Whenever you’re creating something new, it’s important to do some background research. You want to know what you’re getting into and figure out whether it’s possible to earn a living doing what you’re doing. If you’re on YouTube, you want to learn how to get sponsorships. If you’re starting a blog, you want to learn how to get the traffic you need in order to make a lot of money from ads. If you’re making money online, you want to know about making money online. Well, I found out how to make money online, and to be honest it’s quite a bit of work. It’ll take you a good amount of effort to maintain a living, although it is possible. The main thing is figuring out your strengths are, what your areas of expertise are, and learning how to monetize.
I recently learned that most blogs are not pulling in more than 2,000 views per month. If you’re pulling 2,000 views per month, you’re well into the top 10% of websites. What does this mean? Well, it means that you’re likely going to want to bring your RPM north of $500. Or you’re going to want to be sitting on a decent bit of cash. Blogging takes time.
Getting a $500 RPM is tricky, but it’s not impossible. You just need to dedicate yourself to your craft and be sure to sell digital products. Some sites have RPMs in the 1,000s. Anything is possible.
Figure out whether you’re in it for the long haul
I love writing. It’s fun for me, and I love creating articles that are simple and easy to digest. I like condensing topics and giving people simple answers to life’s hardest questions. I’m young and some people might say that I’m conceited, but I try not write about stuff that I haven’t either learned a lot about or done a lot of research on. If you’re not willing to be blogging for the long haul, it likely won’t be worthwhile as your only activity. Combined with something like Instagram and YouTube, maybe. But for blogging alone to be worthwhile, you’re going to need to be willing to stick to it for at least 500 posts to solidify yourself in the industry long term. Blogging is a career, and you’re competing against big companies that have 1,000s of articles published. 500 posts put you on the map. 1,000 and you’re starting to compete. This is for the long term, and if you’re looking to be a major blogger of course. You can’t achieve much if you aren’t planning on being “in the game” for at least five or ten years. This applies to pretty much every aspect of life.
On the flipside, this means that you can beat everyone simply by writing for longer than the rest. A full post on the subject will come in the future, but any bit of traffic is valuable if your aim is to earn a living online. The biggest and most successful online businesses have high RPMs, not high traffic. If you can lock in 2,500 views per month, you’re way ahead of the game, and have made a great start. 10,000 and up makes you a pro. So, it’s pretty simple. 1,000 blog posts should buy you time freedom pretty much no matter what. Just make sure that your writing is accessible to everyone. The Medium partner program doesn’t make sense.
Get on YouTube
The average YouTube video gets about 5,000 views. Spread out over 10 years, that’s 41 views per month. This means that in order to build a YouTube channel that beats 90% of websites, you only need to release 50 YouTube videos, if you’re as good as the average. In reality, it may take you longer to get as good as the average, because the median is not going to be the same as the average, especially in a winner-take-all industry such as YouTube. That being said, taking a year or two to make some YouTube videos could be immensely helpful for your online portfolio. If you sell digital products, you might be able to get your RPM to similar levels as a blog that sells digital products (hundreds of dollars). Making YouTube videos also increases traffic to your blog. It gives you more domain authority.
The big “problem” with most YouTube Channels from a solopreneur’s perspective is that they are extremely work intensive. This means that if you chose to do YouTube videos, it’s best to make some where you’re just talking. This can be pretty tricky if you aren’t an expert in your field. But if you’re friendly, presentable, and have something to say, YouTube is a great way to generate traffic.
Use TikTok, Pinterest, and Amazon to sell cheap stuff
With more than a billion new users, TikTok is probably the fastest way to get traffic. The platform doesn’t pay much, so simply posting to it a lot will put you ahead of the competition. You’re competing with a lot of teenagers and young adults. Pinterest is more competitive, but it has great SEO potential and a short video platform to go with it. If you have a cheap product and can make a lot of short videos, Pinterest and TikTok are your friend. If you sell a product on Amazon, you can link to it. Amazon will bring your product traffic independently.
Build high RPM websites
If most websites are getting under 2,000 views per month, the solution is to increase the amount of money per 1,000 views the site is making. This means either 1) building subscription sites, 2) Web 2.0 sites, or 3) selling digital products. You can make money from ads, but it’s not likely that you’ll end up making money unless you hire outside writers. This means that the solution is to build websites that have very high RPMs. Selling physical products online works well too, although many people struggle to find high-quality items to sell. Either way, you’re more likely to make money online by doing something reliable than you are to go viral. If your website makes $5,000 per year, you’re ahead of the pack, globally speaking. A $2,000 per month online side hustle is priceless. And the beauty of it all, is that if you can do it once, you’ll be able to do it again.
Realize that it’s cheapest to write
If you can figure out how to make some type of mostly written content seem appealing on TikTok and connect to a digital product, you’ve likely found the best way to make fast money. But most people want to watch real videos. There are only so many slide shows that people are going to scroll through. The easiest way to make money online is to start an online publication. Once you’re able to pull in 1,000 views per month consistently, it’s time to start creating digital products. You can sell pretty much anything, as far as I can tell. If you’re writing in English, getting an RPM of $25 should be realistic to start. My guess is that the more views you have, the higher your conversion rate. The New York Times (based on a quick glance at their traffic and revenue numbers) seems to have an RPM of roughly $300. This means that (as stated earlier), 10,000 views per month should be enough to put you in the big leagues. If you find your RPM at $100, you now have two goals: raise your RPM to $200 and get to 15,000 views per month. Totally doable, and it’s enough to have you earning a full-time income from your site.
Realize that if you’re attractive it’s easier to talk
Making high quality videos is much harder than writing. But if you’re attractive and can talk a lot, you should be able to get some traction by making videos. Just don’t depend solely on ad revenue. If I was good looking in a “stand out” way, I would probably be making videos. YouTube is very competitive but being hot cuts through the competition. Just make sure your content is relevant and/or targeted.
Start a services business or get a remote job
A lot of the money being made online is really just people starting a service-oriented business or working a remote job. If you want to live an American standard of living, you should probably do something like this. I live in a particularly poor country, but Americans are number 1 in terms of income and in the top 20 countries in terms of wealth. In order to earn an American style income, it’s best to just have a remote job. Getting a remote
Create good content if you’re going to write
I would venture to guess that most websites aren’t very competitive I noticed this in this past when I was writing novels. A lot of people (including sometimes myself) simply weren’t on the ball. They didn’t create any content that helped to solve people’s problems, which in this case was boredom. I hope my content is good. People seem to respond well to a lot of it, so I’m happy about that.
Most websites on the internet aren’t making a lot of money. Judging from the way things are going for most people, it would be beneficial for them to make a foray into the world of digital products. I’ll be doing that very soon, however, I definitely have a few more articles to write before any of that happens. I want to make sure I get more content out and put my blog on the map. I don’t want to fade into the ether. Building an online business is a full-time job. You add about $20,000 to your net worth if you build a small one. A big one can make you a millionaire. It’s a worthwhile endeavor, as long as you’re willing to put in the time.
By Rising Current on .
Exported from Medium on November 8, 2024.
