Everyone wants to make extra income and they are those who want to earn money with digital marketing. If you are one of those people I have good news for you. Chances are, you have already been earning money with digital marketing without even realizing it. In one of our articles, we talk in-depth about email marketing, and the chances you have used emails to advertise and promote products or services are high. Email marketing in itself is a form of digital marketing.
Digital marketing can loosely be defined as any marketing efforts that are done using electronic devices and the internet. If you have successfully promoted a pair of sneakers or fragrances to your friends on Whatsapp or Facebook then congratulations. By definition, you earned money through digital marketing efforts.
In this article, I have compiled for you 12 proven ways that many people use to make significant amounts of money through digital marketing. Like many things in life, everything takes time probably some of these things you have already been practicing. Success leaves footprints and these methods will bring something into your pocket let alone others earn a living from these techniques. Without wasting much time Let’s look at the 12 ways you can earn money online using digital marketing techniques. But before that, we just need to take a brief look at what constitutes digital marketing.
Brief Look at Digital Marketing
The term online marketing can be regarded as a synonym for digital marketing by definition. Prior to the 1990s before the internet became popular and cellphones were ubiquitous. Traditional marketing was more popular and most marketing efforts were done through print, radio, and television. After the internet became popular they were now more ways to reach consumers and these channels are not only restricted to big corporates. Now, most people can afford to compete even with big brands to market products and services online. The internet boom and cellphones have made it possible to earn money with digital marketing. To fully understand how you can earn money with online marketing we need to look at the pillars of digital marketing which brings us to the next topic.
Pillars of Digital Marketing
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a digital marketing concept that aims to reach customers through content. The idea is simple. Create engaging content that will attract a huge audience and while doing that, you mention the products and services that you are marketing. Content marketing includes the following:
- Podcasts
- Blogs
- Webinars
- infographics
- Ebooks
- Online courses
Social Media Marketing
This refers to the use of social media platforms to market products and services. These platforms can also be used to manage reputation and resolve customer queries. The most popular platforms that are used by individuals and companies are as follow:
- Meta (formerly known as Facebook)
- Tiktok
SMS Messaging
The ubiquitous reality of cell phones and tablets has made SMS messaging a powerful digital marketing technique. Users are constantly bombarded with promotional messages vis text messages. SMS is alternatively cheaper and straightforward as compared to search engine marketing.
Search Engine Marketing
This is usually a paid method of digital marketing promotion. Search engine marketing is the technique of increasing the visibility of your brand or products. Companies and individuals pay companies to rank higher in search results through a bidding process for spots on a website. In most cases the more money you pay and the more relevant the keywords you used in your campaign the more visible your ads. Popular platforms for this form of digital marketing are as follows:
- Google Ads
- Meta Ads
- Linked Ads
- Microsoft Ads
- Pinterest Business
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing represents an agreement between a service provider or supplier and a suitable individual or business who will earn a commission for every sale made. In other agreements called CPA(cost-per-action), companies will affiliate marketers for leads generated and credit card submissions. The most popular affiliate networks are:
- Click Bank
- CJ Affiliates/Commission Junction
- Share A Sale
- Impact Radius
Email Marketing
Email Marketing is considered to be one of the best pillars of digital marketing. The abundance of tools and the high return on investment makes it an ideal method for beginners. Sending electronic mail replaced the trading marketing techniques of poster cards and coupons. At the beginning of the digital age Gmail and made Yahoomail mailboxes made emails very popular. The best email marketing tools on the market currently are:
- Systeme
- Getresponse
- Aweber
- Active Campaign
- and Snovio
In light of the above pillars, it is important to understand that without employing any one of these techniques it is impossible to practice digital marketing. However, we still need to understand what it means to earn money with digital marketing, and then after that, we will look at the twelve proven techniques.
Earn Money with Digital Marketing
In simple terms, this means you perform digital in the form of any of the pillars above and you gate paid or earn a profit. What you will notice is there is a close relationship between the 12 proven ways to earn money with digital marketing and the pillars of digital marketing explained in the preceding section. Let us look at these 12 ways other people have used to establish businesses in this field of digital marketing.
