How to profit from Internet 2022?
As we approach 2022, opportunities to make money online without paying anything are becoming more and more abundant - you can land freelance jobs, start a dropshipping store, create your own products, or promote other people's products on a blog. It just takes a little knowledge and hard work to make it happen.
Get started on your new business today to build something useful and exciting. You'll ensure that your time and effort is put to good use and that it pays off over time as you build your online presence, find new clients, and generate sales.
The past year encouraged us all to embrace the great places indoors. No wonder then that the interest in profiting from the internet from our safe homes is now on the rise.
What once felt like a distant daydream is now a reality for millions of people. Those of us who have worked remotely from our home offices for the past few years don't have much explanation to do at family events - the path to making a significant amount of money online has become much clearer.
The magic of the web is that it's a sales channel, marketing network, and community hub all in one place — among many other things. There are many creative ways to make money online 2022 other than surveys and selling used goods on Craigslist.
However, some businesses and side businesses are better suited to a laptop lifestyle than others. In this guide, we'll detail the strengths and shortcomings of a few of the best money-making options.
How to Profit from the Internet 2022: 10 Proven Methods
To make it easier to choose the best ways to make money online, we will look at several key factors:
Business type: Whether the idea is product or service-based or audience driven.
Effort: The amount of time, skill, or experience you will need to develop the idea.
Leverage: How well are you positioned to turn an idea into a money-making idea that increases its value without your immediate interest. The idea of high leverage is not a 1:1 trade-off of time for money.
Startup costs: The initial budget you will need to launch the idea.
Profit potential: The amount of profit you can expect to earn from your idea annually.
Here are the best choices:
- dropshipping
- print on demand
- customized products
- Sell on Etsy
- Sell on Amazon
- digital products
- modes
- blogging
- Affiliate Marketing
- Online courses and workshops
1. Dropshipping
Business type: product based
Voltage: Medium
Leverage: high
Startup costs (out of 5): 💸
Earning potential (from 5 💰):
In the past year, many global trends have experienced the equivalent of decades of acceleration. One such trend has been the rise of e-commerce. There are a number of ways to run an e-commerce business, some of which allow for minimal need to carry and keep a lot of inventory.
Enter dropshipping. Dropshipping is a business model where you don't keep the products you sell in stock. Instead, when a customer buys something from your store, a third party fulfills the order and ships it on your behalf. Since the startup costs are low, it is an increasingly popular way to make money online for beginners and professionals alike.
Dropshippers have a habit of chasing the latest trends. And while there's nothing wrong with catching up on a trending product wave, know that there are also many established product categories that offer similar opportunities to do well. At Shopify, we regularly see these categories in our list of top performers:
Women's clothing and accessories. Far from the most popular product category on Oberlo. There are a variety of interesting outlets within this category as well, including dresses, accessories, clans, hoodies, socks, and shorts. Since these products have a large market, are purchased relatively frequently, and are successfully sold with great marketing, they are always a top performer for dropshipping.
jewelry. If you want to turn jewelry into a profitable small business, dropshipping is a good model to try. You can sell in a variety of categories, including fine jewelry, fashion, and collectibles. Or sell jewelry made of different materials, such as precious stones, wood, textiles, or metals.
Home and Garden is one of those dropshipping outlets that always looks trendy. People are always looking to add personal touches to their space to make it feel cozy and comfortable, which can make this an interesting (and profitable) place to sell.
beauty. The beauty and personal care market is expected to be worth $511.4 billion by the end of 2021. Beauty is a thriving industry fueled by the younger generations entering the market and boosted by social media and e-commerce. You also have options in the beauty business: you can sell cosmetics, skin care, personal care, hair care, perfume and more.
Well this looks good. But there is a huge hurdle to overcome with dropshipping: You are selling an existing product. The ease of starting a dropshipping business also means you'll be up against the competition - so it relies heavily on customer support. This means that you are giving up a really important part of the leverage and you need to realize that in order to be successful you will have to outpace the competition with a well-chosen niche and innovative marketing field.
