AFFILIATE MARKETING
45 Ways To Make Money Working At Home
Whether you are a college student, a teenager, a stay-at-home mom, or a busy father, doing some extra work can help you earn more money. In fact, you may even make a full-time income from the comforts of your home. Luckily, there are more and more online jobs that you can enter quickly, and experts believe that this trend will continue well into the future.
So, if you are looking for a new career or a part-time job which lets you earn a profit from home, we have made a list of the 45 ways to make money working at home.
1. Take Part In Surveys
A lot of companies rely more on online surveys than interviewing one-by-one. This is a more affordable strategy that is less time consuming and simpler in profiling customers. With this in mind, more and more websites are offering cash and rewards just for answering product tests and service surveys. Many users have revealed that they receive approximately $200 per month along with some free products, gift vouchers, and prize drawings.
Remember, if a survey site asked you to pay a membership fee, these are probably scams. Do not trust them. Here are some of the legitimate websites you can visit:
2. Be An Airbnb Host
Do you have a vacation house that you rarely use? Or an extra room where you live? Why not maximize it and rent it out on Airbnb. According to statistics, you can pay up to 80 percent of your monthly rents just by listing these rooms or houses on the said website. You can even rent out a whole apartment where the rates are significantly higher. Believe it or not, the annual profits from doing so range from $15,000 to $30,000 for a two-bedroom apartment.
3. Sell On Amazon
Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer. Because of its broad reach, there are a lot of people who buy and sell items on the platform. Professionals recommend that you sell stuff that you are most passionate about so that you can add some authenticity to it. For example, if you are more inclined to the world of fashion, then it’s better to promote items like clothes, makeup, and jewelry. This way, you’ll find satisfaction and enjoyment in this endeavor.
If you want to know the nitty-gritty of selling on Amazon, you may enroll in this FREE 7-day course by Jessica Larrew of The Selling Family.
4. Search The Web
Believe it or not, you can also earn money from a task that you do every day – searching the web. Qmee.com came up with an innovative idea by rewarding users when you surf in Yahoo, Google, or Bing. All you have to do is install an add-on to your browser, and you are good to go.
This organization sustains its operations through paid ads. So don’t be surprised when you see a few sponsored search results alongside the normal ones.
So, how does it work? Each result has a corresponding cash reward. If you click on it, you will be able to collect your prize. If you feel like cashing out your earnings, you can do it anytime since there is no minimum amount to do so. Just make sure to wire it to the correct Paypal account.
5. Watch Videos
A lot of people watch videos in their free time. But, what if we tell that you can get paid for doing this as well? All you have to do is watch movie previews, celebrity videos, news, and other more.
There are websites that pay you to watch these offerings for a certain number of minutes, and like them rate them at the end. You may earn around $200 per month. You can earn even more if you want to spend your day doing this. Take note that some organizations give you a signing bonus of $5.
6. Be A Music Reviewer
Are you a fan of music? A website called Slicethepie is considered one of the largest paid music review sites in the world. It pays its users to listen to different kinds of music and write a detailed review about it. It does not work like a usual writer where you are given a base rate per word. Your earnings will depend on the quality of your review – the more constructive and more detailed it is, the higher the pay.
Remember, however, that the minimum cashout is $10. Once you have reviewed enough songs, your earnings will automatically be sent to your Paypal account.
7. Be An Online Tutor
Nowadays, becoming an online tutor does not require you to be with your students physically. All you need to have is a stable internet connection, a reliable laptop, a microphone, and a headset. These are the minimum requirements that online tutorial companies ask from their applicants.
Some websites help both high school and college students with subject and course-specific questions. Others even assist these students with their daily homework. Whatever your role will be, it will still require you with an excellent educational background and professional experience.
Overall, tutors earn around $15 to $25 per hour.
8. Review Apps And Websites
If you are a fan of apps and criticizing websites, then you can use this to earn extra cash. UserTesting.com is a platform that individuals use to review different types of sites. Each test and review will take approximately 20 minutes and you’ll earn an average of $10.
You probably won’t be required to review a site every day. Check your inbox once in a while to see if UserTesting.com has sent you a link to site or app for you to judge.
9. Stay Healthy
A lot of sites out there provide opportunities for their users to stay healthy. AchieveMint, a health app, rewards you with points for doing good deeds such as tracking your food, walking, jogging, and taking health surveys. For every 10,000 points you earn, you will be able to convert this to $10. You may redeem this in exchange for cash or Amazon Gift Cards.
What’s unique about this program is that you can connect it to your current fitness apps such as RunKeeper, MyFitnessPal, Fitbit, and Healthkit. This approach enables you to integrate your activities from your original apps to AchieveMint.
10. Be A Customer Service Representative
Several companies outsource their customer-service operations to third-party companies. Their reason for this is to cut their operational costs since they won’t have to rent a space where these people can do their job. These agents are home-based workers that take calls and orders for the outsourcing company.
