There is no bad time to become a blogger. Simply the sooner you start, the larger a blog can grow. In this article, we’re going to show you how to start a money-making blog in under 5 minutes.
Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!
How to make money in college can be a challenge but is almost a necessity nowadays with how expensive things have become. Unless you don’t mind coming out of college with $50,000 or more in student loan debt, you need to find ways to make money in college.
Trust me, you want to try to keep those student loans down as much as possible. Your future self will thank you greatly. I have seen friends come out with $60,000 plus in student loan debt who are still repaying those loans after almost ten years. It is pretty crazy!
To help you minimize your student loan debt we are going to show some awesome and flexible ways to make money in college.
This was my go-to on how to make money in College. Sadly, I tended to use this money for beer rather than responsibility but it could be a good way for someone to make $300 or more a month.
If you are not scared of needles, this is the way to make money in college for you. When you arrive you need to go through a brief check-up for your temperature and answer some questions. Once in the back, you get to lay on a comfy bed for the next 60-90 minutes. During this time you can read, watch a movie, work on school work, or even earn more money another way.
There are many plasma donation companies around the country. I donated through Biolife Plasma during my time in college.
If you are able to bring a car with you to campus then you should check out driving for Uber or Lyft. These companies let you drive whenever you need to so this is a super flexible option for you.
How much do these drivers make? Well, that depends on your location and the time you are able to drive. In general, it is said that most earn anywhere from $10 to $30 an hour.
Some students are so busy they have zero time to earn cash outside of studying.
If this is you, do not be afraid to reach out to your dean to see if your school offers any rewards for good grades. Some universities will actually give students cash bonuses for maintaining good grades.
This also can be an opportunity to improve your scholarships for the upcoming terms. Do not be afraid to look for new scholarship opportunities as your progress through your academic career.
A lot of major universities will have a psychology department or some might even have a medical school. This might be an opportunity to be a guinea pig for a student that the psych graduate students are performing for their thesis or maybe for a medical research study.
I was able to participate in a psychology study during my time at Iowa State University. I earned $20 for 60-minutes worth of time. That is not a bad return!
I did not resell textbooks to earn some income but at the end of the term, I would sell my used up books to recover some costs. Other people are a lot smarter than I am. Some students will find cheap textbooks on eBay then turn around and sell them for a profit on websites like BookScouter or Amazon.
Do some research with your University’s bookstore to see which books are required by classes most. Then go hunting for that book at a lower cost.
Many universities offer tutoring services. If you are good at helping others and there is a subject you are good at, this might be your way on how to make money In college. Since you are working for the university they will work with your academic schedule.
In today’s world, there are some online tutoring options too, such as Wyzant. This is great if you are looking for more flexibility or your university has no openings.
Virtual employment is something that has blown up in the last several years. This can be a great flexible opportunity for students to earn cash from their own dorm room. There are many virtual jobs you can try out.
Speaking of virtual jobs, Amazon offers a couple of online opportunities as well.
Amazon Flex is Amazon’s package delivery service. Driver’s can earn a pretty good amount of money while delivering packages for Amazon Flex. Their website claims that most drivers earn $18-$25 an hour. That is much better than what we read about with Uber and Lyft.
This is a new one to me but sounds like an awesome opportunity. “Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a crowdsourcing marketplace that makes it easier for individuals and businesses to outsource their processes and jobs to a distributed workforce who can perform these tasks virtually.” (Amazon MTurk).
Some tasks include simple data validation and research, survey participation, content moderation, and more.
To be honest, this might be one I try out for myself.
Are you good with computers? Are you crafty? Handy?
If so, you can sell your skill set. You can charge to fix computers (BTW, this is how Dell Computers got started). Or you can help a dormmate decorate their dorm room. Maybe a neighbor down the street needs some handiwork done. All of these items bring the opportunity to earn some money while in college.
You can also start selling skillsets on Upwork, Fiverr, or any other freelance website.
There are always people that need help in the community that your university is a part of. Some tasks include help with moving, lawn care, painting, walking their dog, and so on. The list could go on and on.
Check out Craig’s List, TaskRabbit, or even Rover to find how you can make money in college while helping in the local community.
Foap is another one that is new to me. Like MTurk, I will also probably check this one out.
As a former professional photographer, I am very impressed by the quality of photographs phones take nowadays. With Foap, you can now sell those awesome photos you are taking on your cell phone.
Simply put, this is stock photography for mobile photography. Once you upload a high-quality photo for Foap, someone can buy a license for that photo for $10. Foap gets $5 and you take home $5. If your photo is downloaded 20 times, you just made $100.
Here are some stock photography tips for you.
I worked at JCPenny during my last couple of years of college. Working for a retail store or restaurant in a college town is pretty flexible. They know how to schedule for students and actually tend to overhire to account for students’ schedules.
I worked in the shoe department so I got paid hourly plus commission. Some weekends I would earn $200-$300 just off of that commission.
I will admit, working in retail or in the food industry is not that fun but they will probably earn you a consistent paycheck.
Well, that is it. Those are the only ways to make money in college!
Just kidding! Do none of these ways on how to make money in college sound good to you? Do not worry! Andrew and I have you covered. Over the years we have put together one of the largest lists on the internet with ideas on how to make money. I highly recommend you check it out!
Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!
I’ve always been fascinated with stock photography as a way to make money. So I decided to try it and share my success as I sold my first stock photo in 10 days as a Shutterstock Contributor.
Honestly, I’ve been wanting to try this for a while since discovering Adam of Team Wallet Squirrel made $1,000 off a single photo (sold multiple times)! A photo he took randomly of the St. Louis Arch while supporting me as I ran the St. Louis Marathon in 2012.
This is my 10-day review as a new Shutterstock Contributor!
These are digital photos that are sold online, usually for commercial purposes. Sites like Getty Images and Shutterstock are great examples of websites that sell stock photography.
It’s an interesting passive income because all you have to do is upload a photo once, as a digital product, and earn money each someone downloads it! This can occur thousands of times without any additional effort on your part.
Great Stock Photography Example
I’m not a professional photographer or a good photographer by any means, but I applied to both Shutterstock and iStockPhoto, two top stock photography websites, on the off chance they’d accept an amateur like me.
Unexpectedly, I was accepted to both.
There are other Stock Photography websites out there, you can apply to. Here is a list of the top 10 I discovered in my research, but I’ll only focus on one (Shutterstock) for this article. I assume they all have some similarities.
In order to start submitting photos, I had to understand what stock photography sites were looking for, and sell best. People aren’t going photos of clouds taken from an airplane window.
In fact, they specifically ask you don’t submit photos of clouds. They have MILLIONS of them.
You need to submit photos that could be used for commercial purposes. Some types of photos that sell best are Portrait Photography, Food Photography, Landscapes (usually with people) and fine art photography (artsy). Above all, nice photos with people sell the best!
This helped to understand what stock photography sites were looking for!
Now to inventory what photos I already have. Having taken thousands of photos for fun, I had to assume some were decent.
So I plugged in my external hard drive carrying every photo I’ve ever taken through college, life, and traveling. That night, I went over 4,000 digital photos.
I sat at my tiny desk with Netflix on in the background as I clicked on my computer’s right arrow button nearly 4,000 times to go over every photo I’ve ever taken in the last 10 years. Most of these were taken with a point and click camera, so the quality wasn’t great, but a few gems were discovered. =)
I pulled all the good photos into a folder. I ended up with 100 great photos.
