my first niche and offer regular blog updates on what is going on in the Internet Marketing world and Wealthy Affiliate.
You will also gain access to me as your personal coach – have a question, not sure which direction to go, need motivating whilst it is still new, you just get in touch and we can discuss the best course forward.
Joining WA was the best thing I did and has taught me so much about the fact that I can go and pursue my own online business and achieve my goals – it also allowed my wife to leave her day job to focus on something she wanted to do. No Commute and No Boss!
I will say again, it isn’t for everyone – You need to invest your time, effort and be dedicated to making it work for it to become a viable solution to leaving your 9 to 5 job behind.
But with Wealthy Affiliate’s support you can achieve it, and if you ever need a nudge just send me a Personal Message inside of WA.
If you would like to take a further look around what Wealthy Affiliate has to offer, here is the link to my Review. Their starter membership is totally free, without any need for a credit card. Just sign up, for 7 days you will gain access to their premium membership – this gives you a more complete idea of what Wealthy Affiliate has to offer. There is no pressure to upgrade and you can stay a starter member (for free). If you decide it isn’t for you, there will be no hard feelings and you can just log out. I also wrote a blog post about the differences between the starter membership and premium membership you might find useful, check it out here.
Whichever direction you choose to go, I wish you look on your journey to leaving your 9 to 5 job behind. But remember before I joined Wealthy AFfiliate, I did not have a clue about starting a website, writing content, anything to do with how search engines worked. Not many of us did, but by the end of the online entrepreneur certification course you will!!
But for those select few who think they have what it takes to build a business where you will be your own boss, earning good money online – I look forward to meeting you inside Wealthy Affiliate.
If you have any further questions about any of the topics in this post, then please leave them in the comments below, I will come back to you ASAP with an answer.
Have you any experience with Wealthy Affiliate, you wish to share – I would love to hear about it. How did they help you with your online business? What did you make of the training? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. thanks
Anyone who tells you email marketing is dead, is lying. Email Marketing is still a really effective way of earning money and building trust with readers online.
But it is not always that easy to get it started and working well. We explore Inbox Blueprint today to see if the program is all it is cracked up to be or is Inbox Blueprint a scam??
First off, it’s great to see that you’re doing your research before buying into any “seemingly good” product.
There is always someone looking to steal your personal information or get you to enter your credit card details.
Whether it be via E-mail, SMS or WhatsApp once you have entered your details you are in for a world of pain as this normally opens to floodgates to you getting bombarded with emails that you do not want.
Today, I want to share with you what exactly is a phishing email and more importantly how to spot a phishing email scam a mile away.
Freedom Fast Lane has a great sales pitch, and definitely offers some great training and programs towards an Affiliate Marketing business – but is it a great program for beginners just starting out, will it work out and earn you the money it states or is it all a scam…
First off, it’s great to see that you’re doing your research before buying into any “seemingly good” product.
To be completely transparent with you, we’re not associated with Freedom Fast Lane in any form. We’re not here to pitch or sell you anything.
Instead we want to reveal to you all the details we found in our research, and ultimately provide you with everything you need to make an informed decision…
According to the sales pitch, you just install this system and then it’ll work on auto-pilot with no need for you to do anything?
Whilst it might sound appealing, it is nowhere near as simple as they make out, and this program will not help you earn money like they claim too.
First off, it’s great to see that you’re doing your research before buying into any “seemingly good” product.
That is how you avoid scams and find only legitimate ways to make money online.
To be completely transparent with you, we’re not associated with Instant Affiliate Machine in any form. We’re not here to pitch or sell you anything.
Instead, we want to reveal how they have left the hardest part of the process up to you to finish, and providing you a website that is full of duplicate content that will not rank…
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Before I describe the ways to make money from blogging, I want to ensure you understand the time and effort that will be required to make this work. Many people walk away from blogging because it didn’t make them any money. But when you break it down, it was because their expectations were way off of the mark. Do not expect this to make you any money within the first 2 months. It might even be the 6-month mark. To realise the money-making potential from blogging, you need to sign up for the long-term. I didn’t make any money for 6 months, but if I had given up in month 5, I would not be where I am today.
every day. Just to do either a 9 to 5 job or maybe a retail role where the shifts were even worse.
Surveys have often shown that the main reason why people are looking to leave their current job is down to their boss.
using the website, Amazon, eBay, Etsy and we use social media to attract traffic to those places.
