17. Blogging
Blogging can make money for you in and of itself, but usually it is best when combined with other techniques such as affiliate marketing and selling your own products.
“Blog” stands for “web log”, or an online record of your activities and other things you want to share. Many personal blogs act as public diaries where a blogger can record their emotions and get feedback from the community. There are also marketing blogs, which are constructed solely for the purpose of promoting and selling various products and services.
If you have a personal blog which is intended not for business, but for your feelings and thoughts, then you may want to consider adding a “donation” feature. You might be surprised at the generosity of people who find your blog posts – and even you, by extension – interesting. It won’t be much, but it is something.
Of course, the big money in blogging comes from selling products and services. You can use your blog as a canvas for your affiliate links.
Depending on the type of blog you are keeping, you will need to balance the business side and the personal, emotional side.
Here’s something to remember: privacy on blogs is an illusion. Don’t ever think that the stuff you put on your blog (or social networking sites, for that matter) won’t be known by undesirable parties. Also, be prepared to face flaming and trolling from the public, as there will always be people who do not know how to express their criticism properly. Ironically, that which was meant to record your emotions and thoughts can become an emotional rollercoaster in itself.
Be careful when sharing personal information on your blog, by which we mean your ID numbers and real-world address. Any chance to become a celebrity also means that there is a chance that you will be targeted by stalkers, thieves, and other ill-wishers.
Recommended blogging platforms: WordPress (hosted) – http://www.wordpress.com WordPress (self-hosted) – http://www.wordpress.org Blogger – http://www.blogger.com
18. Blog Management
There’s a really popular blogging platform called WordPress. In case you haven’t heard of it, it is basically a software program that enables you to write and publish blogs with a lot of the steps
being automated. WordPress’s functionality is highly flexible and expandable through the use of small bits of code called plugins.
These plugins can perform various tasks automatically, such as monitoring statistics, automatically generating text, and much more. With WordPress and plugins, maintaining a blog is not the problem; choosing and managing your plugins is! There are so many plugins are available, and they are not made equal, not to mention that some are incompatible with each other.
Every problem is a challenge and an opportunity to do business and profit. In this case, you can offer your services as a blog manager, specifically to users in need of help with their plugins. This is a great opportunity, since you can finish your tasks in a few minutes and yet charge disproportionately large amounts of money.
To enable such an opportunity to appear, you need to familiarize yourself with WordPress and its plugins. Moreover, you might want to come up with your “standard” set of plugins and configurations and use it as a template when revamping or tuning a customer’s WordPress setup.
You can also offer to perform certain functions for the blog. For example, you can offer to take charge of answering inquiries or managing special orders from customers. This is all about helping blog owners with their problems and getting paid for it.
19. Audio/Video Transcription
It was mentioned previously that you can turn text-based information products into audio or video. However, you can do the exact opposite too. Transcribing the audio and even video scene information can result in a separate salable information product, or an “extra value” add-on.
Transcription can also enable those with damaged auditory senses to experience the media more completely. For example, a deaf person senses loud sounds by the vibrations they cause.
However, in a video, a loud noise can occur and the deaf person won’t be able to experience it. However, if the transcript, embedded as subtitles, describes the sound effects, then the deaf viewer may understand the video better.
Aside from transcribing your own material, you can also do the same for others. Offer this service to other people who have their own audio and video information products. Chances are they want transcripts but are not motivated enough to do it themselves.
This is also quite easy as it requires little more than attention to the media being played back and a reasonably good level of typing skill.
20. Video/Audio Editing
Audio and video editing can be time-consuming. Also, the difference between a sloppy edit and something with impact requires a fair amount of skill. If you think you have the skills to pull it off properly, then you can offer audio or video editing services to others.
Lots of people use video editors to arrange, split, join, and enhance videos and audio. However, due to time constraints and a lack of professional focus, the results are often lackluster. That is why more professional editing services can be worth a lot of money.
You can edit anything from interviews to family videos. Think wedding day montage or vacation overview. Even better, you can help others produce more professional-looking ads and potentially-viral videos. It’s a question of impact and style.
Choosing a video or audio editing program can be tough. There are so many competing products, and most cost money. It is up to you to do your research and select the ones which you might like working with. Many such editors offer demo versions which, while limited in functionality, can give you a good feel of the features and overall workflow of the software.
Again, if you are going to use sound effects and images that you did not make yourself, you should examine the terms of use for that particular material. No one wants to get sued, right? Look for royalty-free media – though they are not always of high quality, they don’t cost much, if at all. On the other hand, there are some royalty-free sound effects or images that can be exactly what you want, so explore and take note of the ones that you like.
21. Odd Jobs
Why focus on just one way to make money online if you can mix it up and keep things fresh by doing odd jobs? Websites like Amazon Mechanical Turk and Fiverr are open marketplaces where people can post and accept job requests with secured and guaranteed channels of payment. On a more professional note, you can join sites like oDesk which get a little more serious and of course, pay off better too.
When we say odd jobs, we mean it in the figurative and literal sense. There are some rather strange job requests to be found online, and it will be up to you and your good judgment to pick the ones that are right for you.
In general though, most jobs are related to the previously mentioned items. You can find request to write articles and reports, requests for video and photo editing, and so on.
Doing odd jobs like this can make it easy to squeeze in a little moneymaking whenever you feel like it. The pay can vary greatly, and you will have to communicate with your potential clients.
However, it does feel more spontaneous and leaves you more capable of adjusting your extra income-making to your daily schedule.