• Personal Finance

    17 Popular Digital Product Ideas To Sell To Make Passive Income

    Selling digital products on Etsy or Shopify or any website is a great way to make passive income in 2021 and beyond! Digital products are amazing because you create it once and then sell it over and over again.

    You may have heard this about digital products before but what exactly can you sell? What digital products are popular and will make the most passive income?

    In this video I’ve narrowed down the digital product ideas from a large video into the most popular ones! These are very common and sell well which means you can create and sell them to make a lot of passive income. This list of digital product ideas is a great one because these popular products have more ability to sell because they have large audiences that BUY frequently.

    This is part of a larger video with 60 different ideas: 60+ Digital Product Ideas To Sell On Etsy To Make Passive Income.

    If you have been trying to decide what to sell then this will definitely help get you started!

    Why Sell Digital Products?

    There are many reasons to sell digital products especially if you are looking for passive income. Selling any kind of digital product can create a new passive or mostly passive income stream for you.

    Here are a few of the reasons why you should create and sell digital products:

    • You make them once and sell them many times
    • They can be very easy to make compared to physical products
    • Cheap to make since you can use free programs
    • High margins – you have no product cost so you keep the profit
    • Unlimited growth in sales without having to scale any production
    • Unlimited growth in income by reaching new customers

    Convinced? Me too! Let’s look at some of the most popular digital products you can create.

    17 Popular Digital Product Ideas To Sell

    These digital products are some of the most popular items you can sell which means there are a lot of people that look for and buy them. As a seller this can be a great option!

    Here are some of the more popular digital products that you can sell:

    1. Birthday invitations
    2. Checklists & Trackers
    3. Clip art
    4. Digital papers
    5. Ebooks
    6. Excel templates
    7. Holiday cards
    8. Invitation templates
    9. Party decor
    10. Party invitations
    11. Printable games
    12. Shower invitations
    13. Social templates
    14. SVG files
    15. Wedding invitations
    16. Wedding signs
    17. Workbooks

    These are some of the most popular types of digital products you can sell, especially if you are on Etsy.

    If you are trying to make the most profit possible then you should look at creating and selling the most profitable digital products.

    How To Decide What To Sell

    If you have been trying to decide what to sell then this will definitely help get you started! Most of these ideas can be created in free programs like Canva or PlaceIt.

    You don’t have to have design skills or a background in digital marketing in order to create and sell digital downloads. You don’t need a formal education or design background to create digital products and earn money selling them – you just have to be curious and willing to learn!

    When deciding what type of digital product to sell I would recommend picking an area where you have a passion in life and then deciding the types of products. For example, maybe you think you should make SVG files because they are popular, but you really love making spreadsheets to keep your life and business organized. I’d focus on that instead!

    Or maybe you like planning parties so you think you need to create party invitations. But I wouldn’t limit myself to one digital product. I’d think about what types of products would complement each other in a shop that helps my target audience. You can create listings that complement and link back to each other like related party invitations and party decor.

    Creating Digital Products Online

    There are a number of ways to create digital products online these days. It’s possible to make digital products to sell for free with a number of programs!

    Adobe InDesign

    Adobe InDesign – I personally use Adobe InDesign for creating all my printables because it’s the best, most reliable and has the most flexibility. There is a learning curve because it’s a professional program but it’s worth it for the hassles it removes. Try creating with Adobe InDesign’s free trial.

    Canva

    Canva – Canva is one of the best free editing programs where you can create a digital products and the paid version is even better with bonus features that help take your work to the next level. Try creating with Canva.

    Selling Digital Products Online

    You will want an e-commerce platform that will allow you to both take payments and deliver your digital products to your customers. There are many different e-commerce platforms that make this possible so let’s look at the best ones for selling digital products specifically.

    Etsy

    Etsy – I love selling on Etsy because you don’t have to find people to buy your digital products – they are already on the platform and Etsy is bringing them to you! It’s easy for beginners to start and Etsy shop and you can get 40 free listings through this link.