Subtle Asian Treats is one of the best dropshipping stores selling adorable plush and cases for AirPods and iPhone. It was founded by Tze Hing Chan, a young Malaysian businessman, to take advantage of the bubble tea craze happening in Asia.
2. print on demand
Business type: product based
Voltage: Medium
Leverage: Medium
Startup costs (out of 5): 💸
Earning potential (from 5 💰):
Print-on-demand allows sellers to customize white label products with their own designs and sell them only after a customer purchases, eliminating the need to keep inventory (which is what makes it a subset of dropshipping). When a customer places an order, the print on demand company will add your design to the product, fulfill the order, and ship it to the customer.
The main advantage of dropshipping print-on-demand offerings is that you can control the aesthetic of your products - a key differentiating factor for product categories where design is the highlight, such as T-shirts or fan merchandise.
When it comes to making money online, you can also use print-on-demand services to:
Test online business ideas or new product lines without the risk of buying inventory
Invest in an audience you've already created, whether it's on YouTube, on social networks, or a personal blog
Offer a variety of products by selling T-shirts, books, shoes, bags, mugs, phone cases, laptop skins, wall art, etc.
Sell photos online by placing your photos on physical products to sell to your fans
Overall, print-on-demand allows you to quickly create custom products. You don't have to worry about shipping or fulfilling orders - the suppliers take care of that. And since you have no inventory to worry about, this is a low-risk and low-investment way to make money online.
Passionfruit sells comprehensive clothing and accessories to the LGBTQQIA community. The brand is built around the power of teamwork and building a bright future for gay youth, creating products that allow them to show their pride all year round, rather than just for special occasions.
All Passionfruit products are carefully designed in pencil and paper, digitized and applied to products by a print-on-demand company and sold in-store. You can find tanks, jackets, hats, stickers, tote bags and more, all designed and curated specifically for the Passionfruit audience, with the goal of making a positive impact in the world.
Customized Products
Business type: product based
Voltage: high
Leverage: Medium
Startup costs (out of 5):
Earning potential (from 5 💰):
While the above options come bundled with the convenience of not sticking with expensive inventory, they do come with some limitations—basically that you don't have complete control over the product you're selling.
And when you think of most consumer-oriented brands, this is what comes to mind: original products that make meaningful improvements or add interesting details to well-known items. Personally, I've bought several messenger bags, but I've never seen anything quite like the ones made by Vermilyea Pelle until it came to my doorstep.
Hand-made products are popular among jewelry brands, fashion brands and home décor brands. It gives you complete control over product development and the quality of your items. The only drawbacks are: (1) it can take a long time, and (2) it's hard to measure. The costs associated with making products by hand are the cost of materials, storage of finished products, and labor.
However, a customized product does not have to be entirely handmade. There are many ways to find a manufacturer or supplier to help bring your product to life. For example, you can:
Use domestic or foreign manufacturers. If you have a unique product that you don't want to make by hand, you can find the manufacturer of your products. Dropshipping (Alibaba) is a popular way to do this. You can use the marketplace to find potential manufacturers, communicate your vision to them, and make your own products. This will require some upfront investment due to minimal order quantities and warehousing, but it's a good way to maintain control of your products while keeping your unit cost low.
Wholesale items resale. Buying and reselling wholesale items is a straightforward, low-risk way to make money online. You buy the products you want directly from manufacturers - usually brands that are already credible in the market - at a discount, and then sell them in your online store for a higher price.
Understanding these techniques is important to making the right choices when creating and selling customized products. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, which you can read about from Dropshipping to DTC, here are the most popular types of ecommerce business models.
Cedar & Sail is a maker of handmade homeware from Alabama. Josh Bigford, founder of the brand, set up Cedar & Sail as an outlet — something he's been creative about outside of his day job as founder of a software-as-a-service company. The designs are simple and use geometric shapes to create a sense of order and cleanliness wherever you place them in your home. Each product is hand-blended, molded, and plated, making it unique to the customer.
