For anyone looking to start making money online, I have decided to share this post today to help you make a bit extra money. This post – 7 Side Hustles For Your New Blog / Website! I am writing this, especially for website owners not yet earning from their publishing efforts but these ideas can be used by anyone!
Hopefully, this information can help you through difficult times. Help give you the extra financial support you need when you are really struggling until you have your stream of consistent steady passive income that every wants to get into an Online Business for.
Recently, I wrote about what kind of results you can expect in your first year of blogging. Just to summarise – I basically said that for most people earning decent money early on doesn’t really happen. For most, it would seem to be in their second and third years that really the magic begins to happen.
After 9 Months (it would appear) is when a new website can really expect its traffic to really start growing.
*That is for those that have managed to do things properly from the start which is only a small fraction of people. But this is definitely a sensible estimate and I definitely recommend trying out blogging [See my #1 Course HERE]
So not to make any guarantees here but if you need to make a bit extra money or whatever here are my #7 Top Tips.
If this is something that interests you then please keep on reading>>
7 Side Hustles For Your New Blog, Website or Just To Make Money For Whatever It Is You WANT!
Table of Contents
FTC Disclosure:
Please note that this post contains affiliate links. If you happen to use one of these links and make any kind of transaction I may receive a commission. The price you pay will not be affected.
Now, I would like to put you in the shoes of someone that hasn’t made money online before. You hear all these stories about those that have become very rich from their online activities. Youtube, Crypto, FOREX, Stocks/Shares, eBay, Amazon, etc. Drop shipping, digital products, freelancing, and affiliate marketing are a few more…
So, you WANT a piece of the action – many will tell you their fantastic stories about how YOU can start making money in next to no time! When in reality this couldn’t be further away from the truth!
So you might call these people SCAMMERS! Some are, maybe more than a few, don’t get me wrong but how many of us just give up, and before we have even tried to do some of these things for ourselves?
Instead of really giving ourselves enough time to start making money – we give up because we are not seeing the results we want and financially for the time we could be spending doing something else this just doesn’t seem to be the logical thing to do. Especially if we are having to pay for things like memberships and subscriptions.
But I propose this question – IF We Had The Money There We Would Give These Opportunities More Time! Would we?
Take This For Example…
My Recommended Way To Make Money Online!
Skip this part if you wish but I think this does go some way to explaining things!
By this I mean my recommended solution for making money online…
Now, THIS IS, if someone asks me about how they can make money online my typical answer.
*Setting up a website for blogging and affiliate marketing. The program for this I recommend is Wealthy Affiliate (at least for now) and it’s this I want to use as an example.
For why having a side hustle as a backup plan might be what plows you ahead till you find online success.
So I have been a member of Wealthy Affiliate for over 3 years and the monthly cost of this is $47 a month ~ I pay less than this as I usually pay annually every Black Friday $299 but $47 is a lot of money for someone who isn’t making any.
I am honestly NOT knocking this opportunity I know other members after a few months have started to see earnings start accumulating to the point that $47 a month outgoings aren’t so much of a problem. Although I do know many people will not justify paying any more than the 1st 1-2 months because even $50 is too much money to payout.
I mean I actually started this blog post with this situation in mind because if it is only the money that is stopping someone from giving an opportunity like this the time it needs then WHY NOT START a SIDE HUSTLE!
Of course, this is time you could be spending blogging and what could in theory help you to see faster results but I am sure a lot of people would like to do this.
It might happen sooner but you must get yourself through this difficult period. You must be prepared to lose money before you can make money. Many will not be able to afford this but let’s think outside the box here. Instead of losing money every month…
Find Side Hustles For Your New Blog$
Now, I am going to carry on with using Wealthy Affiliate’s $ 47-a-month membership as my main example.
So, as many members claim, through its training and hosting, you have everything you need at Wealthy Affiliate to create a blueprint for a successful business. Many members have found out that by building their websites whilst following Wealthy Affiliates training they have managed to find success building websites within their first 2 years.
What many of them will say is “You must keep working, however long it takes, until you start seeing results”.
