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March 3, 2023

15 Most Popular Digital Products You Can Sell Online in 2023

Are you looking for popular digital product ideas to sell online?

In today’s creator economy, there are many opportunities to make money online. You can sell items like music files, videos, blog posts, eBooks, software, apps, podcasts, premium content, and more.

In this article, we will share the most popular digital products that you can sell online.

Most popular digital products you can sell online

What are Digital Products?

A digital product is essentially anything that you can buy, download, and use on a device such as a computer or mobile phone. For example, ebooks, software, videos, music, online courses, and more can be digital products that you can purchase at an online store.

They are delivered to you electronically, usually through a direct download in your user dashboard or in an email with a download link inside. In general, you can easily access them anytime or anywhere.

Why Sell Digital Products Online?

Digital products have a lot of advantages compared to selling physical products.

First, you don’t have to worry about keeping inventory and meeting supply or demand requirements. Once you create a digital product, you can sell it again and again.

This also relieves you of any storage issues. Some physical products need to be kept at a warehouse and may require special storage conditions like refrigeration, which can be costly. On the other hand, you don’t have to worry about storing your digital products.

Besides that, you get to generate a passive income stream with digital goods and easily grow your sales. They also help reach a wider audience across the globe, as people from around the world can buy your digital products.

That said, let’s look at some of the most popular digital products you can sell online today.

1. eBooks

eBooks are a great digital product to have, and you can write about any topic you like. The best part, once you’ve created an ebook, you can simply market it and earn passive income.

Now, if you have a WordPress blog or write articles regularly on any other platform, then you can repurpose the content for your ebook.

For instance, your most popular guides would already have enough content to be converted into an ebook. Or you can combine several blog posts into an ebook about a particular topic.

Once you’re done with the writing part, you can then add the ebook to your WordPress site so people can download it.

You can follow our guide on how to create and sell ebooks in WordPress from start to finish.

2. Online Courses

The next most popular digital product you can sell is online courses. People are always looking to improve their skillset and learn new things.

You can use this opportunity to share your expertise and teach other people through a virtual classroom. For example, if you’re a fitness instructor, then you can create an online course and teach people different exercises.

The best part, you need very little investment and no technical knowledge to create online courses.

There are many tools in the market that can help you get started in no time. All you need is a domain name for your site, WordPress website hosting, and a learning management system (LMS) plugin.

LMS software like MemberPress or Thrive Apprentice makes it super easy to create interactive courses without editing code. Plus, you can manage students and course material, offer quizzes, and more.

You can learn more by following our guide on how to create and sell online courses in WordPress.

3. Premium Memberships

Just like ebooks and online courses, a membership website is another simple way of making money online. You can sell premium memberships with access to exclusive content and community features.

For example, you can lock specific guides, cheat sheets, interviews, videos, podcasts, newsletters, and other content behind premium memberships.

On the other hand, you can offer exclusive entry to different communities, like a forum, Slack channel, or Facebook group, through a membership site.

What’s great about memberships is that you don’t have to rely on advertising revenue. You can allow your website visitors to support your site and generate continuous income.

There are many membership plugins and tools you can use to get started. For instance, MemberPress lets you restrict access to content, integrate different payment services, create unlimited membership levels, allow drip content, and more.

To start selling memberships, you can see our step-by-step guide on creating a WordPress membership site.

4. Tutorials and Guides

You can also sell individual guides and tutorials as digital products. This is a great way to earn more money if you have long articles or multiple blog posts on a particular topic.

Simply turn your guides into a downloadable file like a PDF document. You can then charge a fee to visitors who are willing to purchase your content.

For example, let’s say you have a detailed guide on email marketing. You can turn that guide into a PDF file and sell it as a digital product.

There are many WordPress eCommerce platforms you can use to sell digital products. We recommend using Easy Digital Downloads because it is beginner friendly, offers a shopping cart, easily integrates with payment gateways, and more.

You can learn more by going through our guide on how to sell digital downloads on WordPress.

5. Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are another type of digital product you can sell on your website and generate revenue. You can create all types of useful spreadsheets for your audience.

For example, let’s say you have expertise in search engine optimization (SEO). You can create a technical SEO checklist for beginners and offer that as a paid spreadsheet. Similarly, you can create checklists, templates, calculators, lists, and other types of spreadsheets.

The best part is that you don’t need any investment to create a spreadsheet. Plus, it helps offer evergreen content that can you use to generate leads and a passive income stream.

You can check out our guide on how to sell spreadsheets online for more details.

6. WordPress Plugins

You can also create WordPress plugins and sell them as digital products.

WordPress is open-source software, and it powers over 43% of the website on the internet. There are over 60,000 WordPress plugins that include free and paid options. This shows that there is a huge potential to create a plugin that generates revenue.

Usually, you need basic coding knowledge like PHP, CSS, HTML, and JavaScript to write a plugin. For more details, you can see our step-by-step guide on how to create a WordPress plugin.

You can also hire a developer to help you create a plugin. There are many WordPress developer job websites where you can post an opening and hire the right talent for a specific project.

If you’re willing to take on a DIY project, then you can also use a plugin called Pluginception. It lets you create a WordPress plugin from the WordPress dashboard. To learn more, please follow our guide on how to create a WordPress plugin using a plugin.

7. Software and Mobile Apps

Just like WordPress plugins, you can also create software and mobile apps. There are many SaaS (software as a service) products that you can create for any niche. It can be productivity software, workout apps, games, and more.

Usually, SaaS products have a recurring subscription. This means that you’ll need to generate income on a monthly or annual basis.

Since creating such software and apps requires specific skills, you might need to hire developers. This process can be expensive because you’ll need investment for creating software or purchasing an existing one ($15,000 and upwards).

As an alternative, you can convert your WordPress websites into mobile apps and monetize them. There are tools and plugins that can turn your site into an app. For example, let’s say you have a membership site. Converting it into an app will help you attract mobile users and sell it as a digital product.

On the other hand, you can also join affiliate programs and earn a commission on each sale. You can create a WordPress blog to review different software and apps and promote them as affiliates. Or you could create an online store using affiliates.

For more information, check out our ultimate guide to affiliate marketing for beginners.

8. Website Themes

Similarly, you can make WordPress themes and sell them online. Themes are necessary for every WordPress user, and often users look for themes that offer specific features and customization options.

There are many platforms where you can sell website themes. Some of these include Enavto, Themeforest, CodeCanyon, and Creative Market.

You can also list a free version of your theme on the WordPress.org theme directory. From here, you can encourage users to upgrade to a premium version to unlock more features.

We recommend selling the digital products on your own websites instead of a marketplace like Envato because they charge a large commission on every sale without much benefit.

You can use an eCommerce solution like Easy Digital Downloads to create your own digital store.

9. Digital Art and Graphics

If you’re a graphic designer or an artist, then you can create a variety of digital products and sell them online.

For example, you can create logos, design templates, original digital artwork, clip art, patterns, brushes, backgrounds, icons, fonts, shapes, and more.

Besides that, creating assets for different photo editing software like Adobe PhotoShop, Canva, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Photo can also help you make money online.

To get started, please follow our guide on how to sell digital art and graphics online.

10. Photographs

Another great digital product you can sell online is photography. Many people look for images that they can use for their WordPress websites and blogs.

There are different types of photos you can sell. Some of these include stock photos, event pictures, portraits, drone images, backgrounds, and more.

Now, you can sell your images to different stock photo sites, like Shutterstock, 500px, iStock Photo, Adobe Stock, and more. Each of these websites has a payment structure where they’ll share a percentage of direct sales or give you a royalty fee.

On the other hand, you can create your own photography website and sell your images there. This way, you don’t have to share the profits with another third party and have more control over your images.

To help you get started, check out some useful WordPress plugins for photographs.

11. Videos

Videos are the next digital products on our list that you can sell online.

For example, videos like drone footage, stock videos, online training, product reviews, video game reviews, and gameplay footage are some of the ideas you can use to create a video-based digital product.

