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How to Sell Books on Amazon: A Step-By-Step Guide

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Of all the goods you can sell and all the online marketplaces you can sell them on, selling books on Amazon remains one of the best ways to make money online.

Amazon may be the largest online retailer in the world now, but did you know that the company started out as a marketplace for new and used books?

In fact, CEO Jeff Bezos operated the “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore” straight out of his garage when Amazon opened for business in 1994.

Look familiar?

Amazons Original Website

Three years later, the company carried 2.5 million titles and earned a whopping $148 million in 1997 alone.

Amazon sold books exclusively from its launch until 1999 when the company expanded into selling toys, electronics, tools, and hardware.

Even with the recent success of online bookstore chains like Barnes & Noble, choosing to sell books on Amazon remains a smart decision because Amazon continues to grow at an outstanding rate, and more and more brick-and-mortar Amazon bookstores are popping up.

Why Sell Books on Amazon?

You’re probably looking for a more sophisticated answer than “to make money.”

But really, this is the main reason to choose Amazon over other booksellers: it’s lucrative.

And it’s lucrative because:

  1. the demand for books is as high as ever, if not higher
  2. shoppers trust Amazon
  3. selling on Amazon is simple (as you’ll see below).

3 Ways to Sell Books on Amazon

Amazon has been around for over two decades, so it’s no wonder the company has come up with different ways to accommodate various types of sellers.

If you want to sell books on Amazon, you have three options (each with varying steps to follow):

1. Amazon Trade-In

Technically, you’re not actually selling books on Amazon with the trade-in or buyback program. Instead, you are trading old books in exchange for Amazon gift cards.

To do this, you have to check if your books are currently being accepted in the trade-in program.

Amazon Trade-In

If they are, continue with your submission form and add more if you plan to trade in more books.

When ready, enter your address, print a prepaid shipping label, and send in your items within 7 days free of charge.

The books will be sent to Amazon’s warehouse. You’ll be notified when your book is either accepted or denied.

You can also check the status of your trade-in anytime in Your Trade-In Account or the “payment” by viewing your gift card balance.

If your items are denied, you’ll get your books back with no cost for return shipping.

The trade-in value of your books will be significantly lower than what you paid for them, but really, anything is better than nothing for a book you will never open again.

2. Kindle Direct Publishing

If you’re planning to write a book and want to sell it online, you don’t have to sign with a publishing house anymore. Amazon’s KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) gives anyone a chance to create, publish, and sell their own books, ebooks, and audiobooks on Amazon.

With KDP, you get to keep and control 100% of your book’s rights, which means you can make changes to the books any time you like and earn up to 70% of royalties.

Of course, the most obvious benefit of self-publishing via Amazon is that your book reaches the market quickly without additional expenses.

I’ve fully outlined the process of how to self-publish a book here. It’s a more in-depth guide than you’ll find on this page, so click through if this is the route you want to pursue.

3. Sell Books on Amazon for Cash

You don’t have to trade in used books or publish your own books to take advantage of Amazon’s millions of potential buyers.

You can still sell books on Amazon, even if you didn’t author those books.

There are three ways you can do this:

  • Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) – You post a book for sale, but let Amazon handle the storage, shipping, and post-sale customer support. Many beginner sellers choose this option until they get a solid fulfillment system in place.
  • Fulfillment by merchant (FBM) – Customers order the books from Amazon, but as an FBM seller, you handle everything—storage, packing, shipping, and customer service—every time one of your items gets sold.
  • Amazon vendors (AMZ) – You sell all your books directly to Amazon. They will obviously be a lot cheaper, but if you just closed a brick-and-mortar bookstore and want to unload plenty of books, this is the fastest way possible.

Four-Step Guide to Selling Books on Amazon

At this point, you should have already decided which way you want to sell on Amazon (FBA, FBM, or AMZ). Now, it’s time to get started selling!

Step 1: Create a regular Amazon account and a seller account

  • Join Amazon. If you aren’t already, note that you have to be a member of Amazon to begin selling on the site. Registration is straightforward – enter e-mail address, create a password, and all that jazz.
  • Create Seller Account. Click on the “Your Account” tab and find “Your Seller Account” to begin the process of opening a seller account.
  • Decide on a selling plan. The Individual plan has no monthly subscription fee but has a $0.99 as a per sale closing fee. You can also only sell up to 40 items each month. On the Professional plan, you’d have to shell out a $39.99/month subscription fee plus per-item selling fees, but you get access to spreadsheets and other inventory-related reports.
  • Enter payment information. To receive payment from the books sold, you’ll need to provide a valid checking account. Under “Settings,” find “Account Info.” Find the “Deposit Method” section on the page and click “Edit.” Select your bank’s country/location and make sure to enter the correct routing number. Amazon will send you a confirmation e-mail once it has verified the account with your bank.

Step 2: How to Sell Books on Amazon

  • Find the title of the book you plan on selling. Click “Sell Your Stuff” on the main seller account page and type the title or ISBN into the search box. Tick the “Books” category, before clicking the “Start Selling” button. You can also search for a book normally (as any buyer would), visit the product page, and click the button that says “Sell on Amazon” to begin filling out information on your own book listing.
  • If you can’t find the title on Amazon, list a new book title. If for some reason you can’t find the title of the book you want to sell on Amazon, you’ll be directed to a different form to begin a new listing. From there, you’ll have to enter all details about the book, including the complete title, author name/s, publisher information, and ISBN.
  • Decide on a price. The easiest way to set the price of your book is to compare it with other listings. Beginner sellers often sell their books at a lower price so customers purchase theirs over other sellers’ copies.
  • Enter the book condition. If you’re selling a new book, you can do this portion quickly by just picking paperback or hardcover. But if your book is used, you have to describe the condition of your item (“Like New,” “Very Good,” “Good,” or “Acceptable”). Consult Amazon’s Marketplace Items Condition Guidelines to make sure you’re describing the condition of the book accurately. Books with missing pages, ripped covers, or erased text fall under “Unacceptable” condition and cannot be sold on Amazon.
  • Select the shipping method. If you chose the fulfilled-by-merchant (FBM) approach, you’ll decide everything about shipping and handling.
  • Save your listing. Once you save your listing, the book will now be up for sale on Amazon.

Step 3: Set Up Fulfillment by Amazon

If you want to skip the handling, shipment, and post-sale customer service, FBA is the way to go.

But the steps are a bit different from the regular way of selling books on Amazon. Sellers ship their books directly to one of Amazon’s fulfillment centers (FC).

Whenever a sale pushes through, Amazon packs and ships the book to the customer and handle complaints, returns, and other inquiries on your behalf.

  • Convert any listing into FBA. You can change a regular listing into an FBA version by going to your account’s “Inventory” and clicking “Manage Inventory.” Choose the listing you wish to convert, check the box beside it, and click “Change to Fulfilled by Amazon” from the “Actions” pull-down menu. You will be directed to a new page, asked to “Convert” with a click of a button, and review your revamped listing. (Note that when you convert a regular listing, the original listing will be temporarily removed from Amazon. Don’t worry, since it will be back live once the book arrives at Amazon).
  • Sending books to Amazon. You need to ship your book/s to the nearest Amazon fulfillment centers. Amazon will send you shipping instructions, along with PDF product/shipment labels for your books. Print and stick them to the package as instructed. You can use any courier, deliver them manually, or use Amazon’s discounted shipping to send the book to the fulfillment center; it’s totally your call.
  • Check the status of your books. Once Amazon receives your books, you don’t have to do anything else. You can check the status of your books, monitor listings, or just let Amazon do its thing and wait for notification when your book gets sold.

Step 4: Get Paid

The reason why you sell books on Amazon ultimately boils down to getting paid real cash.

All earnings you get from the sales (minus Amazon fees, outward shipping fees, and so on) will be listed in detail on your Seller Account.

If you wish to withdraw your funds, log in to your Amazon Payments account, click the “Withdraw Funds” tab, and select a bank account from the dropdown menu. Enter the amount you want to transfer to your bank account. Finish by pressing the “Continue” button.

How much money can you make selling books on Amazon?

Given that there are three distinct methods outlined above, the amount of money you can make selling books on Amazon can vary.

For trading in books, you’re limited to what you have to sell from around your house. Textbooks are going to fetch the most amount of money, and even then, you’re selling them for about 10-15% of what you paid. Still, that’s better than letting them sit and collect dust forever.

As for Kindle Direct Publishing, the sky is the limit here. You’re selling a digital product and are in control of pricing, but you’re also responsible for the marketing and sales as well.

Finally, reselling books. This is the area you’ll want to focus on if you want to make serious money in this space.

Scan the UPC codes of the books in your inventory and see how much they’re currently listed on at Amazon. You can quite easily find books that sell for 2x, 5x, and even 20x what you pay for them. Granted you need the right buyer, but with enough inventory, you can pull in a few extra thousand per month.

Where Can You Get Books To Sell On Amazon?

Here are some of the popular sources of inventory where you can get books to sell.

Your own books. This is probably the easiest way to find books to sell and how most beginners get started.

Start looking around your house, and maybe even your parents’ house, for old books that you haven’t read in years and don’t plan to read ever.

Some surprising finds in your house can include textbooks, comic books, and limited edition books.

Used bookstores. Another popular source of books to sell is your local used bookstores.

There’s a good chance you can pick up some surprisingly profitable books here.

Plus, these are almost always in good condition, since used bookstores don’t normally sell stock that’s too damaged.

Local library. Your local library also holds sales periodically because they have to raise some funds and make room for new books.

Estate sales. Estate sales and auctions are other great sources of books to sell on Amazon because they are motivated to liquidate these books and turn them into cash and they normally sell them for a good price.

Try to look for closing out sales or moving out sales, too. Again, these are the ones who are motivated to sell.

Online retail arbitrage. At its simplest, online arbitrage is shopping for books online at a low price and then turning around and selling them at a higher price.

This might take more time than the others, but at least here, you can shop for books from home and not have to get out and go places.

Craigslist. If you’re lucky, you might find entire lots of books being sold cheaply. If you’re super lucky, you might even find free books on here.

The Future of Book Selling on Amazon

Jumping into any kind of business not backed by research is dangerous, so if you plan to sell books on Amazon but was worried about the future of this venture, consider these:

PROS:

Selling on Amazon remains a lucrative venture because it is home to a market that buys.

Amazon has more than 300 million active users, with 150 million Prime subscribers.

Net sales in 2021 amounted to $469.8 billion.

Amazon has a 50% share of the US print book market as of 2018.

Whether you’re on the verge of self-publishing or launching your own online business, partnering with Amazon continues to be a safe business model.

CONS:

However, Amazon is in control of service fees and future policy changes, whether you like it or not.

As a bookseller on Amazon, you’d have to agree to the changes or look to sell somewhere else.

For example, when Amazon upped the FBA fees, about 10% of booksellers stopped shipping their products to Amazon.

Will you be willing to comply when changes like these happen in the future?

Before you invest everything into selling books on Amazon, weigh these pros and cons carefully.

Other Things To Sell In Amazon

Of course, books aren’t the only thing to sell on Amazon.

If at this point, you’ve changed your mind about selling books, here are other things to sell on Amazon that can make you some money as well.

5 Legit Paid Online Survey Sites Worth Your Time

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Paid online surveys attract many people since it’s an easy way to make money online.

Who wouldn’t want that?

I’ve resisted touting survey sites because, for the most part, I’ve felt that they waste too much time and effort.

Sure, you can make a few bucks here and there with a survey. You might even score an in-depth webcam-enabled interview that nets you $40 or $60.

However, getting decent-paying surveys is a crapshoot, and best not relied upon for a steady income.

Or is it?

I went through the hundreds of survey sites that are out there and found the 5 best paid online surveys you should consider joining.

Below are an additional 15 that, while they aren’t as good as my top 5, they are still worth joining to maximize your number of survey invites.

My 5 Best Paid Online Survey Sites

1. Opinion Outpost

Opinion Outpost logo

Opinion Outpost leads off this list by keeping things simple.

I’ve been recommending them since I first started this site way back in 2007, and their longevity is proof enough that they are as legit as they come.

Register an account, answer surveys, get paid in cash. They make the process as easy as possible and are committed to providing you with as many surveys as you qualify for.

2. Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie

If you’re after the highest paying online surveys, then look no further.

Survey Junkie is home to over 5 million members, and so far, no major complaints about lack of surveys or payment delays.

A survey can take around 10 minutes to complete.

You earn points after finishing a survey. You can then have it converted into cash via PayPal (or Amazon gift cards) once you reach the $10 payment threshold.

Generally, you can earn from $10-$15 an hour with Survey Junkie surveys.

TO JOIN: Create an account, fill in your profile, and wait for Survey Junkie to match you with their surveys.

You’ll be notified when surveys are available. Complete them, then earn points.

3. Swagbucks

Swagbucks Surveys

Swagbucks isn’t just a survey site. It provides dozens of ways to earn money by doing ordinary online activities, such as watching videos, playing games, online shopping, searching the web, and so on.

Swagbucks has been paying people around the world over $600 million in rewards and they’re not stopping anytime soon.

I’ve personally cashed over $1,000 in rewards from Swagbucks.

Swagbucks Proof

You can answer surveys and polls daily, which take a maximum of 10 minutes to complete. The coolest thing about Swagbucks is that you can even receive consolation points if you don’t qualify for a particular survey.

Generally, you can earn around 30 to 150 Swagbucks per survey. That’s probably around $6.50 an hour. You can then have your Swagbucks converted into cash or vouchers, or you can use these to join Swagbucks-run contests.

TO JOIN: Create an account (and be awarded $5 for signing up), fill in your profile, then explore what Swagbucks has to offer.

4. Pinecone Research

Pinecone Research

Pinecone Research is probably my favorite paid online survey company in this group.

Surveys come in at a flat rate of $3 per survey and generally take around 10 minutes to fill out, making this the highest pay-per-hour survey site you can join.

Your first check will be issued on completion of your first survey.

On top of normal surveys, you may be sent new products in the mail to try out. You get to keep whatever they send on top of being paid to answer questions about it.

TO JOIN: Create an account here, confirm your email address, and fill out the demographic survey to immediately start making some money.

5. Inbox Dollars

InboxDollars

InboxDollars is another site that offers paid online surveys that pay you in cash instead of points.

From their website, InboxDollars has paid over $80 million in cash rewards to its members for answering surveys, as well as doing relatively simple tasks, such as watching videos, playing games, and shopping (through cashback).

TO JOIN: Sign up on their website (and get a $5 bonus just for signing up!). You’ll then have to answer a few simple demographic questions, such as your income, race, education, and other information that will help them match you with surveys you’re eligible for.

15 More Survey Companies to Join

The following companies are legit and are worth joining if you want to maximize the number of surveys you get each month. I’d suggest clicking through to all of them and seeing which ones feel like they’re worth joining.

  1. American Consumer Opinion
  2. SurveySavvy
  3. Toluna
  4. PaidViewpoint
  5. PointClub
  6. LifePoints
  7. Global Survey Group
  8. Maru Springboard America
  9. Panda Research
  10. OneOpinion
  11. Survey Voices
  12. i-Say
  13. Harris Poll Online
  14. Valued Opinions
  15. Branded Surveys

That wraps up my list of approved survey companies, but keep reading to learn how to maximize your earnings.

Frequently Asked Questions About Paid Online Surveys

The following questions are probably the most-asked questions about online surveys, and it’s worth going over the answers to these for good reason: they’re going to save you a lot of time.

How much can you really make taking surveys?

Yes, you can make some money.

But most of the time, the amount is totally exaggerated.

  • Yes, you can earn an extra $500 to $1000 a month answering online surveys, but this would take up all your time throughout the day (8 working hours or more).
  • Yes, you can get paid just by joining online survey sites, but you can’t withdraw that signup bonus immediately. In most cases, you’ll need to earn your first $20 before requesting a payout.
  • Yes, there’s no stopping you from joining all the survey sites you can find, but some just pay pennies.

Realistically, you can earn an average of $5–$10/hour for paid online surveys.

You could be picked for special $50-per-survey gigs, but this rarely occurs.

How long does answering surveys take?

The time you need to complete a survey varies completely.

Some surveys are as short as regular sign-up pages, while others are part of a full-blown study.

If you’re planning to do this on the side of a full-time job, or during downtime at school, then you’d probably just commit an hour or two for surveys.

Is everyone qualified to take surveys?

Generally, the best survey sites welcome individuals 16 years old and above.

Countries allowed to join vary, but they’re mostly available for everyone around the world. The problem lies in the payment method since some countries do not have PayPal options, while others cannot accept remittances.

Why do these survey sites pay you, anyway?

Brands, companies, and organizations will pay a premium just to know what and how their target audience thinks.

Opinions of survey takers such as yourself shape the products and services that these brands develop and how they are marketed.

What types of questions can you expect to be required to answer?

You can expect to be asked about your activities, interests, and hobbies.

You’ll also likely be asked about your spending habits and decisions; for instance, what makes it likely for you to choose a brand over another?

Essentially, expect questions that will help a brand develop new products or fine-tune existing ones.

How do you get paid?