The typical rate of this job ranges around $9 to $11 per hour. Some companies give their customer service representatives the same benefits as their regular employees. However, other employers consider these people as independent contractors, so they don’t provide the said benefits.
Some examples of companies which hire virtual call agents are as follows:
11. Write And Publish An ebook
There are a lot of writers who store their compositions on a notebook or laptop. However, you can take advantage of this skill by selling these through the Amazon Kindle Store. You can list your book for $1.50 to $8.00 and get 70 percent of the sale.
Remember, everything is going digital nowadays. A lot of people around the world already have the Kindle app on their devices, so your target market is enormous. At the same time, most customers trust the services of Amazon – you don’t have to worry about getting scammed by your publisher.
Here are some tips on how to make your eBook stand out:
- Write non-fiction. Make sure that you write something that you are an expert in, bundle information that you have researched, and present it in an easy-to-read format.
- Create a creative cover design that will entice your audience to buy it.
- Ask for reviews from your buyers, so it shows up higher on the search results.
Visit The Amazon Kindle Store Now
12. Become A Freelance Writer
With the rise of the digital age, more and more people are relying on transferring information through the online platform. Usually, these clients look for freelance writers that can sustain the content of their websites and blogs. When in this arena, you will get to experience to write and edit about anything under the sun – from psychology to business to technology. Your pay for each article ranges from $10 to $20 per 500-word piece.
Take note that your salary will also increase depending on your skill, experience, and tenure. So, make sure to compile all of your compositions so you can show it as proof to your potential employer.
13. Become An Online Juror
Do you know that there is a thing such as an online juror? Several companies, such as eJury.com, look for online jurors to sit on mock juries virtually. Their role is to provide the jury consultants and attorneys their feedback and opinion on their plans on the cases they are currently handling. You can compare this with focus groups.
Remember, the cases are real. They just need to present their arguments to a mock jury so they can have an idea of how things might go when in court. You can earn around $5 to $60 per case. Just a little reminder: make sure to read the disclaimers and details on the contract. Be cautious since you are dealing with legal scenarios.
14. Teach English
More and more individuals abroad are now seeking for an English tutor. One of them is VIPKID. VIPKID is an English tutor company which gives the privilege to work from home, work on your own schedule, and still make approximately $20 per hour. All you have to do is apply, study their modules, and have the patience to teach your non-English speaking clients.
Listed below are some of the requirements you need to fulfill before getting accepted in VIPKID:
- Teaching experience is required
- Must have an undergraduate degree
- Stable internet and fast computer
- Should be patient and fun
15. Engage In Affiliate Marketing
If you have a website or a blog that already has high online traffic, then you can maximize this by engaging in affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing refers to the promotion of all sorts of products, services, and companies online. Once your visitors click on your affiliate link and buys products or seeks their services, you will receive a commission.
Make sure that you put your affiliate links on the right spots. For example, if your blog is about business, do not insert a promotion related to the skincare. This is a common problem that most bloggers face. Whenever they do so, the tendency is that their audience will only get annoyed with all of these links – especially if they’re unrelated. You will lose your authenticity, and they will see you as a monetizing blogger only. Believe it or not, you might lose their trust in this kind of system.
Visit this article to learn how to conduct affiliate marketing on Twitter.
16. Be A Virtual Assistant
Work for someone from the comfort of your home. In the course of business nowadays, the assistants of business tycoons don’t need to be beside them physically to serve them. These services are now transforming into virtual assistants (VA). VAs cover everything – from making travel plans, checking emails, handling internet research, and submitting reports.
The boss and the virtual assistant should only make sure that they use the best collaboration tools out there. This will make their work seamless.
If you want to be a virtual assistant, you may visit Upwork or Zirtual now!
17. Be An Online Guide Or Expert
There are websites where people look for advice from people who are experts in specific fields or individuals passionate about some topics. For example, some will ask the technicalities of choosing a car, how to make a killer carrot cake, or where to bring your appliances for repair.
At JustAnswer.com, the users pay for their questions to be answered by trusted professionals such as lawyers, doctors, and veterinarians. Take note, however, that you won’t receive the full payment as a guide. The company will only give you a percentage of the fee. Nevertheless, not bad for just sitting in front of your computer, right?
18. Proofread Literary Works
Do you always cringe at writing errors? Or do you ever find yourself correcting grammar? If you want to put this practice into good use, then you can enter the proofreading world. All you have to do is search for online companies that upload work from other people, read it, and edit it as much as you can.
Remember, it’s not just the grammar that you should look into. You should also notice the cohesiveness of ideas and sentence composition to be able to submit the best output.
19. Recycle Mobile Phones
With more models coming out every year, it is not surprising that people change phones regularly. Believe it or not, you can earn good money from this. What you can do is to place several mobile baskets around your neighborhood where other people can drop their old mobile phones and some of their unused devices.