I think the $ 47-a-month fee kind of sucks in this respect but other programs are exactly the same and many actually walk away out of pocket because they don’t have the time or money to invest for long enough to actually become successful.
And I know the feeling myself – I’ve been there – where the end does not seem to justify the means. I get why people want to quit even if the opportunity is a good one and honestly, I kind of wish I knew about all the different side hustles I could do to fund my operations when I first got started but at least I can share this with people now.
So, with this in mind let’s look at some ideas you can do to try and cover these expenses. At least to try and make some of the money you will need to keep you going until you can move on to bigger and better things.
Here are my 7 Side Hustles for Your New Blog!
Try and find a few hours a week to try some of these ideas out for yourself!
i.) Get Hired To Write For Other Bloggers
Set up a Fiverr account and make your services (gigs) available. $5 for 500 words should be an easy gig that you can get hired for. 6 of these gigs a month should make you $25-$30. It might not cover the whole $47.00 for your monthly WA membership fees but it will mean you can afford them more easily. Exactly what you will want!
Also, it is maybe worth noting even though Fiverr gigs can be very time-consuming and low paying you can start to earn more as you build customer relationships and a better feedback score. SIGN UP FOR AN ACCOUNT HERE
ii.) Other Freelancing Gigs
What you might find is that you have other skills aside from writing that you can utilize instead. In fact, there might be gigs that you can do on websites such as Fiverr which take you less time than writing articles. Perhaps take a look around.
If you would like some inspiration (you don’t know where to start) check out these 2 Youtube videos below;
Your aim (I would say) should be to try to make $30-$35 a month from freelancing but ideally where it doesn’t take away too much of your time. It is fair enough finding a side hustle to help cover your expenses but let’s not forget why you are doing this in the first place.
If you really want to become a success with blogging and affiliate marketing you need to set aside both time for work and also for other things like training etc. Extra work on top of this should only be a temporary solution until you can make consistent earnings from writing your blog posts etc.
Although, as side hustles go…
iii.) Why Not Sell on eBay, or Amazon
Personally, I have used eBay and made a living from it for just over 10 years now. From my own experience, I would say making $25 a month at least from eBay is fairly easy.
What’s more, you can take advantage of their free listings with a private account. So why not see what you have sitting around the house that you can sell? Things like books, clothes, and collectibles can all potentially make you money$
You might be surprised by what people will buy.
Look elsewhere even – garage sales, thrift shops, and even on eBay itself. See if you can find any good money spinners.
You can also try Aliexpress. Some products you can buy from the Chinese market that once you have you can sell for more money. It can be risky with some products but if you can find the right ones you can easily double or even triple your initial investment.
However, STILL, remember why you are doing this for. Do not get carried away with trading on eBay. You are trading on eBay to help to finance your new website. Think of the money you will make when this is all up and running. You will not regret it…
but if eBay is not for you! Try this instead maybe…
iv.) Complete Micro Tasks With Appen.com
I have been using Appen for around 2 years now. I haven’t tried a whole lot of different jobs on here but mostly the ones I have participated in have been News Relevancy Surveys and Mystery Shopping. I have had a few good months with Appen where I have made $50 a month (enough to cover WA) but you must be consistent and there is a minimum threshold for withdrawal.
Anyhow, the reason I am sharing this idea is I think this is a very convenient side hustle that is quite easy to start doing. I would say as well it also pays better than your typical surveys.
There do seem to be some pretty mixed reviews from their user base but my experience has been generally good. For me, I think this is exactly what is needed in those tough months. Maybe you can manage OK with the ideas above but just saying this might be worth looking into. I will share my link below…
v.) Review New Products With UserTesting.com
I have literally only just signed up for UserTesting.com but one of my nephews used this website for a while a couple of years back. Apparently, he made some OK money from this but he couldn’t get any more work after someone give him a bad review.
According to him, he needed to be in a quiet room when he was doing the video and audio tasks and my other nephew was making too much noise or something one day so he had to forfeit a task.