One of the easiest ways of monetizing your videos is by creating a video membership site. This way, you don’t have to rely on ad revenue from other platforms and get recurring payments from users who pay to access your content.

12. Recipes

Are you a chef, a home cook, or a food blogger? If you do, then you can sell recipes as digital products.

The food industry is worth trillions of dollars and is very competitive. However, you can find a niche that your audience likes and share recipes to earn money.

For instance, you can start a food blog and offer premium recipes for subscribers. Or you could combine multiple recipes into an ebook and sell that as a digital product.

Plus, you can offer cooking courses and other premium content by creating a membership site. We recommend MemberPress for this sort of site, as it’s the best plugin for that on the market.

13. Podcasts

Podcasts are audio shows that users can subscribe to. They are generally made up of audio files that listeners can download or stream to listen to.

There are many topics you can create a podcast on. For example, if your topic is music, then you can narrow it down to a specific genre. Similarly, if you’re into sports, then you can create a podcast on football.

Another great way of selling podcasts is by inviting industry experts and serving it as a masterclass. You can charge a premium or only offer these podcasts to members to generate income.

Many podcasters rely on their communities supporting them, whether that’s through a service like Patreon or creating their own membership site.

For more details, you can follow our guide on how to start a podcast and make it successful.

14. Professional Services and Coaching

You can also sell your expertise as a digital product and help other businesses.

For example, if you’re a copywriter, graphic designer, social media expert, developer, fitness coach, legal professional, translator, SEO expert, offer technical support through live chat, or any type of consultant, then you can offer your services to others for a fee.

Now, you can sign up for different freelancing websites like Upwork, or create your own site. From here, simply market your expertise on social media platforms and build a following to get more projects and clients.

15. Research and Data

Do you conduct industry-wide surveys, polls, and research? If yes, then you can create digital products and sell the research data.

Many businesses are looking for insights into their industry. They want to better understand their audience and find out what they like or don’t like.

You can carry out research on popular topics, collaborate with companies, or simply run a survey to gather data. After that, you can create a report, add it to your website, and sell it to consumers.

If you have a membership website, then you can also offer research and data to subscribers.

For examples, see some of our research articles we offer for free here at WPBeginner:

Bonus: Plugins and Tools to Market Your Digital Products

Now that you know some of the most popular digital products to sell online, you’ll also need to market them to your customers.

Here’s a list of WordPress plugins and tools that you can use to promote your product and boost conversions:

OptinMonster – It is the best lead generation and popup plugin for WordPress. You can create different campaigns and use smart targeting rules to promote digital products and increase conversions.
WPForms – This is the best WordPress form plugin. You can use it to create an order form, payment form, and more.
All in One SEO (AIOSEO) – The plugin helps you optimize your website for search engines. This way, you get to improve search engine rankings, attract more organic visitors to your site, and boost sales of your digital products.
MonsterInsights – It is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. Using the plugin, you can track your digital products performance, which files get the most downloads, uncover the most popular products, and track eCommerce revenue without editing code.
PushEngage – This is a push notification software for WordPress and allows you to send personalized web notifications to customers about new products, promotions, sales, etc.
WP Simple Pay – You can collect online payments on your website using this plugin. The best part, you don’t have to set up a shopping cart to sell digital products while using WP Simple Pay.

We hope this article helped you find the most popular digital products to sell online. You may also want to see our guide on low-cost and easy online business ideas that make money and the best email marketing tools to promote your digital products.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 15 Most Popular Digital Products You Can Sell Online in 2023 first appeared on WPBeginner.

May 13, 2022

6 Best Patreon Alternatives to Monetize Your Audience in 2022

Are you looking for a Patreon alternative to make more money from your YouTube and other social channels?

Patreon is a popular crowdfunding platform that helps content creators monetize their work. Fans can subscribe and pay a regular fee to support their favorite artist or creator. However, Patreon may not be the right platform for many people due to fees and censorship issues.

In this article, we’ll share the best Patreon alternatives to monetize your audience.

Best Patreon alternatives to monetize audience

Why Do You Need a Patreon Alternative?

Patreon provides a platform for vloggers, musicians, writers, journalists, podcasters, and other creators to generate a consistent income stream from their content, but it has several big shortcomings.

First, it’s hard to create your own brand since there are over 6 million monthly active users on Patreon. You’ll compete with other creators in your niche, and it can be challenging to make your content discoverable for new users. Not to mention, you get limited tools to promote your content.

Then there is an issue of censorship. Patreon’s content restrictions can be strict for people in particular niches, as political content creators faced crackdowns in the past. As a result, their fan base reduced dramatically.

Lastly, the fee charged by Patreon can be a big turn-off for some content creators. For instance, it charges a flat 5%, 8%, and 12% on top of the payment processing fee on your monthly income on Patreon, depending on the pricing tier you’re subscribed to.

Creators just don’t need another tax on their earnings.

This is why many power users switch away to Patreon alternative like WordPress because it’s more powerful, and it gives you full control.

Let’s look at why you should use WordPress as a Patreon alternative.

What Makes WordPress a Great Alternative to Patreon?

WordPress is a popular website builder powering more than 43% of all the websites on the internet, and it’s free to use. You might think that starting a website from scratch is a lot of work and takes too much time, but that’s not the case anymore.

You can create a WordPress website of any type in no time using a drag and drop website builder like SeedProd, which requires no coding at all.

WordPress comes with over 59,000+ free plugins that you can use to maximize your earnings, grow your traffic, get more followers, and build an email subscriber base that can never be taken away from.

Another benefit of using WordPress is that it offers more control over your content than Patreon. You’ll be protected from changes in terms of service and don’t have to worry about losing your fan base due to content restrictions.

With WordPress, you can even offer different payment options on your site and make money online without worrying about paying a portion of your earnings to Patreon.

Here’s what you’ll need the following to create your WordPress website:

A domain name. This will be the address of your online store (e.g. wpbeginner.com).
A WordPress hosting account. This is where your website files will be stored.
An SSL certificate. This allows you to securely accept payments online.

Normally, web hosting costs $7.99 per month, a domain name starts at $14.99 per year, and an SSL certificate costs around $69.99 per year.

This can be a big investment when you’re just starting out.

Luckily, Bluehost has agreed to offer our readers a big 60% discount on web hosting, plus a free domain name and SSL certificate.

Basically, you can get started for as low as $2.75 per month.

Simply click on the Bluehost button below, and the discount will automatically be applied.

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That said, let’s look at some WordPress tools and plugins that you can use as Patreon alternatives.

1. MemberPress

MemberPress is the best membership plugin for WordPress and it is super easy to use. It lets you create a membership website and have full control over who can access your premium content.

It’s a great alternative to Patreon because the plugin lets you set up multiple membership tiers and enables you to restrict access to any premium content based on the user’s membership level. You can even use the plugin to create a video membership website in WordPress.

Besides that, it comes with a powerful course builder. You can create and sell online courses using MemberPress. They also have a content drip feature that allows members to see the content after they’ve completed a certain course or been a member for a particular time.

Another advantage of using MemberPress is that it easily integrates with popular payment providers like Stripe and PayPal, and all the best email marketing services.

2. Easy Digital Downloads

Easy Digital Downloads is one of the best eCommerce plugins for WordPress and lets you sell digital products.

If you’re an artist, musician, writer, developer, or any other content creator that sells digital products like music, ebooks, PDF files, videos, premium software licenses, and more, then Easy Digital Downloads is the perfect Patreon alternative for you.

Using the plugin, you can manage and sell files with ease. It has a built-in shopping cart system that makes it effortless for users to purchase your digital products.

You can also track the download activity of your customers inside the WordPress dashboard and get reports to see how your downloads are performing.

Note: There’s also a free version of Easy Digital Downloads that you can install in WordPress. Alternatively, you can use SiteGround’s EDD hosting which comes with WordPress and EDD pre-installed.

3. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is one of the best eCommerce plugin in the market, and you can use it create an online store in no time.