Some of the best mobile phone recycling companies you can sell your collection to are the following:
20. Rate Pizzas
Pizza is a big thing wherever you go. Therefore, a lot of companies pay their users for rating local pizza shops. This way, it will be easier for their website visitors to know which pizza place to order.
As a rater, you have to give a score depending on the quality of their pizza, customer service, and delivery time. Once you reach a certain number of reviews, you will get a free pizza on your doorstep, alongside an extra $5 bonus.
Interested? Register now at Trendsource!
21. Guard Your Neighbor’s Deliveries
Do you consider your neighbors as a family already? Do they trust you enough that they will give you the green light to help them while they are at work? If your answer is yes to both questions, then you can consider signing up for eNeighbr.
The site gives you the power to accept and hold deliveries for your neighbors on times that they are not at home. This way, these shipments won’t get stolen. Every package is insured up to $300, and each eNeighbr account is verified, so they’re assured that these belongings are in safe hands.
22. Be A Bookkeeper
It is a common misconception that becoming a bookkeeper requires an Accounting degree and experience. However, that’s not the case. Take note that a bookkeeper is entirely different from an accountant.
Accountants are in charge of preparing tax returns and auditing financial statements. Aside from these, they also assist individuals and businesses with the following:
- Organizing financial records
- Examining financial statements
- Complying with state and federal laws
- Evaluating financial records
- Suggesting ways to cut down expenses
On the other hand, bookkeepers take charge of the daily financial health of the business. Their responsibilities include the following:
- Paying bills
- Collecting invoices and payments
- Updating financial records
- Checking the accuracy of records
- Posting financial records in computer programs
- Receiving accounts receivable
To keep it short, a bookkeeper is responsible for the money going and out of the company daily.
If you want to enter this endeavor, you may take this 3-part bookkeeping training for free.
23. Enter The Clickworker Business
Think of Clickworker.com as an ‘internet crowd-sourcing’ business. This website mainly advertises scalable tasks that need to be completed as soon as possible. For many people, making money through this online business is the easiest way to receive fast cash from their couch.
There are different tasks laid out in Clickworker. The most common activities, however, are web research, form filling, and data entry. What’s good about this is that the job is pretty flexible – you have the freedom to choose when or for which company you work for. For every task you complete, you will be rewarded and paid in cash via Paypal.
24. Sign Up As A Cooking Host
A lot of people prefer eating home-cooked food instead of fast food. However, there are still others who cannot cook delicious meals on their own. With this in mind, sites like MealSharing, Cookening, and EatWith came up with the idea of serving home-cooked meals through the help of a cooking host.
As a cooking host, your role is to cook and serve meals inside your home for guests who booked for you. You have the option to cook what you want and how many people you can accommodate inside. Take note that no cash is exchanged physically since all the payment passes through the site. Your salary as a cooking host ranges from $50 to $100 per meal.
25. Become A Transcriptionist
Transcription work is slowly growing nowadays, especially that we have to put a record for everything. The primary role of a transcriptionist is to convert the audio file into a text format. Depending on the industry they are giving their service to, they can be called legal, medical, or general transcriptionists.
26. Look For Gigs On Fiverr
Fiverr is one of the largest marketplaces when it comes to people selling small services called gigs. There are no limitations to what kinds of services you can post. You may offer the clients social media posting, writing, translating, teaching, creating music, becoming a voice-over actor, or even playing pranks!
The default price for each service is $5 – that’s where they got their name. If you feel, however, that what you did is not worth the said amount, you can attach extra services for your gigs.
You may also go to Redbubble to see your art and earn extra money. Check out this good article to know the ins and outs of this job.
27. Resell Your Gigs
If you feel that your fees at Fiverr are not enough, then there is another way to profit more using the same site. At the same time, this approach requires less work. All you have to do is resell your gigs.
For example, you can look for jobs on sites like Upwork that requires the creation of a logo. Once you have fixed your business with your client, you can then go to Fiverr and seek the services of a logo designer. Here, you will be spending $5, which in return will still give you profit if you charge $50 in your reseller.
28. Work For Amazon
There are microtasks available from Amazon Mechanical Turk – a provider of services that require human interaction. A lot of people crave for this job because it has flexible hours, you can work from home, and you get paid by one of the largest retailers in the world. Some examples of the tasks that they require include the following:
- Providing reviews on whether a website is suitable for a general audience
- Correcting spellings in blogs
- Find the item number of specific products
- Translate paragraphs from one language to another
29. Sell Your Notes
Do you love taking notes in your classes? Believe it or not, you can get paid by uploading your notes in sites like Stuvia or Nexus Notes. Take note that you will be the one who will determine the price of your records, but the companies will take a cut from your profit for handling the marketing side of the operations. This way, you won’t have to get out of your way just to promote these services.
Remember also that you are allowed to submit handwritten notes. The risk with this, however, is that some customers do not pay for it as compared to when it is in PDF form.