What started as a few concrete planters has turned into a collection of household items. Today, Cedar & Sail not only sells planters, but also coasters, candles, and limited edition sets. Sell online and in marketplaces (when available) using the Shopify POS app to accept payments hassle-free, in whatever market Josh decides to sell in.
Sell on Etsy
Business type: product based
Voltage: high
Leverage: Medium
Startup costs (out of 5):
Earning potential (from 5 💰):
Every online marketplace, from Etsy to Amazon, offers a common set of advantages and disadvantages. The plus side is that you get access to their network of shoppers - people browse these sites regularly when they need to buy something, so setting up a store allows you to meet them there.
However, since these channels can work in harmony with your website, they are sometimes a great place to start. New online makers can use Etsy to initially raise brand awareness: It has an active community of 45.7 million buyers. We've seen many companies successfully switch to Shopify after making their first few sales on Etsy, for example.
The advantages of creating your own Shopify store include:
You can manage the look and feel of your store. Your Etsy store sticks to a single design paradigm with less room for creativity.
You can grow your product line. Etsy sellers are limited to selling handmade, vintage, or artisanal products. Let's say you want to offer a complementary manufactured product that can create a better customer experience and boost your average order value. You may not be able to on Etsy. Having a Shopify store helps serve your customers better and add new products, regardless of whether they're shipped, manufactured, or wholesaled.
Easier inventory management. Ecommerce platforms like Shopify offer complete inventory management and analytics so you can keep your records in order and make smarter decisions for your business.
If you have an Etsy store and don't want to leave yet, you can always run both stores simultaneously. Once you've set up your Shopify store, use a free Shopify app like Etsy Integration: Sync and Sell. You can easily sync inventory, manage orders, and earn money online with both Shopify and Etsy.
Old World Kitchen is a family owned business that sells handcrafted kitchen goods. The business has only been on Etsy for 10 years and has seen a lot of growth during that time.
Laurent Boulder, Business Director of Old World Kitchen, explains in an interview with Shopify how Etsy has helped the family learn the basics of e-commerce and connect with other makers. It was a good way to get the business off the farm into the online world.
In the early days, Laurent had no plans to grow old world cuisine. Each item was unique and labor intensive, and the family didn't want any part to be hired or outsourced. For this reason, Etsy was the platform for them.
As their brand became stronger and more specific, their prices began to mirror those of a luxury brand. The limitations of being only in the third-party market are starting to hinder its growth. The family wanted to sell more luxury products and align their online store with their brand. They needed a platform that could scale with their growing business, which is why they chose to build their own online store with Shopify.
While the brand no longer uses Etsy, Laurent credits the market with making the family business possible.
Sell on Amazon
Business type: product based
Voltage: Medium
Leverage: Medium
Startup costs (out of 5):
Earning potential (from 5 💰):
Amazon has become a marketplace that welcomes new e-commerce entrepreneurs. It takes a few minutes to sign up for an account and a few more minutes to get the list of products live.
The platform has a massive audience, is a global marketplace, and is a favorite destination for product discovery and research. List optimization can help find your products and open up new opportunities. And Amazon in-app promotions can increase your brand's visibility to highly targeted audiences.
However, some e-commerce entrepreneurs are questioning the long-term sustainability of selling on Amazon. While a market is great for helping shoppers highlight needed products, it is a challenge for sellers to draw attention to their business. Amazon attracts many distributors for the same products it might offer. Consider the fees and try to differentiate your brand, you may end up working harder to generate sales but not increase your bottom line.
While selling on Amazon is a good way to make money from home, there are some caveats to keep in mind:
Amazon sets the rules for its marketplace. We know that Amazon is a leader in collecting and using customer data to create better shopping experiences, but this information is not shared with you. If you are competing head-to-head with an Amazon-owned product, it will be hard to make sales. Amazon Retail tends to have the Buy Box advantage.
