You can do pretty much anything online, including making money, whether as a side hustle or a full-time job. But how does one begin when looking to make money online?
The same place they’d need to start with a “real-world” job: with a confident attitude, smart negotiation tactics and a set of sharply honed skills.
And what sort of skills, exactly? Plenty of what you need IRL may apply, but if you’re venturing into a new business or diving into freelancing, you should diversify and augment your skill set.
Here are 11 of the best skills you should learn to make money online:
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Web Development
One of the best skills to learn if you want to make money online is web development/design because it’s in high demand, and you can monetize yourself in numerous ways.
The good news is that you can learn web development at your own pace through online courses, boot camps, or self-education.
According to Glassdoor, the average salary for a freelancer web developer is $89,666 per year. [x] You can also try to pick up side projects if you already have a full-time job.
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Adobe Illustrator
“I believe learning Adobe Illustrator for graphic design work is a great way to start to earn money online,” said Bill Zimmerman, the CEO of Spotlightr. “This is useful because literally anyone that runs a website or builds their site, or does anything online like advertising, Youtube videos, etc, at one point needs some design work done. And this is not a skill you can pick up in a few days. It does take some dedication but it’s easily achieved.”
According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary for someone working with Adobe Illustrator is $29/hour. However, you can make up to $96,000 or more depending on what kind of roles you take on.
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Photography
“You can find numerous free online courses and YouTube videos to help you develop this skill,” said Kevin Mercier, an entrepreneur and professional photographer at kevmrc.com. “You can use these courses to learn about light, exposure, color, tone, and timing. This will help you produce more creative, interesting, and noticeable photographs. You can sell almost any photo online, from street photography to pictures of food and animals.
Mercier recommends trying Alamy first to begin selling your stock photos. On average, photos on Alamy sell for around $75 each but could get anywhere from $17-$416, depending on what they are used for.
According to Indeed, the average hourly rate for photography is $20.12, but how much you earn will depend on how you monetize yourself. You can increase your income by focusing on specialty events like weddings and conferences.
Audio Editing for Podcasts
“Podcasts have evolved from being a niche phenomenon for tech-savvy people to a popular phenomenon worth tens of millions of dollars,” said Matthew Dailly, CEO at Tiger Financial. “Many people have expressed a desire to start their podcasts with that money; however, most people lack the knowledge necessary to edit audio on their own, which is why you come in. You can take someone else’s audio and polish it up so that their listeners won’t leave them critical comments. The fact that podcast listeners frequently express dissatisfaction with the sound quality means that there’s always a need for your services.”
According to ZipRecruiter, the average hourly rate for podcast editors is $32, and the pay varies depending on the projects you take on.
Voice Modulation
“Voice Modulation skills are one of the most rewarding skills that can be learned to make money online,” said Layla Acharya, the owner of EdWize. “Some of the untapped markets that need exploring are voice-over artists, narrators, etc. Voice-over artists are needed for recording audiobooks, story narration, videos, etc. There are many jobs available on online portals that particularly ask for this skill.”
According to ZipRecruiter, you could earn an average of $48/hour as a voice-over actor.
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Virtual Assisting
If you want to offer general help or monetize your organizational skills, you can find roles as a virtual assistant. This position allows you to offer clients administrative services, ranging from emails to organizing events.
Based on data from Indeed, the average hourly rate for a virtual assistant is $26.34.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is a vast role that allows you to monetize your skills to a specific platform or a variety of social media channels. As a social media marketer, you could also plan and manage a brand’s strategy across several channels. As more people turn to social media, opportunities are opening up in this space.
According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary for a social media manager is $64,845 a year or around $31/hour.
Affiliate Marketing
“Affiliate marketing is a useful skill because it allows you to monetize your website or blog traffic,” said Drew Mann, founder of Drew’s Review. “If you have a website or blog with a large audience, affiliate marketing can be a great way to generate revenue from that traffic. Additionally, affiliate marketing is useful because it allows you to promote products and services you believe in and use yourself. This builds trust with your audience and can help increase sales of the products or services that you promote.”
Mann added that the amount of money you can make with affiliate marketing varies depending on the program you choose, the products you promote and the amount of traffic you generate; “however, some affiliate marketers earn thousands of dollars per month.”
According to ZipRecruiter, you can make over $82,000 annually from affiliate marketing. However, your income will greatly depend on your promotional abilities.
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Merch by Amazon
“If you have a knack for freelance graphic design and illustrations, Merch by Amazon could be the perfect fit for you,” said Joshua Rich, CEO and founder of Bullseye Locations. “You can easily design merchandise like hoodies, T-shirts, and pop-sockets and leave it to Amazon to print and deliver the orders. This can potentially help you earn 4-500 dollars in a matter of months.”
[Note from Martin: It’s impossible to get a price estimate for this as it’s all over the place]
Amazon Self-Publishing
“This is one of Amazon’s print-on-demand services,” Rich said. “All you need to do is get your hands on a few market research tools, conduct your research, and plan the right product. Free online tutorials can help you extensively throughout the process, and you can hire freelancers to write, edit and proofread the self-published book. Amazon itself will take care of the printing and delivery process and you can easily earn up to a thousand dollars within a few months.”
Publishing.com says the earnings can range from $500 to $10,000 yearly. The amount that you can earn will depend on how many books you self-publish and how well they do.
Freelance Consulting
“Lastly, if you have considerable experience in any kind of business, you can provide an online consultation service on freelancing platforms, given the field is relevant to your area of expertise,” Rich said.
Based on research from ZipRecruiter, you can earn around $48/hour as a freelance consultant, and the pay you bring in will depend on the clients you can land.
Martin Dasko contributed to the reporting for this article.
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