30. Be An Online Travel Agent
Do you have a love for traveling or do you like organizing trips for other people? If so, then you can be an online travel agent. All you have to do is visit travel websites such as Expedia in your free time and check their latest offerings. You can look for customers who do not have the patience to scroll through these sites to view for cheap travel needs. This kind of service can be an alternative to travel agencies.
31. Sell Second-hand Course Books
Another great way to generate profit is to buy student textbooks at the end of the year, and sell them at the start of classes. There will most likely be high demand at this time since first-year students are still keen on studying. You have the option to advertise this on campus or through the Amazon Marketplace.
32. Sell Lesson Plans
As mentioned above, there are sites for students who want to look for useful school notes. Surprisingly, there are also websites for teachers, especially new teachers, where they can avail of lesson plans for a price. You also have the option to sell some of the teaching resources you use in class. Teachers Pay Teachers is a website you can turn to if you want to pursue this job.
33. Conduct Mystery Shopping
Being a mystery shopper is easy. Agencies hire mystery shoppers to visit different kinds of stores and restaurants to be able to give feedback on how they are performing. They do this so that these places will act naturally as compared to when they send employees to audit them.
34. Maintain Fan Pages
Do you know that it is hard to maintain fan pages? You have to continuously create and post content related to the fan page, and interact with the online visitors at the same time. In fact, being a coordinator takes a lot of time. With this in mind, more and more fan pages are now hiring their own employees to take over their social media activity. All they have to do is to give you a marketing plan, and you will be the one who will execute all of these plans online.
Click here to see how you can make money on Twitter through handling fan pages.
35. Rent House For Filming
Directors and producers for television and movies are always on the lookout for houses where they can film. Their usual routine involves scouting some places, including the outskirts, pooling them, creating a shortlist, and evaluating which will be the best fit for them. As an example, a scene from Coronation Street was filmed in the house of a student where one of the editors of Save the Student used to live.
At the same time, it is an indulging feeling seeing your place on your TV. This is an excellent exposure to other directors and producers, who may also be interested in renting out your house.
36. At-home Daycare
If you are just at home with your kids, try building an at-home daycare. All you have to do is get customers (start with trusted friends) who will leave their kids at your house while they are away. Your primary goal is to set playdates, feed them, and generally take care of their needs while they are still in your care.
Take note, however, that you will need a certification from your state before having the green light.
37. Sell Unused Clothes On eBay
Whenever a person is getting rid of junk, they become best friends with eBay. Online auctions in these kinds of websites is an easy way to turn these unused clothing items into hard cash. Even if you feel that what you’re offering is out of the trend list, dare to still sell it. You don’t know what is running in the customer’s mind. Your outdated outfit might be the fashion style they want to portray in their everyday.
If you’re not a fan of the internet, you may opt to go for the traditional approach of selling your clothes in a garage sale.
38. Rent Your Clothesline
If you don’t want to sell your clothes to random strangers, there is another way to maximize owning these. What you can do is to rent out these clothes instead of permanently selling them. What most individuals do is that they create a renting Instagram profile, dedicated only to showcase the pieces that they are renting. In there, they will upload the pictures along with the prices for renting.
To help facilitate the work, you can also create a form wherein your customers are required to fill up if they want to avail of your services. This way, all of your transactions get stored in just one place only.
39. Join Network Marketing
Network marketing has a negative connotation to it. In reality, however, there are companies that have a great and legal approach to Multi-Level Marketing (MLM). This model allows the agents to generate income in two different ways: by selling products and earning commissions from it and by recruiting other individuals who will sell the said products. The second way entails you to cash out your commission from the sales of your recruit.
Take note that this is not an illegal pyramid scheme since this process involves an end goal – convincing a customer to buy a product or service they offer.
40. Sell Antiques And Collectibles
Do you collect various random items when you were younger? Or do you have things that complement your last home, but does not fit your new one anymore? Whatever your reason is, there is a profit when selling your antiques and collectibles. Make sure that you appraise these to professionals since your customers might end up buying it at a lower price. Some examples of collectibles include trading cards, vinyl CDs, and coins.
41. Source Properties For Wealthy Investors
A lot of people know that there is money in property investments. However, because of the high capital that you should shoulder, a majority opted to stay away from this market. The truth is, there is still a significant chance of making a great deal of cash by just directly sourcing properties for wealthy investors who do not have the time to this themselves.
As a property sourcer, you should look for properties that are below market value (BMV). The easiest way to do this is to avoid real estate agents and give out flyers with your contact details to inform them that you are buying houses. Another approach you can take is to attend monthly networking events of property investors and landlords. Make sure to track these down, sign up, and introduce yourself in this world.
Do you want to have a glimpse of how real estate investing works? Check this article out.
42. Share What Lies In Your Fridge
The goal of the Nielsen Consumer Panel is to know what lies in the refrigerators of the consumers. This way, they will be able to back up their consumer profiling data. All you have to do is to scan the barcodes of the products in your fridge and send it to them. There are also times that they will call you to ask for your opinion on specific products and to answer the survey questionnaire.
