Part 01: Increasing the Value of Your Online Presence
Business Phone Services that Work Anywhere:
Nextiva is a fantastic business phone service.
As a business VOIP provider, Nextiva’s mobile and desktop app allows your remote team members to receive client calls without having to share their cell phone numbers.
Additionally, the features that are included like caller ID, call forwarding, routing, custom greetings, call analytics, and live chat make it an all in one communication platform that lets you work from anywhere.
Reliable Team Chat & Project Management Platforms:
With remote teams sometimes in completely different timezones, clear and concise communication can be the oxygen that keeps your business alive.
I personally suggest using either Slack, Asana, or Clickup.
All three provide free versions that any remote worker can use to better communicate with the team they’re working with. The biggest difference between the three of these app however is the ability to keep multiple different client projects hidden from one another.
So upgrading to the pro/unlimited versions of each platform can have their benefits. (Asana Premium = $11/month, Slack Standard = $6.67/month, and ClickUp Unlimited = $5/month)
Online Conference Calls:
Whereas I highly suggest Nextiva as your primary voice calling platform, if you’re looking for a great video conferencing app, look no further than Zoom.
One thing to remember when using the free version of Zoom is that it restricts your conferences to only 40 minutes. This can be a hassle if you typically have meeting that run longer. So on the off-chance you’re considering upgrading your Zoom account, do yourself a favor and don’t. You’d be better off opening a paid account on RingCentral, because they offer a virtual business phone number along with everything a Zoom Pro includes.
Online Order Forms to Accept Digital Orders:
It has become rather popular as of late for small businesses to accept orders for their products or services via phone or online.
So if this is something that you think will make your customer’s experience simpler, use WPForms. It is a simple drag and drop form builder that easily creates digital order forms to accept payments and all your audience’s necessary information directly off your website.
But if you’re looking for a way to sell multiple products on your site I would suggest either Woocommerce or Shopify.
Both are WordPress compatible and are fantastic ways to sell your products in an online store. Be aware though, if you’re just starting out, Shopify is the better choice to go with.
Woocommerce, while more easily integrated into your WordPress website, is not as user friendly as Shopify, and can require a more in-depth understand of code.
Check Out: How Design Greatly Increases Your Business’ Growth
Membership Sites for Training, Tutoring and E-learning:
In a time where small businesses that require places to meet up are simply going out of business, having a place on your website where your services can still be provided from the comfort of your audience’s home is crucial.
On your WordPress website, the MemberPress plugin can be used to create members only areas, share content and collect payments, all under the same styling of the rest of your website.
On the other hand, if you’re looking to create an e-learning component of your site, LearnDash has you covered. It integrates via plugin to your WordPress site, while providing quizzes, and grading through an LMS (Learning Management Solution) that integrates classes via YouTube, Vimeo, and even live Zoom chats.
Ticketing Software & Email Support:
If you are constantly looking to help your customers through your purchasing process via email, an email support ticketing process may be the way to go.
I highly suggest HelpScout as they are entirely affordable and provide fantastic features like Shared Inboxes, Reporting, Knowledge Base, Live-Chat, In App Messaging and Customer Management.
Live Chat Software:
If you’re looking to sell your products or services online, then you may want to look into a live chat service. These services can be pricy, but create a sense of user friendliness that your customers will alway appreciate.
If you’re using Nextiva for your phone service then a live chat platform will already be provide to you. But if you’re not interested in setting up an always ready business phone line than Tidio is the way to go!
I say this because if you’re a small business or remote worker that doesn’t have the staff to constantly be at the ready to answer your customers questions, Tidio has you covered with Facebook Messenger integration, a downloadable application for your desktop and mobile phone, and chatbot integration for those times when you’re simply too busy to live chat.
The free version is of great value and is what I currently use on https://designwitheric.com/
Part 02: Finding Your Side Hustle
Google AdSense:
If you’ve been surfing the web at all for the past few years, you’ve seen a Google Ad. Not only are these ridiculously easy to set up, but can be extremely lucrative once your site has a steady amount of traffic.
But the best part about Google AdSense is that it is as easy as adding a few lines of code to your blog or online store. How it works is you navigate yourself to the Google AdSense section of Google, insert your blog or store’s url and Google will provide you a unique code to add to your website. From there you don’t have to do anything besides drive traffic to your site, because Google tracks your page views, traffic, and earnings all on your account. No maintenance, and no upkeep, period. The more traffic, and the more eyeballs on your site/Google Ads, the more money you can pull in.
