Are there really opportunities to make money online without a website? Yes! And I’m not talking about survey sites (although they are legitimate ways to earn!). Typically, when you think of generating an income online, your mind naturally goes to setting up a blog or website and using those as platforms to earn.
While launching a blog or a money-making site is still one of the best ways to make money online, there are a number of ways to earn extra cash or even a full-time living — no website required.
1. YouTube
The top earners on YouTube in 2015 are all millionaires. How exactly are ordinary people making serious money online without a website? Simple. By uploading and monetizing YouTube videos.
YouTube Ads
Twopopular ways to make money with YouTube videos include ads and sponsored videos. Ad revenue is as easy as connecting Google Adsense with YouTube. If you don’t have a Google Adsense account, you can sign up for one for free. With Adsense, you’ll earn a set amount for each 1,000 views your videos receive.
As you grow your YouTube audience, you may be invited to join a Multi-channel Network and the YouTube Partner Program. This offers additional promotions and ad revenue opportunities that can turn into some serious money made without a website.
Don’t forget about the possibility of affiliate sales on YouTube. Channels that focus on product reviews are perfect platforms for affiliate marketing. In fact, some people make all of their online income through affiliate sales
.
YouTube Channels that Earn
Intrigued by making money online without a website by using YouTube? Some popular channel ideas include:
Vlogging – Video blogging =Vlogging. It’s just like a traditional blog but you are making video entries instead of written ones. You can vlog about whatever you’d like — current events, musings, motherhood, personal finance, etc. Vlogging is the easiest way to get started since you don’t need anything more than a webcam and your own thoughts!
Product Reviews – As I mentioned, product review channels are easily monetized with ads and affiliate links. If you become popular enough, companies may even pay you to review their products in a sponsored video.
How-tos & Tutorials – Millions of viewers turn to YouTube each month to learn how to do everything from makeup contouring to installing a hot water heater. If you’re creative, handy, or a subject-matter expert you can make money with informational videos that share your knowledge with others.
Cooking – Do you have some serious culinary skills? Show them off on YouTube and get paid for doing something you enjoy. Cooking channels can be super niche like vegan paleo recipes or tackle cooking with specific instruments like grills or slow cookers.
Music – If you’ve got some singing chops or can play any instruments, consider launching your music career on YouTube (Justin Bieber was discovered this way).
2. Revenue Share Sites
Getting traffic to your website or blog is no easy task. And typically, you need traffic to make money. That’s why so many people want to know how they can make money online without a website. Many writers turn to the various revenue sharing sites as an easy way to start earning extra income.
Revenue sharing sites pay contributors a portion of revenue the site generate. Usually, this is from ad earnings but some sites offer the opportunity to make affiliate sales. The revenue you’ll earn likely depends on how many page views your content receives. It’s a good idea to promote your content on social media to get as many visitors as you can.
Some writers swear that popular platforms, like HubPages, offer consistent extra income, while others insist they earn a full time living on revenue sharing sites
. If you’d like to try your hand at earning on these popular platforms, check out:
Carol Tice, over at Make a Living Writing, offers up some revenue share advice in her article How I Earn Good Money Writing for Revenue Share.
So, what are some popular topics that actually generate income on revenue share sites? Not surprisingly, the popular topics are those that seem universally in demand:
- Health & Beauty
- Parenting
- Finance
- Business
- Fitness
- Relationships
What’s great about revenue sharingsites is the possibility to earn passive income. You write the article once and can get paid over and over again each month. Remember, when it comes to passive income, it takes some time to build up a decent stream of money. While you might not see immediate results, after a few months you should start to notice an increase in money earned from older posts.
For those with a lot to say needing a platform to share and earn, revenue share sites
offer an easy-to-setup way to make money online without a website.