Using WooCommerce, you can sell digital and physical products. It’s excellent for content creators that want to sell merchandise to their fans. Plus, it offers an inventory management feature that helps you keep track of how many products you have available for purchase.

There are also tons of WooCommerce plugins and extensions to help you grow your website. Many website themes for WooCommerce are also available, so you can design an online store just the way you want.

You can even design a custom WordPress theme using a compatible drag and drop builder like SeedProd.

WooCommerce also supports popular payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal. Other than that, the plugin offers extensive documentation, community forums, and support to help you out.

4. WP Simple Pay

WP Simple Pay is the best Stripe payment plugin for WordPress. As a content creator, you can monetize your site by adding a payment button using the plugin, and there’s no need to set up a shopping cart.

Simply add the payment option to your site to let your fans support you. Using the plugin, you can easily accept credit card payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH payments, iDEAL, and more.

You can even set up different subscriptions for recurring payments, just like Patreon only with much lower fees.

WP Simple Pay also helps in collecting donations. You also get an option to set up discount coupon codes, allow users to subscribe or pay one-time, add free trials, and more.

Note: There’s a free version of WP Simple Pay plugin available that you can use as well.

5. Blubrry

Blubrry is one of the best WordPress podcast hosting services in the market. It’s a perfect Patreon alternative for podcasters who want more control over their content.

You can create a podcast website in no time with Blubrry. Another advantage is that you can easily distribute your podcast to popular platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazin Music, TuneIn, iHeart Radio, Pandora, and more.

Blubrry comes with a powerful podcast plugin called PowerPress that lets you manage your podcast files in WordPress. Blubrry also has a large community of podcasters, and you can easily find forums to learn from other experienced and successful podcasters.

6. WP Crowdfunding

WP Crowdfunding is a powerful WordPress fundraising plugin that you can use as a Patreon alternative to create a fundraising site like GoFundMe and Kickstarter.

The plugin is based on WooCommerce and allows you to raise funds for your creative project. Its native wallet system helps keep track of all the funds you’ve raised.

WP Crowdfunding also easily integrates with payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, Skrill, and more. The plugin is super easy to use and offers a beginner-friendly user interface.

Which is the Best Pateron Alternative?

After carefully evaluating all the popular Patreon alternatives, we believe the top Pateron alternative is MemberPress. It lets you restrict premium content, sell courses, and offers a comprehensive set of features.

Easy Digital Downloads is a close second.

If you’re just looking to accept simple one-time or recurring payments from subscribers, then you can also use WP Simple Pay or their free version.

We hope that this article helped you find the best Patreon alternative to monetize your audience. You may also want to see our guides on how to choose the best blogging platform and the most important reasons why you should use WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 6 Best Patreon Alternatives to Monetize Your Audience in 2022 first appeared on WPBeginner.

January 19, 2021

21 Best Website Ideas to Launch an Online Side Business in 2021

Are you looking for website ideas to launch a side business in the new year?

There are tons of opportunities online with profitable website ideas that you can easily transform into a sustainable side income.

In this article, we’ll share the best website ideas to launch this year. We’ll also show you how to easily get started without a big investment.

What You Need to Put Website Ideas into Action

It is a common myth that you need to be tech-savvy or a programmer to start a website. This was probably true in the 90s, but these days you don’t need any special skills to build a website.

Here is what you actually need to make a website:

A domain name. This will be your website’s address on the internet, e.g. wpbeginner.com).
Web hosting account. This will be your website’s home and where you’ll store all your website files
A website builder. We recommend using WordPress.org which is the best website builder powering more than 39% of all websites on the internet.

We recommend using Bluehost to make your website. They are one of the biggest hosting companies in the world and are officially recommended by WordPress.

They are offering WPBeginner users a generous 60% off discount on hosting with a free domain name and free SSL certificate. Basically, you can launch a website for $2.75 per month.

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They automatically install WordPress for you, and you can quickly start working on your website idea with in minutes. If you need more help, then follow the steps in our WordPress installation guide to set up your website.

That being said, let’s take a look at some of the most profitable website ideas to launch this year and turn them into a viable business.

Here is a quick list of website ideas that we’ll talk about. You can jump to the one that you find interesting or read as you scroll along.

Start a Personal Blog Website
Build an Online Store
Make a Membership Website
Sell Online Courses
Create a Dropshipping Website
Make an Affiliate Website
Launch a Fashion Blog
Start a Travel Website
Make a Food / Recipes Website
Start a Podcast Website
Start a Job Hunt Website
Make a Coupons Website
Create an Online Marketplace
Start a Restaurant Website
Build a Reviews Website
Make a Photography Website
Launch a Portfolio Website
Start an Online Food Delivery Website
Sell Handicrafts Online
Start a Pet Owners Community
Start a News Website

1. Start a Personal Website / Blog

Blogs are a popular website idea that has been around for some time and still going strong. Entrepreneurs like Darren Rowse, John Lee Dumas, and Pat Flynn all started as bloggers and are now making six-figure incomes.

Our company’s CEO, Syed Balkhi, started this blog that led him to build an eight-figure business (see: WPBeginner income).

Launching a blog is pretty easy, and it can be on any topic that you are passionate about. The benefit of starting a blog is that you can later use it as a platform to launch many other website ideas.

There are also a ton of monetization options that make blogging a profitable website idea. You can use programs like Google AdSense to display ads, promote affiliate products, sell direct advertisements, or you can even sell your own products to your readers such as online courses, eBooks, etc.

Need help? See our step by step how to start a blog tutorial where we walk you through every step of the way.

If you need expert help, then we also offer a free WordPress blog setup service where one of our WordPress experts will set up your blog for you.

2. Build an Online Store

Another booming website idea is to build an eCommerce store. A lot of folks think that it is probably too technical to get started, which is not exactly true.

You can easily start selling things online with WooCommerce. It is the world’s most popular eCommerce platform that runs on top of WordPress.

It is super easy to use and allows you to sell any type of digital, virtual, or physical products that need shipping. You can easily accept online payments using PayPal, Stripe, or many other payment services.

For step by step instructions, you can follow our beginner’s guide on how to start an online store.

Need ideas on what to sell on your store? See our tutorial on how to source products to sell online.

3. Make a Membership Website

Another popular website idea that is getting a lot of momentum is to create a membership-based website.

Basically, you restrict access to some content on your website that is only available for paid members. This could be an online course, members-only forums, audio or video content, or anything else.

The easiest way to do this is by using MemberPress. It is a WordPress membership plugin that helps you create subscriptions, restrict access, and sell membership plans on your website.

For details, follow our tutorial on how to make a membership website with step by step instructions.

4. Sell Online Courses

Creating and selling online courses is another popular website idea that is growing really fast.

This growing website niche is fueled by the modern gig economy where people need to learn new skills to find new jobs, improve existing skillsets, or just learn something new as a hobby.

MemberPress is the best WordPress LMS plugin that allows you to easily create and sell online courses on your website.

5. Create a Dropshipping Website

Dropshipping is another growing website idea that you can launch without much investment. A dropshipping store is an online store where you sell products, but they are shipped directly by the vendor.

This saves you from the hassle of managing and storing stuff, keeping up inventory, and shipping things. It also allows you to sell a wide-variety of products.

For more details, see our step by step guide on how to create a dropshipping business for beginners.

6. Make an Affiliate Website

One of the most popular website ideas is to start an affiliate website.

Affiliate marketing is a referral arrangement in which an online retailer (advertiser) pays you a commission when users purchase their product from your referral link.

This is a massive industry which means you can make a niche affiliate website and start building upon it. You can find affiliate programs in nearly every industry.

For example: you can create a website that’s focused entirely on reviewing all the newest women’s handbags, new internet routers, new smartphones, etc.

When users make a purchase based on your recommendation, you get a referral fee.

For a more in-depth discussion, see our beginner’s guide to affiliate marketing which has step by step instructions for new affiliate marketers.

7. Launch a Fashion Blog

Fashion and lifestyle is another profitable website idea that has a ton of potential. There are a lot of fashion bloggers and influencers making six-figure incomes.