Amazon prefers sellers with Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). FBA is Amazon loyalty program for sellers. Once you place a product in their fulfillment centers and a customer orders it, Amazon will fulfill the order. You must use FBA to be eligible for Amazon Prime and Amazon Super Saver shipping, which are two ways to help retailers improve conversion rates and earn extra money.
Amazon owns the customer relationship. Sellers cannot add Amazon customers to their CRM or remarket to them after a sale.
However, Amazon is a great additional sales channel for your Shopify business. Similar to Etsy, you can use Amazon to showcase your products to a built audience, discover them, and use your e-commerce site as your primary sales channel. You can even integrate Shopify with Amazon to manage listings and sync inventory faster and easier.
Homesick candles went from not being on Amazon two years ago to becoming the number one scented candle company and number two candle brand in the world. Amazon has proven to be a good starting point for selling its products online.
Despite its success, Homesick Candles used Shopify to build an online store as its base. This gave the emerging e-business a place to showcase their brand, connect with their customers, and maintain control over their sales and promotions.
digital products
Business type: product based
Voltage: high
Leverage: high
Startup costs (out of 5): 💸
Earning potential (from 5 💰):
Digital products hold some of the best margins for any product you can sell. The initial costs of development can be high, but the variable costs of selling digital products are relatively low. Once the media or software is manufactured, it is not expensive to deliver it to customers.
In essence, a digital product is an intangible asset that you can sell frequently without restocking inventory. They often come in downloadable files such as a PDF, a plug-in, or an interactive document. These products have become a good source of passive income as many top professional influencers, bloggers or public icons have released digital products such as guides, e-books, templates, research findings, plans and tutorials.
Some of the main benefits of selling digital products are:
It is scalable. There is no limit to the number of products you can sell. No stock. There are no manufacturers. There is no shipping or logistics. Just market the products. When a customer purchases a digital product, it is delivered instantly without your assistance.
Low overhead costs, high profit margins. Since there is no recurring cost of goods or shipping fees, you retain the majority of the profits from each sale.
E-learning is becoming more and more popular. The e-learning industry is expected to reach $325 billion by 2025. Digital products are a smart way to capitalize on this trend and expand your business.
Digital products can be a great supplement to your main income. Many creators push them to add another source of income to their business, whether it's consulting, education, or membership. You can build a presence on Twitter and LinkedIn or create an email subscriber list to promote your products and generate sales.
Since the barrier is very low when selling digital products, it does not require much investment or risk up front. The best case scenario for care is that you sell 10,000 templates. The worst case is that few people buy and you only lose a few hours of your time.
SEO for the Rest of Us is an educational SEO company run by Brendan Huford. Its purpose is to help creative entrepreneurs - those without a huge brand or following - use SEO to spread their products and services to the world.
Brendan's business consists of several branches: a free 100-day SEO challenge, a podcast, an active blog, a YouTube channel, service packages, a membership community, and digital products. If you are looking for SEO education, you will find their brand somewhere in your search.
“Digital products and monetizing your expertise are a great way to make money online,” says Brendan. "It's a great step-ladder model for building an audience that values knowledge and what they're working on."
Brendan also shared the framework he uses to make new digital products:
Teach something live (like a workshop) for free multiple times. You'll feel more comfortable, earn certifications, and work to address kinks.
Raising funds to teach live workshops.
Sell recordings of live sessions.
Keep iterating and score a definitive evergreen that you sell frequently.
If you take a look at the course tab on Brendan's website, you'll find an endless list of different products for sale: from SEO kits for beginners to master classes, expert interviews, challenges, roadmaps, idea generators and more. Some products sell for as low as $5, while others can range from $1,500 to $7,000 for a review cycle.
Brendan is one of many great examples of entrepreneurs selling digital products online. The best part? He wasn't always an SEO expert. As of 2014, he was an Associate Director at Thea Bowman Leadership Academy and within six years he has built a truly profitable online education empire with passion and determination.