Skills You Can Sell Online

The Internet has become a part of everyday life for many people these days. We now do much of our shopping online. We apply for jobs online, read online, talk to our friends online and send email enquiries for information instead of writing letters or making a phone call. Over the years, the Internet has created numerous new professions and it’s still blossoming.

For some, the shift to online is a nightmare; for others, it’s a match made in heaven. For many enterprising individuals, the move to life online has enabled them to make an income from home, doing something they love. Here are just a few skills you might be able to use online to make money:

Professional Blogger

Not everyone who loves to write has published a traditional book or managed to sell a screenplay for a six figure sum. It’s a competitive business but many clever writers have found another way to make writing pay – blogging. Writers have taken to it like the proverbial fish to water and many who would not have considered themselves writers have suddenly found that they are indeed writers, and can make a living from it.

There are two ways writers are accomplishing this. Some have established their own websites on which they blog about their interests. Income is earned by selling products from the site as an affiliate marketer, or by selling advertising space on the site to earn revenue. Of course, both of these methods require that the site has a large amount of traffic to make it worthwhile.

Many more writers have become bloggers or article writers – writing blog posts and articles for the many online businesses that need website content. There’s plenty of work in this field. Writers can register with many freelance sites and bid for work. They can undertake contract blog and article writing for online writing services – of which there are plenty. Alternatively, they can establish their own website and writing service and promote themselves online.

Content Writers

Working as a content writer can involve writing web page text, articles, blog posts, product descriptions, special reports, sales letters and even e-books. Again, writers can work for someone else – for example, content writing services, online marketing companies, advertising agencies or search engine optimization experts – or they can set out on their own.

Photographs & Artists

It’s never been easier for photographers and artists to display their work to an international audience. Perhaps the days of the “starving artist” are over. Photographers can display their photographs on websites offering photographs for purchase and receive a commission on sales. Website owners and all sorts of online marketers and publishers use photos so while the photos may sell cheaply, there’s a good chance of selling quite a few and setting up a steady stream of income – and with digital photographic technology, photos can be taken and uploaded quickly and at practically no cost.

Traditional artists can build their own websites to display and sell their works, or they can sign up with a service that rents artwork to corporations and government offices and displays the available pictures online.

Photographers and artists can now reach a global audience from the comfort of their home-based art studio.

Interacting – Social Media

Are you a bit of a social butterfly? Do you like to help people connect? From MySpace to FaceBook to Twitter, Technorati and Digg, social media has taken off. Of course, online businesses have been quick to realise the potential of social media for marketing purposes – what a shame most of them don’t know how to use it. Well, it’s a shame for them, but not for you if you have your finger on the social networking pulse.

The rise of Social Media has brought forth the occupation of social media expert – and jobs for people who know how to twitter and digg! Again, there are individuals offering these services and established services that hire others. Many business owners (even the ones who are up with the latest in social networking) simply don’t have time to do all that – so they pay someone else to do it.

Technology isn’t the only thing that has changed over the last few decades. Our attitudes towards work and family have shifted to. We’re beginning to see the value in spending more time caring for those we love and less time working. As luck would have it, the Internet is facilitating this for millions of people.

Enterprising individuals are developing online businesses so they can earn money from home or do work at a time that suits them. Parents are finding Internet related jobs so they can be stay-home parents, working the hours that suit their family best – and abolishing child care and transportation costs.

If you have a skill you could use to make money online, why wouldn’t you do it?