Depending on the survey site you chose to join, you can either be paid through:

  • Cash – Straight to your PayPal or a bank account
  • Points – You can use these points to buy stuff from the survey site’s store, or convert into cash
  • Gift cards – If you love shopping online and prefer to be paid with Amazon gift cards or other types of online gift cards, some survey sites provide this option.
  • App store credits – Maybe you’re just answering surveys because you need extra cash for your games and apps. If this is the case, you can actually get paid with Google Play credits.

How to Make Paid Online Surveys Worth It

There are literally hundreds of survey sites around, but they’re not built equally.

If you decide to answer surveys for money right now, it’s important that you choose only the best and highest-paying online surveys.

Doing this saves you a lot of time and headaches that scammy survey sites may bring.

1. Calculate how much your time is worth.

The first thing you should do before taking any online surveys is to calculate the least amount of money you are willing to make per hour.

Typically, this is done by taking your current yearly compensation and dividing it by 2,080, which is 52 weeks per year multiplied by 40 hours per week.

Use this hourly rate to determine the value of your time.

If you are unemployed, don’t assume that your time is free.

You can still complete other tasks to make money, including taking up a part-time job, house and pet sitting, becoming a microjobs agent, etc.

2. Learn how much each survey is worth.

It’s easy to get sidetracked by a supposedly easy survey that takes just “minutes” to complete.

For example, a survey that claims to take 20 minutes to complete and pays $3 may not really end up making you the equivalent of $9/hour.

Because many surveys require a pre-qualifier survey, you may end up working 10 minutes on the pre-qualifier before you even get to the real survey. That drops your earnings significantly. And if you fail the pre-qualifier, you’ve just wasted 10 minutes of your time.

If you have a selection of surveys to choose from, choose those surveys that pay you at least $10/hour.

Also, it’s far better to spend more time and effort on surveys that promise to pay $50+ even if they do take more time to complete because, once you’re in, you’ll probably be webcam interviewed.

That may sound intimidating at first; however, webcam-enabled interviews are better because they last a shorter time and are more likely to send you a payout.

3. Download online survey mobile apps.

If an online survey site announces that it has a mobile app version of its platform, download it.

Why?

Online surveys are best performed when you are already wasting time standing in line at the store, waiting for a doctor’s appointment, etc.

They are usually not the best use of your time when you are sitting at home and could find many other (and better) ways to make money.

4. Choose survey sites with low payout thresholds.

Back in the early 2000s, a steady crop of survey sites popped up and promised large amounts of money to survey takers.

What they didn’t advertise was the fact that survey takers would not be able to cash out until they had reached $100+ thresholds. By the time such thresholds were reached, the sites had either disappeared or just didn’t have enough work for their survey takers.

Before you commit to working with any online survey site, read the site’s fine print about payout thresholds.

Alternately, if you’d rather collect gift cards, find out how much you need to spend to obtain those gift cards. You don’t want to be almost at your points goal for payout only to learn that your survey site shut down.

5. Don’t game the system.

Many survey takers try to fool survey sites by deliberately lying on pre-qualifying surveys and claiming to have tried product X, have children ages 2–4, etc.

While such lies may initially get you qualified for a higher number of paying surveys, eventually, your lies will catch up with you.

How does this happen?

Survey sites track survey takers and create profiles on them. Some survey sites work with other survey sites.

If your supplied information doesn’t match up across different platforms, or even across different surveys, you’ll eventually be found out and banned from these sites.

6. Use survey sites as a stepping stone.

Online surveys can lead to better-paying opportunities.

Oftentimes, survey companies collaborate with clients that want more direct feedback than just online answers.

Once you are recruited into a more “live” panel, your pay can jump from a few dollars per survey to $100 or even higher.

How to Know Which Paid Online Survey Sites to Avoid

The survey sites on our list are legit, but you’re probably going to want to search for new ones, especially when there is a lack of surveys on some of the sites you’re working with.

Here are some telltale signs that a survey site is not worth the time or effort.

When you do a search, it turns up nothing or mostly negative reviews. Survey sites that are trustworthy are talked about and even praised by their users. They also have proof that these survey sites indeed pay.

They ask for payment. A legitimate survey site will NEVER ask you to pay in exchange for surveys.

They ask for personal information. You should not be asked to provide your social security information, driver’s license information, or bank account information (if they’re not going to pay through your bank account).

Their websites look sketchy or outdated. If they can’t be bothered to update and maintain their website properly, they probably can’t be bothered to pay their members, either.

They continually disqualify you for surveys. Of course, there are surveys that you’re not going to be qualified to answer or to be paid out. But if it’s proving to be too difficult to even be qualified for surveys, it might be wise to just cut your losses and move on to another site.

The Bottom Line

Paid online survey sites can be a good way to supplement your income.

The caveat to this conclusion is that you should be aware of how much time you spend filling out those online surveys.

Valuable surveys should take up the majority of your time and energy.

Less valuable surveys are better off being filled out when you are bored and/or waiting for something else, such as a dental appointment.

Look into getting paid to join a focus group, test products, or participate in online research studies.

All of those offer higher-paying alternatives for similar lines of work.

Which of these paid online survey sites have you encountered or signed up for? Can you share your experiences with them? Tell us in the comments!

12 Best Digital Nomad Jobs You Can Do From Anywhere

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Digital nomad jobs have been around for over a decade and these lifestyles seem to be working as evidenced by YouTubers sharing their day-to-day adventures in another city, state, or even country.

Becoming a digital nomad has been a “dream opportunity” for many people wanting to escape the monotony of 9-to-5 jobs.

However, after Covid-19 caused many travel restrictions, I’m sure you’re wondering: Is the digital nomad lifestyle still feasible today? If so, where can one find digital nomad jobs? And most importantly, “how much do digital nomads earn?”

If you’ve been planning to leave the rat race for digital nomad jobs this year, here’s everything you need to know.

Digital Nomad Lifestyle 101

It’s hard to pin down a single definition of what a digital nomad is, but they all meet specific criteria, such as using technology in an internet-enabled location to be able to work remotely for various reasons, locations, and length of time.

If we’re going by this definition, then even those who are working from home can be a digital nomad; whether you travel to the coffee shop downtown or to another state or another country, and whether you stay there for hours, days, weeks, or months at a time, then that’s being a digital nomad as well.

As you’ll see below, digital nomad jobs can vary widely, but an important thing that digital nomad jobs have in common is that they make achieving a proper work-life balance more attainable than conventional office-based jobs allow.

Things You Need for a Digital Nomad Lifestyle

Here are some of the important things you’ll need to have to be able to live the digital nomad lifestyle.

  • Essential equipment and software — It’s nearly impossible to find and keep digital nomad jobs if you don’t have the essentials: your own laptop, a portable Wi-Fi device or any other way to get reliable mobile internet, a decent headset and web camera, and communication software to stay connected to your employer, customers, or clients.
  • Travel documents — If you’re traveling outside your home country, you always need to have your passport and visa (if your host country requires it) with you, as well as the local address and telephone number of your home country’s embassy. It’s also prudent to have a scanned photo or photocopy of them in a secure location in the cloud in case they get lost or stolen.
  • General skills — Aside from your chosen field, you’d need advanced computer skills since you’ll be your own technical support while traveling. You’d also need exceptional communication skills mostly for talking to your employer, employee, or clients.
  • Career-specific software — Again, depending on your career, you may have to use specialized software. For instance, if you’re a graphic designer, you likely need to have Photoshop installed on your computer.
  • Insurance — Getting paid to travel the world seems like such a glamorous lifestyle until you get sick in a foreign country and end up spending more than you should. Be smart and get health and travel insurance that covers you during your journey.

Other gear that digital nomads have shared that was useful to them include a portable solar charger (especially for those working near the beach), a global SIM card to remain connected with loved ones from home, and an anti-theft bag or backpack to protect your precious equipment from thieves and robbers.

Considerations Before You Live the Digital Nomad Life

Not everyone who sets out to be a digital nomad becomes successful, especially those who leave their home country. Consider the following before you uproot yourself and wander off.

Emergency funds and plans — We never know what might happen while you’re away from home. A family member might get sick, you might get robbed, or, which came true in 2020, you might find yourself stranded in a foreign country while a pandemic rages on.

You’ll want to have a plan and funds to implement that plan. Whether you’ll need to go home quickly or you’ll have to stay in a different place, you have to be ready to do that plan.

Travel fatigue — You might assume that because you love to travel back home, you’ll automatically love traveling in a foreign country as well.

However, travelers who move about constantly are always on high alert and can never pin down a routine, which will eventually take its toll.

You might say that there’s such a thing as too much flexibility.

Also, homesickness, loneliness, and burnout are very real things that many digital nomads have to fight, especially since they affect not only productivity while working but also one’s long-term mental health.

How to Start the Digital Nomad Lifestyle

Generally, there are three ways to go about this:

The best path for you depends on your skills, experience, budget, and how much risk you’re comfortable assuming.

The Best Digital Nomad Jobs

In the past, software developers had the lion’s share of remote work opportunities, but as the list of professions that can be done remotely grows longer, the range of industries becomes larger and pretty much anyone with a laptop and internet connection will be able to find digital nomad jobs.

Here are some of the best ones you can do from anywhere.

1. Virtual assistant

This job is an assistant-type position that performs a wide range of small tasks for an individual or a company.

Examples of tasks you might be asked to do include managing schedules, handling email correspondence, operating an Amazon store, and many more.

2. Copywriter

Copywriting involves writing content for the purpose of promoting a product, service, or brand.

It aims to increase brand awareness and persuade audiences to take a particular action, whether it’s to register on a website, subscribe to an email list, or purchase a product.

Your “copy,” as it’s called, will usually be used in digital media such as emails, videos, social media, and websites.

3. Online tutor or online English teacher

You’ll need to find someplace quiet to teach anything online, and that can be a struggle.

But if you manage to find one, this type of teaching job allows you plenty of flexibility with a decent take-home pay.

Companies don’t normally require online tutors and online English teachers to have teaching certificates, but they’re definitely an advantage.

Having plenty of teaching experience is more valuable, especially if you’re going to be accepting non-English speakers or children as clients.

4. Translator

Are you fluent in one or more other language aside from English?

If so, you might find being an online translator to be fun and interesting.

5. Software and app developer

As I’ve mentioned, there is no shortage of opportunities out there for programmers, so if this is you, jump right in!

6. Graphic designer

Graphic designers have plenty of options as well.

They could find a company and work as a graphic designer remotely, or join the gig economy and pick andchoose graphic design projects that they’re interested in doing.

7. Digital marketer

Whether you have a marketing background or not, if you are knowledgeable about promoting, marketing and managing campaigns for a company to drive more sales, then you’ll have a lucrative career as a digital marketer.

8. Consultant

Are you an expert at anything? Hunting? Travel? Electronics? Carpentry? Personal finance? SEO? Psychology? Love life?

You can offer your consultancy services from anywhere in the world by applying to online consultancy companies or building your own consultancy business online.

9. Transcriptionist

If you have stellar listening skills, excellent spelling and grammar skills, and a typing speed of greater than 60 wpm, transcription may be a good fit for you.

10. Video Editor

From YouTube to Twitch to TikTok, online video content is booming. With the increase in content comes an increase in demand for video editors to make the video content as entertaining and engaging as possible.

This may require you to buy more equipment than the usual digital nomad, but if you find steady work through a company or build a solid client base while working on a freelance basis, this can be a lucrative career for you that you can do anywhere.

11. Freelance Writer

If you love writing but not selling, copywriting isn’t the only writing career you can pursue. There are many other freelance writing opportunities available for anyone who wants them.

12. Proofreader

Non-stop written content creation means that producers of this content need people to check this content for spelling and grammar errors, syntax, and continuity.

As an online proofreader, you might be asked to check various types of content, from blog posts to ebooks, and sometimes even homework.

Where to Find Digital Nomad Jobs

Now that you know what kind of jobs are in-demand and can be completed no matter what part of the world you are in, where do you start looking for these digital nomad jobs?

General Job Boards

General job boards have been around for years and have proven to be a good source of remote jobs if you know where to look in these sites.

  • FlexJobs: We highly recommend starting your search here. This job database accepts listings for remote/flexible jobs, and they vet all the companies who are submitting listings to their company. Use the search filters to get results that would fit your skillset and circumstances.
  • LinkedIn: This platform was built specifically to network and look for employment. It also serves as an awesome résumé for clients and potential employers to check out.
  • Upwork: You need to create and send your pitch to companies and hope they notice it and hire you.
  • Fiverr: One of the most popular gig sites around, Fiverr lets you have control over the services you want to offer.
  • Freelancer.com: An oldie but goodie, this remains a favorite of freelancers who are looking for legit job opportunities.

Digital Nomad Job Boards

These job boards are specifically focused on remote opportunities. Some of them even have resources and tips within the website to help digital nomads land their dream jobs and work while traveling.

  • We Work Remotely: With over 3 million visitors every month, this is one of the most popular job boards for both employers and applicants.
  • Virtual Vocations: If you want to be a digital nomad within the country, this is your best bet. They comb through thousands of websites and social media to find all the best jobs.
  • Remote OK: They claim to be the most popular remote jobs board in the world, trusted by leading remote companies and millions of remote workers. The opportunities here are largely tech jobs, though.
  • Power to Fly: Not only do they make remote jobs available to digital nomads but they also aim for more diversity, equity, and inclusion in virtual workspaces.
  • Jobspresso: They pride themselves on thoroughly researching potential employers and posting only high-quality job leads.
  • Working Nomads: As their name implies, their job board specifically targets digital nomads.

Digital Nomad Jobs In A Post-Covid World

One of the biggest changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic was that workers who held “traditional” office jobs have been forced to either adapt their jobs into flexible setups or quit and find digital nomad jobs because of lockdowns.

The good news is that the demand for remote workers has increased substantially as well.

However, if you’re a digital nomad who literally travels to different cities or countries while working, then travel restrictions may cramp your style.

There’s also the changing attitude of people toward travel in general. The trend seems to be leaning toward visiting fewer locations but staying longer, plus favoring locations that are closer to family or at least closer to healthcare facilities.

No matter how or when the COVID-19 pandemic finally ends (or when humans adapt to live with it, much like we live with the flu), remote work is here to stay, and digital nomad jobs will become more of the norm than a mere trend.

After all, once workers experience not having to be tied down to a location, schedule, or even a single employer, going back to the traditional setup will seem less appealing.

Final Thoughts on Digital Nomad Jobs

Becoming a digital nomad can be a truly life-changing experience, and I hope this article helped you see the possibilities and opportunities.

With this list of digital nomad jobs and where to look for them, taking that first step is easier now than ever before.

Already working remotely? Which one of these digital nomad jobs are you considering? Share it with us in the comments!

Get Paid to Travel Around the World: 22 Legit Ways

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Wouldn’t it be fantastic to get paid to travel?

Imagine the places you can see…

World Travel

the culture you’d experience…

World Travel

the food you’d taste…

Exotic Food

the friends you’d meet…

and the beauty of beaches and other natural or handmade destinations around the world you’d be able to keep in your memories.

Sightseeing

If you’ve been stalking travel bloggers forever and wondering how these seemingly ordinary people can travel around the world, this post will answer all your burning questions about this “industry.”

Sure there are various ways you can travel for free, but wouldn’t it be even better to make money while you travel?

Here’s how to get started:

22 Ways to Get Paid to Travel

You’ll likely encounter two main types of jobs:

  • Jobs with travel and accommodation included – You apply to these jobs abroad because it gives you the opportunity to travel without spending a lot upfront. Jobs like ski instructing and cruise ship gigs are perfect examples of these jobs.
  • Odd jobs in the city you plan to travel – Those who rely on real-world skills to go wherever their feet take them, get by through finding seasonal jobs. Bartender gigs or teaching how to speak another language fall under these types of jobs.

Whatever job you end up taking, always make sure that it’s legal, and you can do it legally (that is, don’t get deported or worse, arrested!).

Here are some of the ways you can get paid to travel.

1. Get Paid to Teach

Not a lot of people can do this, but there is always a demand for teachers, regardless of the topic that you plan to teach.

a. Teaching Skiing and other Specialty Sports

Depending on your travel goals, teaching people to ski can get you a job and a place to stay at popular ski resorts in New Zealand, California, Colorado, and other places.

Other similar instructor jobs involve scuba diving, yoga, fitness, surfing, rock climbing, and a whole lot more.

You usually have to get certifications and other requirements to land these jobs, but it is worth it.

b. Teaching English and other languages

Most travelers opt to teach English abroad as it involves a skill they already possess. Plus, depending on the company they work for and the type of equipment they have, they can do it anywhere in the city or country where they are.

The requirements are easy to meet too!

In most cases, you’d only have to be a native speaker to get the job. Some companies require a college degree and a teaching certification (that you can easily obtain online).

Legit companies will pay teachers their airfare and housing on top of a monthly salary with benefits.

There are plenty of resources about teaching languages either online or office-based, but you can start with Dave’s ESL Cafe if you’re serious about going this route.

2. Get Paid Housesitting & Petsitting

Taking care of other people’s houses and pets when they’re away is a real job.