Once you have done all of this, you will receive points in the app. You have the option to convert these points into cash or redeem rewards instead.
43. Return Printer Cartridges
What a lot of people do not know is that there is money in the junk. One of the most uncommon, yet effective, ways to earn money is by selling your empty printer cartridges to office supply stores such as Staples and Office Depot. Printer owners do not practice this since they’re not familiar that these cartridges are recyclable. Manufacturers use this as a container for their printer ink. Don’t worry since recycled cartridges do not negatively affect your printers.
44. Build A Baking Business
Do you know that selling baked goodies can be a tremendous source of income? There is a significant demand for these treats all year long – from birthdays to parties to the kids’ show and tell. The list is endless. If you do not want to sit on the office desk for so long, you can try building your own baking business. You can run your catering business from your kitchen.
Some tips in running this:
- Ensure that you will abide by the food safety laws of your state.
- Ask your friends for referrals. They might know people who do not have time to create homemade food, that they might ask for your services in their parties and other family events.
- Publicize your business online. Make sure to create an eye-catching name for your business to provide some recall to your customers. Do not forget to post publicity materials that will make their mouth water.
45. Sell Calligraphy Items
If you are the artsy type and you’re fond of calligraphy, then you should try maximizing this talent. You can do hand lettering to come up with wedding cards, invitations, stickers, and other stationery items. To gain profit, you have the option to sell them online, through a website or social media page, or you can set up a one-day event where you can feature your work. Etsy Calligraphy is one of the most popular marketplaces for calligraphy.
Sell Your Calligraphy Items Now
You may also check our article on how you can make money on the comforts of your home without paying anything.
Final Words
The limit of making money while at the comfort of your home is limitless. Technology has opened tons of opportunities that don’t require you to get stuck in the traffic while going to work. With just a few taps on your smartphone or a few clicks on your computer, you can connect to tons of employers that are looking for remote workers. You can also reach more potential customers thanks to social media.
Find a side hustle that you are most interested in and start earning money even in your pajamas.
AFFILIATE MARKETING
Revolutionising affiliate marketing in the era of influencers, ET BrandEquity
Affiliate marketing spends in India are estimated to be Rs 2500 crore in FY 2023, constituting eight percent of the overall digital marketing spend, according to the State of Digital Marketing in India report. Despite the popularity of affiliate marketing, the model presents its own challenges, such as onboarding and managing affiliates, high commission fees, and vulnerability to fraudulent and malicious practices.
During a discussion at DigiPlus Fest 2023, marketers explored the evolving landscape of affiliate marketing and strategies to optimise return on investment (RoI). The session featured Nishant Jaiswal, VP – marketing, Zupee; Sachin Vashishtha, chief marketing officer, Paisabazaar, and was chaired by Saumya Jain, ETBrandEquity.com.
Essentially, affiliate marketing involves incentivizing affiliates with a commission or payout to drive a business action, such as a click or purchase. The practice began with blogs, websites, and email but has since expanded to include social media and e-commerce platforms.
Vashishtha observed that while affiliate marketing was one of the most profitable and RoI-positive ways for online businesses to grow, it didn’t take long for bad actors to leverage it for fraud. Affiliates with malicious intent began generating traffic for brands using any means necessary to earn a commission.
The practice started losing its appeal until the explosion of the creator economy and the rise of influencers. Additionally, improvements in technology and the emergence of attribution models like multi-touch attribution or view-through attribution started bringing transparency into the affiliate marketing model.
Jaiswal remarked that affiliate marketing in India is still nascent compared to global platforms, where many end publishers are not directly accessible to advertisers. He said, “With technology, many fraud-related concerns like click hijacking, app install hijacking, and click spam can be controlled by your mobile measurement partner (MMP) or attribution partner.”
However, despite technological advancements, brands still run the risk of being visible in an unsafe environment due to the way affiliate marketing models are structured. While advertisers primarily engage with larger affiliate networks, campaigns might be outsourced to smaller publishers, networks, and individuals, making it challenging to map where conversions are coming from. Additionally, smaller publishers or creators may create clickbait content or reach out to irrelevant audiences simply to drive traffic or act with malicious intent, harming the brand’s reputation.
Vashishtha stated, “You can go back to the affiliate network and ban the publisher, but it is still very difficult to work with the ecosystem the way it is now. We prefer to work with large publishers or content creators directly.”
By working directly with publishers or creators, brands can see how content gets created and deployed to generate conversions. Jaiswal suggested that brands could share a high volume of assets with affiliates directly to test their effectiveness and ensure that the brand positioning and messaging remain consistent.
While it is not entirely avoidable to discourage malicious activity, Jaiswal opined that assigning realistic key performance indicators (KPIs) while designing the campaign can automatically rule out any fraud from the equation. He said, “Marketers could leverage a combination of hard KPIs and soft KPIs, where soft KPIs can be click-to-conversion rate, sign-up-to-purchase rate, and hard KPIs could be cost-to-purchase or cost-to-sign-up.”
