Generating an online income that supports your lifestyle sounds like the dream right? You have no office hours, no set schedule, and your commute to work is from your bed to your desk. You don't even have to work at home if you generate an online income. Your commute to work could be a leisurely drive to the beach, and your lunchbreak a quick swim or surf. I am pursuing a life of online earning in order to continue my life as a digital nomad. In this pursuit, I will analyze different techniques and strategies to maximizing my online income potential. My current ventures include this Affiliate Blogging site, an Amazon FBA Store, and becoming a Freelancer on UpWork. I will share how successful my ventures have been over the course of 12 months, providing some helpful advice on what I learned and what I wish I knew before I started. At the end of each month, I will break down what I accomplished and how much I earned. Giving you an idea of how attainable an online income truly is.
What is Affiliate Blogging?
Affiliate Blogging is where you create a website and post articles with links to products or services you recommend. The majority of brands with an online presence have an affiliate program of some sort, from Airbnb to Apple. Think of your favorite brand, chances are they have an affiliate program you can join and get links to promote their business.
If a reader clicks on one of your affiliate links and makes a purchase, you receive a commission for this. Commission rates vary widely, I have seen some as low as 1%, and some high end offers pay 75% commission of a sale. Affiliate Marketplaces like Awin, Amazon Affiliate, ClickBank and CJ Affiliate are a good place to start looking for links to promote.
Affiliate Blogging is more of a long term passive income option. It takes a while to get your website established, rank it on google and drive traffic. If done correctly affiliate blogging can create a constant passive income source for years to come.
How Much Do You Make Affiliate Blogging?
You need to look at it as a long term investment. While it doesn’t have to cost you any money, you will need to put in a lot of your own time. This doesn’t need to be done all at once though. The key to being successful with Affiliate Blogging is to be consistent.
By putting in an hour or two a day, you can realistically grow a successful website in 6 months to a year. There are a lot of people around the world that earn a full-time passive income thanks to affiliate marketing. If you are consistent and dedicated you can make a lot of money.
After two months of Affiliate Blogging, I have recently reached 1000 unique visitors on my site. I have primarily used Pinterest and Blogging Forums as free methods to drive traffic. In the beginning stages of my affiliate blogging career, my main focus has been on content creation and not monetization of my blog. But I have now earned $32 through affiliate links.
What is UpWork?
UpWork is a platform that links freelancers with clients looking for remote workers. The jobs on UpWork vary widely, from marketing to virtual assistant to website development. Whatever skills you have, you can likely find a client in need of them on UpWork. I have been working on UpWork for 3 weeks now, taking on writing and marketing gigs.
All you need to do to start working online is to create a profile that details your qualifications and experience, then apply for open jobs. It's free to sign up and it doesn’t take long to start getting jobs. Don’t worry if you have no experience, I didn’t when I started and was still able to land 6 writing jobs in my first week. Two of these gigs have been recurring and I now have as much work as I can do for one of the clients.
How Much Money Do You Make as an UpWork Freelancer?
I earned $194 in my first week on UpWork, $155 after fees. In total it was around 20 hours work, so during my first week, I was working for under $10 an hour. But, my profile quickly improved with 5-star reviews. In my second week on the platform, I landed two temporary jobs that paid $30 an hour. After nearly 3 weeks on the platform, I have earned $720 from freelance writing and marketing.
The earnings on UpWork are seriously unlimited, just take a look at some of the freelancer's profiles on the site. Many of them are specialists in one field and charge out at several hundred dollars an hour. If you are looking for steady, good-paying online work then sign up to UpWork today and start earning some money.
Affiliate Blogging vs UpWork Freelancing
Whether you prefer the idea of a passive income over the long term, or cash now from UpWork jobs, or maybe a mix of both. Both options give you the freedom of working anywhere you like, which really helps while we are stuck at home in a lockdown! I love not having fixed hours every day for both of these jobs and can work at the hours that suit me best.
Working online allows you a type of freedom not experienced in traditional work. With affiliate marketing, you’re the boss of your own business. Your website is an asset, the more you work on your site, the more your business will be worth. The best thing is you get all the say, you get to decide what you talk about, what your website looks like and what products your promote. However, it may not pay you in the early stages.
UpWork provides a little less freedom, you can still apply for the jobs you want, work from home and have flexible hours. But, you are still renting out your time. The clients are your boss and you are required to do what they ask. In saying that, it is a perfect option to make guaranteed cash.
I recommend doing a combination of both. I divide my hours each day to do some work on UpWork and some work on my Affiliate Marketing blog. If you would like to learn about how I started my affiliate site, check out what I learned in Month 1 and Month 2. Please sign up below if you want to follow my journey to a full-time online income in 12 months.
If you want to create a passive online income, read my Guide to Setting up an Affiliate Blogging Website.
Once you land your first job on UpWork, check out this post on Staying Productive While Working From Home.
Comments