Some people have been housesitting professionally around the world for years. Of course, accommodation is free and as long as you’re not breaking the terms of your contract, you have the freedom to tour locally for extended times.

Want to know more? You can learn more about housesitting in this article.

3. Apply to Cruise Ship Jobs

For people who want a bit of security as they roam around the world, cruise ship jobs are the perfect gateway to living the nomad life.

The best thing about landing a cruise ship job is you get free fare and free room and board while traveling, plus you’ll get a salary.

You’re essentially getting paid to travel, which is the whole point!

 

Get paid to work on a cruise ship

 

The jobs vary wildly; from entertaining (singers, dancers, hosts, tour guides, etc.) to day-to-day cruise ship work like housekeeping, cooking, waitressing, bartending, and more.

Work hours are long in cruise ships, but it gives you a chance to see the world, one port of call at a time.

Requirements depend on the position you’re applying for, but at the very least, you’ll have to know how to swim and be physically, emotionally, and mentally able to stand months at sea.

Start by checking out jobs on All Cruise Jobs, Cruise Jobs Guide, or CruiseShipJob.com if you can find something you’d be interested in.

4. Explore Hospitality Jobs

Working in a hotel or hostel as a front desk officer, housekeeper, cook/chef, bartender, waitress, etc. can certainly pay off, especially if you do your job in many different places around the world.

You’ll have a better chance of getting these jobs if you apply in hotels that are in areas with plenty of tourists all year round.

This is one of the most straightforward ways to meet locals and actually experience their culture, as well as speak to tourists and learn travel tips and destinations.

This route can be hard because it involves back-breaking, labor-intensive work, but this can be fulfilling for the right kind of traveler.

5. Become a Farmhand

This is one job where you’ll need to be strong and have plenty of stamina.

Becoming a farmhand is no easy endeavor, but if you’re strong and have plenty of stamina, it’s a good way to earn while you’re traveling.

If you’re looking for something that gives you time to explore, why not check out WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms)?

They offer opportunities to work on organic farms throughout the world.

You’d work for a set number of hours a day (around 4 to 6 hours) and you get room and board in exchange. That leaves you plenty of time to go exploring.

6. Be an Au Pair

If you’re an unmarried young adult with no children but are good with them, working as an au pair in another country is a good way to earn money while traveling.

An au pair is an individual who travels to a foreign country for a definite period of time, usually a year, to support a family through childcare and housework in exchange for room and board, as well as a salary.

The main purpose is a cultural exchange; you get to learn about a foreign land and possibly a new language, while your host family gets childcare, housework, and learns your language and your culture.

The benefits of being an au pair are triple: you get to live in a foreign country, you get free room and board, and you get paid a salary!

There are horror stories behind jobs like this, so it’s usually a good idea to use a trusted agency like GoAuPair.com, AuPair.Com, AuPairWorld, or Great AuPair.

7. Work on a Yacht

Working on a yacht is much different from working on a cruise ship. You’ll need to wear many more hats and be a team player as well.

Finding yachts to work on is made much easier by using The Crew Network, a site designed to match up crew looking for work and boat owners looking for crew.

Even if you don’t have experience working on a yacht or any kind of boat, you can still apply to entry-level yacht jobs, such as deckhands or stewardesses. Of course, you can also apply as a chef or an engineer if that’s your professional experience.

While you will get to work in and visit many new and exciting places, be aware that you won’t be in control of your destinations.

8. Alternative Travel Jobs

If you’ve never been comfortable with 8-to-5 jobs, alternative jobs would probably work better for you.

These jobs are often under-the-table, so don’t expect overtime salaries, benefits, and all that jazz.

But you’ll be able to get paid to travel and support your adventures day in, day out by:

  • joining a group of fire dancers,
  • drawing/painting people’s portraits,
  • becoming a camp counselor,
  • singing or playing music for the quirky bar,
  • helping local farmers,
  • …or doing other cool jobs.

There’s not much security in these kinds of jobs, but it gives the most freedom to earn from various tasks each day.

9. Get Paid to Travel while Doing your Old Job

There’s a term for a growing number of people who sold everything they owned, packed a bag, and traveled to Bali or somewhere exotic.

The only thing they kept from their old life is their jobs.

Called “digital nomads,” these groups of people work from their computers. Their location is irrelevant, as long as there is access to the internet.

If you’re lucky and your current company offers to turn your office job into a remote position, then you can adapt to the digital nomad lifestyle easily.

For those who can’t continue doing their old jobs, there is a wide range of jobs available for you to do.

10. Earn from Travel Photography

If you have an eye for travel photography, you can sell your images to the right people.

Matthew Karsten of ExpertVagabond.com sells images from his travels to National Geographic, tourism departments of various countries, magazines, tour companies, book publishers, and more. He even teaches fellow “vagabonds” how to earn money with travel photography.

11. Get Paid to Travel with Freelance Writing

Those who have a flair for words can earn money while traveling through freelance writing. Magazines like The Travel Channel often hire third-party writers to share their stories with their readers.

Since traveling could be your forte by now, travel writing often comes out naturally.

However, you don’t necessarily have to write about travel. You can earn as a freelance writer even if you talk about finance, IT, or even product reviews.

Freelance writers earn somewhere between 1 cent to $1 per word, depending on their skills, experience, popularity, and the company they’re working for.

Interested? Here are 153 other writing jobs you can check out.

12. Work as a Travel Nurse

Travel nurses work temporary, short-term assignments (as short as 18 weeks up to 6 months) at hospitals or other healthcare facilities to fill positions when there is an unusually high demand for nurses in a certain location.

You’d need the same educational level and licenses that traditional registered nurses and nurse practitioners who work in hospitals and clinics, with the added requirement of being willing and able to travel and relocate.

Travel nurses usually find employment in other states and sometimes other countries by signing up with a travel nurse staffing agency. Some reputable ones include American Mobile, Onward Healthcare, and Aya Healthcare.

13. Move Cars

If your idea of traveling is driving cross-country, perhaps working to deliver cars from one point to another may appeal to you.

Customers may hire drivers to drive their cars home from a vacation while they get home through other means of transportation. Still others may want their vehicles driven home when they move to another state.

14. Haul Boats

For much the same reasons as customers want drivers to move their cars, some (probably more affluent) customers may want to hire people to move their boats; either they’re moving or going home after a vacation.

They may either hire people to haul their boats by loading them onto a trailer and driving them, or they might be willing to hire a sailor to drive the boat.

This type of job isn’t very much in demand, but this might be a good supplemental income if you like driving.

15. Rent Your House

If you own your house and don’t want to sell it when you travel so that you’ll still have a “home base,” you can make money off it by renting out your house through Airbnb, other similar apps, or through a property management company.

This way, you can earn side cash from a property that will sit idle otherwise, and you’ll have a safety net in case you have trouble getting a steady income while traveling or you decide you want to come back home.

You might think it’s better to rent out to people you know, but there are pros and cons to renting out to friends versus strangers, so learn them before you finalize your plan.

How to Earn Money from a Travel Blog

I’m now going to talk about how travel bloggers earn money that could sustain their adventures.

Before we begin, you have to understand that it takes a lot of hard work, no-income months, and budget traveling for travel bloggers to be able to live the life they project on their social media.

Some bloggers even use up their entire life savings or sell everything they own just to be able to travel the first several months from their own pockets.

Simply put, the success of travel bloggers doesn’t happen overnight.

And they all got their start by following quality Internet Marketing training.

16. Google Adsense and other premium ad networks

Anyone can join Google’s advertising platform, as long as the website has been live for at least six months and meet other requirements.

Once you join AdSense, you can start placing special code on your blog, which then displays ads that are relevant to the content of your site.

You earn cents per view. It doesn’t sound much, but if your blog is visited by thousands of people every day, those cents can add up pretty quickly.

When your audience grows bigger, you can apply to other ad networks that have better rates. MediaVine or AdThrive, for example, are known to pay higher rates than AdSense but require your blog to have a minimum number of visits monthly.

17. Affiliate Marketing

With affiliate marketing, you mention products and services on your blog, add a link going to a third-party store like Amazon and WorldNomads.com that sells these products, and receive a commission from a sale if someone clicks on your link and buys anything from that store.

The more affiliate links you post on your blog, the higher chances of receiving bigger commissions.

Be wary of doing it too much (especially if the products are no longer relevant to your brand). Too much advertising is generally frowned upon by readers/viewers.

Instead, only recommend products that you actually use. For example, a new camera or phone that you use for recording your videos, travel gear given to you by a friend, books you just read, and so on.

Aside from third-party stores, you can also check out dedicated affiliate networks like Commission Junction that organizes affiliates from multiple brands.

Popular travel blogs with over 500,000 monthly page views earn $10 to $15k per month.

18. Brand Partnerships

Many bloggers say you’ve made it big when companies begin noticing you, your blog or social media accounts, and the network of audience you’ve built.

Their goal is to establish a partnership with you.

These companies will pay to advertise on your platform. This could mean a blog post, tweet, mention on newsletters, Instagram feature, and so on.

The cool thing about sponsorships is that the income potential is endless.

From several hundreds of dollars for a post on Facebook to over $15,000 for an ad package or long-form post, the deals depend largely on the company you’re talking to and your bragging rights (how popular is your blog, how much audience do you have, etc).

A note about sponsorships/partnerships: Make sure to always include a disclaimer whenever you post a sponsored video, article, photo, and so on. This way, you remain honest with your audience and maintain their loyalties.

Take a look at our BIG list of brands looking for influencers to partner with.

19. Long-term Ambassadorships

If you get paid to travel as a brand ambassador, you’re living the dream many bloggers aspire to achieve.

When you become a brand ambassador, you’ll be featured in that brand’s commercials, social media marketing, and other activities of the brand.

Think about how successful athletes become icons for Nike, or famous actresses become spokespersons for CoverGirl, and so on.

Brand ambassadorships are longer than a typical sponsorship and include more than one promotion.

What’s great about these deals is that more often than not, the brand pays more or less $10,000 per project. And the greater reach you have, the higher rate you can ask.

20. Tourism Marketing

The viral potential of blog posts or videos is unquestionable, and tourism departments of many countries are catching up to online advertising.

If you’re in the rockstar levels of travel blogging, you’ll be invited to visit a country (usually with flights, accommodation, and tours paid) on top of a project fee. This fee can go as high as $20,000, depending on the type of promotion included in the campaign.

Tourism boards, tour companies, and local brands and industries are other groups willing to sponsor trips and travel expenses of travel bloggers to promote their regions and products.

21. Get Paid to Travel with Social Media

Even if you don’t maintain a travel photography website or travel blog, you can still get paid to travel with social media. You have several options, including:

Facebook – Nas Daily, a traveler who tries to inspire people with 1-minute video snippets of his travel around the world, uses Facebook indirectly to make money traveling.

Capitalizing on his fame from making 1,000 one-minute videos in 1,000 days, his page currently has 20 million followers on FB, which helps him earn from his merch and land video editing jobs, consulting gigs, speaking engagements, and other opportunities.

His current endeavor is Nas Academy, which aims to present engaging courses targeted to content creators.

Instagram – Travel bloggers on Instagram produce some of the best-looking travel photography today. Just a quick look at the best Instagram travel bloggers gives you an idea of how talented they are.

These Instagram stars earn money through sponsorships (mostly in the travel industry) and brand placement.

22. Become a Local Tour Guide

Being a local tour guide isn’t as hard as you think.

Sure there are plenty of agencies you can join, but there are usually no set laws surrounding this job.

If you have a solid knowledge of the area, plenty of stories, anecdotes, and trivia, and a good sense of humor, this is probably a good fit for you.

Plus, you can use your travel blog to promote your tour guide services and vice versa.

And don’t underestimate how much content you can mine from your tour guide sessions. You can write about your clients (don’t name them if you don’t have their permission) or something interesting or new you’ve learned.

You CAN Get Paid to Travel!

Getting paid to travel is the dream, really.

Just remember: it’s a combination of a ton of hard work and a little bit of luck.

Your best bet is to find jobs that take you around the world and then create a blog about your adventures.

Once you have a big enough following, that’s when the magic starts to happen.

In the meantime, browse my list of work-at-home jobs. These are jobs you can do anywhere in the world.

Which job or option looks most attractive to you? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

How to Sell Your Wedding Dress: Make Another Bride Happy!

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For many, a wedding dress is a once-in-a-lifetime purchase and won’t think twice about spending thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars on a dress they’ll wear on their wedding day and never again.

But a new generation of brides agree that wedding dresses can get pretty expensive.

One way to compromise is to splurge on the wedding dress and then recoup some of the cost by selling the wedding dress by selling it when the wedding is over.

If this is what you’re planning to do after your own wedding, or if you have a once-worn wedding dress that you want to sell, you’ve come to the right place.

Read this guide to selling wedding dresses: the best places to sell them, how to set the price, and more tips to sell your wedding dress.

Where Can I Sell My Wedding Dress Online?

You don’t have to go far to sell your wedding dress.

Just visit any of the websites below and pick the one that fits your situation best (price-wise and overall service):

1. Nearly Newlywed

This website is highly recommended in wedding groups and forums as the process of listing and selling your wedding dress with them is among the easiest.

To get started, create a seller account, upload photos of your wedding dress along with detailed information about the dress (where you bought it, its condition, the reason for selling, etc.), pay a $19.99 listing fee, then wait for your listing to be approved.

Once approved, Nearly Newlywed will take care of everything: advertising and marketing your dress, answering buyer inquiries, processing payments, covering shipping fees (provided your dress is priced over $500), and after-sales support.

You’ll come back into the picture once someone buys your dress. You’ll be given a prepaid shipping label to ship off the dress to the buyer (again, as long as your dress is priced above $500; if your dress is priced less than $500, you’ll have to cover shipping fees).

After the 5-day return window, if your buyer decides to keep the dress, Nearly Newlywed will pay you 70% of the list price of your wedding dress through PayPal or check.

If the buyer changes their mind within the return window, they’ll ship the item back to you, and you’ll need to confirm that you received the dress in good condition so Newly Newlywed can refund them (less a $50 return fee). The dress goes back up for sale until it finds its permanent home.

  • HOW MUCH YOU EARN: You get 70% of the sales price, while Nearly Newlywed earns 30% commission for every wedding dress
  • PROS: Hands-off selling, simple process
  • CONS: $19.99 listing fee + 30% commission is a bit steep for many sellers

2. Stillwhite

This site claims to have sold over $52 million worth of wedding dresses since it opened its doors.

Its buyers and sellers come from around the world, which makes your market reach a whole lot wider.

As a seller, you get to choose from two plans: standard (one-time $20 fee with 4 photos max and no more commission fees to pay when sold) or premium (one-time $30 fee with all standard features plus a gallery feature on the Stillwhite homepage and up to 8 photos and 1 video).

There are branded wedding dresses here, from Maggie Sottero to Vera Wang.

You can search by brand, color, size, and location of seller, among other filters.

  • HOW MUCH YOU EARN: Depends on how much you priced your wedding dress and what type of plan you chose.
  • PROS: No commissions
  • CONS: Upfront fees are high

Sell wedding dress online

3. Wore It Once

This online marketplace looks like Etsy but is focused on buying and selling used wedding dresses, gowns, coats, bags, shoes, or jewelry.

Sellers can create their own custom shop, so you can add your wedding dress and everything else you want to sell.

You only have to pay a one-time $15 setup fee to set up your own shop, then list as many products as you want. These listings don’t expire and you can set your own price, as well as shipping and return options.

Plus, no need to pay monthly hosting and domain fees for your own website. It’s like you paid WoreItOnce to do all that for you.

When buyers see something they like, they can message the seller securely via the WoreItOnce messaging system.

  • PROS: No limits to items you can sell
  • CONS: Payments are made through PayPal and transactions go directly between buyer and seller. Wore It Once isn’t involved directly except as a platform.

4. PreOwned Wedding Dresses

Like Stillwhite, this website accommodates buyers and sellers from all over the world and focuses exclusively on second-hand wedding dresses, shoes, and accessories.

For a flat fee of $25, you can list your wedding dress on their site, and the listing lasts until the dress is sold. There are no commission fees or renewal fees.

You can also sell items from your bridal party, so bridesmaid, mother-of-the-bride, and flower girl dresses can also be put up for sale ($5 listing fee per item).

Your wedding shoes and accessories are also welcome here ($5 listing fee per item), so if you want to sell your veil, tiara, or purse as well, you certainly can.

Buyers who are interested in your listings will message you directly through your PreOwned account to discuss the condition of the item for sale, as well as negotiate the selling price, shipping fees, return policies, and other terms of sale.

Once you reach an agreement, you can invoice your buyer directly and then ship the item to them.

PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com has been around since 2004, so you know you’re dealing with a legitimate company.

Plus, their history puts them at the top of search engine rankings, which means your items are seen by more people and thus have greater chances of getting sold. The site even claims to have an average sell time of 70 days.

5. Sell My Wedding Dress

This website offers two ways to sell your wedding dress:

  • Basic (Free!) – 10 active ads with 10 photo uploads. Each listing is active until it’s sold.
  • Premium ($29 one-time) – 25 ads active with 10 photo uploads. The $29 listing fee applies to a wedding dress, but listing all other types of dresses is free. Each listing is active until it’s sold. Your dress is shown as a featured listing on their homepage as well as the category page for free.