That’s still too many! I had to limit those 100 great photos down to 60 awesome photos, then down to the 30 all-time best photos I’ve ever taken. Later ranking them 1 to 30.
That was hard, very, very hard.
I had to keep in mind, I can’t control how these photos will be used. A family portrait may be used in a prescription depression magazine ad, so I was cautious and respectful to other people in the photos. Plus I would need photo releases signed (and submitted) with any people in them. I could download these online, but I simply avoided people to make things easier.
I was ready to apply to Shutterstock!
Yes, you have to apply, they don’t just take anyone with a phone camera.
So I submitted to Shutterstock & iStockPhoto, but we’re still focusing on Shutterstock. Shutterstock was A LOT faster with the review process, taking around 5 business days. iStockPhoto took around 30 days.
So I went here to apply to Shutterstock.
I created a profile (basically username, password and verify email address). Then they requested I upload around 14 of my best photos. They would review these for the application process. Yes, it was a process, they have an official review team that reviews each photo uploaded to make sure it matches their quality.
Luckily I already went through and had my top 30 ranked. I added my top 14.
Then I hit submit and started the waiting game.
During this time I played with other ways to make money while I waited.
Finally, on Day 9 I get the “You’re Approved” email. I was honestly a little shocked. I knew the photos I submitted were MY best, but there are MUCH more talented people out there with better photography. I wanted to reply back and say “Really? Are you sure I’m approved?”. However, I kept my mouth shut and moved on.
So I hop into their platform and start familiarizing myself with their dashboard. It looks a little something like this and hasn’t changed in the last couple years.
I spent time filling out the rest of the information and verifying who I am for tax purposes. They are very keen on this, in fact, they ask you to submit a photo of your driver’s license to confirm who you are. That part was a little weird uploading a photo of my driver’s license but figured I’ve gone this far.
Remember every photo you upload, even as a contributor, has to be reviewed by their team first, even after you applied with those same photos. I guess it’s a different review team.
I started by selecting my top 8 photos for consideration to sell on their site. Now more work.
Having a nice photo isn’t enough, you’ll need to add categories to describe each photo, such as “travel, nature, urban, etc.”. Then add around 50 description keywords. These are how people search for your photos when they’re looking for a stock photo to purchase.
This part is crucial!
Once I selected all the keywords and categories for each of my 8 photos, I clicked “Submit” to have their team review my photos with those specific keywords. The idea is you’re not using unrelated keywords, have the necessary photo release forms if you’re including people (yup, upload those too), categorizing the photos correctly, and the photos are high enough quality.
Two of my photos got rejected rather quickly. They at least tell me why.
However, the other 6 photos were approved! These are the best photos I’ve ever taken right here. If you agree, feel free to purchase them, but I have no idea what you’d use them for. I just like them.
Someone liked my photo and bought it! I’m not sure who it was, but I made my first sale on Shutterstock for my “dock” photo taken in New Zealand. Maybe it was my mother, she still has my crayon drawings from 1st grade.
Not sure how they found it, just searching for “dock” won’t really find it. The term “dock” is pretty saturated. They must have searched for some of the additional keywords as well.
I can see how other people may use this as a stock image though. It’s very calming. The only thing missing is some kids running off the end, into the water.
So finding the right keywords for your photos makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE. You should be spending 30 min on keyword research for each photo and don’t be afraid to look at your competitor keywords on similar images.
Lesson Learned – I was most disappointed that I can’t control the pricing. This is entirely controlled by the website. The cheapest they sell photos for are $29 for 2 photos, so we can assume they sell the basic quality photos for $14.50 each.
From my one download, I made $1.88. It’s not great considering Shutterstock is taking 88% and I’m getting 12% of each sale, but it’s what I have to deal with since it’s their marketplace.
We’ll overlook the fact that I only made $1.88 on one photo, or 12% of the price online.
Some people can make a living off it for sure, but as I mentioned our own Adam in his recent article “5 Simple Ways – How to Sell Photos Online” said he made around $1,000 off one photo of the St. Louis Arch. He uploaded it once and has continued to receive checks from it over the last year.
Now the photos I uploaded weren’t the highest quality (it was just a 2MP point and click camera). In the future, I would invest in a nicer camera. I’ve been thinking about a camera that would be great both for photography, and video recording.
This would allow me to sell stock photography, stock video and start vlogging for additional money. Personally, I’ve been looking at the Canon EOS M50 Mirrorless Video Creator Kit. It has everything I need for all three, all packaged together!
The only addition to my dream setup would be to add some nice, but cheap lighting stands or ring light to make everything pop and look more professional.
I’m continued to be excited about stock photography even though I only received 12% of the total sale.
I suspect the 6 photos I uploaded won’t do great, but they’ll continue to bring in a few bucks without any additional effort on my part. Plus I can add more as a Shutterstock Contributor now.
Now that I know what type of photography sells best, I can shoot some new photos to sell online as another way to make money! Maybe grab a suit and take photos in conference rooms for the highly popular business attire photos. Every photo I take is just another stream of passive income with stock photography!
Have you ever sold stock photography?
Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!
If you follow this blog then you know I would normally invest any extra $100 into my savings portfolio but I have a unique opportunity to disprove a popular way of making money, Lottery Tickets.
Personally, I’m not a fan of Lottery Tickets or the lesser form, Scratch-It Tickets. I go by the understandable philosophy the HOUSE ALWAYS WIN. However I can’t just say Lottery Tickets are dumb, I have to prove it.
It’s one of the funniest feelings in the world to walk into a Gas Station (Liquor Store/Gas Station for me) and lay down a crisp $100 bill to say “I want $100 worth of Lottery Tickets!”. I assume his opinion of me was that of a Lottery Addict getting his next fix, but I started grinning like a 5-year-old buying a box of Cracker Jacks hoping to get the secret decoder ring!
He asked me “what kind?”
Crap there are more than one? Well apparently yes. There were Mega Millions, Powerball, and Scratch-Its. Each of these are considered “Lottery Tickets” and there are tons of them!
To diversified my Lottery Ticket selection and then bought all of them.
I ended up getting a wide assortment of Lottery Options. I bought $99 worth of Scratch It Tickets and one Mega Millions Ticket. I figured if I was going to win the Mega Millions, one ticket would just be as good as 100 of them if I factored odds. My thought was that I’d win more with Scratch-Its than a Powerball/Mega Millions because the odds were better.
I bought (2) $20 Scratch Its, (2) $10 Scratch Its, (4) $5 Scratch Its, (5) $3 Scratch Its and (2) $2 Scratch its along with a (1) $1 Mega Millions Lottery Ticket.
Here’s what $100 worth of Lottery Tickets looks like.
Leaving the Gas Station, I felt like a kid escaping a toy store with a stash of loot. I knew the odds were against me, but damn it I thought “I COULD ACTUALLY WIN SOMETHING HERE”.
I should say that the lottery is a game of luck. There is absolutely NO skill with these games. There are people that say you can tilt the odds in your favor with different strategies. I’m sorry, I don’t believe you. The lottery is like burning your money. It’s fun to do, but you’re left with nothing in the end.
Here’s the thing, I remember the last time I did a Scratch-It Ticket when I was 10 years old, all I had to do was scratch a ticket and it told me whether I won or not. Nowadays, there are all kinds, like Bingo and Crossword Scratch-Its that take forever and are very confusing to see whether you won or not. Even then you’re not entirely sure. After two hours of scratching tickets, I discovered I won $128. That’s freaking incredible. Yet when I turned in the tickets, I ended up actually winning $158 because one ticket had a secret 2x bonus.