You can make money through display ads, affiliate marketing, Instagram partnerships with brands, and more.

With WordPress, you can add all the tools you need to grow your brand. You can use connect your Instagram feed, Youtube videos, find fashion website themes, use advertising plugins, and more.

For details, see our tutorial on how to start a fashion blog and promote it the right way.

8. Start a Travel Website

Making a travel blog is another great website idea that is easy to implement and build upon.

You can be an experienced traveler, vlogger, or marketer promoting different tourist destinations. You can monetize using display ads, travel partnerships, earning perks, and more.

Influential travel bloggers are using their travel blogs to launch different products and making significant passive income.

For more on this, don’t forget to check out our article on how to make a travel website using WordPress.

9. Make a Food / Recipes Website

Food and recipe websites are already a popular website idea with plenty of room for new websites.

You can easily start a blog or website, share recipes, discuss food, health, or other related topics. Most recipe websites make money through ads, affiliate marketing, and by selling membership subscriptions.

WordPress comes with plugins that allow you to easily write recipes in SEO friendly format. For details, you can follow our tutorial on how to create a food website and make money online.

10. Start a Podcast Website

Podcasting is another popular website idea that you can launch. It is a fast-growing niche with tons of monetization options.

A podcast is an episodic series of audio files that users can subscribe to download and listen to.

Successful podcasters are making significant money online through sponsorships, advertisements, selling products, and more. It does require a little bit of hardware and some practice with recording and uploading files.

We have a comprehensive guide on starting a podcast website with step by step instructions.

We also have a list of the best podcast hosting platforms to help you succeed.

11. Start a Job Hunt Website

Another popular website idea is to create a job hunt website. It is easy to monetize, and you make money based on user-generated content.

Basically, a job board website allows companies to post job listings and facilitate job seekers by browsing and searching for jobs.

There are WordPress plugins that help you quickly create a job search engine. You can even accept online payments from employers to post listings.

For details, see our guide on how to create a job board in WordPress.

12. Make a Coupons Website

A coupons website helps customers find coupons and deals for their favorite products.

It connects businesses to the customers and provides them tools to locate deals and discounts. It is monetized by affiliate links, partnerships, and display ads.

You can totally automate your website and allow businesses to submit deals directly. This allows you to make money online with user-generated content.

For more details, see our guide on how to create a coupon site in WordPress.

13. Create an Online Marketplace

Many successful marketers use ideas that involve user-generated content to make money. Creating an online marketplace website is one such website idea that you can easily replicate.

A marketplace website is where you provide an eCommerce platform for others to sell their products. You get a cut on each transaction made on your website while the sellers manage the shipping and fulfillment.

For more details, see our article on creating an online marketplace website with detailed instructions.

14. Start a Restaurant Website

Making a restaurant website is an idea specific to people in the restaurant and food industry. Making a restaurant website allows you to accept table reservations and even accept online orders for food delivery.

With WordPress, you can use tools like WPForms to accept bookings and food delivery orders. It also gives you access to many professionally designed restaurant templates that you can customize to your own needs.

Making a restaurant website also helps you easily promote your business, reach new customers, and strengthen your brand image.

15. Build a Reviews Website

Most users look at online reviews before making a buying decision. This makes a reviews website a really lucrative website idea.

A reviews website could rely on both user-generated and original content. You can make money using display ads, affiliate marketing, sponsorships, and more.

We have an article on how to create a niche reviews website with step by step instructions.

16. Make a Photography Website

Another exciting website idea is to launch a photography website. This could be a blog about photography itself, or it could be a place to showcase and sell your own photos.

You can also create a marketplace like Shutterstock where users can sell or buy photographs, illustrations, and other graphic design items.

For more information, take a look at our article on how to make a photography website in WordPress.

17. Launch a Portfolio Website

A great website idea is to make a portfolio website. If you are an artist, photographer, musician, or videographer, then a portfolio website helps you showcase your work and find new opportunities.

However, you don’t need to be an artist to make a portfolio website. The same idea can be used by any kind of professional like writers, web designers, developers, fashion models, and more.

You can use portfolio plugins to showcase your work or choose from these beautiful portfolio themes to get started.

18. Start an Online Food Delivery Website

The online food delivery business is booming and it could be a profitable website idea with a little bit of investment.

You can find local restaurants and create a website that showcases these restaurants and allows customers to order food online. You can then pass the order to the restaurant and they deliver the food.

You can use WPForms to collect food delivery orders. Upon form submission, you can show users a page with estimated delivery time and a phone number to the restaurant.

19. Sell Handicrafts Online

Want to sell your homemade items on the internet? It is really easy to do and could be the beginning of a successful business idea.

You can start an online store using WooCommerce, which is super-easy to set up. Unlike other platforms, WooCommerce doesn’t take a cut out of each transaction you make which is really important for home-based business.

For details, see our guide on how to make an Etsy like store in WordPress.

20. Start a Pets Store / Community

Making an online pets store is another easy to start website idea. It is such a massive industry that you can find many untapped niche ideas catering to specific customers.

You can sell anything on your pet store using WooCommerce. You can also use MemberPress to build a members-only community that generates even more revenue for your business.

21. Start a News Website

If you are into current affairs and politics, then creating a news website could be the money making idea you are looking for.

You can start a news website and monetize it using display ads and by selling membership subscriptions. Many traditional newspapers are already putting their content behind paywalls and monetizing.

You can start small with few articles per week and then build upon that. You can even invite guest authors, start a podcast, and sell merchandise to make a sustainable business.

With local newspapers struggling, there’s a high demand for hyper-local niche news website, and we believe this will be a huge trend going into 2021 and beyond.

We hope this article helped you find the best website idea to launch in the new year. Once you have launched your website, you can see our tips on how to increase your website traffic, and our guide on the best WordPress plugins to grow your online business.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 21 Best Website Ideas to Launch an Online Side Business in 2021 appeared first on WPBeginner.

April 28, 2020

How To Teach Online Yoga Classes with WordPress

Are you a yoga teacher who wants to teach your classes online? While it might seem complicated, it’s actually pretty easy to do.

Lots of yoga teachers are holding live classes daily. And others are offering yoga courses online that people can do at their own pace.

In this article, we’ll show you how to teach online yoga classes with some simple, yet powerful tools.

When you teach yoga online, you can reach people all over the world. Instead of going to a studio, you can work from anywhere. Yes, even your living room.

If you want, you can also sell your own yoga memberships and products. This way you can make money without having to stream live classes on a regular schedule.

How to Take Your Yoga Classes Online

Starting online yoga classes may sound too technical. However, there are excellent tools available that you can use without learning any special skills.

To take your yoga classes online, you’ll need these 4 things:

A website or platform to teach yoga live and/or to sell products
Video streaming to lead your classes
A way to take payment
A method for your customers to sign an agreement

To sell your yoga products outside of the live classes, you’ll need:

A membership site to host your yoga videos and products
An email marketing service to deliver your products and to stay in touch with customers

We know there’s a lot here. But don’t worry, we’ll walk you through all the tools you need to get started teaching online yoga classes.

Here’s a list of topics we’ll be covering. You can jump to any section you’d like in the article.

Create Your Platform to Teach Online Yoga Classes
Creating Pages for Your Yoga Site
Taking Payment and Agreement Signatures
Sell Yoga Classes Online with a Membership Site
Easily Communicate with Your Customers
How OptinMonster can Help You Get More Customers
Final Thoughts for Teaching Yoga Online

Transparency disclaimer: At WPBeginner, our content is reader-supported. This means we earn a referral fee whenever you click on some of the links in this article. We only make recommendations for products we use and believe will provide value to you. You can check out how WPBeginner is funded for more details.

Create Your Platform to Teach Online Yoga Classes

People are teaching yoga online in various ways.

Some are live-streaming their classes on YouTube. And others are doing Instagram lives at set times during the week.