For both registration options, you can buy add-ons to help improve your chances of a sale, such as better placements for your listing, bold fonts to catch buyers’ eyes, and a YouTube video.

You’ll be responsible for writing out the description, such as brand, size, color, style, and so on.

Dresses of your wedding party (bridesmaid, mother-of-the-bride, and flower girl) are also welcome to be listed here.

Their messaging system allows buyers to directly communicate with the sellers.

  • PROS: No commissions to pay, no hidden costs
  • CONS: Steep fee for the premium plan

6. OnceWed

The selling process on OnceWed is similar to some of the other websites above, in which you can register on the site, pay a listing fee for your dress, discuss with buyers, ship your dress, and get paid.

You can list a wedding dress for $19.95 and $5 per additional item, which will be valid until the items are sold.

  • PROS: No commissions, over 10 years in the industry
  • CONS: Separate listing fees can add if you’re selling to multiple items

7. Poshmark

Poshmark is an app where you can sell your wedding dress and other clothing, shoes, and accessories (even those not related to your wedding).

Just click “sell” and follow the instructions. You put details of each item, upload photos, and finalize your listing. You then wait for people to buy your items.

Poshmark gets a 20% cut on items over $15, while a flat rate of $2.95 for any item below $15. Once your buyer has received their items, Poshmark pays you either by Poshmark credit or by direct deposit to your bank.

If you’re interested in selling apps, I’ve previously written an extensive Poshmark review recently. Check it out here.

  • PROS: Very easy to use
  • CONS: High fees

Other resources you could check include:

  • Wedding Bee – a forum focused on the wedding industry. This link leads you to a section where people buy and sell used or never-worn wedding dresses.
  • Tradesy – A general online marketplace for designer clothing and other goods. There are no up-selling fees here, but you’d have to pay 19.8% commission.

How to Sell a Wedding Dress Locally

If you want to handle everything and even meet the buyer in person, you can sell your wedding dress locally, too!

Wedding Dress Consignment

For a hands-off approach, find a wedding dress consignment shop in town.

Your wedding dress will be evaluated for quality and price, then if you give your go signal, the shop will sell the dress on your behalf.

The problem with consignment shops is that they tend to charge super-high commission fees (often up to 50%) of the final sale price of your dress.

I only recommend going this route if you’re in an exceptional hurry to sell but have no time to find a buyer on your own.

If you’re not in a rush, either Craigslist or Facebook are better options for selling your wedding dress to local buyers.

Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace

Craigslist continues to be a contender in the online buy-and-sell space, even if there are tons of selling apps available these days. The reason for this is Craigslist’s undisputed way of targeting buyers by town, city, state, and so on. Plus, it’s free to list as many items as you want.

You do need to be flexible with pricing since Craigslist is a place where buyers haggle freely.

If someone tries to buy your wedding dress and decides to meet up, keep yourself safe by choosing a public place with a lot of people. If possible, get someone to go with you and always let someone you trust know where you are.

Facebook has more modern features but it works mostly like Craigslist since it’s up to you and the buyer to negotiate the selling price, discuss shipping the wedding dress, and so on. You do have to be more aggressive in spreading the word about your wedding dress for sale on Facebook Buy and Sell groups, Facebook Marketplace, or even on your own profile.

You can search for ultra-specific Facebook groups, such as “2021 Florida brides,” “Miami wedding planners,” or “Buy and Sell Wedding/formal dress in [city]”.

It’s free to post items on Facebook, and if you don’t want to go to groups, you can list the dress on Marketplace and spend some advertising money to target potential buyers.

Facebook lets you choose demographics when you boost a post, so it’s possible to choose local buyers exclusively.

Tips to Help You Sell Your Wedding Dress

How quickly you’re able to sell your wedding dress depends on multiple factors, such as the brand/designer, age, condition, and where you choose to sell it.

Here are other things you can do for you to be able to sell your wedding dress more quickly at a fair or more-than-fair price.

Make sure your listing is truthful and detailed.

Brides buying secondhand wedding dresses want as much information on the dresses they’re looking to buy so they can make the right buying decision.

When creating your listing, make sure that you include who designed or who manufactured it, what year, color, collection, and which store you bought it from. Also, indicate if you had it altered in any way.

If you had the dress professionally made, make sure you indicate it, as well as the exact measurements.

All of the information you include should be the truth; if you lie, your buyer will find out when they get the dress anyway. You don’t need the aggravation and bad karma of a return or a PayPal dispute, so just tell the truth the first time around.

Learn how to take beautiful photos of your dress.

Gorgeous photos help boost your listing immensely. Learn the basics of apparel photography, such as the right lighting, angles, backdrop, and equipment to use.

Take pictures of the front, back, and any details your buyer should know, such as intricate beadwork, lace patterns, or any damage to the dress, such as stains or discolored patches. You need not include all the details in your listing, but if a buyer asks for more photos, you should have these handy to show them.

If you have photos of yourself wearing the dress at your wedding, have those photos ready, too. Buyers would have a better idea of how a dress actually flows when a human model is wearing it, as opposed to a hanger or a mannequin.

Know how to price your gown.

Setting a price is more of an art than a science. But there are some basic rules of thumb you need to know.

If your wedding dress is less than three years old, you can sell it for around 50% off its original price; a bit more if the gown is from a well-known designer, such as Vera Wang or Monique Lhuillier.

The style of the gown can also be a big factor. If your dress is in a classic style that’s sought after, it can still fetch around 50% of its price even if it’s older than three years old.

If a dress has never been worn, you can expect to sell it for around 80% to 90% of its original value, provided it remains pristine.

Include any fees you expect to pay, such as cleaning fees, listing fees, commissions, and other fees, in your computation.

Take excellent care of the dress.

Worn or unworn, immaculate or stained, taking care of the wedding dress before you sell it is a must.

Right after the wedding, hang it out to air dry. Don’t wrap it, especially in plastic, before it has been cleaned, as this is a surefire way for stains and gross smells to set in.

Wine, makeup, sweat, blood, and perfume are the usual causes of stains on wedding dresses, so try to remove the stains as soon as you can before they set.

Get the dress professionally cleaned. It will cost a few hundred dollars, but it’s a worthy investment, whether or not you plan to sell it.

After taking photos of the wedding dress for your listing, make sure it’s stored in a dark, dry place with constant temperature.

Other Ways to Offload Your Wedding Dress

If you haven’t been able to sell your wedding dress after a while, don’t get too discouraged. Here are other ways to “rehome” your gown.

Rent it out

Renting out your stuff can be pretty lucrative, as long as your stuff remains in demand.

Tuxedos are often rented, so why can’t wedding dresses, right?

Your best bet is to rent it out locally so that the turnover is quick and if the dress is damaged or lost, it’s less of a hassle to sort out than with someone who lives in another city or state.

Donate it

If you don’t mind eating the cost of the wedding dress and simply want to give to charity, you can donate your dress to websites, such as Brides for a Cause or Brides Do Good, who will sell your wedding dress and donate the proceeds to women-centered charities.

Maybe help a military or first responder out by donating your gown to Brides Across America.

Or help bereaved parents who have lost their baby by donating your wedding dress to NICU Helping Hands’ Angel Gown® Program who will turn them into custom-made gowns for final photos and burial services.

Repurpose it

You probably won’t be wearing your wedding dress to any other event, so if you’re comfortable with a sewing machine and don’t mind seeing your wedding dress in pieces, turn it into something you’ll wear again and love.

Create separate top and bottom pieces, or a cocktail dress you can wear to formal events.

Or turn it into a christening or first communion dress for a daughter or a loved one.

If you cringe at the thought of taking tailor shears to your dress but don’t mind someone else doing it, have the folks at Unbox The Dress help you out.

Sell Your Wedding Dress Today!

For many brides, their wedding dress is the most expensive piece of clothing they’ll ever buy and wear. It makes sense to want to recover even part of the cost of the dress.

Hopefully, this guide to selling your wedding dress has been helpful to you and given you plenty of ideas.

Planning to sell your wedding dress soon? Which of these options look most interesting to you? Tell us in the comments!

How to Make Money on TikTok: 6 Best Strategies to Follow

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TikTok is a popular social media app that has taken the world by storm and has been the center of meme culture and viral dance challenges in the past few years.

Ever heard of the “Renegade” viral dance step or the Wipe It Down challenge?

TikTok fame has also catapulted creators like Charli D’Amelio, Addison Rae, and Bella Poarch to stardom beyond TikTok.

And as with everything on the internet, it has people looking for ways to get rich off this app.

In today’s blog post, I’m going to discuss how to make money on TikTok.

What Is Tiktok?

TikTok is a video-sharing social network that allows you to create and share 60-second videos on an app. They’re now rolling out longer videos, and eventually, all users can share videos up to 3 minutes long.

It was formerly known as Musical.ly, which mostly featured videos of users lip syncing to popular songs.

Today, TikTok offers an extensive selection of sounds and song snippets. You can also add special effects and Snapchat-like filters.

A unique feature of TikTok is the Duets feature, which enables users to lip-synch or dance to their favorite song side-by-side with another TikTok user.

Another often-used feature is the Reactions feature, which allows users to record themselves while watching a video and publish the original video and their reaction on the same screen.

TikTok also allows its users to go live so viewers can watch them in real-time.

What sets it apart from other social media networks is that, unlike Instagram and Facebook, TikTok is more of an entertainment platform rather than a lifestyle one.

As of January 2021, TikTok has over 689 million users worldwide.

The app is still overwhelmingly more popular among teens and young adults,  but the use of TikTok among adults has been increasing among older adults, especially in the US. In 2020, 62% of TikTok users in the US were aged between 10 and 29, but as of March 2021, only 47.4% of them are in the same age range.

Set Up Your TikTok So You Can Start Earning Money

When you’re getting ready to make money on TikTok, every piece of content you’re posting should be geared toward entertaining your current followers while getting new followers interested in you and your content.

Here’s how you set up your TikTok so you can start making money from it.

1. Set up a TikTok Pro account with a unique profile.

When you first sign up with your phone number, email address, or registered social media account, the first thing the app will ask for is your username and profile photo or video.

Your TikTok username and profile photo/video are the first things people see when they browse, so make sure you come up with a username and an eye-catching profile photo, or better yet, a profile video that captures your personality.

TikTok Model

Your bio is another place where you can persuade people to follow you. Be as inviting and welcoming as you sincerely can.

Make sure to link your Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter to your TikTok account, so you can promote your TikTok on these other accounts, and vice versa.

TikTok designates all new accounts as Personal, and you’ll need to change this to Pro in your account settings under Manage Account > Switch to Pro Account.

Select Creator as your account type (Business is for brands, retailers, service providers, organizations, and the like), and then choose a category that fits your planned content.

Why do you need a TikTok Pro account?

Because you get access to your analytics plus the Creator Portal, which opens up a lot of monetization options for you (more on this later).

2. Start posting compelling videos.

If you want to be popular on TikTok, your content needs to be captivating, interesting, and shareworthy.

Here are some ideas for TikTok videos that you might want to use.

Lip sync videos. This was what the Musical.ly app was originally known for. Lip sync to a currently popular song and put your own creative twist to it.

Duet videos. There’s an option to share a non-private video and take a video of yourself singing along with it or interacting with it.

Reaction videos. React to a viral TikTok video or trend.

Pet videos. If you have a cute pet dog or cat, or any other adorable pet, videos of them just hanging out and being cute can become highly popular.

Challenges. When there’s already a viral challenge going around, it pays to hop on the bandwagon and do your own version of it. Remember, you want to create videos that your audience will like.

It has even more potential to be found by new followers when there’s a hashtag associated with the challenge, because your video will be “filed” under that hashtag, and can be found by those who are tapping that hashtag.

Dance videos. From time to time, viral challenges involve dance crazes, and you’ll probably need to practice a lot if this isn’t your strong suit.

TikTok Dancers

But posting your version of a dance challenge is one of the easiest ways to be found by TikTok users.

Events. If you’re in a highly popular event, like a music festival or a convention, take a video of yourself in the event while it’s going on.

Your talents. What unique talents do you have? Can you trap rap? Or do spoken word poetry? Or do calligraphy? Or paint? You can use TikTok to show off these talents.

Whatever’s trending. Pay attention to trending catchphrases, memes, concepts, and content on TikTok, as well as on other social media, YouTube, and Google Trends.

3. Boost your popularity on TikTok.

To be able to earn at least a few dollars of side cash on TikTok, you need to aim to have over 10,000 followers and a high engagement ratio; that is, the number of likes and comments over the number of views should be a high percentage.

Be consistent. If you need to create a schedule and an alarm to remind you, do it. Users need to consistently see quality videos on your TikTok profile.

Consistently doesn’t necessarily mean every day. If you commit to posting twice a week, for example, every Wednesday and Friday, make sure you stick to that such that your followers come to expect it.

Promote your TikTok on other channels. Link to your TikTok profile from your other channels: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc. Also, if you already have a website, you can promote it there as well.

Connect with other popular TikTok users. You don’t need to pander to them, but if you network with other TikTok users who are popular, you might be able to get into duets with them and you might be able to get more exposure to their followers.

Engage with your followers. Reply to comments on your videos, and at the same time, like and comment on your followers’ videos. Showing that you’re interested in your followers as more than just spectators makes them more loyal to you.

Be positive. Steer away from negative or controversial content. You’ll hear that “bad publicity is still publicity,” but given the current climate, users don’t want to see negative content on a platform where they expect to be entertained.

How To Make Money On TikTok

The main ways you can earn money on TikTok are dependent on your popularity on the platform, and this is why you need to have an extensive follower count first before you even think of monetizing.

Here are a few ways you can make money on TikTok.

1. Earn TikTok Diamonds

Even though getting TikTok Diamonds isn’t very lucrative, this is probably the easiest way to earn some cash from your followers.

How TikTok’s virtual items work is a bit complicated, so I’ll try to break it down.

TikTok users can buy TikTok Coins with their actual money. Then, TikTok users can send TikTok Gifts (equivalent to a certain number of TikTok Coins) to other TikTok users on a live broadcast.

When you’re on a live broadcast and your followers send you Gifts, these Gifts become TikTok Diamonds that show up on your profile. The number of Diamonds you have is an indicator to other TikTok users of how popular you are.

When you make enough diamonds, you can collect the cash via PayPal or another credible payment service. The minimum withdrawal amount is $50 and the maximum amount you can withdraw is $1,000 per day.

To be clear, only TikTok Coins can be used to send Gifts, only Gifts can be converted to Diamonds, and only Diamonds can be converted to cash.

The cash value of Coins, the Coin value of Gifts, the Gift value of Diamonds, and the Diamond value of cash are all at the sole determination of TikTok and may change from time to time.

2. Get paid to create by TikTok

Aside from your fans, it’s now possible to get paid to create by TikTok itself.

The newly released TikTok Creator Fund aims to support and reward creators for their creativity and enthusiasm.

The funds per creator depend on factors such as video views, engagement, and whether you adhere to Community Guidelines and TikTok’s Terms of Service.

If you meet the eligibility requirements, you can apply to participate through the TikTok app.

3. Become a TikTok influencer

If you’re popular enough on TikTok, and if your followers are part of a certain target market, interested brands can work with you and pay you for directly or indirectly advertising their products or services through sponsored videos.

Indirect advertising or product placement is more subtle and feels like an organic part of your videos.

Nike brand ambassador

On the other hand, brands can ask you to be a brand ambassador, wherein you actively talk about the product or service and recommend it to your followers.

The good thing is that you usually don’t have to change your personal style of creating content. In fact, it’s discouraged because then you alienate the very followers you and the brand you’re working with are trying to reach.

Recently, TikTok created a Creator Marketplace where brands can connect with creators who are likely to reach their target audience.

If you’re eligible, it’s worth joining for the sponsorship opportunities and the additional chances to make money on TikTok.

Once you’re part of the Creator Marketplace, brands can then send you invitations to collaborate.

If you do participate, remember to toggle the “Sponsored Video” status so that brands can get data about the video, including its reach and impact.

4. Advertise your music

If you’re an aspiring music artist, songwriter, singer, or musician, TikTok is a great way to start putting your talents out there and getting a few (or plenty) of fans.

First off, find a distributor that works with the popular streaming platforms, as well as TikTok. Not only can you use your own music as a soundtrack for your own content but other users can also use it for theirs.

As your music gets used by other users, you earn royalties from it (obviously you won’t earn from your own TikTok content).

5. Sell your merchandise

Traditionally, only rockstars and pop musicians had their own merchandise. T-shirts, caps, bags, and other apparel are the most popular ones that are sold with the artists’ likeness or logos.

Now, social media celebrities produce and sell their own merchandise, and their most loyal followers buy them.

When you become extremely popular on TikTok, you may want to work on launching your own merch line.

Make sure you’re protected by copyright law; if you need to register your brand and trademark, do it.

Then, decide what type of merch you want to sell. Do you want to start small, like with pins or stickers? Or do you want to go with apparel? Or maybe souvenirs, such as mugs, keychains, or magnets?