WTF! These should be simple. I’ll take the extra $30 but we should really be upfront and simple about these things.
I could have easily just bought the ticket and had the gas station clerk just scan the ticket to see if I won. I discovered there really is no reason to scratch them yourself. The games are entertaining to play, but in reality, they have no purpose. Once the ticket is bought, you can scan it and learn if you win or lose without ever “playing” the game.
I was frankly shocked and didn’t expect to win anything. I was planning on sharing this experience to say Lottery Tickets will always lose. I’m happy I won $158 dollars but I could have just easily lost everything.
Here are the break down of the Lottery Tickets:
Lottery Ticket Winning Amounts
It appears what you win is directly proportional to the amount you spend on the ticket. That is kind of scary, you want to win big, you have to gamble big. I won most of my money from two $20 tickets. The only exception was the $3 ticket that won 2000% of it’s ticket price at $60.
Since Wallet Squirrel is all about earning extra money and investing it, let’s see what would happen over 20 years if you invested that $158 in dividend stocks. Let’s assume 7% Market Average with a 3% dividend.
There are really two types of lottery games. There are the scratch it tickets that I did before and the Powerball/Mega Millions that people have to guess 6 numbers. I wanted to update this blog post by spending $100 on Powerball/Mega Millions tickets.
Since this is an update to this post, I just bought these tickets from the gas station on Thursday when the Mega Millions was at 1 BILLION dollars. Of course, that’s the annuity and not the lump sum. It would be more around $337 million if it was the lump sum. Still though, a lot of money.
So I laid down another crisp $100 bill (which the cashier immediately checked if it was legit, it was) and bought my Mega Millions tickets. Since it’s $2 per ticket, I bought 50 tickets in total. I was asked if I wanted “power play” which doubles your prize if you win (except the jackpot), and I choose “no”. My goal was the 1 BILLION jackpot and “power play” always feels more like an upsell.
I expected 50 individual tickets, but the machine lets you buy $20 worth of tickets at a time, so the cashier had to select 10 random tickets at a time. I felt bad for the dude to keep pressing the buttons, but this is what 50 Mega Millions tickets look like.
After the drawing, I went through each ticket and circled all the winning numbers “15 23 53 65 70 – 7”. They say you have a 1 in 25 chance of winning, but when you select random, I’m not sure those odds are accurate. Out of 50 sets of numbers, I only won once and it was because I had the correct “power ball” number “7”. So because I had the “power ball” number I won $4. Won isn’t the correct word though because I technically lost $96 in total.
I will admit that Scratch-Its and Lottery Tickets are a way to earn money, but it’s very rare. You’re more likely to be pranked by a friend with a fake lottery ticket, than the odds of actually winning. Most people just continue to buy lottery tickets because of the expression “You can’t win if you don’t play”. Technically true, but the odds are astronomically stacked against you.
Scratch-It tickets seemed to be much better in this little experiment. Your odds are so little that it may not be worth it except for the fun to think about winning because you’ll likely not win. You’re WAY better off investing that $100.
Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!
Summer is a time for vacations and relaxation. For many people, it is also a time to earn extra money. Getting a part-time job in the summer is an opportunity to make some extra money during the summer.
A part-time summer job is a temporary job during the summer, typically in June, July, and August. Usually, students and teachers, who are off of school during those months, are the ones who work a part-time summer job to earn some extra money.
Summer part-time jobs are a great way to gain work experience and learn about the working world. In addition, if you are a student, working a part-time job in the summer can help you save up some money to give you extra cash to spend throughout the year and supplement your frugal student budget.
A part-time retail job is a great way to make some extra money and work around your school schedule. You may have heard about part-time retail jobs from friends or seen them advertised in the newspaper. Some part-time retail jobs are even just seasonal and only last for a few months. However, the hours are usually flexible, and you can work as many hours as you want.
A part-time retail job is a great way to make some extra money and work around your school schedule. Some retail
The summer months are a time of celebration and relaxation, but it also means hard work for many people. The summer season is a busy time for many restaurants, with people coming in to eat out daily.
Summer is a busy time for many restaurants, with people coming in to eat out daily. As a result, many restaurants will hire extra people for the summer months, and some restaurants will have more people working on the weekends.
Working in a restaurant during the summer is a great way to make some extra money. Some people work in the kitchen and some work as servers. They work hard, but they also get to spend time in the summer sun.
Many people in the United States spend their summers as camp counselors. Camp counselors are responsible for teaching children about nature, sports, and other activities. Counselors also have to be very patient and nurturing as they work with children.
There are part-time job opportunities in different day camps or summer learning programs and events. (You can also work in a sleepover summer camp, but that is not part-time!).
The summer is a time when many kids have the opportunity to camp. Camp counselors play a crucial role in the camp experience. They help the campers make friends and have fun. They also teach the kids new skills and help them grow as people.
Camp counselors are the backbone of the camp experience. Although it is a hard job with a lot of responsibility, it can be fun for the right person. Camp counselors get to experience camp and do all the fun things that campers do.
A bartender’s summer job is a great way to earn money for the future. The job is a lot of fun, and you get to meet new people all the time. In addition, you get to serve drinks and talk to the customers.
The job is also a lot of hard work, and you have to be on your feet the whole time. You have to be a good listener and make sure that the customers are always happy. The job is a lot of fun, and it is a great way to earn
Bartending is a great summer job for anyone who wants to make some money and have a lot of fun. It’s an excellent job for people who enjoy talking to people and making drinks. It’s a great way to make some money, and the best part is that you can drink on the job!
The amusement park is one of the most popular destinations for families with children. When you think of amusement parks, you may think of fun rides, cotton candy, and sunburns. But what about the people who work there?
Amusement park workers are responsible for keeping the rides safe and operational and ensuring that all visitors have a safe and enjoyable experience. They are also responsible for maintaining the park clean and orderly. Working at an amusement park can be a gratifying experience.
It’s a fun environment with a lot of energy and a lot of different people. In addition, it’s a great way to meet new people and make new friends. But, it can also be a very demanding job. There are long hours and a lot of physical work, and you must constantly deal with large groups of people and kids.
The summer is quickly approaching, and many people are already looking for summer jobs. One popular summer job is as a lifeguard. Lifeguard jobs are a great way to make some extra cash and get a tan all at the same time. Trained and licensed lifeguards can find lifeguard jobs at public beaches, pools, and rec centers.
A lifeguard’s job is one of the most important jobs that one can have, and it is a job that is not always easy. It is a job that requires a lot of patience and a lot of time. It requires you to be on your feet for long periods. But, most importantly, while lifeguarding, you must be able and willing to give your total attention to the job. People’s lives are in your hands, and it is a job that you must take seriously.
Offices aren’t exactly the fun in the sun jobs that usually are part of the summer part-time jobs list, but many offices hire part-time workers in the summer jobs to help with mundane tasks and to gain office experience. That can be an excellent opportunity to see what working in a specific industry look like.
In addition, some offices prefer to hire interns for unpaid positions, which may not be an option for everyone but can be a good advantage for someone looking to get into a specific industry or workplace eventually.
Summer is quickly approaching, and the kids are out of school. While most people are looking forward to the summer break, teachers look forward to the summer class. In addition, summer classes are a great way to make some extra money during the summer.