Ways to earn money with digital marketing
1. Digital Marketing Agency: Earn money with digital marketing
A digital marketing agency is perhaps one of the best ways to make money in the digital market. Covid-19 saw the job market shrink and freelancers who have skills in digital marketing can easily set up an agency. Some of the roles a digital marketing agency might be asked to fulfill by clients are as follow:
- Run and manage paid advertising campaigns.
- Writing blog articles.
- Managing websites.
- and Creating engaging videos.
Advantages of Digital Marketing Agencies
- Increasing demand.
- You get to choose the services you can offer.
- Long-term contracts guarantee consistent long-term revenue.
Disadvantages
- Reputable and well-established companies will get clients.
- It is not beginner-friendly
2. Dropservicing
There are so many freelancers out there and the majority of them you can get on Fiverr. With Drop servicing, you can market skills that you don’t fulfill yourself. You will charge clients a fee and then outsource someone on Fiverr to do the job. other popular Freelancing platforms apart from Fiverr are:
- Upwork.
- Freelancer.
- Fiverr.
- People Per Hour.
Advantages
- High-Profit Margin.
- Make money from expertise you don’t have.
- No shipping or returns to deal with.
- You can offer your skills as well.
Disadvantages
- An outsourced workforce may not always fulfill client requirements
- You have little control over the quality of work done.
3. Creating and Selling Digital Products
This is by far one of the easiest methods. Creating your products means that you are not incurring upfront costs provided you are using free resources. However, the fact that you don’t need to hire or employ someone is a big bonus. Digital products such as books can be resold over and over again once created once. Below is a list of digital products that you can create.
- E-Books
- Music
- Social Media Templates
- and NFTs
Advantages
- Create once and resell multiple times.
- low cost of production
- You can outsource the creation of digital products
Disadvantages
- High competition
- You may need to spend money to market your products.
4. Blogging
Yes, blogging, and writing articles is a sure and better way, that has enabled many to successfully start a second income outside of their jobs. With blogging, there are several ways to earn an income. Firstly, you can earn through Google Adsense, the more traffic you bring to your blog the more money you can earn. Secondly, you can sell advertising space. Selling advertising space on your website is a straightforward and guaranteed way of making a decent income. Thirdly, you can use affiliate marketing on your blog. The advantages and disadvantages of blogging are as follows:
Advantages
- Established blogs can earn monthly with little or no effort from the owners.
- Multiple income streams
- Affordable to start. you only need a domain name and they are other free hosting sites like blogger you can use.
- Can be done on a part-time basis or as a side hustle.
Disadvantages
- It takes time to grow traffic organically and start making money
- Paid advertising can be expensive as a traffic source
- Search Engine algorithm updates may disrupt your blog’s SEO ranking.
5. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is simply promoting another company’s product or service in exchange for a commission. According to taboola.com, the average annual income is around $51 000, the bottom 10% earn around $30 000 and those at the top 10% earn over $70 000. Moreover, it is important to note that some affiliate programs offer recurring commissions, which means if you make one sale you can continue to get paid as long as that client is still with that company. The advantages and disadvantages of affiliate marketing are as follow:
Advantages
- Recurring commissions
- You are not responsible for customer care
- You don’t have to come up with your products to earn money
- High commissions for high ticket affiliate sales.
- You can get money from generating leads.
Disadvantages
- It can be difficult to get your first sale
- Driving traffic to affiliate offers is expensive when using paid advertising.
- Changes to the commission structure may disrupt your income for example Amazon affiliates.
6. Online Courses
Online courses are one. if you have a skill set, sharing your knowledge through online courses can be very lucrative. you can sell your courses on Teachable, Udemy, and also manage your own courses through Systeme and Gumroad. The advantages of online courses are as follows:
Advantages
- Available to a global audience
- Create once and sell many times
- You can sell other products and services within your classes
- Free marketing by publishing your courses like Udemy
The disadvantages of online courses are as follows:
Disadvantages
- There is high competition on platforms like Udemy.
- The cost of marketing might be high.
7. Web and App Development
Developing websites and mobile applications is one way to earn a living with digital Marketing. When it comes to monetization there are several ways that you can make money. Firstly, you can sell the applications that you build on your own on marketplaces like code canyon. Secondly, you can start a Saas business from those applications. With Saas business, you can use a subscription-based model whereby users will pay a monthly fee for using your website. Thirdly, you can have ads running on those websites to generate revenue.