If you yourself are an artist or calligrapher on TikTok, you may want to sell your creations themselves, or your artwork or lettering printed on merchandise.

Once you’ve decided what you’re going to sell, partner up with a brand that you trust to produce high-quality merch.

Don’t forget to ask to see a mockup of your merchandise first before you order the first batch that you’re going to sell.

Once you have the merch in stock, you can now promote on your TikTok profile and videos the website where your followers can buy your merch, whether it’s on a third-party e-commerce website, like Facebook Marketplace, or on your own website.

6. Promote affiliate links

Whether you’re already an affiliate marketer or just starting out, promoting on your TikTok can help you increase traffic to your affiliate links.

TikTok is currently rolling out a feature that allows users to add one link on their TikTok bio so that viewers can click on the links and be directed to the page of the product or service they’re promoting.

This rollout is taking longer than expected, and this feature isn’t available for all TikTok users until now.

If this feature isn’t available for you, you’ll have to display a URL as text on your TikTok profile as well as on your videos. For your viewers to go to the link, they’ll have to type it out on their browser.

It isn’t very straightforward, but if you’re persuasive enough, you just might get it to work.

One thing you can take advantage of is that your Instagram and YouTube accounts are linked to your TikTok profile, so you can direct traffic to those social media accounts instead and do affiliate marketing that way.

The surefire way to get to add links to your TikTok bio is to switch to a TikTok Pro: Business account. You’ll lose a lot of songs that can’t be used for commercial purposes, though.

If you have plenty of affiliate links, the smart way to go about this is to look for “link in bio” tools that can display a landing page for a list of links displayed attractively.

For more information about how to start affiliate marketing, read this article.

Start Making Money On TikTok Today!

TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the world that provides an alternative way for users to express their creativity.

It has great potential to be as popular as other video-sharing apps like Instagram and YouTube, as long as the platform continues innovating and growing its user base.

Thus, the potential for earning money from TikTok is also great for you.

Make no mistake, however. There’s no shortcut to making money on TikTok. It requires hard work, creativity, creating value, and a little bit of luck.

Other Ways To Earn From Social Media

Are you currently a TikTok user? What do you think about using it to earn some cash? Tell us in the comments!

Best Selling Products on Amazon: What to Sell on Amazon

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Whether you’re a new Amazon FBA seller, or a veteran store owner trying to shuffle his/her products, it’s good practice to discover and identify best selling products on Amazon weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually.

Keeping tabs on this data will boost your sales in the short-term, especially in off-peak seasons.

It will also allow you to become more aggressive with your marketing efforts.

Amazon Best Sellers

This guide tackles three things:

  • Product categories that sell best on Amazon all year-round, regardless of season, trends, or occasions
  • Tried and tested ways of finding products that would sell on Amazon
  • Important rules to follow when conducting product research

If you’re just getting started, make sure your read our guide on how to become an Amazon seller.

Current Best Sellers on Amazon

You don’t have to look too far here.

Amazon publishes what’s currently trending in their Movers & Shakers tab.

The list is updated hourly and tells you exactly what has been selling the best over the past 24 hours.

It doesn’t make sense for me to publish a full list here because by the time I hit the publish button, the list will already be outdated.

Amazon Movers and Shakers

Bookmark that page and check it often. The list has completely changed in the time it took me to write this post.

Instead of focusing on what’s current, here are a few ideas on how to find evergreen products that you can sell on Amazon year round.

Keep Tabs on Seasonal Best Sellers

Different products sell better depending on the time of year.

You may want to start a spreadsheet and see what are some of the best selling products on Amazon month-by-month. From there, you can plan for future trends and try and get ahead of the game by focusing on seasonal products right before they start to pull a lot of interest.

Get ahead of the game.

How To Build a Successful Amazon Business?

I’m hosting a totally free webinar that will teach you how to start an Amazon business from scratch and make 5-7 figures per year selling simple high profit, low competition items.

In it, you’ll learn the best way to create a global Amazon empire by selling just a few items at a time.

You’ll also get a unique strategy for finding incredible, high profit, low-competition ‘hidden gem’ products.

=> Reserve your seat right now. It’s free to join!

10 Best Selling Products on Amazon Year-Round

The following product categories sell regularly in the thousands because even if they don’t fall under basic needs (food, water, shelter, clothing, etc.) that are vital for survival, these products have made the lives of people easier or happier.

These categories are immune to the seasonal trends I mentioned above.

1. Baby Gear

Baby clothes, toys, feeding tools, educational items, and other adorable infant-related products aren’t on top of the best selling products on Amazon, but their demand knows no season.

It’s ideal to target parents with first-borns, since they tend to spend more money for their first son or daughter.

2. Pet Supplies

The demand for this product category aren’t surprising at all because pets are family and many “fur parents” consider their pets as their babies.

Kitten in a Bowl

Pet care supplies like grooming tools and shampoo fall under basic needs and will continuously be needed throughout the year.

3. Beauty Products

Many best selling products on Amazon in the healthcare category involve items that help people improve their hair, nails, teeth, and skin.

This niche is huge, which is why it’s best to focus on a specific group of products.

For example: Korean face masks, cucumber skin care products, and so on.

4. Jewelry & Watches

You have two very extreme choices when it comes to selling jewelry or watches on Amazon – either you sell legitimate, expensive and branded ones or go for the cheapest (yet cool-looking) ones you could find.

It depends entirely on your store and vision, but these items are safe bets since people’s go-to gift for loved ones are either watches or jewelry.

5. Kitchenware

Think of the things you use regularly in your own kitchen – rugs, can openers, mugs, knives, food storage, and so on.

Kitchen Utensils

You’d be surprised that these same items are best selling products on Amazon kitchen category simply because other people use them as often as you.

6. Workout Clothes & Underwear

Those who have chosen clothing as their main niche should break down their products to sub-niches like athletic wear, kid’s formal clothing, etc.

But if you want to go for the top-selling products, sell underwear and workout clothes because they’re in-demand all year-round and can be bought cheap and sold at a higher price.

7. Electronic Accessories

Gadgets will forever be a part of modern civilization, so the development of TV, gaming, and phones will continue even beyond 2019. 

The reason why accessories for electronics are one of the best selling products on Amazon is that they come cheap and often serve to extend the lives or improve the quality of smartphones, tablets, TVs, gaming consoles, and other expensive electronics.

8. Books

Even when it sells digital ebooks on the marketplace, Amazon continues to sell traditional books today for a reason: people still buy books religiously.

You can sell used or new books on Amazon.

9. Outdoor Home Goods

Outdoor home items may seem unnecessary in the grand scheme of things, but you’ll think otherwise once you need to replace your rugs, umbrellas, hammock, bins/trash cans, pool floats, and more.

Tour your garage and backyard for items you know would sell on Amazon continuously.

Your product research may just be as near as your own backyard.

10. What’s Tending in Pop Culture

When it comes to product research, pop culture is probably the hardest to category to crack (unless of course you’re deep into all the fandoms available).

Best selling products on Amazon

This niche has a ton of competition, but if you sell products with your own twist to pop culture references (such as popular movie lines etched into a wooden frame), you’d be surprised at how many customers can and do eat this up.

If you’re into “meme culture” and regularly track what’s trending online, you can seriously catch fire here.

There is a bit of a gamble as not every meme will take off, and they will never last as a long-term business strategy, but if you get the right combination of interest and product, you can make A LOT of money very quickly.

Remember silly bands? Fidget spinners? Slap bracelets? (How badly am I dating myself right now?) These things took off unexpectedly and anyone who was on board that train before it left the station definitely came out ahead.

Never latch onto a dying trend either. If everyone is already talking about it, you’re much too late.

3 Ways You Can Find Best Selling Products on Amazon

Now that you know some of the best selling product categories on Amazon, it’s time to get into the nitty gritty details and decide on specific items.

There are several ways to do this:

1. Let Amazon Guide You

Amazon didn’t become the #1 online store with pure luck.

It really has a strong system in place.

If you look closely as you browse Amazon, there will be plenty of upselling opportunities sent your way.

These include the showcase of recommended products under a product description and an entire section of “bestsellers” for that specific category you’re currently in.

Don’t fight these suggestions – instead, let the algorithm guide you to the best selling products on Amazon.

2. Use Tested Sellable Factors

The list above features in-demand product categories, but this sellable factor shouldn’t be the only deciding factor you use.

You’ll also have to consider a product’s wholesale price and shipping cost, as well as Amazon’s seller fees, competition, and other criteria that makes a particular item “sellable.”

When deciding on products to sell on Amazon, consider these key factors:

  • Choose very specific niche products
  • Find items that you could sell for $10 to $50. Make sure you can sell it for twice as much as your buying price.
  • The cost must be 25 to 35 percent of your target selling price
  • The item should be small and lightweight enough to be easily picked up. 2 to 3 lbs is ideal.
  • Everyday-use items (check the list above)
  • If possible, opt for quality when trying beat the competition

3. Spy on Your Competition

When conducting product research, you should check out your competition to gauge their worth, copy their strengths and avoid their mistakes.

  • Avoid products sold by major brands or veteran Amazon sellers
  • Choose similar items that have Amazon’s Best-Seller Rank (BSR) of 5000 or lower
  • Amazon Sponsored Products is an advertising option for sellers. If the items you’re eyeing are being sold by another seller that invests in Amazon Sponsored Products, steer clear and let your competition have it.

Make these 3 methods a part of your product research and you’ll never have to rely on guesswork or bets ever again.

Dos and Don’ts: How to Find Products to Sell on Amazon the Right Way

Creativity and research are equally important in deciding what best selling products on Amazon you’d include in your store.

While the options seem far-reaching and limitless, there are still a couple of rules that all Amazon sellers should follow:

1. Sellable criteria are greater than average sales

Don’t be fooled by the demand of a particular product.

What seems to be a hot-selling product may not produce the best ROI once you’ve considered competition, shipping costs, product weight, seasonality and other factors.

2. Double-check requirements for your chosen product category

Every category on Amazon has its own requirements, but if the item you chose falls under a category that Amazon deems off-limits to regular sellers, you’d have to learn the requirements and follow them to the T before you are let into the categories.

These “gated” or off-limits categories include collectibles, high-liability, high-maintenance, or high-quality/expensive.

3. Track your products continuously after launch

Don’t just choose one product at a time.

If possible, sell multiple products to maximize your sales.

However, not only will you need to invest more money with more products to launch, you’d also have to track their progress continuously.

This way, you can pull them out if they turned out into non-sellable items, or if competition suddenly overpowered your product discovery by offering the same thing.

4. Become a master of ROI and margins

As an Amazon seller, estimating return on investment should be a natural thing by now.

Never ever just focus on sales. Instead, figure out how to earn back your initial investment as quickly as possible and possibly following the “3 times rule” or 3 x rule (sell an item triple the amount of what you paid for them).

The “investment” I’m talking about here isn’t exclusive to the money you pay for buying your chosen product.

Consider your training, advertising, and other expenses when trying to reach a healthy Amazon profit margin.

5. Product research should go hand-in-hand with a solid marketing plan

Once you’ve decided on the products to sell on Amazon, it’s time to brainstorm yet again but this time for a solid marketing plan.

Adding new products or launching new ones into your store without a strategy on hand is foolish, even if you think you’ve discovered the best selling products on Amazon.

This is particularly true if you plan to implement Amazon PPC and realize only after that you’ve made a costly mistake.

Increase Your Revenue by Tracking the Amazon Best Sellers

This comprehensive guide in choosing the best selling products on Amazon can be relevant even beyond 2019.

A tweak in sub-niches here and there, creatively expanding popular categories, or targeting a specific crowd all helps, as long as you follow the guidelines above.

If you want to read more about product research and learn how to get a piece of the pie from best selling products on Amazon, check out my post on the top 20 products you can buy cheap and sell high.

How to Make Money on Pinterest: 5 Legit Ways That Work

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It’s more than a social media network for saving or “pinning” your favorite recipes, dream house, vision boards, and other cute things: you can actually make money on Pinterest.

If you’ve been pinning for years and have been wondering if your pins can translate to cash, you’ll find that there are several ways that pinning can make you money.
However, some of these methods may be outdated or even violate Pinterest terms and conditions.

Today, learn why you should use Pinterest and read about Pinterest-approved ways of making money on the platform.

Why You Should Focus on Pinterest

It should be noted that to make money on Pinterest, you need to sign up for Pinterest for business, which has features that are important for you to develop your strategies to make money.

Pinterest is a darling of businesses and marketers alike because it’s a massive search engine filled with stunning visual content.

Pin It

This makes Pinterest a great marketing tool for highly visual industries such as food and drink, weddings and events, beauty, fashion, DIY and crafts, home décor, travel, and many others.

In addition, Pinterest users are highly engaged; they actively pin, repin, click links, and share content on Pinterest.

Its analytics tools also provide insight into what your Pinterest audience loves right now. You can then use that information to create content that they can’t help but be drawn to.

More importantly, users who find products on Pinterest are more likely to actually buy them.

Set Up Your Pinterest for Success

Hopefully, you’re convinced that Pinterest can be a lucrative platform.

The next step for you is to set up your Pinterest account so you can grow your account and start making money on Pinterest.

Find your niche.

Your Pinterest account is more effective if your content is cohesive instead of pinning content of any random topic.

You do need to balance finding a niche you’re genuinely interested in and a niche that is profitable.

To give you an idea, here are some of the most popular and profitable Pinterest niches.

  • Food and Drink
  • Parenting
  • Beauty
  • Travel
  • DIY & Crafts
  • Women’s Fashion
  • Health & Fitness

That said, know who your target audience is. For instance, if you want to run a travel-themed Pinterest account, you need to keep in mind what type of traveler you specifically want to attract.

Younger people may be attracted to places off the beaten path or where they can backpack through, while older people may be attracted to places with more comfortable accommodations and has activities that aren’t too rigorous.

Create beautiful Pins.

You want content that catches Pinterest users’ eyes and inspires them to click or tap on your Pins, and possibly like, Repin, and comment on them. That interaction and engagement is at the core of your money-making strategy, so you need to make sure that you only use the best images.

As much as possible, images should be high-quality, in focus, and well-composed.

In contrast to Instagram photos, Pinterest photos are more effective when they’re in portrait mode because they fill smartphone screens better.

With that in mind, don’t be afraid to collage square or landscape images into a single portrait mode image.

Learn how to write search engine-friendly captions.

As I’ve mentioned, Pinterest is really a search engine for images.

But creating search engine-friendly captions means your content can show up in search results not only for Pinterest but for Google search and other search engines.

Build your audience.

Working on your visual content and captions only go so far; the next step is to go out there and actively engage with your audience.

Visit Pinterest accounts of those who have liked, Repinned, and commented on your Pins, and do the same to their Pins. Follow their accounts, too.

Create a group board and encourage followers to Pin in your group boards. You can then prioritize engaging with these Pins as these are “fans” of your content.

Make sure you’re posting consistently. Follow a specific schedule so that your audience can anticipate your Pins. Use applications and software if you must.

Know how to use Pinterest Analytics.

Yet another key part of making money on Pinterest is knowing what’s working for your audience.

Pinterest Analytics allows you to look at how often your Pins are shown, which Pins are getting the most engagement, and how many times your links are being clicked.

5 Ways to Make Money on Pinterest

The following money-making methods below require that the Pinterest member should have a well-established account.

This means you already have hundreds or thousands of pins organized on your dashboard before you begin any of these monetizing options:

1. Become a Pinterest Influencer

If you’ve read our post about Instagram Influencers and how they’ve been making bank, you’ll have an idea of how you can become an influential personality on Pinterest and use it to earn money.

An influencer on Pinterest is someone who has plenty of followers and, more importantly, engages with their followers. Brands are likely to pay them to promote products and services.

“Promoting” can mean anything from Repinning a company’s Pins to inviting a third-party company to join a group board.

Pinterest is okay with this and has been working on solutions and policies to make collaborations between Pinterest members and companies as hassle-free as possible.

How much can you make?

Unlike Instagram and Facebook influencers who have been doing this for years, Pinterest influencers are relatively new to the game. As such, there isn’t much information being shared regarding fees for promoting third-party companies.

Expect influencers to earn anywhere from $50 per promotion to thousands of dollars per campaign.

2. Get a Pinterest VA Job

If you’re up for a part-time or full-time job with fixed schedules, you can turn your Pinterest knowledge into a full-blown virtual assistant (VA) job.

Individual entrepreneurs and businesses know the power of Pinterest to grow their brands and sell their products and services but may not have the time to create content, examine analytics, run Pinterest ads, and manage their Pinterest account themselves.

As most VAs do, the job is likely a home-based or remote job, but you’ll likely be given a regular schedule.

Your knowledge of Pinterest for business will be very useful for this job.

How much can you make?

Depending on your experience as a Pinterest VA, you can earn somewhere from $20 to $50 an hour.

If you prefer working freelance, you can offer Pinterest management plans (paid on a monthly basis) for $150 to $300 per client.

3. Become a Pinterest Consultant

Pinterest Assistant

As a Pinterest consultant, you’re more than just the average VA. You’re the expert in the field.