It doesn’t get much simpler than that!
Affiliate Marketing:
Affiliate marketing is rather similar to Google AdSense, but provides a more intimate relationship between your site and the brands you’re promoting.
So with affiliate marketing, you partner with brands and businesses within the content of your website. You can actually see the brand I’m an affiliate for in my sidebar to the right. So as you mention a product or service, you link to that particular product or service using the unique affiliate code that brand provided you when you signed up for their affiliate program. From there, you’ll make money any time someone buys a product or service through your link.
I usually suggest that you partner with a brand you use yourself, and with one whose values align perfectly with your own. So for example, since I provide brand and web design / development services, and write blog posts about those subjects, I partnered with brands such as SiteGround, WooCommerce and JetPack all of whom provide services for web and brand development, and are products that I use for myself or my clients.
Online Courses:
This kind of side hustle is all work upfront, and passive work once your course is created. But basically, if you have any skill you can teach others, it’s incredibly easy to set up an online courses about those skills that you can market online. From calligraphy to freelance writing, or even how to become a professional cleaning lady/lad, you can find online courses that teach almost anything.
A fantastic plugin that will help you get your online courses off the ground of course could be LearnDash. But if you want to create a site that you don’t have to really develop yourself, Teachable is where it’s at!
Seriously, Teachable does all the heavy lifting like providing user friendly template, a simple and easy way to preview and purchase your classes, and an online marketing platform that will help get your courses sold.
I couldn’t recommend them more for someone who is computer illiterate, and just wants to provide the courses online.
Podcasting:
Another incredibly laborious, but yet also lucrative way to make money online is through a podcast. But be warned, this type of side hustle isn’t for the faint of heart.
You won’t just start a podcast, and be getting paid two weeks later. This takes time and a thorough understanding of what your niche is. What’s more, building your audience and figuring out ways to monetize and connect with sponsors will take patience and creativity.
So be prepared for a lot of logistics like like writing, recording, and editing. But if I had to suggest a platform that is designed to get your podcast off the ground asap, it would have to be Buzzsprout. It was designed to make podcasting simple, but not limited. They have one of the best-designed dashboards I’ve seen, which lets you spend more time creating content than messing around with uploads.
Check Out: How Much Does It Actually Cost To Build A WordPress Website
YouTube:
Like Podcasting, YouTube is another platform that has made it possible for people to earn money online. But there is a lot of upfront logistics that need to be executed before you make any money.
There are also a ton of YouTube channels out there, on any topic you can think of, and most of the people with a big following are earning some money in exchange for their videos and time.
But will you earn all that much? Probably not. But the greatest value that YouTube provides is that you can start making money via the platform’s own ad network. Or by getting your posts sponsored by brands that fit your content. So if you enjoy doing videos about topics you’re interested in, starting a YouTube channel can be a fun way to earn some cash on the side.
Building an Online Community:
Though your monetization strategy will vary depending upon how you approach building your community, building a diverse and loyal online community can be extremely lucrative. Whether with a blog, YouTube Channel, or even on Facebook Groups, building some sort of forum where you can either charge for a digital membership, or even sell and promote products can be a phenomenal way to build your side hustle.
This is by far one of the easiest ways to build passive income, and can be as simple as circling the wagons around something you and a group of friends love to talk about. The bottom line is getting it started and seeing how people react to your passions. Once you’ve established that, monetization is very approachable and can even help the community flourish.
Webinars:
Finally, another extremely fruitful money making strategy is using webinars to market your product, service, or course.
A lot of times a strong sales pitch at the end of a webinar will be just enough to convince people to use your products and services, mainly because when you offer plenty of free tips during a webinar and then offer a course at the end for people who want to pay to learn more, you’ve developed the trust needed to push potential clients over the edge into becoming users of your platform.
No matter what product or service you sell, attracting people through a webinar is super easy when using a lead magnet, or even Facebook Ads. Heck, you can probably find a free webinar on how to create your first webinar if you look hard enough.
Final Thoughts
The bottom line is that there are a ridiculous number of ways to make money online, and the ones I’ve covered here are just the tip of the iceberg.
That being said, I know these past few weeks have felt like an eternity… but I hope that these guides help you create something amazing that you’ll be proud of in the months to come, and even after this pandemic has come to a close.
Either way, like Maya Angelou once said, “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
Stay safe, healthy, and in good spirits!