Affiliate marketing has its fair share of challenges; however, the ecosystem is continuously evolving. With new technologies like AI, affiliate marketing initiatives will become sharper and more targeted.
AFFILIATE MARKETING
First, AI came for Sports Illustrated. Soon, it will want to give you sports betting advice
Real Sports Bar and Grill in Toronto on Nov. 24, 2016.Glenn Lowson/The Globe and Mail
When Sports Illustrated was outed last week for its alleged use of generative AI to create online articles – and, even worse, for topping them with fake bylines and AI author headshots – readers of the legendary glossy were appalled and disappointed at how the mighty had fallen.
But there was one element of the story that largely got lost amid the outrage, and it hints at an even darker prospect of what lies ahead for sports media and fans.
The SI pieces in question were product reviews: Inoffensive rankings of say, seven brands of volleyballs, which included links to Amazon that a reader could click on if they suddenly felt the urge to take up the sport. So, not only was the editorial copy generated by fake people, it was actually fake editorial copy. It was real advertising.
The practice of peppering editorial content with commercial links – known in the business as affiliate marketing – is a mainstay of Internet advertising, from movie reviews that direct readers to online ticketing sites, to podcasters and TikTok influencers giving out discount codes for listeners or viewers to buy merch from specific retailers.
But affiliate marketing has exploded in recent years in one notorious segment of the industry – sports betting, and its gush of ad dollars that are falling on a desperate media sector like rain on a parched prairie.
Affiliate sites that funnel new customers to online gambling operators are raking in the cash because of a quirk in that segment of the business – and they’re doing it on the backs of those new bettors.
In the spring of 2021, the Canadian sports media startup Playmaker Capital went public on the TSX Venture Exchange and quickly began scooping up digital properties with large followings that the company believed could be converted to bettors. When I interviewed Playmaker’s CEO, Jordan Gnat, shortly after shares began trading, he said he wanted to be in “the fan monetization business.”
There were tens of millions to monetize. The company began by buying soccer-focused sites in Latin America such as Bolavip, which targeted fans in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Central America and the United States, then expanded into the English-language North American market with the newsletter publisher and aggregator Yardbarker. Here in Canada it bought The Nation Network, which operates the hockey fantasy site, Daily Faceoff, and the Quebec-based La Poche Bleue.
But last month, Playmaker went from the hunter to the hunted when Better Collective, an affiliate-marketing giant based in Denmark that Gnat had cited to me as an inspiration for his company, gobbled it up for about $260-million.
The flurry of activity is partly because affiliate marketers who funnel customers to sportsbooks are an entirely different beast. They’re not just making one-time commissions, as they would if they were helping to sell concert tickets or tennis racquets or fly traps. Instead, they get a percentage of the sportsbook’s net revenue made from any new bettor.
“Net revenue” is another term for “total lifetime losses by a new bettor.”
Forget the pennies that digital ads are infamous for bringing in. If a site converts a reader or listener or viewer into a regular gambler – that is, a regular loser – the payday can be hundreds of dollars or more.
Here’s where it might occur to you that the incentives for a site to give you good betting advice might clash with that same site’s incentive to get you to sign up with a sports book and then lose a lot of money.
You would not be wrong.
In the social-media industry, there’s a saying that if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product. In the world of affiliate marketing, you are the product – the one that’s being sold to the sportsbooks. But boy, are you paying for it.
An academic paper published in January, 2020, in International Gambling Studies titled Affiliate Marketing of Sports Betting – A Cause for Concern? points out that many sites aren’t transparent about their duelling allegiances. It also notes that “people assign greater levels of trust to expert advice during decision-making tasks involving financial risk. This may be a particular concern for those who are just beginning to gamble upon sport, as they may be more inclined to rely on expert advice on bet choice due to their lack of experience.” Newbies may be especially susceptible, given that affiliates position themselves as being on the side of the bettor, when in fact they’re being paid by the sportsbook.
Which brings us full circle back to where we started. Generative AI is notoriously bad at a lot of things, including getting facts straight. But it’s very good at sounding confident, even as it bluffs its way through life.
And it’s about to use its charms to lull you into thinking you can beat the house.
Last May, Lloyd Danzig, the managing partner at the New York-based venture-capital company Sharp Alpha Advisors, noted in a piece for Sports Business Journal that publishers doing affiliate marketing for sportsbooks, “will soon leverage generative AI to instantly create thousands of SEO-optimized articles that discuss the current day’s calendar of games, betting trends, stories to follow, and sportsbook promotions. Pregame previews, postgame summaries, and highlight reels can be created on command without the use of specialized software or manual oversight. Articles, sportsbook reviews, and odds comparison pieces can be generated for any audience, with a fraction of the effort required from human writers.”