Someone who has plenty of experience and tricks up her/his sleeves to make a client’s Pinterest game competitive.

In short, you have to be the authority in turning Pinterest into your client’s gold mine.

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner of Making Sense of Cents details how she has shared everything she knew about Pinterest, finding her first client, expanding her network, mistakes she’d made, and how she promotes her own services.

How much can you make?

Like Pinterest virtual assistants, you have two options when pricing your Pinterest consultancy services. You can either go by-the-hour (around $20 to $30 an hour), or a monthly rate (from $100 to $500/month).

The fees you set would depend on the services included in the packages. One-on-one Skype calls, for example, often demand a much higher rate.

4. Cash in as a Pinterest Affiliate Marketer

Affiliate marketing remains an unbeatable way to earn income online, but not everyone knows that you can take advantage of the millions of Pinterest users by including affiliate links in their Pins.

The statistics of Pinterest users and their buying power are pretty impressive. Many Pinterest users go to the platform to find what they want, plan and save for future purchases, and actually buy those items in the future.

With Pinterest affiliate marketing, you don’t need a blog or thousands of followers either. You just need to master how to use keywords on your pins and descriptions, and the users will find your content via search.

This method of earning money from Pinterest has become so popular that Pinterest actually banned the practice in February 2015. The company tried to get back 100% of the control from external affiliates, but eventually lifted the ban and officially allowed Pinterest affiliate marketing again in May 2016.

Pinterest made rules about affiliate marketing clearer in their Community Guidelines under Affiliate guidelines, Paid Partnership guidelines, and Spam rules to prevent abuse from users.

Bear in mind, though, that Pinterest can take this back at any time as they did before. You can still do affiliate marketing indirectly; that is, you can post affiliate links in your own website or blog, and then link to that page on your Pin.

This strategy is actually much more favored by affiliate marketers who are in it for the long run. Aside from being safe from changes in terms and conditions by Pinterest, directing users to a blog post about the product you’re offering allows you to sell its benefits and features more thoroughly instead of being limited to a short Pinterest caption.

How much can you make?

The income potential of Pinterest affiliate marketing is entirely up to you. And since everything you put out into the Pinterest world will forever be online, you can build a passive income stream with your past and current pins.

Like any kind of affiliate marketing, don’t expect overnight results with Pinterest affiliate marketing. You’re likely to start earning mere pennies a day, which will gradually increase if you do affiliate marketing correctly and have your Pins go viral.

5. Sell your own products

If selling other people’s products doesn’t sound very appealing to you, why not try selling your own products instead?

You would need to have an e-commerce website where you can link your Pins to.

Pinterest for Business actually has features that can help you increase your sales. For instance, they have Product Rich Pins that integrate important information on your website to your Pins.

As a result, when you post a Pin of the product you’re offering, Pinterest users can see right on your Pin the latest price, whether it’s in stock, and the description of your product. When they click on the link, it takes them to your website where they can order it immediately.

You get to see which products are popular with Pinterest users and you can use that information when deciding which products to sell.

It takes a bit of learning to implement, but this is a very useful feature.

Moreover, it works for all kinds of products, whether physical or digital.

How much can you make?

There are many factors that can affect how much you earn from Pinterest-directed traffic to your ecommerce website that it’s hard to put a dollar amount on it.

What’s the best way to make money on Pinterest?

There is no single best way to earn from Pinterest.

You’d need to study all the options and pick which one best suits what you want out of Pinterest.

Aside from getting a Pinterest virtual assistant job, all the other four methods of making money on Pinterest require patience and consistency to grow from pennies to dollars to a four-digit monthly income. It’s a long game, but if you do it right, the rewards are definitely worth the wait.

Becoming a Pinterest influencer takes time and a lot of pinning. You can’t just create a Pinterest account and become an influencer instantly. Those with business know-how, perfect communication skills, and an A+ personality will get far as an influencer.

Pinterest consultancy, as with all kinds of consultant jobs, will only work if you know what you’re talking about (and can back it up with proof).

As a fan of passive income, Pinterest affiliate marketing makes a lot of sense. However, it isn’t for everyone. You’d have to be ready for the work involved (it could take weeks or months for your pins to earn cents) and experiment with A/B testing, various strategies, and other campaigns.

Promoting products is perfect for people who already have an e-commerce website. They can direct traffic from Pinterest to their main business, plus access a wealth of marketing insights through Pinterest Analytics, all without spending a cent.

Start Making Money on Pinterest Today!

Hopefully, this guide has inspired you to choose one of these opportunities and implement them so you can start earning side cash from all your Pinning.

Of course, it may well be the opposite; you may have learned that Pinterest is not for you. Maybe other social media platforms are a better fit for you. Read our guides on making money on Instagram, making money on Twitter, or making money on Facebook.

Ever made money on Pinterest? Did I miss out on a legit, Pinterest-approved method? Share your Pinterest story with us in the comments!

How to Sell on Walmart: Different Ways to Get Started

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Walmart has always been one of the top brick-and-mortar grocery and department store chains in the United States, but Amazon remains the undisputed leader in online shopping. Even so, Walmart is building up its ecommerce business and as a result, more people are learning how to sell on Walmart online.

Since 2016, Walmart has been making significant changes to improve its ecommerce game, starting with acquisitions of online stores Shoebuy.com, ModCloth, Jet.com, Moosejaw, Bonobos, and India-based ecommerce site Flipkart, beating Amazon’s bids.

They’ve also secured partnerships with thredUP, HGTV, and most recently with Shopify. The Shopify partnership in particular aims to open up Walmart’s marketplace to small- to medium-sized Shopify online stores to list their products on Walmart’s online store.

This is a big deal because, in the past, the company only invited online sellers with successful stores and years-long of experience in customer service. Nowadays, anyone who has an online store can apply and be considered.

Currently, there are two basic ways for small- to medium-sized online stores to sell on Walmart. Read on to find out more about them, their pros and cons, and how to start selling on Walmart.

Who Should Sell On Walmart.com?

Selling on Walmart.com isn’t for everyone, so who should consider selling on Walmart?

1. Small businesses with unique products

Application to become a Walmart seller is tough. Nobody knows the exact criteria Walmart uses when they consider applications, but many experts believe that product quality is at the top of that list.

As such, if your business creates unique products, getting the high exposure Walmart can provide will surely skyrocket sales.

2. Brands finding it hard to market their products

Walmart.com is visited by over 100 million people every month.

As a brand selling products on the Walmart site, expect better and more organic exposure without spending extra for advertising or lifting a finger for more marketing work.

It’s also important to note that Walmart attracts a different audience than Amazon, eBay, and other ecommerce platforms, so adding another platform won’t hurt.

3. Companies with hard-to-find Items

Any business, big or small, can benefit from Walmart’s massive network. But if you have hard-to-find items to sell, you have an advantage.

This is because Walmart is known as a giant retailer as it is, so offering something that cannot be found on any of its brick-and-mortar stores or its huge online collection is pretty impressive.

Just the fact that you’re not competing with any of Walmart’s own products means the company can highlight your items more than their other products.

Walmart won’t be suitable for you or your company if:

  • You’re selling crafts online. Etsy or eBay may be better options for you.
  • You’re just starting out. A functional website, an online store (even if hosted on a different platform), and other similar portfolio gives Walmart a sense of your company’s history. If your store has no online footprint yet, it’s unlikely you’d be approved as a Walmart seller.
  • You’re selling knockoffs. As part of Walmart’s quality checks, stores with knockoffs never get approved.

Two Ways To Sell on Walmart.com: Drop Ship Vendor (DSV) Program Versus Marketplace Program

Online sellers can choose between two programs to sell on Walmart.

1. Drop Ship Vendor (DSV) Program

As a dropshipper for Walmart, you sell products to Walmart at wholesale prices. Walmart then sets the price on their site, displays product descriptions, and markets your items.

When a customer orders via Walmart.com, Walmart forwards the details to you, and you ship out the order directly to the customer or to a Walmart location if they choose in-store pickup.

With this arrangement, your responsibilities are storing, packing, and shipping the items. If there are too many problems with stock, damaged items, or packages not shipping on time or not being sent, Walmart can decide to remove you from the program.

Pros and Cons of Selling on Walmart as a DSV

Pros

  • No fees — Unlike other ecommerce websites like Amazon, Walmart doesn’t charge you for monthly listing or setup fees.
  • Free shipping — Walmart covers the shipping fees.
  • Credibility — Your product’s credibility is helped by the “Sold by Walmart” label.
  • Marketing — Walmart handles marketing and promotions.
  • Ship to Store — Buyers can buy your items online and pick them up at a store if they want to.
  • Buy Box — Your products are more likely to appear in search results and have the Add to Cart button than the same products offered by other merchants because your products have the “Sold by Walmart” label.

Cons

  • Profit margin — You have to sell at wholesale prices and yet don’t move the products in bulk so you have to shoulder the cost of storing the products.
  • Returns — All returns are liquidated and you may receive chargebacks for returnless refunds.
  • Control — You don’t have much control over product descriptions, retail pricing, and their return policy.
  • No two-day shipping — Since you’re taking care of shipping items to buyers, Walmart can’t guarantee two-day shipping so your items aren’t included.

2. Walmart Marketplace Seller Program

If you’re a third-party merchant of either eBay or Amazon and you’re looking for Walmart’s counterpart, the Marketplace seller program is exactly that. All products sold by third-party sellers are labeled “Sold and Shipped by Marketplace Seller.”

Unlike the DVS program, Marketplace Sellers will take care of writing product descriptions, posting product images, providing customer support, creating promotions, setting prices, and so on.

Aside from these two, there is actually one more way to sell on Walmart, which is to become a first-party seller. This means you sell your products to Walmart for wholesale prices and send your inventory to Walmart’s fulfillment centers. Product listing, marketing, and shipping are all to be handled by Walmart.

This option is only worth it if your business can crank out thousands of products because the profit margin here is very small.

Pros and Cons of Selling on Walmart Marketplace

Pros

  • No fees — Walmart doesn’t charge you for monthly listing or setup fees.
  • Returns — Even if Walmart has downsized its brick-and-mortar stores significantly, it still has a massive family of 4,700 stores and every one of them can accept returns.
  • Credibility — Even if you’re a small company, as long as you passed Walmart’s strict pre-approval process, the approval will instantly give you the stamp of credibility as a legitimate seller.
  • Free 2-Day Shipping — Orders $35 and up placed by 2 pm in the timezone of the delivery address are eligible for free two-day shipping. Shoppers love to save and get their items fast, so this move from Walmart will definitely attract buyers.
  • FedEx Advantage Program — Sellers who choose to use FedEx can save up to 37% on shipping.

Cons

  • Listing issues — Since Walmart is still relatively new, there are plenty of kinks to iron out. You may experience listing issues every now and then, especially when it comes to the single use of UPCs or GTINs and the same products sold by different Walmart sellers.
  • Pricing needs to be competitive — Some sellers may find their products delisted if the prices sellers have set are not as competitive as Walmart would want.
  • Rules on shipping materials and branding — Walmart lets sellers choose the shipping method and carrier, as well as set the shipping fees, but they’re not allowed to use branded packaging (especially if materials come from competing companies like Amazon’s FBA).

How to Sell on the Walmart DSV Program

Here are the steps to start selling as a drop ship vendor. (If you wanted to look at the steps to start selling on Walmart Marketplace, click here instead.)

1. Apply to Become a Walmart Supplier.

Go on this page and find the supplier checklist so you’ll know what the requirements are and get them together.

2. Create a Retail Link Account.

When you have all the requirements together, you can then create an account on Walmart Retail Link to start your application and verification process.

Walmart will ask for information like contact, banking, and tax information, among many others.

When you’ve submitted the requirements, wait for Walmart’s decision for approval. Accept the Agreement terms and you’re well on your way.

3. Set Up Your Item Listings in the Supplier Center.

Once you’re approved to sell on Walmart, you can start uploading your item listings by logging in the Supplier Center.

You would also need to set up details of your distribution facilities, including where your items will ship from, schedules of pickup by couriers, how many units your facility can fulfill, etc.

4. Start Selling on Walmart and Getting Paid!

When your items are listed on Walmart.com, you’ll get a notification whenever someone orders. Fulfilling these orders should be an intuitive process for you through the Supplier Center.

Walmart will pay you for order, and your payment history will be available on your Supplier Center as well.

7 Steps to Start Selling on Walmart Marketplace

If you’re still here, and you know your store has a shot at being approved by Walmart, follow these steps:

1. Apply to Become a Walmart Seller

Visit the Marketplace Application page, gather the list of the required information, and click Start Application. Complete all required fields, including your name, address, company name, business website, category of business, annual online sales revenues (in USD), and more. The form takes less than 10 minutes to complete, so make sure you’ve got all details in. Select “Save” and “Apply Now.”

This is probably the hardest step since the information you provide here will make or break your chances of becoming a Walmart seller.

If you’re approved, you’ll be notified by e-mail with the subject “Your Walmart Seller Center account has been created.”

2. Complete Your Registration

Click the link in the e-mail you received in Step 1. This will direct you to the Registration Wizard, which guides you through five main sections:

  • Account Creation
  • Partner Registration
  • Taxes (W-9)
  • Verify Bank Account, and
  • Shipping Info

Make sure to prepare bank account information and a digital copy of your latest W-9 form. Most of the details you need to provide you already have as a business owner.

3. Fill Out Your Partner Profile

More information will be needed to complete the Partner Profile.

The Partner Profile is a public page where customers will learn all about your company, including company name, company mission/vision/description, logo, return policies, shipping fees, customer service hotline, tax information, privacy policy, and more.

You’re ready to move on to the next step once your Launch Checklist progress bar reaches 100%.

4. Verify Your Banking Information

As a Walmart seller, you need to link your bank account to your Walmart Marketplace account. To do this, you have to log in to your bank (the one you listed during registration) and check transactions for a $0.01 deposit from “WM Marketplace Penny Test.”

If you found this transaction, it means your accounts are now linked and payments can be sent to your bank.

Click “Mark as Done” on the Launch Checklist, which confirms receipt of the penny deposit. Note that this process isn’t instant – it would take up to 4 business days to appear in your account’s list of transactions.

5. Prepare Your Item Listings

This step is the most time-consuming of all since you’ll be uploading all of your content, including product photos, descriptions, videos, attributes, SKUs, and so on.

The good news is Walmart gives you several integration methods to choose from (bulk upload, API, or solution provider).

Begin this step by choosing the right category and sub-category for your product. FYI, Walmart has 24 categories and 79 sub-categories already available; You just have to pick the nearest one for your products. Use the Categorization Guide if you’re feeling lost with this step.

Make the category as specific as possible. Attributes, such as gender, age group, size, and so on, will not only help you describe each product you’re selling but also guides Walmart’s search engines to “find” your product more effectively.

In the “Main Image URL” section, fill it in with the appropriate URL where the image is hosted. You’ll have to upload these on third-party storage and get the link to it. The file size shouldn’t be bigger than 1MB.

Click “Validate Fields” if you’re done. Edit if something goes wrong, and upload the Item Feed file to the Seller Center.

If you see “Staged” status on your Launch Checklist, you’re off to the next step.

6. Place a Test Order

Before you welcome buyers into “your” Walmart store, you have to make sure everything is working properly.

To do this, you have to test the items and orders by going to the Seller Center and selecting “Preview Item” to see how customers will see the product page. Verify all the details, especially pricing and item details.

To test an order, update the item inventory to 1 and click “Update Inventory.” Go back to Seller Center and click “Publish Item” and “Purchase Item.” If everything from your “order” goes on smoothly, then you’re done with the checklist.

7. Launch Your Account and Collect Your Paychecks!

Once you’ve marked all items on your checklist as “done,” a pop-up message will ask you to confirm that you’re ready to launch.

If you are, select “confirm” to request a review and wait for Walmart representatives to check out your profile.

If everything passes Walmart’s standards, your products will go live on Walmart.com within 24 hours.

Which Option Should You Choose?

Selling as a DSV and selling on Walmart Marketplace each have their own pros and cons.

So as an online seller, how should you sell on Walmart?

Actually, if you apply to both the DSV and Marketplace programs and get approved for both, you may not have to choose. You can pick and choose which products you can sell for each program (note: you can’t sell the same item on DSV and Marketplace at the same time).

Consider your long-term strategy. If you want to build your brand but don’t want to spend too much time and effort in marketing and promoting your products, the DSV program may be a better fit for you.

However, if you’re building your own brand, want to take advantage of Walmart’s wide reach, but also want to control the branding, marketing, and pricing of your products, Walmart Marketplace is the better option.

Another consideration is your shipping system. To compete as a Walmart Marketplace seller, you’ll need to be able to offer fast shipping at low costs to your buyer. Selling as a DSV doesn’t have quite the same pressure.

Final Thoughts

Amazon is still the leader of ecommerce, but Walmart definitely knows that it’s late to the ecommerce party and is aggressively making up for its absence.

In fact, brands are aware of Walmart’s moves. Double Insight, maker of the #1 best-selling item on Amazon, “Instant Pot” (earned a whopping $17 million on Amazon Prime Day alone), has decided to launch its follow-up product exclusively at Walmart.