While these are easy options, the problem here lies in what could happen to your platform. You don’t have full control over your YouTube or Instagram account. If your account got deleted, it could be hard to get it back online

Plus, you can’t communicate directly with your customers because of how the algorithm controls who sees your feed. Knowing this, we’ve put together some ideas for you.

If you want to offer live yoga classes, you need an easy-to-use video service.

We recommend Zoom. With the free version, you can have up to 100 participants on your live stream. The primary drawback is a 40-minute time limit.

So, if you wanted your classes to last longer, their plans start at $14.99/month.

Next, you’ll need a platform where users can learn more about your classes and sign up.

Instead of using a third-party platform that takes a cut of every transaction, we recommend making your own website using WordPress.

The benefit of this option is that you’ll not be paying a cut on every transaction to a third-party. You’ll also have a lot more freedom to grow your business any way you like.

To create your yoga website, you’ll need to set up a domain name and web hosting.

To host your site, we suggest going with Bluehost. Not only is it a WordPress recommended host, but they give WPBeginner readers a nice discount when signing up for your first year.

It’s just $2.75/month, plus you get a free domain name with your account.

Another host we recommend is SiteGround. They even offer an automated WordPress installation so you can get your site up and running as soon as possible.

Would you rather skip this process and just get to work on your site? If so, check out our free WordPress blog setup service.

Once you’re up and running with your yoga website, it’s time to create some pages.

Creating Pages for Your Yoga Site

For starters, you only need a handful of pages.

Those are:

An about page
A services page
A yoga classes page
A sign up and payment page
A contact form page

By the way, you’ll probably want to set up more pages later. Here’s a guide to the important pages every WordPress site should have.

Your ‘about’ page is where you tell us a little bit about yourself. What makes you an expert? How’d you get into yoga? This is typically where teachers put a photo of themselves, too.

The ‘services’ page is where you describe what you do and what you offer.

Your ‘yoga classes’ page is where you can put the dates and times of your online yoga classes. You can list all the details, such as:

Start time
Duration
Type of class
Experience level
Any other pertinent information

Finally, you need a page where users can sign up and make payments.

Taking Payment and Agreement Signatures

First, you need to install and activate the WPForms plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

You’ll need the Pro version, to accept payments online. The Pro version also comes with dozens of form templates, email newsletter forms, entries management, and more.

WPForms allows you to accept payments using Stripe and PayPal. For step by step instructions, see our guide on how to how to easily accept credit card payments on your WordPress website.

Now, you can add the form to your payment page. It will look something like this:

You can also use the WPForms signature addon to create an agreement form that your yoga students can sign digitally.

For detailed instructions, see how to create a contract agreement form with digital signatures.

Sell Yoga Classes Online with a Membership Site

Traditionally, you only get paid when you teach a yoga class. That means two things:

Your income is dependent on how many classes you teach per week
How much you make depends on your class rate and availability

So, if you want to make more money without having to do more classes, you could offer courses or products on a membership site.

We recommend the MemberPress WordPress plugin when creating a membership area for your site. It is the best WordPress membership plugin in the market.

With this plugin, you can easily create custom packages, and restrict access based on purchases.

For example, you could create 3 courses based on experience levels. Those levels could be:

Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced

Let’s say someone buys your beginner course. This means they would only have access to the pages you label under the beginner membership level.

But if they bought your beginner course and your intermediate course, they would have access to both areas when they log in.

This way, your products are protected from those who aren’t paying for them.

Since you’re teaching yoga online, you’re likely using video for instruction and demonstration. You’ll need an easy way to host your videos in your membership area.

Note: You should never upload videos to your WordPress site directly because video files are large and can slow your site down.

Instead, you could host them with Vimeo and choose their basic option. Then you’d simply embed them into whatever pages you want.

For more instruction, let’s walk you through how to create a membership site.

Easily Communicate with Your Customers

Not all users coming to your website will sign up for your class. In fact, 70% of those users will never come back.

This is where you need to start building an email list. This allows you a chance to capture those users’ email addresses, offer them discounts, or reach out to them with new offers.

The easiest way to do this is with Constant Contact. It is the best email marketing service for small businesses and it is also the most beginner-friendly.

The best part is that it integrates both WPForms and MemberPress, which makes it easy to create your newsletter sign up forms.

For more details, see our guide on how to start an email newsletter with step by step instructions.

If you are looking for a free option, then Sendinblue or MailerLite both offer limited free plans.

How OptinMonster can Help You Get More Customers

As we mentioned earlier, more than 70% of users will leave your website. Those who stick around, only a small fraction of them will end up making a purchase.

This is where OptinMonster comes in. It is the best lead generation software on the market and helps you convert website visitors into subscribers and customers.

It comes with beautiful lightbox popups, countdown timers, slidein forms, and other tools to help boost your conversions and sales.

For more details, see our guide on quick ways to grow your email list.

Final Thoughts for Teaching Yoga Online

We’ve given you a lot to think about in this article, so let’s recap. You can start offering yoga classes online with a WordPress website. All you need is a domain name and WordPress web hosting.

You can host live classes using Zoom. And you can record those classes to sell later if you want.

Then you can install WPForms to collect payment and have your agreement form signed digitally.

To make more money without holding more classes, you can easily create a membership site with MemberPress. You can sell courses for people to do on their own, or sell recordings of live classes you hold during the week.

And to stay in touch with your customers, email marketing software is a must. Constant Contact is a great way to get started.

We hope this article helps you learn more about how to teach yoga online. You might also like our guide on the best WordPress themes for membership sites.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How To Teach Online Yoga Classes with WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.

March 19, 2019

30 “Proven” Ways to Make Money Online Blogging with WordPress

Are you looking for the top ways to make money online that are NOT scams? WordPress is the largest publishing platform on the planet, and it powers over 30% of all websites.

You can use WordPress and blogging to earn money online by doing what you love. You can work from home, at your own time, and there is no limit on how much money you can make.

In this article, we will share top “proven” ways to make money online blogging with WordPress.

First, a word of warning: these aren’t ‘Get rich quick’ schemes. If you are looking for a way to get rich quick by making money online, then you’re in the wrong place.

Don’t be fooled by the pictures of expensive cars, mansions, or working from the beach. Every single one of them is a scam, and you will waste your time and money paying for any courses or training that you buy from those guys.

Unlike other “make money online” articles, this is a comprehensive guide on how to make money at home legitimately, using blogging and WordPress.

Many of these methods require some investment of time and/or money to get started. As long as you’re willing to put in the effort, you’ll reap the reward.

Before you can start using any of these methods, you’ll need to have your own self-hosted WordPress blog. We have a step by step guide on how to start a WordPress blog for beginners.

The process is really easy to follow whether you are 20 years or 60 years old. However, if you need help, our expert team can help you set up your blog for free. → Click Here to Get Your Free WordPress Blog Setup! ←

Once you have set up your blog, then you are ready to follow this guide.

Since this is a lengthy article, we created a table of contents below for easy navigation.

Monetize Your Blog Content

Make Money With WordPress Affiliate Marketing
Display Google AdSense on WordPress
Use a WordPress Advertising Plugin to Sell Ads Directly
Sell Sponsored Blog Posts
Get Paid to Write Reviews
Earn Money by Flipping Websites
Get Public Speaking Gigs as an Influencer

Create a Paid Membership Website

Create Restricted Members Only Content
Create a Private Forum
Make a Questions & Answers Website

Create a Directory Website With WordPress

Create a WordPress Job Board With Paid Submissions
Create a Paid Business Directory
Create a WordPress Event Calendar With Paid Submissions

Sell Digital Products With WordPress

Sell Ebooks on WordPress
Sell Online Courses
Host a Paid Webinar

Sell Services Online Using WordPress

Offer Freelance Services
Start Your Own Consulting Business
Become a Coach

Sell Physical Products Online Using WordPress

Start an ECommerce Business With WooCommerce
Create an Online T-shirt Store With WordPress
Create a WooCommerce Dropshipping Store
Create an Amazon Affiliate WordPress Shop

Offer Platform as a Service

Create an Online Marketplace Website
Make an Auctions Website
Create a Job Marketplace website

Become a WordPress Designer or Developer

Develop WordPress Plugins
Sell WordPress Themes
Sell Graphics on Your WordPress Site

Donations

Accept Donations

Monetize Your Blog Content

When you think of how to make money blogging, advertising is often the first thing that comes to mind.

