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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

How Stay-at-Home Moms Can Make Money Online

stay-at-home moms

Stay-at-home moms have been growing in number in recent years. In fact, according to a new study by Pew Research Center, the number of stay-at-home mothers increased in 2012 to 29%, or about 10.4 million. Of this number, about two-thirds are “traditional” married stay-at-home moms with working husbands. About 6% of stay-at-home moms are at home with their children because they cannot find a job.

Whether you are a stay-at-home mom because of choice, or because you were forced out by the labor market, there are still ways for you to earn money. There are a number of opportunities online where you can stay at home and still earn income.

Here are some ways a stay-at-home mom can make money online:

1. Earning money from blogging

Blogging allows you to write about what you know; your interests and passions, and your life experiences. In addition to the satisfaction of reaching out like-minded people and perhaps even inspiring others, blogging allows you to earn money. You can earn money from blogging through advertising and/or affiliate programs.

RELATED: How to Earn Money from Your Blog

2. Sell products for others

You can also choose to create an online presence where the sole purpose is to pitch other people’s products. This is called affiliate program, where you sell other people’s products or services for commission. Some sites that offer affiliate programs include Amazon Associates program, ClickBank for information products or CJ by Conversant (formerly Commission Junction).

Note though that search engines such as Google have been cracking down on affiliate websites that merely replicate the originator’s offerings without added value. If you want your site to be take advantage of the free traffic from the search engines, be sure that your website offers additional value for users.


3. Freelance work

You can also monetize your expertise online. If you used to work as a graphic designer, writer, programmer or other marketable skills, you can earn money using your skills while staying at home.

If you work as a freelancer, you can choose to create your own website and use it to advertise your services. You can post on classified ads pages such as Craigslist to find customers. Or you can use freelance sites such as Elance.com to find clients.

If you want to know more how freelance marketplaces work and how to succeed, read the article How to Succeed on Elance as it contains must-read advice from a freelancer who is actually earning good sums of money on Elance.

4. Sell products in online marketplaces

There are huge opportunities to earn money from home in selling in established marketplaces, such as eBay, Amazon, Etsy, and similar sites.

EBay used to be primarily an auction site, but now 70% of its sales are through the “Buy It Now” option. While Amazon continues to sell its own products, independent merchants both big and small are able to use their massive platform to sell products.

Whether you sell craft products, or have a huge number of second-hand books to dispose, you can stay at home and earn money by selling in online marketplaces. Note though, that these marketplaces charge fees and commissions from sales generated using their marketplaces.

RELATED: Top 10 Tips for Selling on Ebay

5. Create your own eBusiness

You can choose to start your own online business and sell your products or services mainly through your own website instead of established marketplaces. This allows you to build your own brand, while doing without the fees and commissions you need to pay the marketplaces such as Amazon or Ebay.

However, starting your own ebusiness is more involved – from the technology you need to run and manage the business to finding customers.

RELATED: How to Sell Online: Sell on Ebay or Sell on Website



 

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