In keeping with how we have been, going about other topics. The advantages of this strategy are as follows:
Advantages
- Multiple ways to earn income.
- Depending on the traffic you can a 5-figure income from such work.
- There is no startup cost.
- Recurring income from subscriptions from a Saas model.
Disadvantages
- Software development is time-consuming
- It takes specialized skills to come up with a product that can be sold to others.
8. E-commerce Store
Selling goods online is also another way of making substantial income. Shopify is one place to start if you would like to start an e-commerce store. To get started with Shopify there is a 14-day trial, packages range from $29.00 to $299/mo. If this is too high, many other alternatives can be used in place of Shopify.
However, besides owning your eCommerce store, there is another way you can go about selling products online. This model is called Amazon FBA. Basically with Amazon FBA. you list and sell all your products through Amazon. The company is responsible for the shipping of your products to the end products and you must provide quality products to clients. In the next section, I will look at the advantages and disadvantages of online stores as a way of earning money through digital marketing.
Advantages
- Most people enjoy the convenience of shopping online
- Very little staff is required in terms of cashiers in comparison to traditional shops
- You can run your online shop from anyway in the world.
Disadvantages
- Dealing with returns can be hectic in the case of physical goods
- There can be a lot of breakages during transportation to the clients which will increase returns.
9. Start a Youtube Channel
Producing engaging content has resulted in those who are persistent and diligent in engaging with their followers becoming millionaires. After reaching the threshold of 1000 subscribers and 4000 YouTube watch hours, you will get monetized. Moreover, YouTube has introduced community strikes on its monetization front. The fewer strikes you have the better your chances of getting monetized.
Once you qualify for monetization as explained earlier, YouTube pays per 1000 views. On the lower end, the average earnings per 1000 views are $1 and can be much higher depending on the niche. To earn significant money on YouTube to grow fast I would recommend posting on a daily basis. The Pros and Cons of YouTube are as follows:
Advantages
- You can create content on a part-time basis
- Old videos will still bring you income.
- Free to use.
- There are a lot of tutorials on how you can grow your channel.
Disadvantages
- Burnout from producing content
- 30% tax deduction from google for countries with no special treaty with the US.
- Scammer in the comment section.
10. Selling Domains
Flipping domains is also another way to earn money through digital marketing. The process is not different from what we do with products. Firstly you acquire a domain that you believe might increase in value over time, and secondly, you just sell that domain at a profit. This seems easy enough right? However, it is important to understand that you will not always buy domains that will sell, just like in any business. Some products might not sell at all which will lead to losses.
Apart from not selling, the renewal fees of the domain are costs that must be considered. Such are the drawbacks of flipping domains for a leaving. Despite the negative, it is important to point out that there is very little work involved in flipping domains. Furthermore, you don’t necessarily need to market the domains and you can sell domains as a part-time gig. So, on one hand, you might run into losses and on the other hand, there is very little capital required and not much if any. I would advise investing in more than one domain to flip so as to spread the risk.
11. Freelancing
In the previous sections when I was explaining the pillars of digital marketing I explained freelancing. Not having to work from 9-5 is something that has become very popular and it was a necessity during the COVID -19 pandemic. Freelancing allows you to work flexibly and decide who you want to work with and when. Furthermore, Freelancers’ income is not restricted to a specific figure, rather the more work you take up the more you get paid.
However, there are also drawbacks to this, one of which is the absence of health benefits that you would normally get from a traditional job. Another issue is the lack of guaranteed income. The more you work the more you get paid yes, but only if you are able to find work in the first place.
12. Drop Shipping
Dropshipping is more or less the same as drop servicing. The difference is you are dealing with physical products and not services. It is important to bear in mind that, you don’t necessarily need to have the products on hand. Once payment has been then you can look to fulfill the purchases from your customers.
The biggest advantage is you don’t need a lot of capital, but almost on equal terms, the biggest drawback is you need to deal with returns from customers and handle their complaints.
Conclusion
In this article, you learned about what is digital marketing and more importantly how to earn money with digital marketing in 2022. To add to that, we also looked at the advantages of each proven method as well as the drawbacks of all the 12 ways that you can use to earn money with digital marketing. Furthermore, we discuss the pillars of digital marketing which are as follows, email marketing, content marketing, search engine marketing, social media marketing, and SMS marketing.