Summer is a great time to take a break from the daily grind. However, if you are looking to keep your skills fresh, teaching a summer class is a great way to do so. In addition, teaching a summer class is a great way to keep your skills fresh and make some extra money to help pay for your expenses.
Being a mother’s helper is an excellent job if you look for the flexible scheduling that summer part item jobs offer you. Since many parents have their children home more often in the summer months, many parents choose to hire someone to help them out with their children.
Getting a job as a mother’s helper is a great way to make extra cash while watching children but often doesn’t require you to have complete responsibility for someone else’s children. For example, you can help parents take kids to the pool or park or, in general, provide an extra pair of hands.
Many working parents find themselves without their usual childcare arrangements during the summer. They need a babysitter to fill in the gaps of their regular childcare. Working as a babysitter during those hours can be a great money-making opportunity. If you have a flexible schedule and can cover those gaps- you can be in high demand during those summer months.
Babysitting is very rewarding and can make you quite a bit of money and give you a lot of flexibility. If you are babysitting the right age kids, you can also have many downtimes to work on your schoolwork (summer courses, for example) or whatever else you want to do. It can be physically and emotionally demanding, but it has a lot of perks as well. There are many hours of flexibility and air conditioning!
The hospitality and tourism industries are exploding this time of year. With lots of people on vacation and going out to enjoy themselves, hospitality and tourist attractions need all the help they can get. Many of these places look for temporary workers to cover shifts these months and supplement their regular workers.
That is particularly true in high-tourist destinations. If you have a specific tourist city that you would like to visit, check out the job listing at all their attractions and hospitality services and see if you can get a part-time summer job that will allow you also to enjoy the sights and have a vacation you wouldn’t have ordinary have.
Landscaping jobs are often available to those interested in a physical job outside, in the sun, and offer a sense of accomplishment.
Landscaping jobs are often available to those interested in a physical job outside, in the sun, and offer a sense of accomplishment. Landscaping jobs are often open to those interested in a physical job outside, in the sun, and offer a sense of accomplishment. In addition, landscaping is a great way to earn income while being outdoors. It can be a physically demanding job, but it is a great way to stay healthy and keep in shape.
Golf caddies are an integral part of the game of golf. They are responsible for carrying the golfer’s clubs and helping the golfer to find the hole. Golf courses see an influx of players in the summer months and need more caddies to help the golfers play. It is a physical job but can net you some excellent tips, is pretty low stress, and can have flexible hours, making it a great summer part-time job.
If you’re looking for a job this summer, you might want to consider becoming a swim instructor. Swim instructors are in high demand in the summer because many people want to learn how to swim. In addition, there are many different levels of swim instruction to teach people of all ages and levels of ability.
You will need to be officially certified and licensed to teach swimming. However, if you can find kids to teach (either in your pool or theirs), this can be a very lucrative part-time job for the summer.
Pool maintenance is a job that can be both enjoyable and challenging. There are many different aspects of pool maintenance that need to be done to keep the pool clean and safe for use. For example, a variety of chemicals need to be used to keep the pool clear, and there are also a variety of tools that need to be used to keep the pool clean.
Pool maintenance is a job that can be both enjoyable and challenging. You will need to know how to clean and maintain pools properly, and you may have to purchase some of your equipment to get started. However, you can work on your schedule and at your own pace and can make a nice amount of money in a short amount of time.
Summer is a time for kids to relax and have fun. However, not all kids have the opportunity to take a break from school. Some kids are still in school, while others need to catch up on work and learn during the summer months to keep up academically. That is where you come in; tutoring kids during the summer can be a great money-maker, especially for teachers who have the summer off. A good tutor whom kids like and who teaches well can charge a lot of money, and you can take as many or as few clients as you want.
Tutoring is also a job that you can do from the comfort of your own home. All you need is a computer, a reliable internet connection, and a few hours of spare time. You can make a decent hourly wage, and you can work as little or as much as you want.
Many people choose the summertime to go away on vacation. That means that lots of people are looking for pet sitters to watch their pets while they travel. Parents often hire a pet sitter to come to take care of their pets while they are gone. A pet sitter will feed their pet, walk them, clean up after them, and make sure they are safe. If you can have the pets board in your home, that is another great way to make a lot of money for a small amount of work in the summer (and you can do it while doing another job or taking some summer courses).
Summer is a great time to experience different job opportunities that you may not otherwise have a chance to take. Summer part-time jobs can be a perfect time to make money and build your resume with different experiences. Since many of these opportunities are outdoor jobs, you can get your sun-fix in and make some extra income, all while working part-time, giving you plenty of time to party, do some volunteer work, or just chill.
Getting a part-time summer job can be the right move for many high school students, college students, seasonal workers, or anyone who works in a position that gives the summer off. Using the summer to make some money, save for the future, and gain valuable employment experience – definitely a smart move!
This post originally appeared on Your Money Geek.
Affiliate programs dramatically increase revenue for bloggers/influencers. Here are the best affiliate programs based on revenue & popularity
Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!
This is not a guide on how to become a movie star, I have no idea how to become the next Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts. I’m strictly focusing on how to become one of the non-speaking people in the background of a movie because all those “normal” people in movies are all paid to be there. These people are called movie extras. Their job is typical to be the “normal” people in the background of movies.
During the fall/summer of 2009, I worked as an intern in a Landscape Architecture firm in Des Moines, Iowa (don’t pronounce the “s”). This was the year Iowa had a number of tax advantages for movie companies and many of those companies made their way from Hollywood to Iowa to shoot big-budget movies.
My design firm was located on the second floor of a build with vacant space on the first floor that a casting company set up temporary shop. It wasn’t a grand Hollywood looking renovation, but rather a modest set up where you could tell they were only in Iowa for the tax reasons. Yet still professional. Don’t think creepy abandoned building.
It was a big deal in my office that this casting company opened up shop, so about 5 of us during lunch went downstairs and checked it out. The casting company was super friendly and asked if we’d want to submit our info for potential projects. We were like giddy schoolgirls thinking this was our chance to become famous, of course, we said yes.
Now since then, I’ve heard people spending hundreds of dollars on headshots and all that. For me, it didn’t cost us anything. It was a quick 15 min process where we filled out some forms that were primarily about our physical descriptions “height, weight, hair color, eye color, etc.”. Afterward, they took a couple photos “headshot/body shot”. Just our regular look/style, no Zoolander Blue Steel or anything.
About a month after we all signed up, I got a call on my cell phone. Mind you, this was a month of hearing nothing, so the call was unexpected. I guess this is the way it goes. You sign up and wait.
The call was brief and happened a while ago, but this was roughly how it went.
Casting Agency: “Hey Andrew, this the Casting Agency (I don’t remember the name), we were going over headshots with the director of a new movie and we liked your look. Would you be available to be an extra, a non-speaking role, on May XX (don’t remember this date)?
Me: “Oh Hey! That’s cool! What movie is it?”
Casting Agency: “It’s called “The Experiment” with Adrien Brody about the Stanford prison experiment. You know about regular people taking on the roles of prisoners and guards for a psychological experiment. We’re shooting a scene at a café, it will be an all-day shoot and we’ll pay you $80 for the day. Are you available?”
Me: In my mind, I’m thinking HOLY MOLY I’m going to be hanging out with Adrien Brody, this is awesome. Yet I played it cool. “Yea I can be there”.
