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Many of us dream of finding a way to make money at our hobby online.
Wouldn’t making money at something you really love be fantastic?
Plus, if you set your business up properly, maintenance may take very little work.
This is a case study in monetizing a hobby online that will outline the steps taken to get a business going.
Cheyenne turned her love of dolls into a part-time business with a full-time income.
Cheyenne has always loved dolls. Even as she got older, this never changed. She collected them and even had several antique dollhouses.
Over the course of a couple days, Chey brainstormed after deciding she would finance her hobby by making money with it. She thought this might actually be fun!
Plus, she already knew a lot about her hobby, so she wouldn’t have to learn much. She did have a lot to learn about putting a business online, however.
Here are the steps Cheyenne took (in order) to get her business going:
Make a Website
Chey knew nothing about web design, but a friend told her that she could use WordPress to make a professional-looking web page.
TIP: you can use Elementor to structure her posts to easily add different fonts and colors. It’s user-friendly and I highly recommend them!
There are extensive tutorials on both sites, as well as tips and tricks on YouTube.
Find Affiliate Products
First, she went to Amazon and signed up as an affiliate, which is free.
This provided Chey with specific links to various doll-based products she could advertise on her site.
She also found products to promote from a variety of other places.
TIP: When you’ve found your niche, think of places you’ve shopped and products you used to get your website or business going. Look for affiliate programs for those first.
Add your links to Relevant Posts
Chey worked the affiliate links into her website text wherever it was logical. Example: don’t add links for a nutritional drink to a post about doll accessories. Your link should make sense.
If she posted an article about a specific type of doll, she would include an affiliate link for where the reader could purchase that doll.
If a reader bought the doll, Chey received a percentage of the purchase price.
write your own manual
Because of her extensive knowledge, Chey was able to write a how-to for doll collecting.
She did all the work in a word processor and then converted the document to a .pdf file.
Chey then sold her manual on her site, too. She really liked this, because she got to keep 100% of the money!
TIP: create the manual in Canva, a user-friendly design software. There are tons of templates so you only have to fill in your own words and add your links.
TIP: Amember is a great tool to use to sell things on your website.
Market Your Site
This is most important because if no one knows the website exists, no one can buy anything.
Chey started her marketing campaign with:
- a Facebook fan page
- a twitter account
- some blog articles
She posted the articles on article directories, including Ezine Articles and Articles Base.
In the author’s resource box for each article, she included a link back to her website. You should always do this when you submit posts or do guest posts on another blogger’s site.
Google Adsense
While this is not an all-inclusive list, these are the basic steps that Cheyenne and many others have used to start a business online.
You can do this too!
You will need:
- a website
- a product or service to sell
- a way to get people to your website
Getting a consistent stream of visitors to your site can take time, but with persistence, you’ll get there!
Start thinking today about how you can make money online with your hobby.
- What products and services can you offer?
- What unique ways can you drive traffic to your website?
The sooner you get started, the sooner you can spend your work-time doing something you love.
Stock Photos:
resources
Business Planning Journal
Everything you need to get your business started on the right foot. Get all those plans on paper!
- Daily, Weekly & Yearly Plans
- Business Value Worksheets
- Product & Competitor Research
- Pricing Calculator
- Marketing Plan
- Notes Pages
