How Moms Can Make Money Online – part 1, laying the groundwork
Today I’m beginning a series of weekly posts about making money online and how moms (or dads) like you can do it. If you’re not interested, that’s fine; I’m not changing the focus of the blog permanently, and you can skim or skip the entries. It’s just that lately I’ve been in work mode, networking with other WAHMs, and talking to more moms who’d like some extra cash. Just passing on what I’ve learned.
Since I started working at home back in November, I took notice of the moms I knew online that were also working at home, and what they did to bring in an income for their families. I asked a few of them exactly how they got into it, what they did, and more importantly – how it paid.
As you might expect, there’s not only great variety in how a mom can make money online, the income it brings in varies as well. Every mom I talked to agreed that it was actual work. Like everything else, there is no free ride. While there are some ways to bring in income with the blog you’d write in every day anyway, the big money is what most people want and what requires effort.
Different Ways to Earn income online with your Blog
Every single mom I talked to had a blog, and since you’re reading my blog, it’s kind of obvious I have one too. And yes, it brings in a bit of cash. Here’s the nitty-gritty on some ways to bring in money with your blog:
- paid posts
- advertising
- compensated reviews
- writing on another blog
- Amazon & other affiliates
But it’s not just blogging that brings in money. With a little more skills in writing or web-related tasks, you can bump up your income nicely.
Skills people will pay you for and you can do online
More writing, like on multiple paid blogs. Blog networks are cropping up everywhere, and they need writers to fill their blogs with content. Know a topic really well? People are looking for you.
- Copywriting.
- Freelancing.
- Software installs an upgrades.
- Web design and development
- Graphic design
- Troubleshooting blog problems
- CSS skills
- affiliate marketing (I’m not a fan, but it works for some.)
- Virtual assistant. This is a new one I found out about. Good at organizing someone else’s online life? The Big Fish are all about outsourcing their work to others these days, and you can pick up the slack. For pay.
And a couple extra things:
- Sell items on ebay. If you regularly go to yard sales and thrift stores, you’d probably like selling some of the really good stuff you can find.
- Make things and sell them online. Just like a craft sale, but online and when you want. Added bonus: no sore feet.
Okay, not every has all of these skills, and some people would be better at some things than others. That’s okay. Specializing is a bonus. If you’ve been around the Internet long enough, chances are you’ve picked up some skills. Skills that other people lack, and thus are willing to compensate you for.
For the purpose of this series, I’m going to skip some of the more technical and risky ventures, such as buying and selling domains and websites. That’s a whole ‘nuther ball game. 
In my next post, I’ll talk to some moms who are making money (and even a living) online. For now, you can do some homework and think about the activities you do online, your existing social network, the skills you have, and what you’d like to explore for personal growth.
This is the first in a new series of posts appearing every Wednesday.
13 Responses to “How Moms Can Make Money Online – part 1, laying the groundwork”
Looking forward to the rest of your series!
christines last blog post..google chrome – i like it
This sounds very interesting to me! I’d love to be able to bring a little more income into the house, but I’m a terrible seller. I love to write and play on computer however. Problem is where would I fit it into my already busy schedule? Here I go thinking it’s impossible for me already. Hopefully you’ll show me differently.
Jacquelines last blog post..The Complexity of Teens
[...] Anne Wayman wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
It’s been a while since I last visited. I like your choice of subject! I’m pretty new to blogging and I also run a home-based business. By a strange coincidence I just began blogging about that today!
Whew – had to read the title twice, thought it read how MOM can make money online. Figured you found a way for me to up the “old age home” fund, other than you winning the lottery.
Love ya……Mam
Looking forward to the rest of this series. You do job placement, too, right?
raes last blog post..visual/spatial daddy
All I can say is next week’s post is gonna be pretty darn good.
Keep ‘em coming!
Kris Bs last blog post..Win Team Challenges!
Great timing! I’ve been actually wondering about this lately. Things are tight, as usual, and I’m trying to find some ways to supplement Greg’s salary without having to leave the house every day. Or babysitting someone else’s kids. So NOT into that.
BJs last blog post..Homeschool Memoirs – #3 Routines
What a great post. I just added you to my favorites so that I can come back and read some more. I read a book on blogging and how to make money from it. I can’t say that is my goal but a little extra cash is always nice. Maybe someday…..
Ninas last blog post..Raising our kids equally…haha
I’m all for making money online! Can’t wait to read the next instalment
melanies last blog post..A Castle
“If you’ve been around the Internet long enough, chances are you’ve picked up some skills. Skills that other people lack, and thus are willing to compensate you for.”
This is the key line and maybe they aren’t skills picked up on the internet. I work from home and do much of my work by e-mail. Using skills I learned in my old working out of the house employment.
The trickiest part about working out what you can do as a self-employed person is giving your skills value: Identifying what skills you have. Realizing that other people lack those skills. And then working out what they are willing to pay for them. Even harder is that sometimes they are willing to pay a lot more than you thought for them and you have to work on feeling okay about that and not underselling yourself.
I think because some of our skills seem so natural to us, we don’t realize that they are special.
Looking forward to the rest of this series (and must deal with changing my feed reader because a few of these were not coming through).
JoVEs last blog post..Blitzen missed me
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