Yes, it is possible to make money with ads on WordPress, but there are also other ways you can monetize your blog content. Here are a few methods that work:

1. Make Money With Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is when you recommend a product or service to your audience using special tracking links, and then get a referral commission for every time someone buys after clicking your link.

A real-life example of affiliate marketing would be when you help a friend open a bank account at your bank branch. Usually, they give you a gift card or a bonus of some sort.

Similar to that many products and services online have affiliate programs that you can join. There are affiliate programs available for every industry (niche).

If you’re interested in getting started with affiliate marketing, you can start by thinking about the products you already use that your readers may be interested in as well. Then you can see if they have an affiliate program that you can sign up for.

You can find a huge list of products to promote from:

Once you have selected the products to promote, then you can use a WordPress plugin like PrettyLinks to manage your affiliate links.

It allows you to quickly insert links into posts, create branded links, auto-replace keywords into links, and even see how each link is performing on your site.

Affiliate marketing is the easiest way to make money because you can promote a wide-variety of products. Just about every popular store like Walmart, BestBuy, Amazon, and others have an affiliate program.

To learn more, see our beginner’s guide to affiliate marketing and also check out these affiliate marketing tools and plugins which will help you increase your earnings.

2. Display Google AdSense on WordPress

Google Adsense is an easy way to make money from your blog. All you need to do is add a script from Google to your website and start displaying ads.

You will get paid for every time a user clicks on the ad. These are called CPC ads.

What is CPC? CPC stands for “cost per click.” By displaying CPC ads with Google Adsense, you receive a set fee every time a visitor clicks on an ad.

The cost per click is set by the advertiser. (This is in contrast to CPM ads, where you’re paid for ad views instead of clicks. CPM means “cost per thousand impressions,” where M is the roman numeral for 1,000.)

Google Adsense is a good way to start earning money online when you are first starting out.

You can see our guide on how to monetize a WordPress blog with Google AdSense to get started, and this tutorial on how to optimize your AdSense revenue for more tips.

Looking for a Google AdSense alternative? Try Media.net. They also have a large pool of advertisers, and their payouts are good.

3. Use a WordPress Advertising Plugin to Sell Ads Directly

Google AdSense is easy to set up, but the amount of money you can earn is limited. Each ad click earning will vary.

Directly selling banner ad space on your website can be more lucrative. Instead of having to rely on an intermediary who takes a cut of the money, you negotiate the price and terms on your own.

Above we mentioned the difference between CPC and CPM ads, where you are paid per click or per thousand views. While you could use one of those models for selling banner ads, most bloggers charge a flat rate instead. Charging a flat rate is easier than keeping track of views or clicks.

Still, directly selling ads takes more work to manage than using Google AdSense. Instead of just adding a bit of code to your website, you’ll have to negotiate the pricing, come up with an agreement and terms, and take care of administrative work like invoicing.

However, using a WordPress ad management plugin can make the process easier. We recommend using AdSanity, it allows you to manage Google AdSense as well as your own ads.

To learn more, see our guide on how to sell ads on your WordPress blog.

4. Sell Sponsored Blog Posts

Some bloggers aren’t interested in displaying ads to their audience and wonder how to monetize a blog without ads.

With ad networks, you lose some control over the content displayed on your site. Some readers will get annoyed or offended by ads, and more and more people are using ad blockers which affects your earning potential.

An alternative way to monetize a blog is through sponsorships.

A sponsorship works just like it does in sports, TV shows, or other industries. Basically, a company pays you to represent their product, talk about it, and promote it to your readers.

To get started, it’s a good idea to put together a one-page media kit that details your traffic stats, social media following, audience demographics, and any other data that will make your site more appealing to advertisers. Then, you can approach companies to negotiate a sponsorship deal.

When publishing sponsored posts, it’s crucial to know about the laws in your area about disclosure.

For example, in the United States, a blogger who publishes a sponsored post must comply with the FTC’s Endorsement Guides. This includes disclosing whenever a post is sponsored. You can do that by adding a sponsored post prefix to your post title in WordPress.

5. Get Paid to Write Reviews

Similar to sponsored posts, you can also make money by writing paid reviews on your site.

This is a slightly different monetization method than a review site with affiliate links, as mentioned above.

Instead, you get to try out products related to your niche for free, and even get paid for writing a review.

The process for doing this can be similar to getting sponsored posts. You’ll want to review products that are relevant to your niche, that your audience would be interested in.

You can approach companies on your own to ask about doing paid reviews. There are also websites like PayPerPost that can help to connect you with businesses who may be interested.

6. Earn Money Online by Flipping Websites

If you know how to build a WordPress website, then you’re way ahead of most people. Sometimes entrepreneurs like to buy already established websites that they can use for their own businesses.

If you can build a WordPress blog and start getting traffic to it, then you can sell it and make money for your efforts.

This requires knowing the type of websites in demand, and how to price and sell them. There are websites like Flippa that serve as auction sites and brokers for selling websites.

7. Get Public Speaking Gigs as an Influencer

If you are promoting your own brand along with your blog, then over time you will get a decent following establishing you as an influencer in your space.

You can utilize this recognition to get some public speaking jobs. Many bloggers make a lot of money by speaking at conferences.

Speaking at events whether you are paid or not helps you promote your blog and your personal brand. If you are good at networking and public speaking, then you would be able to find lots of new opportunities on the way.

Here are some general tips you need to keep in mind if you want to make money as a paid public speaker.

Be an expert in your field. If you don’t have enough knowledge/skills at the moment, then start learning right away.
Be consistent – You need to continuously promote your expertise on the topic through your blogging and social media activities.
Let people know that you are available. You can announce on social media or privately reach out to event organizers.
You may not find paid public speaking gigs right away. Many successful speakers start their public speaking career from smaller, more casual, and free community events and meetups.

Create a Paid Membership Website

If you’re not interested in selling ads or sponsored posts, there are plenty of other ways you can earn money online from your blog. A popular method is by having your audience pay to access certain content or areas of your site. Here are a couple of ways to do that.

8. Create Restricted Members Only Content

Your most loyal readers are huge fans and may be willing to pay to read more of your work. You can create a members-only area for them to share more in-depth blog posts, downloads, videos, audio content, and more.

Membership sites can be a big time investment since you must continually create premium content for your paying members. But they can be very lucrative because they are recurring revenue (subscriptions).

You can easily create a membership site using a WordPress membership plugin. We recommend using MemberPress, it is the most beginner friendly and robust membership plugin for WordPress.

We have a complete guide on making a WordPress membership website with step by step instructions to help you get started.

9. Create a Private Forum

Another option for creating a paid membership site is to create private forums that users must pay to get access to. Forums are a great way for your audience to get one-on-one advice from you. Other members of the community can also interact and help each other out.

While moderating a forum can be a lot of work, a paid forum is a great way to earn recurring revenue from your WordPress site.

To get started, you’ll need to set up a forum on your site. Here are our recommended top 5 best forum plugins for WordPress.

10. Create a questions and answers community

Question and answers communities like Stack Exchange and Quora are huge. They help you build an online community that is driven, motivated, and highly engaged.

Just like forums, you will have to spend some time building a sizable community. After that, you will be able to monetize user-generated content on your website using advertisements, affiliate ads, and other methods.

Popular question and answer websites are able to get direct advertisement and sponsorship deals from advertisers in their industry. This helps them negotiate a much higher rate and extra perks.

See our guide on how to start a Questions and Answers website using WordPress.

Create a Directory Website With WordPress

Another option for making money online with WordPress is to create a directory or listing website. You can then charge visitors to advertise their listings on your site.

Here are a few different directory ideas to get you started.