Think we’re already swamped with sports betting content? You haven’t seen anything yet.
Après ChatGPT, le déluge.
AFFILIATE MARKETING
What Are the Duties of a Content Strategist?
You’ve decided you want a career as a content strategist, and we’re here to help you reach your goal. A content strategist is a key player in determining the success of a brand’s content strategy, and it can be an exciting career path.
We discuss below the duties of a content strategist along with tips for becoming the most successful one you can be.
What Does a Content Strategist Do?
A content strategist brainstorms, plans, and executes the content strategy for a brand. This can be done either in a solo environment or with a content strategy team.
The material that’s crafted by content strategists for various social media platforms and other digital marketing efforts is designed with the objectives of the business in mind.
Understanding what content strategists do means we first need to understand content marketing.
Content marketing is a useful type of marketing that involves creating content designed to build interest in a brand’s products or services without explicitly promoting them.
Content strategists are content marketing experts.
For example, a content marketing strategy for a social media coach could involve a series of blog posts about why it’s so important to post on social media.
Now you can understand how a content marketing strategist engages in content marketing in the day-to-day execution of their job.
Content Strategist Job Description
Here is a sample content strategist job description:
The content strategist will develop a content strategy that meets key business objectives. They will reach the brand’s target audience through various marketing channels using their supreme content delivery skills.
The content strategist will use the organization’s content management system to oversee marketing campaigns across a variety of specific social media channels. In addition to content planning and content creation, content strategists will report on how their work met content strategy deliverables.
A typical content strategist salary ranges from $40,000-$80,000 based on location, experience, and the type of company you’re working for.
Here are a few examples of roles for the job title “content strategist” that illustrate a varying salary range based on location throughout the United States:
As you gain more experience and rise in seniority, you could become a senior content strategist or even advance into marketing leadership. It’s up to you where you want to take your career.
The Roles and Responsibilities of a Content Strategist
To add to the content strategist job description, we list the roles and responsibilities of a content strategist below.
The content strategist role varies on a day-to-day basis, but the overall tasks that need to be completed remain consistent. Content strategists will:
- Facilitate content planning sessions across a variety of editorial calendars and marketing channels.
- Perform a content audit of all existing content, evaluate its effectiveness, and update as necessary.
- Conduct extensive keyword research to guide the direction of the brand’s content creation.
- Pitch existing and prospective clients on their content creation ideas.
- Build target audience profiles to create content for.
- Understand the many ways future content can generate leads and be monetized.
- Stay informed on social media trends and changes in consumer behavior.
- Create content across various digital platforms and social media accounts.
- Oversee a marketing team and delegate tasks for ongoing and upcoming projects.
- Collaborate with other team members, like copywriters, UX/UI designers, editors, and more when creating online content.
- Analyze its successful content strategy and report back on its performance. A working knowledge of SEO reporting tools is crucial.
Who Does a Content Strategist Report To?
The content strategist will typically report to a manager in the marketing department. This could include a marketing manager, the vice president of marketing, or the marketing director.
However, keep in mind that every company is structured differently.
For example, a large corporation will be structured differently than a small start-up.
The content strategist role at a start-up might report directly to the CEO. Furthermore, a content strategist at a large corporation might report to the marketing manager.
Depending on how large the marketing team is, the content strategist might report to a more specialized person, like the digital content manager.
Understanding the marketing team structure of the company you want to apply for will help you understand where you fit in the organization.
Types of Companies Content Strategists Work For
Because every type of company can benefit from having a content strategy team, there are a variety of companies a content strategist could work for.
A few types of companies a content strategist could work for include:
Large Corporations:
Major recognizable brands need content strategists to maintain their position in the market as thought leaders.
Marketing Agencies:
Marketing agencies provide a wide range of services, and content marketing is just one of those services. A content marketer will help marketing agencies create engaging content as part of overall content strategies for clients.
Small Start-ups:
Content strategists are an important part of the business for small start-ups because they help attract new and existing customers.
Having content monetization skills can be especially important for start-ups as they run lean in the early days.
Content Agencies:
Content agencies are similar to marketing agencies. However, they provide a more niche service that’s specific to content marketing.
These types of agencies will need to hire teams of content strategists to serve their clients’ content marketing needs.
Freelance:
There is another option that’s entirely different from the employers we’ve discussed on this list. That alternative is freelancing.
A career as a freelancer means that you will be self-employed and responsible for obtaining your own clients, delivering the project, and billing the client.
While there is potentially more money to be made as a freelancer, it does also come with more risk.
What Skills Do You Need to Become a Content Strategist?
Becoming a successful content strategist requires a variety of soft skills and technical expertise. We break down the necessary skills in each category below.
Soft Skills
Here are a list of the soft skills you’ll need in your career as a content strategist:
Storytelling:
You will need to tell compelling stories to a variety of audiences as a content strategist. Whether it’s pitching ideas to clients or educating your audience, you will need to learn to relay information in an engaging way.
