There are no right or wrong answers when it comes to making money online. As your little corner of the Internet, it’s up to you to figure out what revenue streams to pursue. What may work for some people, might not work for you.
And that’s okay. As long as you’re open to the many possibilities of making money online, you can sell services online by using what you already know.
The Unreliable Pursuit of Passive Income
Many people initially chase after passive income streams. They turn to blogging, affiliate marketing, ads, and digital downloads to make money online 24/7/365.
While these are all tried and true ways to bring in an online income, you can’t always predict how much you’ll earn from them. One month, you may have thousands in affiliate commission, only to see a fraction of that the next month. The same goes for information products — a flash sale one month can see a spike in revenue followed by a sharp decrease.
Ad revenue too will fluctuate depending on your traffic. A good month with a viral post can lead to lots of clicks and substantially greater income than an off month with fewer page views.
The point is, while passive income is a great way to make money on autopilot, it’s not always predictable.
How, then, do you combat the unpredictability of passive income to make consistent revenue from your online efforts month after month?
Why You Should Sell Services Online
As an entrepreneur, you already have people who check out your content, buy your products, and want to know how you got started. Because they already know you, they’re already primed to purchase from you. Yes, sometimes this means information products like e-books and courses, but it can also include services like one-on-one coaching or consultations.
If you’re not offering your services for sale, you could be missing out on an eager audience wanting to work with you.
What Services Will You Sell?
First things first, decide which services to sell online. For many business owners, the logical place to start is coaching sessions or consultations. For example, a career influencer may offer one-on-one help for professionals contemplating a career change, or financial bloggers can help someone create (and stick to) a monthly budget.
If you get a lot of emails from people seeking words of wisdom related to their personal situations, consultations and coaching would be a good fit. After all, you could be selling your advice instead of giving it away for free!
Remember, your readers are already stopping by to soak up what you have to say about your niche. Offering one-on-one consultations gives readers wanting that personalized attention an opportunity to pick your brain and receive the added support they crave.
In today’s day and age, coaching is big business. More and more, people are turning to pros, like you, to help them overcome obstacles in order to reach their goals, whether they’re financial, professional, or personal.
But coaching and consultations aren’t the only services that you can offer. In fact, much of the knowledge you’ve gained as an active business owner can lead to services that sell easily online.
1. Freelance Writing
If you’re writing a blog, you already know the finer points of writing blog posts. Many businesses need blogging help to generate brand awareness and expand their online reach. Who better than an actual blogger to help? It’s a natural fit to turn your blogging know-how into a service offering on your blog.
2. Virtual Assistant Services
Many people find success in offering virtual assistant services to established bloggers and business owners. Not only is this a great way to make connections with other online business owners, but it gives you a lot of practical insight and knowledge that will help you advance your own online business.
3. Social Media Management
Business and social media go hand in hand. As a business owner you’re probably active on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. And you probably know a thing or two about gaining followers and traffic from these social sites. Small businesses would benefit from your real-world social media marketing and management experience. So, package that knowledge into a service for sale!
Of course, this is just a short list of potential services you can sell online. Remember, consider your niche and your existing knowledge to determine which services make the most sense to you and your income goals.
What to Charge and Time Constraints
Once you have a service in mind, it’s time to package it for sale on your blog. But before you can go live with your offering, it’s wise to figure out how much you’ll charge and the number of hours you’re willing to devote to services each month.
Because there are only so many hours in a day, you want to make sure you don’t spread yourself too thin. Let’s say you want to offer career coaching services to your readers at a rate of $50 per hour. In any given month, you’d like to earn $1,000 from your coaching services.
That means you’d have to sell 20 hours of coaching services to meet that goal. This comes out to anywhere from four to five hours a week to reach that goal. Make sure you have the time to dedicate to your service offering before you offer it for sale!
Predictability of Selling Services Online
Knowing how many hours a month you have to dedicate to your online services can help you predict how much you can earn month after month.
If you have 20 available hours to devote each month to services, you can work to sell out those services. You can even book yourself out for months in advance. Not only does this create demand and speak to your expertise, but it leads to stable revenue. You’ll have a much more reliable source of income every month on top of your other revenue streams.
Tips For Getting Started
Now that you have a service idea in your head, an understanding of how many hours you’ll want to devote to it, and monthly income goals, you can start selling.
First things first, put a services sales page up on your blog. Here you can detail what it is you offer, your rates, and the benefits of working with you. Link to this page directly on your site’s navigation bar or menu for maximum exposure. You can also mention your services in relevant posts to help spread the word of your new service offerings!
1. Getting Paid
Once you generate interest in your services and start booking sessions and making sales, it’s time to get to work. But once the work is done, how do you get paid?
2. PayPal Payments
A standard option is to invoice clients directly through PayPal. It’s simple to do and gives you a chance to send branded invoices out to your clients.
You can also send customers to a payment page set up directly on your blog. Simply add a PayPal Pay Button to your page and clients can pay you for your work in just a few clicks.
3. Set Up a Simple Shopping Cart
If your prices don’t change (for example, $50 for one hour of coaching), you can sell your services as products or units. Use the Simple PayPal Shopping Cart plugin to sell services directly from your WordPress blog and turn it into an income-generating e-commerce machine!
Sell Services Online for Steady Income
No matter your niche or area of expertise, chances are there is a service offering that makes sense for you. When you can’t count on passive income every month, put your knowledge to work as a freelance service.
Remember, you already have an audience stopping by every month seeking out your expertise. Turn that knowledge into an hourly consultant or coaching service. And don’t forget about your practical knowledge gained as a working business owner! This can translate into services for small businesses or other bloggers feeling stuck in their own initiatives.
Whatever services you decide to sell, remember to keep them relevant to your existing audience, remain authentic, and make it easy for them to be found on your site. Before you know it, you’ll have a steady source of income you can count on month after month.
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