3. Affiliate Marketing
As I’ve mentioned so far with both YouTube and revenue share sites, the possibilities of earning money online without a website are HUGE with affiliate marketing. What keeps many people from going after affiliate sales is they think they need to set up a blog or website to actually make anything — but that isn’t true!
While a blog or site is a traditional way to get affiliate sales, social media can be a powerful tool all by itself — no website required! Like most things worth doing, building up an audience that will actually buy what you’re selling takes some time. So, don’t expect to tweet an affiliate link and have sales rolling in.
Instead, work on building your social media following the right way
(no buying followers, please!). Part of this includes:
- Build trust with your audience (provide high quality, valuable information)
- Promote products you use or can stand behind
- Don’t oversell (all of your posts shouldn’t contain affiliate links!)
A properly set up Facebook fan page can be a great way to make money through affiliate marketing
. You can set up a fan page for anything you’d like. I’ve known two people who have killed it with affiliate sales on Facebook just from fan pages — what are their pages about? One is about yoga and the other is about vintage cars.
They picked popular niche topics, set up a page, got as many “likes” as they could and started posting highly relevant, engaging, and targeted posts — and, yes, some of them are posts containing affiliate links but certainly not all of them.
Keep in mind, the more likes you have on your page, the greater your engagement which turns into more sales. If you’re serious about Facebook as a means to make money online without a website, it’s worth promoting your page with Facebook ads
. Even if you’re on the tightest budget, Facebook ads are super affordable when done right.
4. Create Digital Products
Ebooks and video courses are extremely popular as more and more people head online to read, watch and learn. And, you don’t even need your own website or blog to sell your products. Instead, consider selling an ebook on Amazon’s popular kindle platform or offering a course for sale on Udemy.
These websites can get your products in front of millions of people and can translate into a lot of sales.
Ebooks
What can you write about? Anything! Of course, there are those topics that perform well like:
- Health
- Fitness
- Recipes/Food/Cooking
- Self-improvement
- Advice/How-to
But, really, you can write an ebook about whatever you’d like. Keep in mind, it’s a good idea to tackle a subject you have knowledge and/or an interest in. This lends a bit of credibility to your ebook and will make it that much easier to write. Think you don’t have what it takes to sell an ebook online? Think again! Even without experience, you can sit down, write and get an ebook for sale in just 30 days.
Udemy
Udemy is one of my favorite places to turn to when I need to learn something. Over the last year, I’ve taken a number of Udemy courses which have ranged from just an hour in length to 20 hours or more. Through Udemy, I’ve learned about SEO, social media marketing, freelancing, and growth hacking.
But Udemy instructors can create videos about anything from beginner’s yoga to how to play the guitar. The average instructor earns $8,000 for each course they create! Udemy provides free course-building tools to ensure you create a course that actually sells
.
Not only are digital products, like ebooks and Udemy courses, great ways to make money online without a website, they’re also lucrative sources of passive income!
5. Product Design
Have a great idea for a t-shirt? Think you’ve got the perfect drawing for a coffee mug? Sign up at a popular online site to start selling your designs!
While these companies each work differently, the basic idea is the same:
- You come up with a design
- You place your design on a product like a t-shirt or shower curtain
- The company offers it for sale on their website
- When a product with your design sells, the site manufactures and ships it
- You earn a percentage of each sale
You don’t have to worry about customer service, collecting payments or maintaining a website — it’s all taken care of for you! Some people have had such great success on these popular sites that they can earn a full time living designing and selling t-shirts online
.
While t-shirt sites are a popular way to make money online without a website, there are other platforms like Zazzle and Redbubble that offer the opportunity to place your designs on everything from iPhone cases to duvet covers.
Make Money Online without a Website — get Started!
While I can’t stress enough how amazing it is to earn a full time living blogging or the benefits of launching a money-making site, it’s also nice to know there are legitimate (and lucrative!) ways to make money online without a website.
Have a question? Need a little advice? Leave your comments below or feel free to email me at ashlee@workfromhomehappiness.com
