The COVID-19 pandemic has made “work from home” the catchphrase of this era, and there has been an unprecedented increase in the use of broadband facilities. According to a Redseer report, internet usage in India has grown over 30% in the last 10 years, with consumer internet expected to grow 4-5 times over the next 4-5 years. Smartphone penetration has also increased the usage of mobile internet. This has spawned myriad online businesses, from e-commerce to e-tech, which seek to build their revenues and make profits via the internet.
How can you use the internet creatively to build a primary or a secondary source of income?
Some of the most popular usages include the following:
- Start blogging or content writing: This way, you can share your knowledge and opinions on the internet. You can monetise your blogs with Google AdSense, Admob, or AdWord. You can use free writing sites like WordPress or Blogger. A good copy can earn you anywhere between Rs. 5,000 and Rs 20,000.
- Create a YouTube channel: You can create a YouTube channel, learn video editing, and post videos where you teach, give management lessons, offer handyman tips and quick fixes, help people invest in the stock market, and so on. You then invite subscribers and join the YouTube Partnership programme. Depending on your subscriber base, you get ads posted on your channel through Google AdSense. This will become a revenue stream for you. Popular YouTubers earn a lot of money.
- Start selling on Amazon or Flipkart: If you manufacture products, whether pickles or fragrant soaps, with a good marketing track record, you can start selling on Amazon or Flipkart. You can even use e-commerce platforms like Shopify.com to build your e-commerce store. Once your products become popular, the sky’s the limit for your revenues.
- Become an online teacher on an ed-tech platform: You can become a teacher on any ed-tech platform if you have the necessary knowledge, skills, and teaching ability. With an increase in ed-tech platforms either offering employment or allowing you to create an online teaching channel, this can easily become a revenue-generating activity.
- Become a brand influencer via Instagram: As an Instagram and social media influencer, you can make money by promoting brands and products. For this, you must develop an extensive follower base. If you have a sufficiently large user base, brands/product companies and Instagram will pay you as you create followership for the former and increase usage for the latter.
- Take online surveys: You can get paid for taking online surveys on platforms like JumpTask. Brands and product/service companies pay survey companies to understand public opinion. If you register with a legitimate survey company, you get paid for taking surveys, which take up 10-20 minutes of your time. While the amounts are not large, this is still a source of income.
- Online stock investing: Last but not least, online stock trading and investing are lucrative ways of making money online. Most brokers and depositories have created their websites to facilitate online stock trading. It can be a primary or secondary source of income if you are a working professional. All you have to do is open demat account with a registered online broker. An SBI report shows that more than 142 lakh retail trading accounts have been opened since COVID-19, and this number is expected to increase. Online stock trading can maximise your income over long periods. Most millennials have been driving benchmark indices like the Sensex30 and Nifty 50 to stellar heights through their online stock trading. Online stock investing is here to stay, and the stock indices are expected to reach greater highs in the future. Investing in the stock market has replaced placing deposits as an investment mainstay as inflation rates erode fixed savings.
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