It was easy to spot the café where I needed to go. It was an upscale coffee shop in the middle of a nice strip mall in an up and coming part of Des Moines. I recognized it right away because it was surrounded by large trucks lugging movie equipment and barriers that stopped people from going anywhere near the coffee shop. Needless to say, this coffee shop wasn’t getting any actual customers, it was completely rented out and filled with silent movie extras already inside miming fake conversations to look “normal”.
Apparently, a trick with experienced movie extra actors, those who get there extra early to get the best parts closest to the action. I didn’t know this.
After I parked, I walked up to the café but was sent around to the back alley where the cast/crew area was set up. It was there I met about 10 other extras who were eagerly waiting to be told what to do.
Waiting was the keyword because the life of a movie extra is primarily waiting around all day.
The first 4 hours of the day were the crew setting up the café, checking the lighting, and running through the scene without actually filming. As the “additional” movie extras, we waited patiently for someone to tell us what to do and tried to catch glimpses of the café whenever the alley door opened. Some people (who’ve done this before) brought books, but most of us gossiped about what was going and sharing stories of other movies they’ve been in.
About 5 hours in, the assistant director asked for some people. My hand shot up instantly. I was dying of boredom. I didn’t know what needed to happen but anything was better than sitting.
My job was to walk in the background outside the cafe so there was normal movement outside the window. In a straight line, I had to walk 20 feet. That was my moment of movie glory!
To give you a mental description. The scene was a mental flashback of the main character in this coffee shop. So while you would see the hero in the coffee shop talking, surrounded by “normal” looking movie extras in the coffee shop. There was a view of the window looking outside, probably in the corner of the shot. That was me, I was one of 6 people walking on the sidewalk past the coffee shop to make the outside look “normal”.
I sat 5 hours, to do a 5-second walk outside a coffee shop window in the background of the background of the actual café scene.
After I did my walk, well a couple of times for a couple of takes and after the assistant director told me how to make my walk look casual. I was done and went back to the alley.
The only other activity came at the end of 7 hours when they were packing up to do a night club scene. They asked for volunteers who wanted to join and while I offered (along with everyone else), I was the 7th person when they only needed 6.
That was the end of my acting career. The moral of the story, movie extras need to show up early and act fast to get in the good scenes.
If you ever watch movie commentary, some actors remember doing some of their best work in scenes that never made it into the final movie. Well, I bought the 2010 “The Experiment” movie online, even though you don’t really own the digital movies you buy. I recognized numerous Iowa qualities, but my coffee shop scene never made it into the movie. Yet I still got paid.
I remember when they were packing up that day. I asked if they needed anything else. They were super nice, but said no and handed me a check for $80. That was it! However because I showed up and was there if they needed me, I got paid.
I totally should have invested that in 2009 like Warren Buffet, but didn’t.
Many elements of my story are pure luck, but don’t let that deter you from trying. Check websites of professional (non-sketchy) casting agencies in your area. They’re most likely in larger cities. Ask them point-blank that you’re interested in being a movie extra and what you need to do. I’m not sure it’ll be as easy as taking your photo and done, but each casting agency will let you know.
Once you’re in their database, you’ll be on their list for a while and will never know when or if they’ll call. Each new movie may be looking for something different or something you uniquely have. There is no way of knowing.
In fact, I received a call from the same casting company 4 years later having never spoken to them since. They called in 2013 after I started my job in Denver and asked if I could be in LA in a week. I immediately thought about how random it was but kindly responded no. In hindsight, maybe I should have tried it, but either way, it’s a unique way to make money and a fun experience.
Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!
This is the second time I ever tried Teespring, but my first time writing a Teespring Review. As a designer, this is a fun way to earn extra money by designing fun tee shirts and other gear. You essentially design funny/clever t-shirts and then market them to be sold.
Teespring is a legit website where you can design custom tee shirts and other apparel such as hoodies, socks, mugs etc. using their proprietary online design software. Once you create a custom design, you can share a link with your friends who can buy your t-shirt design directly on Teespring. The money, printing and shipping are all handled by Teespring.
The difference between Teespring and other custom t-shirt design places is the shirts aren’t actually made until you have a minimum order.
This way you don’t have to buy a bunch of shirts you’re not sure will sell or not. Thus filling your garage full of crappy shirts. All you do is create the design and TeeSpring handles all the orders, payments and shipping once a minimum amount of shirts are sold. Then you as the designer get a small profit off the orders sold.
Absolutely! We’ve personally used Teespring and found numerous positive reviews about the company. They’ve been around for years and built up a solid reputation. Even Forbes mentioned them as a great way to make money by selling well-made t-shirts and other gear.
The biggest bonus to Teespring (and why I wanted to write this Teespring Review) is that once you get the minimum amount of orders. You as the designer get a cut of the profits for creating the design!
Teespring handles all the heavy work (collecting money, printing, shipping), but since you are the one that created the shirt design and marketed it, you get a portion of the money made. Of course, Teespring takes their share, but you get yours too.
It’s a unique sidehuslte if you’re a creative type that can create some clever t-shirts and market them.
Head over to Teespring and hit “Start Designing”. It’ll ask you to create an account with them. It’s just the basic name, email, and password. They don’t ask for any payment information when your first setting up an account or first creating a shirt design.
You’ll then be asked to “Pick Your Canvas”. They have a number of options since they originally started. You can create unique/clever designs on a wide variety of items including:
I am going to focus on t-shirts for this Teespring Review since that’s what they’re famous for.
I select apparel. This takes you immediately to their online design software where you can create a completely unique t-shirt design from scratch.
It’s a bit intimidating, I just created a basic word print design (I find inspiration from Amazon’s funny shirts). I obviously didn’t get too crazy, but you have a lot of options for what you can do including uploading your own custom designs.
I was impressed with the variety in Teespring’s online software program, it really was impressive. It’ll work great for beginners if you don’t have your own design software like Adobe Illustrator. This is what their online software looks like.
Once you finish a design, Teespring will let you set the price for how much you want to sell the shirt for. You could set the price for $50 per shirt if you’d like. It may be more than people want to buy a shirt for, but it’s up to you.
You’ll start off with Teespring’s recommended sell price.
In addition to what you set the price at, Teespring will show you how much of a profit you’ll make based on the number of shirts and the selling price. So simple economics, the higher price you set and the more you sell, the more profit you’ll make. In the Teespring Review example below, if 7 shirts are purchased, I would make $70 or $7 per shirt if I sell for $23.99.
After you set the price, you will create a profile on your new shirt design. This is what people will see when they view your shirt on Teespring.
Take some time with this. Giving your campaign/shirt description a clever description can really help sell shirts to people on the fence.
If you want to check out the t-shirt design I did for this Teespring Review, go to Teespring.com/i-am-a-blogger-teeshirt where you’ll have the option to buy. It’s very basic. I like to set the bar low for you to create your own amazing shirt design!
That’s it. Now anyone can see your shirt and buy it. The biggest thing from here is sending the link to your friends, post on your blog or share with your social network to buy the new shirt.
A popular strategy I’ve seen, create a clever t-shirt idea for a specific niche of people. For instance, the famous “Don’t worry I’m a ______” tagline. To give an example, I’ve seen “Don’t worry I’m a Nurse” and people created specific facebook ads for people who listed their occupation as “Nurse”. I believe it’s been really successful.
I like the idea of Teespring. It allows you to quickly create a custom t-shirt design to share with all your friends for them to buy. However, it doesn’t seem to be set up for a permanent side hustle. There are a lot of better/easier ways to earn more money.