11. Create a Paid Business Directory

Web directories may make you think of the early days of the web before bots started indexing everything automatically, but they’re not completely obsolete.

Generic web directories are no longer necessary, but local or niche directories can be extremely useful.

Directories might gather reviews of local businesses, share the best podcasts on a given topic, or list the best products in a certain niche.

You can easily create a web directory in WordPress following our tutorial. There are also plenty of directory plugins for WordPress you can choose from, many of which allow you to accept payments with submissions.

12. Create a WordPress Job Board With Paid Submissions

Another option is to create a paid job board. Companies who want to advertise an open position to your audience can pay you to submit a listing.

It’s easier to create a successful job board if you narrow down to a specific niche. That way you can become the go-to site for anyone looking for a job in that industry, with minimal competition.

This works great for established blogs in a narrow niche. For example, ProBlogger is now famous for their job board for professional bloggers.

With WordPress, creating a paid job board is easy. See our tutorial on how to create a job board in WordPress with WP Job Manager for a step-by-step walkthrough. You can use the WooCommerce Paid Listings addon to charge for job post submissions.

13. Create a WordPress Event Calendar With Paid Submissions

Instead of a job board, you could create an event calendar where you charge people to advertise their events. This also works well if you already have an established audience, because businesses will be willing to pay to reach your audience.

A paid event calendar is a good monetization method for local or industry-specific websites. You might choose to advertise events in your local city, conferences in a certain industry, or even webinars or live streaming events.

To set this up on your site, see our guide on the best WordPress event calendar plugins.

Sell Digital Products With WordPress

If you’re looking for a more low-maintenance way to make money online blogging with WordPress, then selling your own digital products may be a good choice. While you do have to invest the time to create the product up front, after it’s created your work is very minimal.

Here are a few digital products you can create and sell on your website.

14. Sell Ebooks on WordPress

Ebooks are an obvious choice for creating digital products. They are relatively simple to write and produce. If you’ve been blogging for a while, then you can collect some of your old blog posts and turn them into chapters of a book.

Once your book is written, you can design a cover using a tool like Canva and create a PDF of your ebook.

Selling digital products on WordPress is easy with a plugin. To get started, you can see our guide on the best WordPress eCommerce plugins compared.

For digital downloads, we recommend Easy Digital Downloads. It’s relatively easy to use and includes all the features you need to create your online store.

15. Sell Online Courses

Selling an online course is another great way to make money online.

Courses usually sell for a much higher price point than ebooks. You can charge a premium for your expertise.

You’ll need to create the lessons for your course, plus any supporting materials that you want to include such as downloads, slides, checklists, templates, etc.

You will also need to decide whether you want to offer personalized support for your course. Some sites offer two tiers of each course: a basic version without support, and a premium version with email support.

Once your course is ready, you can use a learning management system (LMS) plugin to deliver the course to your audience.

We recommend using LearnDash with MemberPress.

For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to sell online courses using LearnDash.

16. Host a Paid Webinar

Webinars are a great way to build your audience, share your experience, and grow your business. But did you know they’re also a smart way to make money online?

Webinars are similar to online courses, but a webinar is live and often includes a question and answer section.

WordPress makes it easy to host a paid webinar. Whether you’re using your site to actually host the webinar, or just to advertise your webinar and register participants, it’s crucial for your webinar success.

For more details on how you can host a paid webinar, see our list of the 9 best webinar software for WordPress users.

Sell Services Online Using WordPress

If you’re looking for easy ways to make money online, selling services is the fastest way to get started. There’s no up front investment of creating a product or investing in inventory.

Instead, you can just create a “hire me” page on your website and start looking for your first client.

Here are a few ideas to get you started.

17. Offer Freelance Services

As a blogger, you’re already an expert on your niche. You can start earning an income by offering your skills and expertise as a freelancer.

Freelancing is a popular way to make money online because it doesn’t necessarily require any upfront investment of time or money. You can just start offering your services to your current audience.

Once you start freelancing, you’ll need a way to invoice and collect payments from your clients. We recommend using FreshBooks, but there are also other invoicing plugins for WordPress.

If you’re interested in freelancing to make some serious money online, then see our list of the top tools for WordPress freelancers, designers, and developers for help getting started.

18. Start Your Own Consulting Business

Consulting is another way to make money online from your blog and share your expertise.

Instead of offering your services, a consultant offers advice and strategy so that their clients can become more effective.

As with freelancing, there is no startup investment. You can start offering consulting services on your existing blog. All you need is to create a page with a form so users can request more information.

To easily create a professional, mobile-friendly form, we recommend WPForms. You can see this tutorial on how to create a request a quote form in WordPress to get started.

19. Become a Coach

If “consultant” doesn’t feel like the right title for you, you can consider becoming a coach instead.

A life coach offers advice, guidance, and accountability for setting goals and improving one’s life. There are also other kinds of coaches, such as blog coaches, writing coaches, and more.

Whatever your area of expertise is, you can provide one-on-one help to your audience with coaching sessions.

To save time and make things convenient for your clients, you can set up a booking form so readers can schedule coaching sessions right from your WordPress blog.

See our list of the 5 best WordPress appointment and booking plugins to get started.

Sell Physical Products Online Using WordPress

While selling digital products or services can be an easy way to start making money online, there’s nothing quite like selling real, physical products. Here are a few ways you can get started selling products with WordPress.

20. Start an Ecommerce Business With WooCommerce

Have an idea for your own product? Why not start your own online store?

WordPress makes it easy to create a shop or even add a shop to your existing blog using the free WooCommerce plugin.

Starting an online store can be a lot of work, since you need to create or buy the products and then ship them out yourself.

But selling physical products can be a rewarding experience, and sometimes a physical product is exactly what your audience wants.

To get started, see our tutorial on how to start an online store with WooCommerce.

You can also use Shopify or BigCommerce as WooCommerce alternative.

21. Create an Online T-shirt Store With WordPress

Creating your own t-shirt shop is easy with WordPress. Almost everyone wears t-shirts, so opening up a t-shirt shop is a great way to monetize any kind of blog. Designing t-shirts allows you to be creative and offer something unique to your audience.

It’s easy because there are services out there that allow you to upload your own designs, and they print / ship it for you. You get a profit share.

You can easily create your own t-shirt shop on your WordPress site using WP-Spreadplugin by Spreadshirt.

If you want a faster solution, then you can use a Shopify store which connects with dozens of t-shirt printing companies.

22. Create a WooCommerce Dropshipping Store

Dropshipping is another way you can create an ecommerce store on your WordPress website without having to handle inventory or ship items yourself.

With dropshipping, you create the store, manage the website, and customer service. But a dropshipping service will take your orders and ship them out to your customers. They’re an invisible third party that your customers don’t even know about.

You can use the WooCommerce plugin to create a dropshipping store. There’s also a WooCommerce Dropshipping addon plugin that allows you to automate the process.

23. Create an Amazon Affiliate WordPress Shop

One downside of dropshipping is that you have to find a good supplier, which can be a challenge, and sometimes you have to place a large order up front. This can make it difficult to get started without investing a lot of money.

If you want an easier way to set up an ecommerce site without having to ship products yourself, then you may want to try an Amazon Affiliate shop.

As with many of the items on this list, this works best if you specialize in a niche. If you offer everything, it’s impossible to compete with a big shop like Amazon. But in a small niche, you can differentiate yourself and really stand out.

For complete instructions, see our tutorial on how to create an Amazon affiliate store using WordPress.

Offering Platform as a Service

WordPress comes with some incredibly powerful plugins that are actually full-fledged platforms in their own right.

You can add such a platform to your blog or e-commerce store and offer it as a paid service. You get a cut from each sell, which allows you to earn passive income from user activity on your website.

24.Create an Online Marketplace Website

An online marketplace is like an eCommerce store where users cannot just buy but also sell their own products. Normally, WooCommerce assumes that you run a single vendor website.

You will need a plugin like WC Vendors to turn WooCommerce into a multi-vendor capable platform. After that, vendors will be able to register on your site and start selling.