As you may have learned from this article, selling on Walmart isn’t easy. I hope the information here has helped you decide if you want to sell on Walmart as a DSV or as a Walmart Marketplace seller.

If you want to sell online, but feel like Walmart isn’t the right option for you, or if you want to expand your reach, read our guides on how to sell on Amazon through FBA and how to sell on Etsy.

Are you planning to sell on Walmart soon?? Tell us about your plans in the comments!

7 Incredibly Smart Ways to Make Money Online with Google

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You can now leverage the power of one of the world’s biggest brands and actually make money online with Google.

Whenever someone wants information, to talk to someone, to buy something, or to find entertainment, they ask Google. But few people know that there are plenty of ways to legitimately make money online with Google as well – you just need to know how to look for them.

People are often looking for new ways to make extra money or a supplemental income, yet they hardly ever think to use what’s right under their noses, namely Google itself.

It isn’t difficult to make money with Google, but it does require effort and patience. The methods listed below aren’t get-rich-quick schemes but will reward you if you’re willing to put in the work.

7 Ways to Make Money Online with Google

When you use Google products, Google is actually making money off of you.

Here are the 7 best ways to turn the tables and leverage the world’s biggest search engine to pull in some of that cash for yourself.

1. Start a Website

This is going to require quite a bit of effort and a small investment on your part before you can start making money from it.

But if you approach it strategically then it’s a great way to make a steady income upwards of $2000 a month by simply utilizing the tools that Google has already provided.

Namely, website crawlers and search engine ranking.

There are two possible options when it comes to owning a website:

Using it to sell your products/ideas or building up the website under an exact match domain name and selling or renting it out.

Owning a Website

If you have something to sell or any other unique idea for setting up a website then don’t wave the idea away. There are plenty of people who have built up a nice monthly income (including me!) by setting up and running their own websites.

Whether it’s a blog or an e-commerce store, you’ll have to buy a domain name and start designing the website on a web hosting site. There are plenty of tutorials available online that can help you through this process.

Here are three useful Google tools that you should really be using if you’re running your own website:

Google Pay: People trust Google and will likely be more willing to buy from you if you use Google’s own payment handling system.

Google Keyword Planner: This tool helps you figure out what people are searching for on Google. It’s very effective for a long-term blogging strategy.

Google Shopping: Google shopping is linked to Adwords, but puts your actual products in people’s search results instead of a text ad.

Selling/Renting Out a Website Domain Name

If you’re not keen on waiting months to start generating an income from your website, then this may be a better option.

Essentially, you’re going to build a high-ranking website in a specific niche and then either sell it or rent it out to a business owner in that niche.

You’ll have to buy an exact match domain for a specific and ranking keyword via a domain service like GoDaddy or Namecheap. Then get a web hosting service like WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace and start creating the website.

The key here is to employ the best SEO tactics to make sure that your website ranks high for the keyword you want to rank for.

It’s also important to make sure that there are businesses with a need for this type of website.

The easiest way to do so is to find local businesses in a directory and see whether they have a website and if that website is ranking for any search terms.

2. Become an SEO Consultant

Speaking of learning about best SEO practices, a lot of business owners (and thus website owners) know almost nothing about SEO and don’t have the time to learn. But they do know that it’s important if they want to get more customers for their business from online traffic.

They need SEO consultants to analyze their websites and make recommendations on SEO best practices.

By becoming an SEO consultant, you can make money online with Google by studying how their search engine algorithm interacts with websites and how to use that knowledge to increase a website’s ranking in search engine results.

There’s a big demand for this type of work, with plenty of opportunities to gain new and recurring clients.

3. Use Google AdSense

If you already own a website or are looking to start one, then you’ll also want to make friends with Google AdSense.

This nifty platform is actually Google’s bread and butter and is the reason they are a multi-billion dollar company today.

You will partner up and make money online with Google by incorporating their ads on your website. You get paid depending on how many times your ads are clicked, or even just viewed.

It can be quite lucrative with enough traffic and many people make a living from AdSense alone.

4. Affiliate Marketing

There are various ways to get into affiliate marketing and since this is such a broad topic, I’m going to section this part off into a couple of ways you can get started as an affiliate partner.

YouTube

YouTube is owned by Google and so definitely belongs on this list. There’s more than one way to make money off YouTube, but affiliate marketing is one of the most popular methods.

The type of affiliate partnership you get will depend greatly on the type of videos you want to make. If you run a beauty vlog then you might get retail make-up companies sending you their products and paying you for a review, for instance.

Blogger

Setting up a whole blog of your own can seem daunting and like a huge time investment.

Luckily, Google thinks of everything and has you covered here too through their Blogger platform.

Like most Google products, it’s super easy and fast to set up and get going with Blogger.

Once you’ve built up a reputable blog in a specific niche, it’s a short step towards getting companies to pay you to either review or promote their products.

Just make sure they can easily contact you!

Promoting Products Online

One of the easiest ways to find upcoming product launches is through MunchEye. This website lists various current and upcoming product launches whose sellers are looking for affiliate marketers. They work with the JVZoo Affiliate Network so you’ll have to sign up for that and start applying to sellers if you want to work with them.

You can create a simple webpage or single blog page about the product, or take it a step further and create a fan page around that product on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites.

5. Try Google Opinion Rewards

These days, everyone on the internet has an opinion on almost everything and yet few people truly care about listening to other people’s opinions.

They’re more interested in getting what they have to say out there.

With Google Opinion Rewards, however, your opinion actually does matter to someone and you can get paid for it. Well, in Google Play Credit at least.

The app can be found on the Google Play Store so you can download it to your phone and quickly fill out some surveys whenever you get a chance.

Google Opinion Rewards sends notifications when new surveys are available and pays around $1 in credit per survey.

You won’t be able to actually make a stable income off of this, but it can be a fun way to get “free” content on the Google Play Store.

6. Sell an App on the Google Play Store

Even developers can easily learn how to make money on Google. The Play Store is constantly looking to add new apps to its already huge list of apps.

If you’re into programming or have been doing it on the side as a hobby then this is the perfect way to start making cash on the side through Google.

You can monetize your apps first via in-app purchases; that is, offer basic functionality for free and then charge customers for more advanced features. You can also allow advertisers to place ads in your app, but do your best so that the user experience isn’t negatively affected.

7. Write and Sell Books on Google Play

Apps aren’t the only things to sell on Google Play; you can also write and sell ebooks on Google Play Books.

Write your book, sign up as a publisher or author on the Google Books Partner Program, upload your book file, and put it up for sale.

When you read on self-publishing, you’ll almost always read about Amazon Self-Publishing, but if you’re interested in expanding your reader base to non-Kindle readers, Google Play Books is your best bet.

Start Making Money Online with Google Today!

So in a nutshell, here’s how to make money on Google:

Take advantage of the fact that the search engine gives you access to lots of people and free tools that can help you set yourself up for success.

Making money online with Google isn’t impossible. It just takes some dedication and strategic thinking to make the most out of all the opportunities the platform provides.

If all else fails, you could always go and work for Google or work from home.

Which of these methods I listed are you most interested in? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

How to Make Money on YouTube: 18 Ideas to Try

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In the past decade, YouTube has grown from being home to random online videos to becoming one of the biggest marketing and advertising tools on the internet. It’s no wonder many users want to know how to make money on YouTube.

YouTube is still primarily a video-sharing platform, with 500 hours of video being uploaded every minute (Source).

But YouTube definitely opens up plenty of opportunities to earn passive income, if you know how.

Today, let’s look at some of the ways you can earn money on YouTube.

What You Need to Make Money on YouTube

Before we even begin to talk about earning from YouTube, you’ll need to think about the video content you’re going to upload.

And before you plan your content, you need to know who you’re creating this content for.

The more focused your target audience is, the better position you’ll be in to monetize your YouTube videos.

Defining your target audience means knowing their demographics: gender, age group, location, marital or family status, income level, education level, occupation, and other relevant details.

More importantly, you need to understand how they think, what makes them tick, their values, and their frustrations and problems.

Knowing all of these helps you produce the type of content that interests them and would likely persuade them to take an action that you want them to take.

You want to make valuable video content; that is, it should be educational, entertaining, inspirational, or all of the above.

Relevant, useful, and consistent content is what will hook your target audience to your YouTube videos.

When you’ve built an audience that consistently watches your videos, the next step is to enroll in the YouTube Partner Program.

What is the YouTube Partner Program (YPP)?

The YouTube Partner Program is YouTube’s in-house program that allows creators to make money from their YouTube videos through several ways, all within YouTube terms and conditions.

This program also allows creators greater access to YouTube resources, a support team, and their copyright match tool.

The minimum eligibility requirements to join are:

  • Reside in a country where the YPP is available
  • Have more than 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months
  • Have more than 1,000 subscribers
  • Have exactly one linked AdSense account
  • Follow YouTube’s monetization policies, including YouTube’s Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, Copyright, and Google AdSense program policies

Once you meet these eligibility requirements, you can apply to be part of the YPP, which then places your YouTube channel under review by both humans and their software to check if your channel meets all their guidelines.

Finally, once you’re approved, you can now enable monetization on your uploads.

Make Money on YouTube through the YouTube Partner Program

Once your application to enroll in YPP is approved, the following monetization methods are available to you.

1. Become an AdSense Publisher

The easiest and most common way people earn money on YouTube is through AdSense.

AdSense is Google’s in-house program that allows publishers to serve advertisements on their content and earn on a per-click or per-impression basis.

How to Get Started

Once you’ve been accepted to YouTube Partner Program and AdSense, and mastered the do’s and don’ts of YouTube, here’s how you can begin earning money through ads:

  1. Go to YouTube Studio.
  2. Go to Menu > Content.
  3. Select the videos you want to turn ads on for and click Edit and then Monetization.
  4. Select On in the dropdown.
  5. Click Update Videos, check “I understand the consequences of this action,” and click Update Videos.

How much can you earn?

The amount you can make from YouTube AdSense will depend on several things, including the popularity of the channel, number of viewers, watch time/viewer retention, CPM/CPC, and so on.

The numbers vary, but YouTubers earn about $1 to $4 per 1000 video views from AdSense. Note that this is just an estimation; YouTube pays based on the advertiser’s chosen ad type (either on a Cost Per Click/CPC or Cost Per View/CPV model).

You make money based on your viewers’ engagement with the ads. Engagement means if the viewer clicks on the ad, or watches the ad for over 30 seconds.

In addition, YouTube AdSense takes a percentage of your ad revenue, which varies depending on the publisher or ad network.

AdSense members are paid on a monthly basis (payments are sent between 21st to 26th of each month). They can choose from check, wire transfer, electronic fund transfer, or Western Union Quick Cash as methods of payment.

2. Super Chats & Super Stickers

When you do a live stream on YouTube, the Live Chat feature is turned on by default, in which viewers currently watching your live stream can pipe in with messages.

Your loyal fans can purchase Super Chat and Super Stickers so that when they participate in live chats, they can post chat messages that stand out. They can even pin these supercharged messages to the top of the chat feed.

Chatting with your audience during a live stream is already a great way to engage with your audience, but enabling super chats takes this engagement to the next level because these messages are highlighted and thus easy for you to acknowledge them, all while other viewers are watching.

Not only that but other viewers seeing these messages are now inspired to use them, too. This increases your engagement even more.

The revenue you earn from this is almost just a bonus.

3. YouTube Premium

Your ad-supported content is automatically made available to YouTube Premium subscribers, who can watch your video without ads but doesn’t take away from your revenue.

In fact, even if they download your videos and watch them online, this adds to your watch time, which affects your ranking and thus increases your YouTube revenue.

4. Enable Channel Memberships

Channel Memberships is a program that allows viewers to support a channel on a monthly basis and in return, receive exclusive perks.

For instance, you can implement a members-only community, create members-only videos and live streams, and host members-only live chats.

You can also include perks such as custom badges, emojis, and free digital and physical goods.

5. Sell Exclusive Merch Through Merch Shelf

When you get to 10,000 subscribers, you can turn on your Merch Shelf, which enables creators to showcase and sell their official branded merchandise.

You can display up to 12 items below your channel description, which your viewers can click individually to be redirected to the merch retailer you work with and order the merch from there.

Monetizing with merch not only allows you to earn money from the sales but also enlists your viewers to promote your channel when they wear or use the merch.

The top three products sold include t-shirts, hoodies, and caps. Other popular items are sweaters, phone cases, pins, mugs, stickers, and many more.

You can design it yourself with your quotable quotes, logos, the link to your YouTube channel, or any other unique design.

YouTube supports selected platforms and retailers, so make sure you work with someone on their list so you can take advantage of this feature.

Other Ways to Make Money on YouTube

Although being enrolled in YPP is highly recommended, you can still earn without it. Here are other ways to make money on YouTube if you aren’t eligible yet to enroll in YPP or you want to supplement your earnings from it.

6. Promote Products via Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a tried-and-tested method of earning money online. It can be used in your own blog, on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and most other platforms online.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that you can use affiliate marketing to make money on YouTube as well.

If you’re new to this, affiliate marketing is simply about directing other people (in this case, your YouTube viewers) to a store (like Amazon, Target, Walmart, and others), then earning a commission from any product that YouTube viewer bought since they clicked your affiliate link.

The best thing about affiliate marketing is that each link you use has a corresponding cookie, which is placed on the viewer’s PC or phone to track what they purchase. The product you recommend (or link to) doesn’t even have to be the item they buy. You still earn commissions even if they decide to skip your recommendation and buy something else.

How do you start?

Any video that reviews or recommends products can easily be used for affiliate marketing.

Affiliate programs are not exclusive to specific stores like Amazon. Smaller brands and companies may also offer their affiliate marketing program to CJ.com, LinkShare.com, ShareASale.com, and other similar websites.

To make money on YouTube with affiliate marketing, your only choice is to include links on the video description, or in the actual videos (via annotations or overlays). The goal, whichever method you choose, is to redirect traffic to an affiliate landing page.

How much can you earn?

Commissions vary between affiliate marketing programs, niches, amount of YouTube viewers, the YouTuber’s popularity, and a bunch of other factors.

Just like earnings in AdSense, the key is to produce a lot of engaging videos consistently. The more videos you upload on YouTube, the more opportunities you’ll have to add affiliate links.

Note that YouTube has no specific rules about affiliate marketing, but many marketers believe that YouTube probably isn’t too happy if you keep on redirecting viewers away from YouTube. So balance out your videos with and without affiliate links.

7. Seek Third-Party Sponsorships

Getting sponsors from brands and companies is the real deal. It happens every day on YouTube, but only the top-tier creators are even considered.

This is the dream of many YouTubers, since having a sponsor can definitely turn their hobby into a full-blown career.

Grapevine Homepage

Getting third-party sponsors used to be hard, but with websites like YouTube BrandConnect, GrapevineLogic, ChamBoost, and other similar services that bridged the gap between  YouTube creators and sponsors, getting paid extra money has become much easier.

Your popularity, viewer engagement, and other stats would play a huge role in determining your fees.

How much can you earn?

The sky is the limit to how much you can earn from third-party sponsorships. Some YouTubers even become long-term brand ambassadors for international companies.

Of course, brands and companies tend to look for YouTube creators who can carry their products well. So if your YouTube channel is all about beauty, fashion, and cosmetics, it’s harder to get sponsors in the tech niche.

8. Sell Products

Selling products of other people/companies (also known as affiliate marketing) is good and effective, but why just get a cut of the sales, when you can sell your own products and take home 100% of the sales?

Depending on the amount you wish to invest, your product could range from online courses/ebooks, to actual products (like shirts, plushies) that you have to ship.

A great example of this is the debut graphic novel of Minecraft YouTuber DanTDM (real name Dan Middleton).

His book “DanTDM: Trayaurus and the Enchanted Crystal” was promoted on YouTube and actually landed on the #1 spot of The New York Times Best Seller list and spent 3 weeks in the UK’s best-selling books list.

9. Teach

How-to’s and tutorials are some of the most popular YouTube channel themes.

It has created many of today’s six-figure-earning YouTubers and it’s never too late to join them.

If you have a very specific skill, such as drawing, dancing, cooking, or any other skill that can be taught through videos, there’s no limit to what topics you can teach.

10. Offer Services and Consulting

If you’re going with the teaching route, the next step is to offer your professional services.

For example, if you’ve been uploading Adobe Photoshop tutorials and you’ve got a huge following, you can offer one-on-one tutorials, promote local workshops, or even offer consulting services.

As long as you are offering something of value, and the services you’re advertising are related to your YouTube channel’s content, post away.

11. Create Your Own YouTube Series

TV viewers have already been juggling streaming sites with cable TV for years, which is why YouTube web series are rising in popularity and even getting picked up by YouTube as YouTube Originals, or even by Hulu or Netflix.

What’s interesting is that shows on YouTube are going beyond prank shows and sitcoms and expanding into shows with actual scripts and plots, talk shows, and many more. Team up with a scriptwriter, director, actor, and other creatives waiting for their chance to shine.