Once you create the t-shirt design, it takes A LOT of effort and marketing dollars to get those shirts to sell. So unless you have a particular network of people who are willing to buy a specific t-shirt, I wouldn’t recommend this as a permanent side hustle.
Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!
I’ve always had a hard time finding a good list of Amazon Affiliate Website Examples, so here is my personal list of inspiration that I’ve built up over the years. I’ve been itching to create a new website lately as an awesome way to make money, but before I start I thought I would review my list of successful Amazon Affiliate Websites currently making money for some lessons learned.
An Amazon Affiliate Website is any website that earns money by linking products from their website to the Amazon store. This can be a blog or website that references a product with a link back to Amazon, so customers can purchase that particular item.
It’s actually really easy to sign-up for their affiliate program, here is how to become an Amazon Affiliate.
The idea is that you are referring customers to Amazon where you gain a commission if a user buys from the Amazon store. This is usually 5%-10% per purchase. Amazon tracks this by a special code from the URL link on your website. Click here to create your own website with affiliate marketing.
Many of these websites use Amazon, along with other affiliate programs to boost revenue. Here is a list of 108 Best Affiliate Programs in addition to Amazon to make money for bloggers and influencers.
ThisIsWhyImBroke – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
ThisIsWhyImBroke.com
This is one of my favorite Amazon Affiliate Websites because it’s so freaking cool! These guys gather up the coolest gadgets, gifts, tech and oddities from Amazon and around the web to showcase on their website. These are gag gifts and fun gadgets people love to buy. They likely use an SEO tool like SEMrush to find great blog post ideas. This site uncovers the cool, often hidden, things of the internet and all you have to do is click on one of the Amazon Affiliate links to buy it from the Amazon store. ThisIsWhyIAmBroke works with more than just Amazon, but it’s one of their biggest revenue sources. It’s entirely possible to create a website just like this.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 2.40M Visitors
Average Post Length: 10 – 160 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Salt Firing Shotgun
How much do they make: Around $20,000+ per month from Amazon (source)
ConsumerSearch – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
ConsumerSearch.com
This website started in 2000 as a review website which helped consumers by reviewing different products and offering the consumer the chance to purchase the product. These have become a very popular way for bloggers to create Amazon affiliate websites. It’s a great way to feature products and a good review can be very motivating for someone to purchase.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 1.10M Visitors
Average Post Length: 1,000 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Bose Sound Bar
How much do they make: This site was bought for $33 Million from About.com in 2007 (source)
GiftIdeaGeek.com
This Amazon Affiliate Website is similar to ThisIsWhyImBroke in that the main homepage is set up as an affiliate product page which is perfect selling. The idea is that GiftIdeaGeek focuses on geeky and pop culture referenced products that appeal to that niche. This website uses witty satire to hook the audience into “clicking through” on creative products and if they buy, GiftIdeaGeek gains the affiliate commission. In addition to the homepage, they use a blogroll section to gain SEO and additional affiliate opportunities.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb): Unknown
Average Post Length: 1,000 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Clever Socks
How much do they make: Unknown
TheWirecutter – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
TheWirecutter.com
This is a great example of a top-notch review site. They start at the homepage notifying that they make affiliate commissions but provide top-end reviews from independent reviewers. This is great, to be honest upfront. In addition to being transparent, they also take the content is king strategy. I randomly clicked on their “Top Home Projector” post where they reviewed (and linked) to several high-end home theater projectors. Keep in mind that these high priced items produce high commissions. That may explain why they spent the time to write a 5,000 word post on it. This site seems to do everything right in being a prime example of an Amazon Affiliate Website. This site now has over 60 staff members working for it.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 8.10M Visitors
Average Post Length: 3,000-5,000 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Air Purifier
How much do they make: In 2015, this site combined with The Wirecutter made $150 Million in eCommerce sales. So you can get an idea of their commission revenue. (source)
TheSweetHome – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
TheSweetHome.com
This is the sister site to the affiliate marketing site TheWirecutter. Another amazon affiliate website that lists gadgets and gear that the website reviews. They come out and say it on their homepage, they earn money by affiliate commissions. Apparently, this site receives over 1.8M visitors, which is pretty impressive considering this site only started in 2013. I guess the moral of the story is, it’s not too late to start a review website. It also helps to have incredibly long reviews. In fact, their one soda stream review had over 13,000 words. This is a great example that content is king.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 2.50M Visitors
Average Post Length: 4,000 – 5,000 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Robot Vaccum
How much do they make: In 2015, this site combined with The Wirecutter made $150 Million in e-commerce sales. So you can get an idea of their commission revenue. (source)
GearPatrol – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
GearPatrol.com
This is an interesting style review website that reads more like a magazine than a review site. This definitely helps give it some more credit than throwing a up a bunch of products and hoping people read them. It’s interesting that it takes a different approach, rather than writing long content, it focuses on a clean layout and video reviews to show people the product they’re testing, racking in 2.3 million monthly viewers. This is incredibly valuable for people willing to buy, but want to see the product in a video demo before purchasing. Now compare this site to what the site looked like in 2008 (here).
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 3.30M Visitors
Average Post Length: 100-500 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Alera Elusion Series Office Chair
How much do they make: I don’t know how much they make
DogFoodAdvisor – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
DogFoodAdvisor.com
This is a testament that design isn’t everything. Look at their homepage. There is one, very cute puppy, but nothing else. I’m not sure how this site is successful, but from looking over their latest articles, they are receiving regular viewers and comments. Something is working. Then again, people do love their dogs.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 1.30M Visitors
Average Post Length: 1,000-1,500 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Dog Food
How much do they make: I don’t know how much they make
BabyGearLab – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
BabyGearLab.com
So combine a review site and something people everyone loves, like babies. Imagine all the confusion new parents have when they bring a new baby into the world. What do they do, what do they need, what is the best? BabyGearLab solves that by reviewing baby stuff and helping parents understand it and buy it. This site has been around since 2011 helping parents through the impossible decisions of what is best for your baby.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 234.10K Visitors
Average Post Length: 6,000-10,000 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Convertable Baby Seat
How much do they make: I don’t know how much they make
BestCovery – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
BestCovery.com
Review sites continue to be an impressive way to make an affiliate commission. This review site doesn’t even niche down, their tag line is “Discover the Best of Everything”. From my initial review, they continue the streak of long content to rank high in Google. In doing this, they list multiple items really pushing their 1st, 2nd, 3rd and so on picks. All conveniently with their own price tags linking to Amazon. With only 152 thousand monthly visitors, it’s not as much as other sites, but they continue to push out new content and gain new Facebook users. Anyone with a blog knows, it’s hard to get Facebook users, so they’re doing something right.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 152.10K Visitors
Average Post Length: 4,000-6,000 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Best Epoxy
How much do they make: I don’t know how much they make.
BestReviews – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
BestReviews.com
This is one the cleanest designs I’ve seen of an Amazon Affiliate Website. It has a very professional look for a review website, but they don’t overcrowd you with product reviews right off. This site really sets itself apart with their actual videos and reviews inside of their test center. You know these testers are actually testing the product rather than copying a review from another site or making things up. It’s so legit that I will likely be back to this site for future reviews for my purchases. It really gains your trust with the photos and videos even though you know they are making money through the affiliate commissions. Plus they buy all the products themselves and never accept any products from the manufacturer to maintain objectivity, but when you bring in 3.1 million visitors per month, you can buy a few items to review.