You can make money by charging commission on each sell, or you can allow vendors to buy membership packages for their listings.

For more details, see our guide on how to make an online marketplace using WordPress.

25. Make an Auctions Website

An auctions website allows users to bid on products to purchase them. This allows the sellers to maximize their profits and customers to find unique deals.

Ebay is probably the best example of an online auctions marketplace.

You can run auctions on your WordPress website and even allow third-party vendors to list their products as well. You can make money by charging for the listing or by getting a cut on each sell.

To build an auctions marketplace with WordPress, you will need the following add-ons.

WooCommerce (for shopping cart and payment features).
An auctions add-on
A multi-vendor add-on

For step by step instructions, see our guide on how to build an eBay like auctions website using WordPress.

26. Create a Job Marketplace website

Unlike a regular job listings website, a job marketplace allows you to make money on each job listing. Fiverr and UpWork are probably the best examples of online job marketplace websites.

You can promote your job marketplace as a micro-job platform for people working in the same niche as your blog. To make your platform more competitive you can select a very specific niche.

This will help you easily find customers and professionals who are unable to use large platforms because of too much irrelevant competition.

You can charge a small fee for job listings or when a job is completed. More successful completion of jobs will bring you more customers and freelancers in the future.

For details, see our step by step tutorial on how to make a Fiverr like Micro-Job website using WordPress.

Become a WordPress Designer or Developer

If you’re more technically inclined, then you can become a WordPress developer or designer in order to make money online. This will take more technical skills, but it’s not too hard to get started.

27. Develop WordPress Plugins

Plugins are what make WordPress so flexible and powerful. Plugins work like apps, allowing you to extend and modify any feature of your WordPress website.

Plugins come in all varieties, from very simple code modifications to complex software applications. If you have a basic grasp of how WordPress works and some simple PHP knowledge, you can create your own WordPress plugin.

As a plugin developer, there are many ways you can distribute your plugins. Anyone can submit a free plugin to the WordPress.org plugin directory, as long as they follow the WordPress plugin guidelines. This is a great way to gain experience and build a reputation for yourself as a WordPress plugin developer.

Once you’re ready to start selling premium plugins, you could choose to sell them on a site like MOJO Marketplace, or on your own WordPress site.

If you’re using your existing WordPress blog to sell plugins, you’ll want to make sure that the plugin you create directly fulfills a need of your audience. You can survey them to see what problems they need to solve on their WordPress site, and then create a plugin that solves that problem.

You can then sell the plugin on your site using Easy Digital Downloads.

28. Sell WordPress Themes

If you enjoy web design and development, you could start creating your own WordPress themes to sell.

This requires both design and technical skills. You have to know how to create a good-looking design, and also how to code it for WordPress.

Using a WordPress theme framework such as Genesis can give you a head start. Then you’ll need to design and code a beautiful child theme.

29. Sell Graphics on Your WordPress Site

If you like design more than coding, another option is to design and sell graphics on your WordPress site.

You can create graphics such as stock images or logos and sell them on your site using an ecommerce plugin. You can also join online marketplaces to sell your graphics as well.

30. Accept Donations

Last but not least, one way you can make money from your WordPress blog is simply to ask for it.

You can begin accepting donations in a few different ways. You could add a Paypal donate button or a Stripe donate button to your website. Or for a more professional look and advanced features like email marketing integration, you could use WPForms to create a donation form on your WordPress site.

Donations are last on the list because of their limited effectiveness, since you have to rely on the generosity of your readers. It’s usually more lucrative to offer them something in return.

FAQs about making money blogging with WordPress?

At WPBeginner, we have helped thousands of beginners start their blogging journey. We have heard almost every question you can think of. Here are the top questions beginners ask us about making money online by blogging.

1. Which one of these proven ways is right for me?

Depends on what you are passionate about and which method would work best with your blog’s topics.

For example, if you run a blog about photography, then affiliate marketing, advertisements, and paid memberships may all work well for your blog.

Focus on offering useful, quality content, that users will find helpful and money will follow. Or as the saying goes, do what you love and the money will follow.

2. How much money can I make from blogging?

It really depends on how much effort you put in and the time you are willing to invest. To be honest, many beginner bloggers lose interest and give up quickly.

You will be making money based on how much traffic you get, the monetization methods you use, and the work you put in. Many successful bloggers make six and even seven figure incomes.

3. How long would it take before I start making some serious money from blogging?

Making money online is not a ‘get-rich-quick’ scam. Anyone telling you otherwise is probably trying to scam you. If you want to make money by starting a blog, then you will have to work hard and invest a lot of your time into it.

There is no easy way to tell you how soon you would start making money. Some bloggers start making small amounts soon after starting their blogs. Others struggle to get their blogs to take off.

However, those who continuously work and stick to a planned strategy are the ones most likely to see encouraging results very early on.

4. How do I get started?

Getting started with your own WordPress blog is easy. However, make sure that you are using the right platform.

Basically, there are two types of WordPress available. WordPress.com which is a hosted solution, and WordPress.org, also known as self-hosted WordPress.

We recommend using WordPress.org because it will allow you to start making money without any limitations. For more details, see our comparison of WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.

You will need a domain name and a web hosting account to start blogging with WordPress.org. Normally, a domain costs $14.99 per year and web hosting $7.99 per month usually paid for a full year.

This is a lot of money if you are just starting a new blog.

Luckily, we were able to get an exclusive discount from Bluehost. They are offering 60% off and a free domain name to WPBeginner users.

→ Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer ←

Basically, you will be able to get started for just $2.75 per month. Bluehost is an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider and one of the largest hosting companies in the world.

After purchasing hosting, you will be ready to install WordPress. Follow the instructions in our step by step guide on how to start a blog which will help you get started in less than 30 minutes.

We hope this article helped to give you plenty of ideas on how to make money online using WordPress! With hard work and perseverance, anyone can earn money from their WordPress site.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 30 “Proven” Ways to Make Money Online Blogging with WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.

What are Digital Products?

Why Sell Digital Products Online?

1. eBooks

2. Online Courses

3. Premium Memberships

4. Tutorials and Guides

5. Spreadsheets

6. WordPress Plugins

7. Software and Mobile Apps

8. Website Themes

9. Digital Art and Graphics

10. Photographs

11. Videos

12. Recipes

13. Podcasts

14. Professional Services and Coaching

15. Research and Data

Bonus: Plugins and Tools to Market Your Digital Products

Why Do You Need a Patreon Alternative?

What Makes WordPress a Great Alternative to Patreon?

Which is the Best Pateron Alternative?

What You Need to Put Website Ideas into Action

1. Start a Personal Website / Blog

2. Build an Online Store

3. Make a Membership Website

4. Sell Online Courses

5. Create a Dropshipping Website

6. Make an Affiliate Website

7. Launch a Fashion Blog

8. Start a Travel Website

9. Make a Food / Recipes Website

10. Start a Podcast Website

11. Start a Job Hunt Website

12. Make a Coupons Website

13. Create an Online Marketplace

14. Start a Restaurant Website

15. Build a Reviews Website

16. Make a Photography Website

17. Launch a Portfolio Website

18. Start an Online Food Delivery Website

19. Sell Handicrafts Online

20. Start a Pets Store / Community

21. Start a News Website

How to Take Your Yoga Classes Online

Create Your Platform to Teach Online Yoga Classes

Creating Pages for Your Yoga Site

Taking Payment and Agreement Signatures

Sell Yoga Classes Online with a Membership Site

Easily Communicate with Your Customers

How OptinMonster can Help You Get More Customers

Final Thoughts for Teaching Yoga Online

Table of Contents

Monetize Your Blog Content

Create a Paid Membership Website

Create a Directory Website With WordPress

Sell Digital Products With WordPress

Sell Services Online Using WordPress

Sell Physical Products Online Using WordPress

Offering Platform as a Service

Become a WordPress Designer or Developer

30. Accept Donations

FAQs about making money blogging with WordPress?