Making legitimate money online for many young people would be the ultimate dream. For so many young people across the world, being able to find steady income-generating opportunities online, would allow them to quit their toxic day jobs and become their own boss.
In addition, being able to spend quality time with family while taking control of one’s time and finances is a major attraction for young professionals in Nigeria and around the world. Like any other business venture, sustaining your online income stream will take some dedication, focus, and patience, meaning that one must be ready to invest some effort and smart work in order to actualise the dream.
As an internet savvy Nigerian, here are 8 legitimate ways to make money online:
1. Affiliate Marketing
With affiliate marketing, one can partner with businesses and brands on your own website or social media pages. By promoting other people’s (or company’s) products, you can then earn a commission on sales. If you find a product you like, promote it to others and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make.
2. Consulting
If you’re an expert in your field, you could potentially find people who are willing to pay you to counsel/advise them on their personal or business challenges. You might think you’re not knowledgeable enough to consult for big companies, but you could be surprised at the types of expertise people will pay for especially if you are consistent.
3. Freelance Writing
If you have very good writing skills and creative talent, then it’s possible to get paid to create online content. According to a full-time content creator/blogger, she started writing content some years ago part-time, while having a 9-to-5 job. Over time, she began making more money from writing content online until she could quit her full-time job to write. People are doing it, and you can too.
4. Start a YouTube channel
YouTube is another platform that can be monetized. There are tons of YouTube channels on any topic you can think of, and most people with many followers and great views are earning good money in dollars. Pick an interest and then consistently put up interesting video content on your channel. If it’s interesting and you are consistent over time, the views will come and you can earn money.
5. Become a virtual tutor
Another way to make money online is by teaching others what you know. You can become a virtual tutor and engage in one-on-one tutoring sessions or even host Webinars to help people directly with any number of topics. Nigerian websites like Tutors NG allows users to monetize their knowledge by creating online learning materials for others in need of a specific knowledge.
6. Podcasting
Podcasts are digital media files, most often audio, but they can be video as well, that are produced in a series. Unlike radio or television broadcasts that have set programming at certain hours, with podcasts, listeners are not locked into programming on any schedule. If a podcast gets popular, advertisers would be willing to pay for their brand name being mentioned and for exposure to your audience.
7. Blogging
For over 10 years now, blogging has been one of the surest ways to make money online. Blogging, when done properly, can easily generate from thousands to hundreds of thousands of Naira per month. Blogging needs a bit of patience before you can start making real money from it. All you need to do is to keep writing regularly and sharing your website and contents on social media platforms. Using various free web tools, the audience traffic and views can then be monetized for advertising and sponsored posts.
8. Online options trading
Online trading platforms (brokers) allow users to earn profits on the rises or falls in currency exchange rates and prices for shares or commodities across the world. Platforms such as Binomo (www.binomo.com) offer easy and safe trading, while providing free analytical insight and educational training materials to help both experienced and new users trade profitably on the internet.
The internet is a well of possibilities, so use it right and you can live the life of your dreams.