It’s so legit that I will likely be back to this site for future reviews for my purchases. It really gains your trust with the photos and videos even though you know they are making money through the affiliate commissions. Plus they buy all the products themselves and never accept any products from the manufacturer to maintain objectivity, but when you bring in 3.1 million visitors per month, you can buy a few items to review.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 3.80M Visitors
Average Post Length: Around 1,000 Words + Videos
One of Most Searched Products: Best Hair Bleaching Products
How much do they make: I don’t know how much they make.
KidsTabletswithWiFi – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
KidsTabletsWithWiFi.com
This is an Amazon Affiliate Website that has really niched down into specifically, as the name implies, kids tablets with Wifi. These are high priced items that produce high commissions in a huge market, children. What is the best tablet for kids? Do you give them an iPad? What if it breaks? Is there a cheaper option? These are all questions that this site helps with. It runs like a blog, but with a relatively simple design. It’s hard to tell if they have produced much new content because they don’t include dates with their blog posts. However, this site is just one blog, with three additional pages for “Best Tablets for Kids”, “Kids Tablet Reviews” and “Kids Tablet Comparisons” all of which are likely keyword researched names. It’s likely the niched down keyword research to bring in the traffic, because the content while good, is relatively short with 300-500 words per post.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb): 1.80K Visitors
Average Post Length: 400 – 600 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Fire HD Kids Tablet
How much do they make: I don’t know how much they make.
LongBoardReviews – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
LongboardReviews.net
Another example of an Amazon Affiliate Website that niched down to long boards. These are like skateboards but longer and meant to cruise, going longer distances than skateboards. It’s a relatively simple website that loads the user with tons of products from the homepage but highlights the lack of comments per review (usually 0 – 2 comments). The typical length of an article is 300-500 words so they are relying on their specific niche for traffic. Not bad for a “.net” domain as they are less common than their popular counterparts “.com”. It’s not the best example, but I’m going for a range.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 2.70K Visitors
Average Post Length: 400 – 600 Words
How much do they make: The website sold in 2016 on Flippa for $5,275. Usually a website sells for a year’s worth of revenue. So we can expect this site to make around $500 per month (source)
FootballSnackHelmets – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
FootballSnackHelmets.com
This is one of the most niche markets I’ve ever seen. It’s gems like these that make me confident the right keyword research in the smallest of niches can lead to a successful Amazon Affiliate Website. I’m not saying this specific site is successful though. They have only 2 blog post with minimal content for each “Football Snack Helmet”. It seems like someone had great intentions to set up an affiliate site with a clean design but forgot about it after 2 blog posts, ending in June 2016. This is one of the easiest examples that you could set up in a weekend.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 2.20K Visitors
Average Post Length: 100 – 300 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Cleavland Browns Kids Uniform
How much do they make: I don’t know how much they make, but we anticipate it’s seasonal and reliant on the US customer base.
OutdoorGearLab – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
OutdoorGearLab.com
This site is owned by the same owners as BabyGearLab.com so you’ll notice some similarities. It’s a really clean site that looks more like REI’s website than a review site. They generate tons of organic traffic for each review category like ski gloves combines all of their test products (amazon links), test experiences, reviews and opinions so that the review pages reach around 6,000 words. This is a great way to do a review page in my opinion to combine the word length of each review into one huge, helpful page. Plus keep in mind that people love outdoor gear. It’s insanely fun to go outdoors but you never know if you have right equipment. To figure out what’s right, these outdoor review sites help immensely!
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 1.60K Visitors
Average Post Length: 5,000 – 7,000 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Arc’teryx Jacket
How much do they make: I don’t know how much they make.
TopTenReviews – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
TopTenReviews.com
This is an older site (2003) with some heavy domain authority. That explains the crazy amount of content this site contains. It’s helpful though when you have 350+ employees. This isn’t a small enterprise, and they still utilize the Amazon Affiliate network to monetize their site. They use long and wordy articles to review products, maximizing the SEO of each page. The biggest difference from this site and others is the amount of digital content these guys review. Their digital content ranges from Antivirus Software to Credit Card processing. This isn’t a typical Amazon product, but digital content can earn affiliate commissions through other sources than Amazon. Amazon is a great resource to monetize your site, but it’s definitely not the only way.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 12.80M Visitors
Average Post Length: 3,000 – 5,000 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Best Printer
How much do they make: I don’t know how much they make.
TomsHardware – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
TomsHardware.com
Do you remember 1997? That’s when this website was created. You could maybe tell from the website homepage that looks more like About.com than a review website, then again they have over 1.5 million pages indexed. Don’t make the same mistake I did, this isn’t a door and sink hardware company, this is computer hardware for hardcore nerds who build their own computers. I’m sure this site is at the forefront of every build-it-myself computer geek out there (I’m one ). The site is now owned by Purch, the same people who own TopTenReviews. These guys have really got a good handle on successful Amazon Affiliate Websites.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 47.50M Visitors
Average Post Length: 500 – 1,000 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Best Gaming Monitors
How much do they make: I don’t know how much they make.
CarSeatAnswers – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
CarSeatAnswers.com
It’s really simple and plain websites like this that make me happy! If something this plain can bring in so many visitors, than someone creative and design oriented like me can do better, right? CarSeatAnswers focuses on keywords like “Car Seat Answers” and “Car Seat Guide” and “Which Seat is Safest for a Baby’s Car Seat” then writes 700-1,000 word articles with no photos except for the Amazon Products sold throughout the article. This is one of the simplest example, but it still brings in visitors even with a small amount of domain authority. It gives you hope though, that you can easily create a successful website, right?
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 3.40K Visitors
Average Post Length: 300 – 500 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Best Car Seat
How much do they make: I don’t know how much they make.
KichenFaucetDivas – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
KitchenFaucetDivas.com
This was one of the first Amazon Affiliate Website Examples I ever came across. I thought it was incredibly simple before I saw some other websites that were even worse. A lot of it is what you would expect. A wordy homepage with a couple of pages in the menu bar that all resemble more keyword targeting than actual helpful navigation. I keep wondering if they actually reviewed all those different kitchen sinks, because that would be a lot of work installing and disassembling numerous sinks to see how they work. Likely not, their “About Us” page just says a “Mother of two” which tells me as the reader, if you’re not putting your name on this, your reviews are probably just as generic. Usually, if an “About” page doesn’t list a name or company, I assume that the website is just as generic.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 30.20K Visitors
Average Post Length: 300 – 500 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Best Kitchen Faucet
How much do they make: I don’t know how much they make.
LiveLongerRunning – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
LiveLongerRunning.com
I read this title and expected an awesome community of runners sharing their glory stories of braving the snow and rain to log in miles. Instead I’m directed to a boring treadmill site. This site is about 5 pages and a couple of additional pages for reviews for treadmills. The reviews are the only pages with any kind of lengthy content and those are still only around 800 words. The main redeeming quality about this site, is they are focusing on high price items so even a single sale of a treadmill is a nice commission. This is another example of a website you could make in a weekend. It’s motivating though because you know you can do better, right?
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 11.10K Visitors
Average Post Length: 500 – 1,000 Words
One of Most Searched Products: High End Treadmill
How much do they make: I don’t know how much they make.
PickMyShaver – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
PickMyShaver.com
This is a review site that focuses on high-end shaving equipment to have a nice mix of lower end and higher end shavers for a nice variety. It’s a simple/clean website design with lots of photos to help people understand the variety. Each review is decently long, but nothing to rave about. What is impressive is each review has a good amount of comments that are answered by the website owner. That tells me that the owner is monitoring this site and probably adding new content. A site like this wouldn’t be too hard to maintain. I’m thinking, maybe they add a new blog post once a month.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb): 41.90K Visitors
Average Post Length: 800 – 1,000 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Best Electric Shaver
How much do they make: I don’t know how much they make.