    Podia

    Podia –  Podia is a more robust platform that will allow you to not only sell digital downloads but also offer memberships and online courses. If you have plans to grow a full online business it’s the ideal platform to use to keep everything in one place and is cheaper than most other platforms. Get a 14 day free trial of Podia here. 

    Shopify

    Shopify – One of the most popular platforms to use for selling goods online. Shopify has emerged at the top of many seller’s lists for the ease of use, beautiful designs, set pricing, and powerful backend. It offers everything you need to sell digital or physical products and scale your business too. Get a free trial of Shopify here.

    WooCommerce

    WooCommerce – WooCommerce integrates easily with existing WordPress websites to sell digital downloads. WooCommerce is not specifically for digital downloads but they have made the process super simple for sellers and do not take additional fees from sales. I currently use WooCommerce to sell my digital downloads on my website. Get started with WooCommerce.

    How To Start An Etsy Shop

    If you’re not on Etsy yet, it’s a great platform to start on and learn how to sell digital products.

    If you want to start an Etsy shop in order to earn part time or full time income then this tutorial for beginners will help you get started! I know a lot of people who have never sold online before can feel intimidated which is why I created this tutorial on how to set up an Etsy shop step by step. It is very easy and seeing someone else do it makes it feel much easier!

    You can start your shop with this link for 40 free listings to jumpstart your shop without having to waste money on those first listings.

    Additionally, here are some posts about starting and growing an Etsy shop that may help you:

    How To Start A Shopify Store

    If you don’t want to sell digital products on Etsy or want to start with your own store from the beginning, then I recommend using Shopify.

    The video above is specifically tailored to opening a Shopify store for selling digital products.

    Additionally, here are some posts about Shopify that can help you:

  • Personal Finance

    How to Hide Your Etsy Shop Sales History (& REASONS WHY)

    Your Etsy sales history can be very valuable for learning your best products and what your customers want to buy. However, when that information is public by default your competitors

    How to Hide Your Etsy Shop Sales History

    Hiding your sales history on your Etsy shop is actually very, very easy.

    You can hide your sold listings page from your shop by following these two steps.

    1. Go to Shop Manager > Settings > Options.
    2. Scroll down to the Sold Listings section at the bottom of this page.
    3. Under “Want shoppers to be able to see these?” select the button for “No, hide them.”

    That’s it! Those steps will hide your Etsy sales history from anyone being able to view it. You will still be able to view the page and see what has sold over time, but buyers won’t be able to click the number of sales on your public shop homepage.

    Reasons To Hide Your Etsy Sales History

    So why exactly would you want to do this and hide all your sales from everyone? There are a few reasons to hide all of your Etsy sales history from public view:

    Past sales are not the best way to judge an Etsy shop.

    Even customers will sometimes browse past sales on a shop if it is available, but if your work has improved over time then they may not be getting the best look at your shop.

    Sales are only one indication of success on Etsy and it’s not always the full picture. The seller may also have a website where other products are more popular for example. Or you may have had to take a hiatus on your shop and decided to return and revamp your offerings. – which your sales history won’t reflect.

    Hiding your sales history and only showing the number of sales you have gives the social proof you need without oversharing too much information.

    People may want something you no longer sell.

    Unfortunately by showing your sales history you are also opening up your shop to show things that you have sold in the past but may no longer offer. People will wonder why you don’t sell it any longer or why you don’t have that specific offering even if you have multiple similar listings available.

    People can be very finicky when buying things online and seeing something they want that is not available can turn them off from your shop forever.

    It’s not as valuable as reviews.

    Your shop history and seeing what has sold is not the most important thing for potential customers to see. It’s great for them to know that you have other sales, but for new customers your reviews will be much more important.

    Instead of showing off your sales history you’ll want to focus on other things like getting more reviews on your shop.

    When you don’t, you are helping your competition.

    Everyone snoops on their competition, myself included. It’s intriguing to know what other people are selling and what products are popular. When you see a shop with lots of sales and then the history shows 2-3 products over and over then you know they are popular.

    But this unfortunately means your competitors can see your sales too. I’ll talk about the problem with Etsy competition later on in this post but just know that showing your sales history means other Etsy shops will rip off your designs.

