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If you are looking for online jobs for college students, the good news is that there are many legitimate online jobs for college students to earn money. The bad news is that NOT all these online jobs are worth your time.
For example, one of the easiest ways to make money online as a college student is through paid surveys.
Below is a list of legit paid survey apps that you could try, but you won’t be making big money with these:
- Inbox Dollars (Claim your FREE $5 now)
- Vindale Research (Up to $50 per survey)
- Pinecone Research (Minimum $3 per survey)
So, what are some well-paying online jobs can you do as a college student?
If you are looking to make money quickly, then you can try the following online jobs:
- Offer freelance service online on Fiverr (e.g. writing, graphic design, website design, virtual assistant, video editing)
- Teach English online
- Become a tutor online
- Website/App tester
All these online jobs pay you a better hourly rate than paid survey apps, but you are essentially exchanging your time for money.
What that means is that the minute you stop working at these online jobs, you also stop getting paid.
That’s why I always recommend that you should better use your time on online jobs that can continue to pay you even if you stop working.
Is this too good to be true?
As a matter of fact, it’s a REAL thing.
Take my website as an example.
Even if I stop working on this website, I still get paid every day from the work I’ve done a long time ago.
So, exactly how did I do it?
Also, is it possible for you, as a college student, to do the same?
The short answer is yes.
What Are Best Online Jobs That College Students Can Do?
So, what are the best online jobs for college students?
The best online jobs are jobs that can continue to generate income for years to come even if you stop working.
Here are the 4 best online jobs for college students in this digital age:
- Blogger
- YouTuber
- Instagram Influencer
- Podcaster
Now, let me explain why.
You see, traffic (i.e. audience/web visitors/followers) is essentially money in the online business world.
When you have traffic, you don’t have to worry about money because you can either sell the traffic for money or you can sell products (or services) to your traffic to make money.
So, what exactly is traffic and what kinds of traffic are there?
Traffic refers to the number of people you get to see your online written, audio and video content.
Just like in a shopping mall, you want more shoppers to be able to sell more stuff and make more money.
This is the same in the online world.
And there are four kinds of traffic you can get:
- Website (or blog) visitors
- Video views
- Instagram likes & comments
- Podcast downloads & listenership
The best part is that you can start getting traffic with almost zero capital.
So, it’s extremely low-cost and also low-risk.
Once you have traffic, how do you turn your traffic into money?
Let’s take a look at how you can monetize the different types of traffic.
#1: Website or Blog Traffic
If you have a website or a blog, you want more website visitors.
When you have a lot of website traffic, you can make money in the following ways:
- Advertising earning ( yes, it’s the ads showing at the top or bottom or on the side of the website you visit.)
- Sponsored post ( this is a bit similar to sponsorship for major events such as Super Bowl or World Cup. But, instead of sponsoring an event, they are sponsoring a blog post on their products or services)
- Affiliate marketing ( i.e. sell other people’s products and earn a commission for every sale made )
- Sell your own products or services (e.g. ebooks, online courses, consulting services, coaching services, freelance services)
#2: YouTube Traffic
If you have a YouTube channel, you want more people to view your videos.
When you have a lot of people watching your videos, you can make money in the following ways:
- Advertising earning ( yes, it’s the annoying video ads playing before each video starts.)
- Sponsorship ( in this case, it’s brands sponsoring a video reviewing their products or services)
- Affiliate marketing
- Sell your own products (e.g. YouTuber’s own line of products)
#3: Instagram Traffic
If you have an instagram account, you want more people to see your photos or videos.
When you have a lot of people seeing your Instagram posts, you can make money in the following ways:
- Sponsored post ( brands pay Instagram influencers to get more exposure and reach a wider audience)
- Affiliate marketing ( e.g. beauty Instagram influencers help companies sell skin care products and take a cut for every sale made)
- Sell your own products (e.g. Instagram influencers’ own line of products)
#4: Podcast Traffic
If you have a podcast, you want more people to listen to your podcast.
When you have a lot of people listening to your podcast, you can make money in the following ways:
- Sponsorship ( brands sponsor podcast to get more exposure and reach a wider audience)
- Affiliate marketing
- Sell your own products or services
Which Type Of Online Job Is Right For You?
To help you find which type of online job is the most suitable for you, you need to first understand one important thing.
To get (tons of) traffic, you need to generate (tons of) content.
There are four different types of content:
- Written (e.g. blog posts, step-by-step guides, Instagram posts and etc)
- Video ( e.g YouTube videos, video streaming, Facebook live, Instagram story)
- Audio (e.g. Podcast)
- Photos (e.g. Instagram photos)
To avoid spreading yourself too thin, you should only focus on creating ONE type of content first.
So, when it comes to deciding which type of online business you should start, it basically comes down to deciding which type of content you are most comfortable creating.
Below are some questions you can ask yourself to help you make a decision:
- What’s your personality? ( e.g. outgoing, funny or introverted)
- What’re your skills? (e.g. good writing skills or good video editing skills)
- What topics are you interested in? (e.g. videos are best for makeup tutorials. )
- What are your hobbies? (e.g. you can create gaming videos if gaming is your hobby. If you love traveling or food, then Instagram is probably the best.)
- How much time do you have outside school? (e.g. writing blog posts might take much longer time than taking a photo and posting on Instagram)
Generally, outspoken and extroverted people will prefer creating video and audio contents while introverted people will prefer creating written content.
For myself, I am an introvert and also a nerd (okay, I studied applied statistics and economics in college.)
So, starting a blog is the best choice for me.
Now, what about you?
Which one is best for you?
Starting a blog?
Or a YouTube channel?
Or a podcast?
Or an Instagram account?
While you think about that, let’s take a look at some examples.
This girl called Nia Imani started a successful YouTube channel before she even graduated from college.
What kind of videos does she create?
Most of her videos are about tutorials on how to style natural African-American hair.
For her to choose this topic, there are a few reasons:
- There is a demand for such video content from her target audience
- She knows how to style hair
- She is probably passionate about this topic as well
What are her results?
YouTube Subscribers: 126,000 subscribers
YouTube views: 10,820,476 views
With this kind of numbers, she is easily making at least 4-figure every month.
The best part about her YouTube channel is that she can keep growing her YouTube channel by adding more videos.
All her videos are her income assets which can generate ads revenue for her even when she is sleeping or not working.
without her doing anything.
Further Reading:
[Case Studies]: How To Make Money Online With Any Hobby In 2020
Now, let’s take a look at another example.
This girl called Jessica Slaughter started her blog while she was still in college.
She writes mostly about topics that interest college students on her blog.
What are her results?
Her monthly blog visitors: about 200,000 visitors per month
How does she make money?
She gets paid by big brands for doing the following:
- Sponsored posts
- Product reviews
- Monthly Favorites features
- Social promotions
The brands she has worked with include Evolution Fresh, Evernote, Clarisonic, Lenovo, Amazon Prime Student and Office Depot.
The best part about her blog is that she can continue to get income from her blog even if she stops blogging and works at a full-time job.
Why?
This is because her blog still generates tons of traffic every month even without her doing anything.
Further Reading:
How To Buy A Domain Name: What You MUST Know (& Mistakes To Avoid)
Summary
So, what is the key to becoming successful in your online job as a college student?
It’s simple.
You need to create good content consistently.
It could be one video a day or one article a day.
As Robert Collier said, “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out.”
Want to find out how YOU can turn your blog into a profitable online business?
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