Creativity:
Ultimately, you’re creating content for your target audience to consume. This means that it needs to be engaging, exciting, and creative. Having creativity will help you put together the best content.
Communication:
As a content strategist, you are communicating every day. Whether it’s to your boss, other teams within the company, or your target audience, having top-notch communication skills will be very important.
Organization:
An aspiring content strategist needs to be very organized. They will be managing multiple campaigns simultaneously, so they need expert organizational skills to keep everything running smoothly.
Technical Skills
Beyond the very important soft skills you’ll need, there are a variety of technical skills that you’ll also need in your career as a content strategist.
Here are a few of them:
Writing:
Strong technical writing skills are one of the most important hard skills you’ll need. Being able to write high-quality long-form content will be a key component of your job.
Search Engine Optimization:
SEO is another one of the most important technical skills you will need to have in your career. You’ll need to understand how to perform keyword research with SEO research software, along with how to seamlessly incorporate these keywords into the text as part of the content creation process.
Social Media Platforms:
Having an understanding of the posting style of each of the different social media platforms will be helpful to your success as a content strategist.
Your long-form content will be shared with your audience in the form of social media campaigns. If you’re able to lend your knowledge when creating these campaigns, you will be able to provide more value for your team.
Monetization:
Part of the content strategist’s job is understanding how the content you’re creating can be monetized and earn your employer money.
Whether it’s incorporating banner ads or partnering with affiliates, you will need to be an expert in monetization methods for the content strategies you implement.
Tips for Becoming a Content Strategist
You know the skills you need to develop and what the job description entails. Now it’s time to discuss tips for optimizing your career in content marketing. Read our top 5 tips for becoming a content strategist below.
Prioritize Your Education
You will need to have the knowledge if you want to earn a job as a content strategist. This means that prioritizing your education should be at the top of your list.
While this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have a bachelor’s degree, some employers might require you to have one. For example, if you want to work at a large corporation or a major brand where you work your way up to a leadership position, they might require a bachelor’s degree for those types of roles.
Examples of bachelor’s degrees that you could obtain include marketing, journalism, public relations, or communications.
Gain Professional Experience
After you’ve obtained the education, you want to add professional experience to your resume.
Professional experience can occur in many forms, including internships and paid positions. Learn from the other content strategists you’re working with as you contribute to content marketing campaigns.
Whether you’re working directly as a content strategist or something adjacent to this position, give it your best effort to learn as much as you can while also impressing your employer.
References from internships and entry-level jobs will be helpful to you in the future!
Start Networking
In addition to developing your skills, you’ll also want to start networking.
Networking with other professionals in the industry will be helpful for you when searching for jobs. Sometimes, jobs aren’t even posted on online job boards, and instead, companies ask for referrals from their existing employees.
Similarly, when employers are looking at a large stack of resumes, seeing a name they recognize makes the hiring process easier for them.
Also, remember that you’re networking with people of all experience levels, not just people who are more advanced than you in your career. The person that you’re taking a course with could one day be promoted to the marketing manager you’re applying to work for.
All this to say, conduct yourself professionally and courteously when networking.
Show Your Expertise Through Personal Projects
Even if you haven’t obtained that internship or first job yet, you can showcase your expertise through your personal projects.
Starting your own blog site, YouTube channel or newsletter will help you develop skills and gain hands-on experience.
Working on your own projects requires you to develop a content strategy, create content, and grow your audience.
How long does it take to make money from a blog? You will be able to answer this question for future employers based on firsthand knowledge.
You can then tell future employers about your expertise and the success of your marketing campaigns.
Always Continue Learning
Even though education was already a priority for you on your path toward being a content strategist, learning will always be important for furthering your career.
Whether it’s taking online courses, reading books, or listening to podcasts, find the learning method that feels right for you.
Courses are a great way to further your education as a content marketer. Here are two great courses to get you started:
The Affiliate Lab
The Affiliate Lab is an expert source on creating content optimized for SEO. This course contains more than 100 hours of training on how to conduct keyword research, select your niche, rank in search results, and more.
If you’re looking to improve the SEO rankings of your content, this course is for you. Niche Pursuits readers receive an exclusive discount of $200 off The Affiliate Lab course here.
Project 24
If you want to learn how to drive real results, Project 24 is the course for you. This will help teach you how to create the best possible content for a blog site or YouTube channel.
Its 27 online courses will teach you how to create and monetize content that’s been optimized for SEO.
The end goal of this course is to teach you how to generate passive income from your content marketing efforts. Check out our Income School Review to learn more about Project 24 and its founders.
No matter which course you choose based on your goals, what’s important is that you’re expanding your knowledge base to create results-driven content.
Your Career as a Content Strategist
Whether you work for a fast-paced marketing agency or an exciting brand, your career in digital content creation is sure to be an exciting one. We wish you the best of luck in your career as a content strategist!
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