    Hiding your sales history means hiding the secrets to your success. It slows people from focusing on your shop and hopefully redirects you from competition snooping to focusing on how to make your own shop better.

    The Problem With Etsy Competition

    I’ll be honest, the problem with Etsy is that many people on the platform are not creative enough to think up their own products. Many just want quick money and have no problem with ripping off other sellers by copying their products directly. When they can see what you are selling the most in your shop it’s easy for them to rip off your top products and even under cut your prices to steal your sales.

    Unfortunately there is no real recourse on Etsy when this happens. You can ask them to take it down or pursue a more formal takedown process that is much more work and doesn’t usually succeed. The sad truth is the Etsy competition is cut throat and succeeding there means you will have to deal with people stealing your work.

    The best option for dealing with Etsy thieves is to be proactive and give them as little information as possible. By hiding your sales history they will be unable to determine which of your products are making up the bulk of your sales. You will likely never full stop people with no morals from stealing and reselling your items, but doing things like hiding your sales at least slows them down.

    How To Start An Etsy Shop

    If you’re not on Etsy yet, it’s a great platform to start on and learn how to sell digital products.

    If you want to start an Etsy shop in order to earn part time or full time income then this tutorial for beginners will help you get started! I know a lot of people who have never sold online before can feel intimidated which is why I created this tutorial on how to set up an Etsy shop step by step. It is very easy and seeing someone else do it makes it feel much easier!

    You can start your shop with this link for 40 free listings to jumpstart your shop without having to waste money on those first listings.

    Additionally, here are some posts about starting and growing an Etsy shop that may help you:

  • Personal Finance

    How To Create Product Mockups Fast To Sell Digital Products

    Wondering how to create cool products mockups that you see on sales pages and social media? Want to sell your digital products like SVGs and PNGs by showing the customer how they will look in the real world?

    In this video, I’m showing you how to create product mockups fast and easily with PlaceIt. Affiliate links for PlaceIt will be used in this post so if you decide to create a new paid account I will make a commision.

    It took me less than 10 minutes to create multiple mockups for a product that can be used to then sell that digital product.

    Product mockups can completely change your shop and make your digital products more appealing to buyers. Many, many popular sellers know that mockups are the key to more sales.

    You’ll see these very commonly on shops that sell digital products on Etsy like the one shown above.

    What are mockups?

    Mockups, or product mockups, are an example of what your final product will look like. They are very often used to show off what a final product will look like in a real-life setting. This is especially important for things like digital products where a customer is not buying a final product from you.

    Mockups are used commonly on online stores selling digital products to help showcase what the digital product will look like once the customer is using it in the final form. For example, if you sell SVGs you may want to create product mockups of the SVG design as a tshirt so they can envision it being used in the final stage.

    Creating mockups for your shop is a great way to increase sales when you are selling digital products. Psychologically it is much easier for someone to buy an item when they can see what the final product will look like. Successful shops will often have product mockups in their listing photos to show how the product can be used.

    What Is PlaceIt?

    PlaceIt is a newer venture from Envato, one of the world’s largest creative marketplaces. PlaceIt allows you to create amazing visual assets like mockups without needing technical and artistic skills. They focus instead on ready-to-use templates where you can create your design in just seconds.

    Amazingly PlaceIt has the largest collection of mockups on the internet. They’ve got the most options and the easiest way to make mockups quickly since all you have to do is drop your design in and they do the rest. It truly makes mockups easy and efficient which means getting more sales on your items.

    I love using PlaceIt for product mockups for my shops but even better is that is not all they offer. They also have thousands of templates for logos, designs, ads, social media posts and even videos. If you want to make no face videos for YouTube, there are lots of options for templates on PlaceIt.

    Selling Digital Products Online

    You will want an e-commerce platform that will allow you to both take payments and deliver your digital products to your customers. There are many different e-commerce platforms that make this possible so let’s look at the best ones for selling digital products specifically.

    Etsy

    Etsy – I love selling on Etsy for complete beginners because you don’t have to find people to buy your digital products – they are already on the platform and Etsy is bringing them to you! It’s easy for beginners to start and Etsy shop and you can get 40 free listings through this link.