100DaysOfRealFood – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
100DaysOfRealFood.com
This is a great example of an Amazon Affiliate Website that’s not a review site! It’s actually more like a food blog that recommends certain products through their blog and resource pages. With 1.6 Million Facebook Likes, Lisa Leak (owner) has become an authority on “real food” and uses this platform to sell other things like her own cook book. This example is more for a traditional blogger who wants to start monetizing their website rather than creating a review site.
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 407.60K Visitors
Average Post Length: 500 – 1,000 Words
How much do they make: She doesn’t list how much she makes on her blog.
InflatableHotTubGuide – Amazon Affiliate Website Example
InflatableHotTubGuide.com
So this is a niche I guess. This is an interesting example of a site built around a high price item that I could see people willing to buy online rather than a store. This doesn’t leave a lot of room to expand into other hot tub areas, but if your focus is “inflatable hot tubs” then go for it. I can’t imagine they update it too often, the last time seems to be August 2015, but what’s new in the world of inflatable hot tubs?
Monthly Visitors (SimilarWeb) : 967 Visitors
Average Post Length: 500 – 1,000 Words
One of Most Searched Products: Cheapest Inflatable Hot Tub
How much do they make: I don’t know how much they make.
These additional websites, while different, follow a similar pattern of the previously mentioned. It’s a great list to reference what others are doing in the niche website world with Amazon Affiliates.
Thanks to some helpful Reddit users, One Man’s Brand and Niche Site Project for some of the inspiration to make this list of 50 happen!
This list is pretty freaking significant with so many lessons learned. I hit on many of these in individual reviews but here are the highlights.
Affiliate Marketing is easily one of my favorite income streams from our list of ways to make money.
Just imagine how much you could start investing if you owned or two of these niche sites. The thing is, it’s completely do-able. I have the skills (most people do) to create something like this. I am so freaking pumped to start my next niche website! I’m using these lessons learned to start my keyword research now. I’ll follow up on my progress in the upcoming blog posts. I really hope this helps you as much as it did me. It’s really inspirational to see how others are making additional income online with niche websites!
Am I missing any good Amazon Affiliate Website Examples I can add to this list?
Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!
The following is a guest post by Lyuthar Jacob, a log editor at Dealslands UK. He is the type of geek who loves to write about Marketing, Money Saving, and Finance.
Who doesn’t like to have easy cash? You can earn money online with ease. There are many ways to achieve your set target to gain money without belabour. When it comes to making money online, there are certainly thousands of ways to earn easy money within the comfort of your home. So, if you are interested to earn money online, knowing the right kind of platform in accordance to your interest and passion is always crucial.
Following are some of the quick and easy tactics which you can start using today itself to make money online fast.
If you started a website or blog out of passion, you can earn a significant amount of money from it by joining some of the best affiliate programs. In this, all that you need to do is market other brands within your site’s pages. When you partner with such business, you have to mention their product or service and link those using a unique affiliate code received from the brand. Whenever someone buys a product or service through your link, you will make extra money.
It is advisable to partner with the companies that are related to your content. For instance, if you are a financial advisor, join an affiliate for financial products like credit cards, investment account, insurance, etc.
Everybody has some skill. If teaching is the one in your case then it can help you make money online. You can go for tutorials regarding anything that you like starting from cooking, dancing, freelance writing or sketching and what not!
Moreover, for this, you can find many platforms like Udemy, Teachable, or Skillshare where you can upload your course learning through videos, images, text, etc. Next, use your content to build customers and accept payments. You can also build one of your own with the help of the software like ClickFunnels and other platforms. Make sure to deliver valuable content to others and in turn people will happily pay you to learn it.
You can buy old books from various sellers or other online platforms. After having a potential book to sell, navigate to Amazon and look for its actual price. You have to then decide what price you expect with respect to the condition of book. Make sure you don’t end up incurring any loss as you also have to pay Amazon’s fees of $2.35 + 15% of the sales price . If you are making money now with such old books, list them in your seller account. This is something lucrative which can be done part-time or in the weekends to make extra money. There are other platforms also such as Bookscouter, eBay, Half Price Books, etc which can help you sell old books and earn money.
If you have the creative talent of writing, you can earn money online by creating content for other websites or blogs. The income of bloggers and influencers vary widely. A report from Glassdoor shows that a blogger’s average income ranges from $19K to $79K.
Another survey of 1,000 bloggers interpreted by Blogging.com found that 17% of bloggers are able to maintain their lifestyle with the money that they earn. However, in this competitive world,you need to deliver 100% quality content to reach up to such a high level. Moreover, content writing has really built its importance. So, with tons of writing jobs available, it is easy to start writing, develop your skill and earn money.
Photography is something which many people love to do. So, if you have such a passion for photography and you can capture eye-catching images, you can use this skill to make money online. You can list these images on stock-photography websites like Adobe Stock and Shutterstock. Then, you will receive payment when somebody purchase the right to use your image.
You don’t need to capture pretty snaps always. Remember, what you require to be unique is just original content. Also, it is crucial to edit the photographs professionally and store into certain file formats. Apart from photography, you can use other skill like sketching or painting, photoshop, etc. to make extra money.
If you like to post your pictures or love blogging about the food that you taste, travel scenes etc., you can make money out of it now. If you have a decent number of followers on Facebook or Instagram, just approach companies in your niche and they will be happy to advertise with you. This is a win-win situation for both of you as you will be earning from your passion and the brand gets to tap a new audience and potential customers through something unique.
You can also monetize your online community to earn money online. Build a community through blogs and social media platforms where similar-interest people are gathered. Also, you can build an online forum and ask people to pay for membership. You can use such mediums to promote and sell yours or other’s products and services. If you are passionate about something and also like to engage with people that have the same passion, this is something you should certainly consider for earning well.
When you visit any website, there are always Google ads popping up here and there. You can also add these to your site’s page. Moreover, it is very simple to set them up on any basic website. If you have a website or blog, you can create a free Google AdSense account. After that, Google will provide you with a unique code which you can paste onto your website. Google can then track your page algorithm, traffic, and the visitors directing from your page, etc. Once your website start attracting a decent amount of traffic, it can be a very lucrative way to make money online.
If you have large social media audience or a website, you can make money online fast through pursuing sponsored posts and ads.
How does it work?
Companies (like Viglink) are always looking for bloggers and website owners to advertise their product or service. So, if you have a huge following, don’t miss this opportunity to make money online in very convenient way. Moreover, the figures in which you will be earning depends on your popularity. So, don’t compromise on the quality of the content that you are creating for your audience. It will eventually let you earn huge.
Another great idea to make money now is managing ads for the clients. Due to the increasing demand of digital marketing, each and every business needs SEO for popularity.
If you’ve a decent extent of knowledge in this regard then you can manage the social media accounts of brands or run Facebook ads, paid ads on YouTube or Google, etc. to make money now. If you master this art and start attaining huge conversion rates, you can make money online fast and that too in a hefty amount.
If you are thinking to make money online, the aforementioned tricks are easy to tap. Moreover, they need negligible or very less amount of investment. So, what are you waiting for?
Start earning money with these quick and effective approaches now!