Like I’m still yet to give this a go. You can get a mobile app by the looks of things which is quite cool but from what I hear it can be difficult sometimes to get the work. Although, apparently you can make 4 for every 5-minute task and for 20-minute live interviews (I assume through Zoom or Skype) you can get paid anything from $30.00 to $120.00.
My nephew says it is a very good opportunity but you must maintain a good reputation or no one will want to hire you. Kind of like most things I guess but yes anyway – 12 x $4 tasks = $48.00. $1 and your monthly WA membership is covered.
Vi.) Try SwagBucks.com and Other Surveys
Part of me doesn’t know why I am bothering to mention this one. I’ve tried other survey sites that are not SwagBucks and I can tell you the time you spend to actually make any money at all (most of the time) just does not feel worth it.
100 SwagBucks is basically the equivalent of $1.00 USD. It is like any currency that goes up and down in price. I see you can sometimes find tasks that might pay 1000+ Swagbucks but how long these take I think is the main question here.
Maybe try Swagbucks but only if you can’t manage to earn from any of the other ideas above. You can try other survey sites as well but the reason I share Swagbucks and not the others is it appears to be maybe the best one.
- Attapoll – Good Mobile App – Threshold for Withdrawal $5 – Pays Straight To PayPal
- SwagBucks – Involves a lot of Click and Bait but it’s still a LEGIT platform
- Toluna – Well-known Survey website – Doesn’t always pay well but always Surveys are available!
- Vindale Research – Not Tried but I know It’s LEGIT!
- Pinecone Research – Like I Said with Vindale Not Tried but it’s LEGIT!
I hope these ideas are helpful but more so I hope the next section really gives you something to think about.
VIII – Create and Sell Digital Products
Of everything mentioned today this I think is the Golden Goose. If you can create a good digital product then this is your license to print your own money. It is maybe perhaps the hardest thing to do that I have mentioned so far but it isn’t as hard as something like developing a mobile app. In fact, I would say creating a digital product isn’t as hard as most people think it is.
So, some things to consider include;
| Product Examples |
|---|
| 1. E-books or digital guides |
| 2. Online courses or video tutorials |
| 3. Stock photos or digital art packs (clip art etc.) |
| 4. Mobile app templates or UI kits |
| 5. Web design templates or themes |
| 6. Music tracks or sound effects |
| 7. WordPress plugins or extensions |
| 8. Customizable PowerPoint or Keynote templates |
| 9. 3D models or digital assets |
| 10. Printable planners or organizers |
| 11. Social media graphics or templates |
| 12. Digital marketing or SEO consulting services |
| 13. Website or blog content writing services |
| 14. Software scripts or code snippets |
| 15. Virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) experiences |
| 16. Podcasting equipment guides or resources |
| 17. Language learning courses or materials |
| 18. Video editing presets or filters |
| 19. Resume or CV templates |
| 20. Online coaching or mentoring sessions |
| 21. Digital scrapbooking kits or templates |
| 22. Meditation or mindfulness audio recordings |
| 23. Meal planning or recipe e-books |
| 24. Graphic design services for logos or branding |
| 25. Royalty-free video footage or video effects |
| 26. Social media management tools or software |
| 27. Custom website development or programming services |
| 28. Online fitness or workout programs |
| 29. Virtual event planning or hosting services |
| 30. Digital copies of classic books or literary works |
I am sure this is not everything either but you can look to see what others are doing and do something similar. It is a bit more of a challenge now to stay ahead of the pack with A.I. like ChatGPT and MidJourney making digital product creation easier than it has ever been before but ETSY I think is a great example of somewhere to sell your digital products.
People actually do this and if you can do this it is worry-free. No shipping, no waiting for days to find out if a customer is happy with their purchase, and best of all you can sell the same product again, and again and again.
The potential really is MAD!
Bonus Tip: Earn Credits and Commissions Through WA
Now, I am not saying this article today is just for those that are Premium members of Wealthy Affiliate that are stuck in a rut for paying their monthly memberships. Maybe you have set up your blog without WA (I personally recommend SiteGround as an alternative) but anyway, if you are looking to go down this route here is ONE thing you can do.
