As an aspiring creator, you want to know how to make money online.
Whether it’s because you’ve found a passion you want to monetize or because you read the story about a 23-year-old TikToker who just bought a house in the Hamptons AND a new car, and you wonder how that’s even possible—our blog has you covered for all the money-making tips and tricks you want to know.
But before you can start making money online, you need to know the different monetization models and how they work.
Affiliate, in-kind, and paid, oh my!
Once you start creating online content, there are three ways to get paid:
- Affiliate model: Under the affiliate model, brands pay you a commission if you create and promote content to your community that leads to sales via an affiliate link.
- Example: Let’s say a fitness influencer creates a post about the Nike running shoes they wear and links to that product. When anyone who follows them uses that link and buys the shoes, the influencer gets paid a percentage of that sale.
- In-kind model: When you use the in-kind model, brands pay you in free products instead of actual money. While the expectation is that you’ll share the products with your community, leading to more exposure for the brand, it’s not required unless stated otherwise.
- Example: Ever hear a creator say they’re on a brand’s PR list and they were sent products? That essentially means they’re getting paid in-kind gifts.
- Paid model: Brands will pay you upfront for content and will give key performance indicators (KPIs) on what they expect from the content with the paid model.
- Example: McDonald’s partnered with various TikTokers for its “Menu Hacks” campaign, with the creators promoting different menu hacks in their videos.
“So…which payment model should creators start with?”
Now that you’ve learned the different payment models, your next question is probably, “So…which payment model should creators start with?” And the answer is simple: It depends on the creator.
While most creators use a combination of all three, some solely focus on the affiliate model, some on the in-kind model, and some on the paid model.
Our advice for aspiring creators? Don’t go all in on the paid model. A mistake we see a lot of creators make who are just starting out is going after the paid fee model when it’s:
- The hardest model to get started on
- Has the most competition
- The hardest model to see reliable, consistent monthly earnings on
Think about it: You’re competing against tens of thousands of other creators who may have bigger followings, higher engagement rates, and more consistent content for those opportunities. The brands that offer paid campaigns want to know they’ll achieve their campaign goals by being extremely picky about the creators they cast.
So, before going after paid campaigns, it’s best to build up your community, engagement, and content first.
But there is a model you can use to make money while growing and refining your online presence: affiliate.
Stop overlooking the affiliate model!
The affiliate model can be a less stressful way to start getting paid for content — and it has the lowest barrier to entry.
Let’s say a small creator has an OtterBox phone case. They can’t reach out to OtterBox and expect to get free products or a paid campaign just because they use its product. But they can work with OtterBox on an affiliate model and get paid by sharing the link with their community.
With the affiliate model, you can partner with thousands of brands without putting all your eggs in one basket. The best part is you can talk about items you already like and use in your everyday life. You can help others to discover and purchase those products, too.
We interact with hundreds of brands a day and we all have brand preferences. If you can make money off those preferences, why wouldn’t you?
Diversify your online presence beyond social media to make more money
When we think of creators making money online, the first place that comes to mind is social media, like Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. But there are other avenues creators can use to make money, from websites to email newsletters to blogs — and you should explore them all. For instance, model and blogger Chiara Ferragni used her “The Blonde Salad” blog to enter the high fashion world!
When you pair websites, email newsletters, and blogs (which house evergreen and listicle content people can return to) with the affiliate model, they become powerful tools for earning more money without creating more content!
For example, we work with an eco-friendly baby blogger. She published a blog on the top 10 non-toxic cribs that contains affiliate links. It makes her money every month — even though she created that blog post years ago. Besides creating the blog post, she doesn’t have to do anything, and it still generates passive income for her.
Thinking beyond social media when making money online will set you up for financial success as a creator.
Best practices for each payment model
Regardless of the model you use, there are best practices that’ll ensure your success with each.
Let’s focus on affiliate and paid models since they compensate with money.
If you’re using the affiliate model to get paid, someone has to click your affiliate link and buy something. But it’s not enough for you to post the link, set it, and forget it. You must create an urgency to buy and convince your audience, “Why do I have to buy today?”
For example, if you make a social post about how much you love your Stanley and how it keeps you hydrated on-the-go, that’s not creating immediacy and giving your community a reason to buy one right now. Instead, you should say, “I love my Stanley because it keeps me hydrated on-the-go, and for today only, it’s 30% off.”
Saying, “Today only, it’s 30% off,” gives your community a “why buy now” reason, making them more likely to purchase and helping you earn more! This “hook” doesn’t have to be only price related. You can create immediacy by saying a product is almost sold out, there’s a new product drop, or a product is only here seasonally.
If you’re using the paid model, understanding what the brand is trying to achieve with the campaign and its goals is essential, as it can determine whether the brand will work with you again.
Some brands are looking to increase awareness. Some want to drive interactions. Some want to grow sales or get people at an event. It all depends on the KPIs in place for the campaign, so it’s best to ask what the brand expects from the campaign.
Wrapping up
There you have it. Now you know how to make money online. While we may have not-so-subtly hinted that the affiliate model is the way to go (because it is), it’s up to you to decide how you’ll be compensated as a creator. Whatever you choose, if you remember the tips we shared, you’ll make money online in no time.
