A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post about why now might just be a great time to start a side hustle. If you haven’t read that post, go back and check it out! As a follow-up to that post, today I’ll show you a few different ways to monetize your side hustle.
How to Monetize a Handmade Goods Side Hustle
If your side hustle involves producing physical goods, you’ve got a couple options at your fingertips. First, make sure you have a virtual storefront (read: website), and can accept online payments. For that, you’ll want to use a platform like Shopify.
Second, you can access a built-in market and audience using a platform like Etsy, which will allow you to leverage their virtual storefront. You can pay for additional exposure on the site, and customers can buy products directly from your page. It’s also a great place to start building your reputation, with a ratings and reviews system that rewards great products and great service.
How to Monetize a Blog
If your side hustle involves a blog, your best bets are affiliate revenue and ad revenue.
Affiliate marketing is a relationship through which 3rd party companies pay you to promote their products or services. You talk about their products, link to them using a unique URL, and if someone makes a purchase after clicking on your URL, you’re paid a percentage of the proceeds.
The most common affiliate program is Amazon Associates, which is easy to join and allows you to promote any products sold on Amazon’s website. There are other programs out there as well though, with a couple other great ones being ShareaSale and Commission Junction. All of these programs have no minimum traffic requirements for you to get started, though you’ll be more successful if you already see a steady stream of traffic to your site.
Ad revenue is the other key way blogs can make money. The premise is simple: you advertise companies’ products and services on your site, and you’re paid a commission based on impressions and/or clicks. Many programs have minimum traffic requirements to get started, but you won’t make much money without site traffic anyway.
Some good starting choices for ad networks are Google’s AdSense network, Monumetric (which requires a minimum of 10,000 hits to your site each month), and Infolinks.
How to Monetize a Podcast or Stream
If you regularly produce a podcast or stream, YouTube ads are going to be your friend. First, make sure a recording of your content is available on your YouTube channel. Then, just add in a few ads to start making money off the impressions your content delivers. Easy peasy!
Another great way to make money is using a site called Patreon. Patreon allows people to sign up for one-time or recurring payments to you as an artist, taking a cut for themselves along the way. This tool is a must-have if you’ve got a loyal, recurring fan base who follows your stream or podcast on a regular basis. You can use the site to offer your most supportive fans exclusive content, private Q&A sessions with you, and other great rewards.
How to Monetize a Service
If you offer a service or digital product, such as Photoshop tutorials or something similar, then Shopify and Patreon are again your friends. Use Shopify to sell your products, and use Patreon to offer your biggest fans something extra on top.
Hell, once you start making some money, you might even invest in using affiliates to promote your products or services, supporting other folks in their side hustle in the process!
Wrapping it Up
No matter what form your side hustle takes, there is a way for you to make money from it. You just need to find it, and hopefully today’s post helped you out with that a little.
That said, I don’t know everything there is to know, so I’d love your perspective. If you’re running a successful side hustle, are there tools you use that I’ve missed in this post? I’d love to hear about them in the comments section!