I know this probably won’t sound too appealing to most people but I have heard stories from people that have financed their time in WA during their most, toughest months by earning WA credits.
I think each credit is worth $0.50. You earn from leaving feedback and comments on people’s blogs. It is quite a lot but if you leave 94 comments or feedback reviews you will make $47.00 up lol
Waste of time if you ask me but what isn’t is if you can get just 1 PERSON to sign up under you as a premium member. Every new recruit that signs up and sticks around at Wealthy Affiliate will make you $23.50 every month.
So actually in my experience (I have found) that getting people to join WA Premium is not an easy thing to do. Especially since they scrapped their $19 for the first month offer but if you can get to 300 Premium Referrals in ONE YEAR at Wealthy Affiliate. It is an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas, and people do actually go.
Check out this blog from Ivan Broz who is going to Vegas next year – he has commented on this blog before I’m pretty sure!
Anyway, if people like Ivan can get 300 Sign-Ups you can get 1 or 2 surely. Perhaps mention some of my ideas above!
Now, bringing this to a close I am just going to finish this with one last bonus tip…
In Conclusion
Try These 7 Side Hustles for Your New Blog / Website. This is my main point. Your first year blogging can be a difficult time. It depends from person to person, this much is true, but most people do not make very much money from blogging within the first 6 months to a year.
For this reason, it has to be something that you are willing to dedicate enough time to do.
You don’t have to try the ideas above maybe you could do a cleaning job for a few hours a week. I mean you might likely have a full-time job already and blogging already is something you have very little time for. But honestly, I would like to think you can find a ‘workaround’ here.
Perhaps you could use your phone during your lunch break or on the bus home to use Swagbucks or something, or for listing on eBay, etc.
I haven’t had to do anything like this myself I must admit but seriously EVEN THOUGH I’m potentially setting myself up for future competition – I’d say stick at it! Create a Wealthy Affiliate account, go through all of their training, and start blogging, and Affiliate Marketing!.
In my opinion, this has to be the dream job – work when you want, where you want, and earn money repeatedly from your previous work. Even keep on earning more for all the new work you will continue to do.
Make $1000. $5000. $10,000 or even more every month. Plenty of others are doing this and so can you as well!
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Very interesting article. I have tried a couple of these ideas. I had not heard of Appen before. I think I will give it a look around and see if I can do a side hustle on it for a while.
Hi Tim, Yes I have just made an account with Appen but have not done any jobs on there yet. User testing seems to be the better one but only if you are ok with the video interviews I think you can really earn any decent money.
For a while I have been looking for side hustles to complete my online income. Ever since the covid lockdown came to an end and we have to go back to work I have been having trouble adapting. I loved working at home, so now I am working to achieve that, working from home, using my laptop. I realize that none of these sites can provide a full income, but in combination with other side hustles I think it can all add up to something substantial. UserTesting and Appen look the most interesting to me. Do you know if you have to qualify for certain interviews on UserTesting?
Hi Christine, Yes I think there is an interview process for both Appen and Usertesting. One blog I read was from a Lady that had to take a series of exams before getting her work with Appen. User Testing seems to be the better of the two but I think once (if) you start getting negative reviews it can be difficult to find work but as long as you keep happy on there its apparently quite a good source of income.
Hi Alex – this article couldn’t have come at a better time for me. As you corrected stated in the article, there have been many times where I’ve wanted to quit with blogging because there wasn’t enough money coming in to even cover the monthly expenses of running a blog. In fact, I did quit once during the beginning of the pandemic. Lockdowns effectively took out my niche topic, so it looked like a good time to reassess. Once I was ready with a new niche and renewed outlook I hopped back into blogging and have been enjoying it but I’m still not really generating any income yet. These ideas you’ve written about seem like a great supplement for someone like myself, I’m really interested in checking out UserTesting.com, so thank you for sharing these options and your experience!