Note that traditional YouTube videos can only go for 15 minutes, so if you’re planning a show with longer episodes, you’ll have to request a limit increase.

12. Fan-Fund Your Channel via Patreon

If you have an interesting channel that your audience can’t get enough of, but you’re not yet eligible for YPP (or have been rejected, or you just don’t want to enroll), you can turn to Patreon and set up membership options so your audience can pay for perks.

Some of the perks you can offer include priority access, additional exclusive content, access to an exclusive community, and often an option to publish their names on your videos’ credits.

13. Promote Your Website via YouTube

If you’re already running your own business, YouTube is a great marketing tool.

Whether you run a small online store, or maintain an info site, directing traffic from YouTube to your website increases conversion rates significantly.

It’s important to note that you should always keep your viewers in mind when promoting your site.

Always consider if the site, product, or anything you’re marketing has value to your audience. Take Walmart’s YouTube channel as an example.

The people handling its YouTube channel balance product promotion with useful content like cooking tutorials, testimonials, and product reviews.

14. Crowdfund Your Project

If you have an amazing idea for a product, but you can’t turn it into reality for lack of funds, crowdfunding can be your solution.

Many crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo use YouTube videos to explain product ideas and encourage people to “invest” in their would-be product.

15. Market Research

YouTube is a goldmine for marketing professionals.

The platform has an in-depth analytics tool that enables you to look at how your videos are performing and compare specific videos.

You can use YouTube to discover what people are interested in, or what they think of a particular brand.

It’s free marketing research.

16. Become a YouTube Manager

Many companies are looking for people to manage their social media accounts.

However, the main requirement of this job is having extensive experience with the platform.

If you’re an active YouTuber waiting to hit it big, or building up the required number of views to monetize your videos with AdSense, this career path may be what you’re looking for.

17. Create or Edit YouTube Videos

Many affiliate marketers, companies, and individual YouTubers are looking for people to help in the background.

If you have the skills to create or edit videos, be on the lookout for jobs like these.

Of course, you have to know what makes a YouTube video viral, such as using keywords for meta tags and crafting share-worthy titles.

18. Become a Journalist

Anyone can be a journalist on YouTube.

And with modern technology allowing you to communicate to people around the world with just WiFi and a laptop, you can interview celebrities and experts for your own YouTube show.

Take a look at these millennials who interviewed then-U.S. President Barack Obama in 2015, and decide if you’d like to try your luck with journalism.

How to Become YouTube Famous

Making money on YouTube isn’t easy.

Like blogging and other passive-income-generating ways to earn online, it could take you months, years, or even several years to actually make bank.

There aren’t secret techniques to earn a profitable revenue on YouTube. It all boils down to how many followers you can attract and how quickly you can become “YouTube famous.”

If you want to market your YouTube channel some more, here are several things you can do:

  • Learn about SEO and video marketing. Using the right keywords on descriptions is gold.
  • Create a community within your channel – reply to comments and engage in other ways.
  • Plan your content and try to bring something new to the table.
  • Be authentic. Stick to your values, mission, and goals.
  • Keep up-to-date with YouTube policies.

Once you’ve amassed a sizable and loyal following, you can be sure that they’ll be watching whenever you upload a new video, click on a link if you recommend a product or website, and engage in contests, polls, and other activities you plan to hold.

As a result of having a healthy engagement level on your YouTube channel, you can maximize the earning potential of your AdSense, affiliate links, or sponsored posts of every video you upload.

Start Making Money on YouTube!

With news of nine-year-old Ryan Kaji taking home $29.5 million in 2020 (Source), it’s not surprising that everyone dreams to get a slice of the YouTube money-making pie.

In fact, thousands of couples, parents, comedians, product reviewers, gamers, and almost every type of hobbyist are currently making vlogs about their life, careers, experiences, skills, and anything under the sun.

Some are even earning a decent amount enough to replace their day jobs’ income.

So if they can do it, so can you!

Were you inspired by today’s article? Share your YouTube channel in the comments!

How to Become an Online Personal Trainer From Home

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With all the technology and video platforms available to everyone, becoming an online personal trainer has never been easier.

Training people from home allows you to help other people achieve their fitness goals while making money and having a flexible schedule, all in the comfort of your own home.

If that sounds like something you’re interested in doing, then this article is for you.

Today’s article is a guide to becoming an online personal trainer: what an online personal trainer does, what type of online personal trainer you can be, what you’ll need to start, and how to grow your business.

What is an Online Personal Trainer?

An online personal trainer is someone who works with clients to improve their fitness levels, overall health, body image, and performance, all through an online platform, whether live or recorded.

Online personal training has seen an increase in recent years as internet speeds increase and online video platforms become more advanced and add more features.

So if your passion is fitness or have been a personal trainer in brick-and-mortar fitness centers, here’s your chance to start your own personal training business and make money in fitness. 

Who Needs Online Personal Trainers?

The market for online personal trainers are pretty diverse.

They can be:

  • People who prefer not to spend on gym memberships — In the US, the monthly cost of a gym membership ranges from as low as $10 to as high as $100, and this can vary depending on gym location, specialization, and availability of in-house trainers. The total costs in a year can certainly add up.
  • People who have home gyms — Those who have invested money to build their own home gyms, but require a bit more guidance beyond what they read online will definitely benefit from hiring an online personal trainer.
  • People who prefer to work out alone — Whatever reason one may have for wanting to work out alone, having an online personal trainer means they can skip huge groups of people and just focus on their workout with no distractions..
  • People who have limited time for extracurricular activities like going to the gym — If one is busy with work, kids, school, business, or any other tasks that make it impossible to add visiting the gym into their schedule, getting an online personal trainer would make total sense.

Pros and Cons of Online Personal Training

As with any home-based business, online personal training has its own set of pros and cons, which you should consider before going into it headfirst.

Pros

  • Online personal training is more affordable than in-person training, especially considering the cost of a gym membership.
  • Becoming an online personal trainer allows you to reach more people and potential clients.
  • Your clients can work out with you whenever, wherever, especially if you go into recorded training.
  • Virtual personal training is a safer option for immunocompromised individuals or for those who need to maintain social distancing.

Cons

  • Not everyone can stick it out with online personal training.
  • Some people need specialized equipment or heavier weights than you can provide with virtual training.
  • You’re heavily dependent on internet access and your laptop when doing live virtual training.
  • Space and environment are crucial to your success; if your home isn’t spacious or well-lit, you may find yourself struggling.

5 Ways You Can Become an Online Personal Trainer

You can always mix and match these types of programs whichever you feel fits your client base, but in general, these are common ways personal trainers earn money online:

1. One-on-one or Group Online Coaching

Whether you offer your personal training services to a single person or a group, this kind of training is personal because you provide tips and advice to all the people involved in the program.

This type of online personal training is very similar to gym-based training, except you communicate to your clients via phone, email, through a video calling app, or specialized fitness software.

2. PDF or Video Fitness Programs

You can also use your personal training experience to develop a complete fitness program and create videos or PDF eBooks.

Since they are pre-made, any new client can hop on board and follow the program at their own pace without additional work from you.

3. Hybrid

You are the boss of your personal training business, so you can create a hybrid fitness program if you want to. For example:

  • Personal Coaching and Pre-made Fitness Programs — As an online personal trainer, you can also mix pre-made fitness programs with personalized coaching. You can be involved every step of the way as your clients follow the ebook or video series that you made.
  • In-person and Online Training — Maybe you own a boutique gym or work in one and still cater to clients personally. If this is the case and you want to transition to online personal training part-time or full-time, this kind of hybrid training could work for you. Just make sure your clients would bite as well.

If you have a certification in nutrition, you can even add diet programs into the mix.

4. Site Memberships

Site memberships combine everything from videos to personal coaching, fitness and diet programs, as well as other new activities. Just take a look at Fitness Blender’s FB Plus, which gives special access to programs, premium apps, and no-ads viewing to those who pay for membership.

5. LIVE Video Chat Workouts

Online personal trainers also offer live training for their clients. In this scenario, both the trainer and the client are communicating via video chat or a specialized personal training software where trainers can correct posture while clients lift weights, dance Zumba as the client follows, or hold a yoga lesson for a group of friends.

Things You Need to Start an Online Personal Training Business

Before setting up your online personal training business, make sure you work on getting these requirements together:

Space

Of course, the beauty of being an online personal trainer is that you can do it from anywhere, but having a dedicated home base allows you to be organized and efficient, especially if you’re doing pre-made fitness programs.

Make sure you have enough space to make the essential movements of your workouts, as well as fit your equipment.

It should be distraction-free; that is, no external noises, people coming in and out, or any other visual distractions.

If it’s not feasible from your space as it is, try to get creative with curtains, screens, and a bit of inexpensive soundproofing material like foam and eggshell trays.

Natural light is also great, but if you work nights, you should be able to set up sufficient lighting.

Specialization

Personal training requires magic. Either you have what it takes to inspire people, drive people to reach their goals, and coach them to do better… or not. As such, it’s very hard to become a “do-it-all” personal trainer, especially if you’re doing this career online.

Stick to what you know best. For example, focus on weight loss, HIIT exercises, Crossfit, Zumba, yoga, weight training, MMA, and so on. You’ll have a more targeted niche, which will attract a specific crowd as well.

Unlike other service-based businesses, a personal trainer’s personality is a big factor for would-be clients to choose them over dozens of other trainers. When building your business, market yourself as a brand, as a product, and service, but make sure you’re not just about the business. Keep it honest, and keep it human.

Equipment

This is dependent on your specialization. If you teach yoga, then you should have at least one yoga mat, as well as yoga blocks, props, and straps for more advanced clients.

Try to keep up with your clients’ equipment as well so you can properly demonstrate how to use them properly and without them hurting themselves.

Consider as well how visible your equipment will be on camera, whether on video or on still images. Go with bright colors like neon green or pink over drab ones like gray or beige.

Experience and Certification

If you’re new to the industry, it’s better to build experience by working in traditional gyms first before transitioning to the online world.

Certifications aren’t strictly necessary, but being a certified personal trainer is a huge leg up from uncertified personal trainers. It could land your name on official lists across the city, state, or country. That alone could bring in new clients to your “door” without any effort.

In particular, getting certified as an online personal trainer not only gets potential clients interested in hiring you but also equips you with the right tools and skills to develop and build your personal training business.

Clients

You’ll need clients to turn your passion into a money-making business.

Building a client base is definitely the hardest phase, but once you’ve coached a few people with everything you got and they’ve given you nothing but praises, the word of mouth can jumpstart your career.

Other ways of finding clients include advertising, networking, “going viral,” sharing valuable information, and hosting contests or giveaways.

Note that you have to think about finding new clients continuously, even after your business picks up.

Love for Technology

Because you are now an online personal trainer, your business will revolve around the web, social media, your website, special fitness software, and fitness apps. These apps and programs will help you in accepting payment, hosting giveaways, organizing your contact list, and other essentials for your business.

As much as you like interacting with people. personal trainers should also have a natural love for technology and be updated with the latest organizational programs, know how to schedule sessions, set up payments, and so on.

Willingness to Adapt

Technological advancements are never-ending, and people want the next best thing. You should be able to adapt as changes happen. This also goes with your self-written ebook fitness programs, or video series, since new information in the medical or fitness fields could be conflicting with the information you taught in the past.

Adapting to changes ensure that your clients won’t leave you because of a poor app you haven’t updated for years, or an old workout routine that has been recently proven to be bad for the knees.

10 Ways You Can Grow as an Online Personal Trainer (From Fitness Blender)

I’m going to tell you a story about a husband and wife named Daniel and Kelli Segars, who started creating YouTube fitness-related videos from their garage in 2009 and has since turned their fitness coaching channel “Fitness Blender” into a million-dollar business.

And if you’re interested in an online fitness coaching career without relying on a client-to-client basis as traditional fitness trainers do, check out several tips on how to make it work based on The Segars’ success story.

The Story of Fitness Blender

Before Fitness Blender launched its own website and offered comprehensive weight loss programs there, Daniel and Kelli had been uploading YouTube videos to earn extra cash during the start of the 2008 recession.

By 2012, the couple was able to quit their day jobs and focus on Fitness Blender full-time.

As of the second quarter of 2021, their YouTube channel has 6.57 million subscribers, while its most popular video “10 Minute Ab Workout” has 75 million views.

The Segars have also moved to a new house with the same-looking white-background garage, but now with a spare room as their office.

1. Find a Unique Selling Point

The Segars just got married, signed for their first house, Daniel lost most of his personal-training clients, and Kelli’s work hours from selling gym membership got reduced – all in one weekend in August 2008.

With the Great Recession in full swing and the couple doing several odd jobs to pay for mortgage, the couple had the idea that if people can’t afford personal trainers anymore, they should offer their services online (for free) in exchange for cents from YouTube’s ad program.

To this day, authenticity is the theme of Fitness Blenders, and subscribers love it.

2. Start Small

The Segars had $5,000 to invest on the production of their videos.

They kept everything simple: a white-painted wall as backdrop, no music (to save on licensing fees), a DIY studio light from hardware-bought light bulbs, and an ordinary video camera.

The couple even edited their videos themselves via iMovie.

3. Know What You’re Selling

Daniel has a degree in Food and Nutrition, with years of experience as a personal trainer.

Kelli has degrees in both Sociology and Psychology, with work experience in the fitness industry since 2006.

The workouts that they do are simple, but they’re all backed by science. So are their weeks-long weight-loss programs and meal plans.

The couple didn’t just decide to become online fitness coaches out of the blue; it was their real-life profession and you can definitely see that they know what they’re doing.

4. Avoid Gimmicks

Daniel and Kelli’s videos become popular because of how genuine they are.

Both of them looked nothing like the cookie-cutter images of the fitness industry – Daniel wasn’t buffed to the extreme with veins popping, while Kelli never tanned or put on sexy clothes for the clicks.

They also never yell, or pump you out to “do your best.” They simply instruct.

Aside from their looks, Fitness Blender videos are never gimmicky.

Viewers actually relate to the couple, since they don’t edit out falls (while performing workouts), or panting.

You can even see them sweat, or have a hard time during parts of the workout. They’re not as posed as what we’ve come to know in fitness videos.

Kelli even admitted that she was so shy about appearing on those videos at the start that Daniel had to voice-over instructions. She eventually got out from her shell and began instructing moves on the videos, but the authenticity remained.

5. Learn SEO and internet marketing

The couple’s first AdSense check (from YouTube views) was for all of 9 cents.

They were happy with their initial earnings. But what propelled their videos was Kelli’s knowledge of search engine optimization (SEO) and internet marketing. She was an expert, but she knew how to use keywords to Fitness Blender’s advantage.

While working odd jobs to stay afloat in 2008, Kelli was writing “how-to” articles online part-time.

With this job, she learned how to create click-bait titles and content, which The Segars used with every video they uploaded. Soon, their SEO-optimized videos reached the top of Google searches and were able to legally manipulate search engine results extremely well.

6. Sell Affordable Products

When the couple launched their website, they decided to sell complete workout programs.

What’s interesting about these programs is that most content are readily-available on YouTube for free, but people bought them for how The Segars packaged their product.

First, the programs were affordable (somewhere from $5 to $15 with discounts every now and then).

Plus, the couple took advantage of the number one question their YouTube subscribers asked: “what workout should I do in order to …” lose weight, build muscles, etc.

From there, they organized their videos and created a workout calendar people could follow based on their needs. Having a guide to sort through hundreds of Fitness Blender did the trick, and their programs sold like hotcakes.

7. Choose Your Opportunities Wisely

Fame brings all kinds of opportunities and there were various offers that landed the Fitness Blender team.

One hotel wanted Fitness Blender to shoot their videos in front of their beachfront property.

The couple was even offered a TV show. But Daniel and Kelli declined, knowing that if they accepted these opportunities, their authenticity (their unique selling point) along with their reputation could be greatly affected, and not in a good way.

Instead, the couple decided to upgrade their website with more content. This time, they created meal plans that would work perfectly with the workout programs they were currently offering.

8. Provide Value

Viewers of Fitness Blender love the no-nonsense approach of the videos.

Whether the couple is giving out fitness tips, or announcing a new product, viewers accept these with open arms because every video Fitness Blender uploads provide some kind of value to the viewers.

9. Give Thanks

Daniel and Kelli have come a long way since they began their YouTube channel, but the couple knows who made it possible.

Every now and again, The Segars give thanks to their subscribers, customers, and followers just because. It’s always good business to make your customers feel valued, and the Fitness Blender team’s genuine acknowledgment of their market is the reason why they have happy, loyal fans around the world.

10. Never Stop

Even with 500+ videos uploaded on YouTube and a million-dollar business, the couple still uploads new content every week.

This, even if Kelli admits that she doesn’t like to work out sometimes (even if she knows it would make her feel better afterward). It’s a refreshing thing to hear, and inspirational for regular folk like us who hate working out some days.

Start Your Online Personal Training Business Today!

Becoming an online personal trainer is a fulfilling and lucrative endeavor. You get to help people achieve their fitness goals while allowing you some flexibility in your day and earn a living while doing it.

Are you planning on starting your own online personal training business? Tell us your plans for the future in the comments!