Hi Dereck, Good to hear this has been helpful for you. To be honest I’m kind of hoping I can share this post with some of my referrals for my affiliate marketing coaching. I think the trouble is many get into this business and expect results way too soon. For me, I was quite lucky to have made my first commissions very early on (I made around $400 my first month) but I soon learned after that how lucky I was because for the 6 months + I had nowhere near this amount of success and I can only surmise that if I didn’t make these early commissions I maybe wouldn’t still be doing this now. So, I mean I think people need to get to this point where they make their 1st commission just to spur them on further.
I know that trying something like 7 side hustles for your new blog I’ve suggested is taking time away from your website development and training but I really like to think if you can spend 1-2 days a month (worth of hours) maybe this can help make the difference to keep you blogging for that extra bit longer till you can finally get that first confidence boosting commission.
Thanks for sharing these side hustles. I’m sure that a lot of people will find them extremely useful just as I have! Most people start on a tight budget so having a few options where you can earn a few bucks to cover your startup costs is great. I personally would recommend micro-tasks such as WA comment credits and surveys. Great stuff!
PS: it’s cool of you to share my success with WA (trip to Las Vegas) 🙂
Thanks Ivan. I really hope as much that this article will benefit people looking to get into affiliate marketing and for helping them through these early months when not much is happening with traffic etc. I agree with you that most start on a tight budget and just making a few bucks can make all the difference. Leaving comments on Wealthy Affiliate for $ maybe I don’t know – how many can you leave a day and how many credits can you make?
I think this is the question although I did see there was a Nigerian chap who started on WA with no money and he got by in the beginning just by earning credits.
Its a shame I didn’t save the link to his blog because it was a very inspiring story. Apparently, he was stressing out one month because he didn’t make enough credits to cover his monthly subscription but he checked and he had made his first $50 commission (I think). It is doable but I think maybe it’s probably a good idea to mix it up a bit – like say a couple of hours on eBay, a couple of hours leaving comments on Wealthy Affiliate, surveys on Swagbucks, a few small gigs on Fiverr and if you can get approved Appen and UserTesting. I mean I think the main thing is just making this decision. That you are willing to work to support your opportunity if you need to.
I would definitely recommend it but I think the other thing is you need to have faith in what you are trying to do. Even if it takes one year, 2 years or longer the more time you spend trying to make something happen the more chance that it actually will.
I enjoyed reading your list of side hustles and have actually used one or two of them. Appen was by far the best as I managed to get part time work as a web search evaluator for a few months. As a Wealthy Affiliate member myself I remember upgrading after only a few days. It definitely was the best decision!
Hi Kathy, Glad you enjoyed it and am interested to hear that you have tried Appen. Just out of curiosity your role as a web search evaluator did you find that it was hard to get the gig? Also how many hours of your time did this take every week?
Hi Alex, The application for web search evaluator was quite lengthy and you had to pass an exam to get accepted. This was a timed exam but you were able to study for it beforehand.
If I remember I think I worked about 4 hours a day 5 days a week. Although it was time-consuming it was well paid.
Hope this helps
Hi Kathy, Thanks for answering. Yes I read a blog about someone filling this role for a search engine evaluator on Appen. They said something similar that they had to study first and that they then had to take an exam. To be honest it does seem like it could be a bit too much of a distraction when you are already trying to put your time into blogging. Although I think maybe if you do less hours would be OK perhaps.
I think writing for other sites is the best idea for affiliate marketers as it also means we are getting more practice writing….. and after all this is the basis of our own websites. The ability to write better will lead to better rankings, better user experience, and then hopefully better user conversions.
Other freelancing gigs are also a good idea, but only as you say, if they do not take too much of our time, which is time that may be better spent on developing our own websites. But hey, we do have to keep paying the bills somehow, don’t we?
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Andrew, Yes good point so you think that writing gigs are a good idea. I think I actually see your point I have 4 other websites other than this one. Its a bit much not going to lie but its good to have the experience of writing about different niche-topics. I guess this could be one of the perks of freelance writing as well. Also, content marketing / guest posting is a good idea for backlinks and SEO and this could be good practice for this as well.
Hi Alex, I used usertesting for a few months and was making a very good amount of money (more than a minimum wage job)! All it takes is a notification on you computer, a small application and 10 minutes of your time to give some feedback. 100% suggest.
Hi Jacob, Thanks for commenting. Good to hear from someone that has used this themselves. Sounds like it is quite straightforward and would be an ideal side hustle for someone starting their own blog / website. So you get notified then you have to complete tasks and you get paid quite well by the sound of things.
Hi Alex, thank you for this in-depth blog post on side hustles when you starting out your website. I think many (starting) bloggers will appreciate your tips, as waiting for that first sale can be hard for motivation, but indeed for finances sometime also. I like your tips and suggestions. I agree with you that Fiverr.com can be underpaid and times consuming. User testing seems as great one. I personally like the Appen.com. Actually, I did write in-depth review of Appen.com on my website, so I am sharing it down also with your audience, who can then have more insight into it. It is indeed great website where I was making $500/month for 10h/week work. I guess that could be helping boost people might need. Cheers
https://earningonyourterms.com/appen-review-2021-earn-your-money-from-anywhere/
Hi Julius, Yes I really hope this can help. I know for myself how difficult it can be just waiting for that first commission. Not just this but even just getting one commission every month if that doesn’t happen it can be a bit soul-destroying. It’s something I have had to accept you have to get through these difficult periods and I think perhaps maybe these ideas can help through these difficult times. So thanks for commenting I see you were making around $500 a month as a mystery shopper on Appen. Sounds like it could be worth a try.
I actually sell on eBay and have done it for over 20 years now. It’s a great money maker. One thing that has worked for years is finding stuff at a garage sale, thrift store and then selling it on eBay. With the eBay app, you actually check exactly what something sells for before even purchasing it. You filter by the completed listing and it shows when it sold and how much it sold for.
Super great extra side hustle! Just purchase smaller items because shipping will dip into your profits.
Hi Garen, I opened my eBay account in 2008 and started using in properly in 2011. I’ve sold over 110K items since which is pretty crazy really but to be honest the whole garage sale / thrifting thing I’ve only been doing for the past couple years. Before that I just bought from China and Aliexpress etc. For me sourcing my inventory locally has been amazing for getting me through some pretty tough times but I think eBay has a lot of cons. Their fees really aren’t a pretty sight and all the junk I have amassed in the past couple years I really don’t want it to be in 5 years the older I get the less stuff I want to have. I think eventually I’d like to do more dropshipping, affiliate marketing and selling digital products.
I think this message will be something I will have to look back in see what happens then lol
Hi Alex,
This is such an inspirational and helpful article.
People who are setting up blogs and websites, it takes time before you start getting traffic and earn revenue from it.
My side hustle was to start affiliate marketing in my industry while I was writing blogs and then eventually putting them into books.
But, affiliate marketing as long as you are in an industry where it is working is one of the best side hustles. You could even turn affiliate marketing into your full time income and job so to speak.
Thank you for sharing and keep up the great work.
All the best,
Tom
Hi Tom, Thanks. I would hope people can find this article and it will help them to keep going through the hard times. The reason I started blogging was the state of my finances. I think I was incredibly lucky because I did so well in my first month and come I think April I got an offer from WA to get a year for $300 but I think my 2nd and 3rd month it was hard finding the money definitely. The only thing that justified it for me was the $500 I made the first month. But it did really open my eyes my first few referrals I couldn’t get them to stay because of WA’s subscription so over this time I really thought more and more about side hustles.
The list for me is pretty much most the things I do. I think Appen especially is a good one to look at but also I think UserTesting looks very promising. I mean I think with Fiverr this can eat up too much of your time but I know many people do use it to make a lot of money.
eBay has really been the saving grace for me but I think at same time it has divided my time away from the task of developing a website. Although if it is only money that is the defining factor to whether you stick at something like setting up an online business then eBay can really be a great asset.
Lots of good ideas here, Alex, for a person to add to their income stream.
When a person is able to make money while building an online business it takes much stress and pressure away.
Thanks for these valuable idea.