    Podia

    Podia –  Podia is a more robust platform that will allow you to not only sell digital downloads but also offer memberships and online courses. If you have plans to grow a full online business it’s the ideal platform to use to keep everything in one place and is cheaper than most other platforms. Get a 14 day free trial of Podia here. 

    SendOwl 

    SendOwl – This platform is specifically designed for selling digital products. You upload the digital products and start selling immediately. This platform is just $9 per month with no additional fees taken our from sales you make which can be a great option for anyone wanting less fees. Get a free trial of SendOwl here.   

    Shopify

    Shopify – One of the most popular platforms to use for selling goods online, Shopify has emerged at the top of many seller’s lists for the ease of use, beautiful designs, set pricing, and powerful backend. It offers everything you need to sell digital or physical products and scale your business too. Most of my Etsy friends have migrated to Shopify (here’s my post on moving from Etsy to Shopify). Get a free trial of Shopify here.

    WooCommerce

    WooCommerce – WooCommerce integrates easily with existing WordPress websites to sell digital downloads. WooCommerce is not specifically for digital downloads but they have made the process super simple for sellers and do not take additional fees from sales. I currently use WooCommerce to sell my digital downloads on my website. Get started with WooCommerce.

    Marketing Digital Products Online

    Once you’ve created your digital downloadable products and have them ready to be sold, you have to market them to get more sales! This is why creating product mockups is so important – it improves your marketing too potential customers.

    People won’t know your products exist without a little effort on your part. While Etsy makes this the simplest (you just need a little SEO to go!), you should still work to promote your items in oder to make sales.

    The following items are what I’ve found work best for promoting digital products to the right audience.

    MailChimp – Email marketing sells more products than anything else and should be at the top of your list when you are planning to create and sell digital products. MailChimp makes it easy and cheap to get started and can scale with your business growth. Try MailChimp for free.

    Convert Kit – Recently Convert Kit has become a leader in email marketing for creators and they’ve upped the game with additional resources for selling digital products within emails. Their commerce tool actually makes it very easy for creators to sell digital products and earn money without having an additional e-commerce website. It’s a great option if you want to market your products but not deal with a separate website. Try Convert Kit for free or a try a free trial of their premiumi

    Grow Your Passive Income With Digital Products

    Digital products are amazing because these are things that you can create once and sell online over and over creating passive income and freedom in your life. This benefits you but it also benefits the end user who gets something they need at a lower price point and quicker. Not everyone has the budget to pay top dollar for custom designed work so digital products have revolutionized how consumers are able to get what they need. It is truly a win win for us all.

    If you have been wanting to sell some type of digital products in order to earn passive income I highly recommend it! I started my Etsy shop to share what I had made for myself during my own budgeting journey. I definitely did not know everything about Etsy and have figured it out along the way while also selling thousands of dollars worth of products.

    If you want to grow on Etsy I recommend my friend Sharon’s Etsy Entrepreneur course where she walks you through the process of setting up an Etsy shop and growing it to make $1,000 a month or more. She grew her Etsy store of digital downloads to more than $1,000 a month and has inspired many people to do the same.

    Regardless of whether you continue to learn on your own or pay for education, I hope you keep going and keep creating products for the world to use and enjoy. You are capable of creating the products that can change your life while also helping others.

  • Online Business

    How To Get Sales on Etsy For New Sellers In 2021

    Do you want to increase your sales on Etsy and get more sales in your Etsy shop? It can seem overwhelming as a new seller on Etsy so in this post I want to share tips on growing on Etsy shop when you are a new seller.

    In 2021 and beyond it can feel impossible to break into a saturated market but it’s possible! (If you haven’t started your shop yet, check out the post about how to start an Etsy shop.)

    In the video above I go over many of the ways you can get more sales or even your first sales on your Etsy shop.

    In 2021 and beyond many people would love to start an Etsy shop for extra income. Unfortunately because it’s a saturated market it can be hard to get a new shop off the ground. These ideas should help get you started so your new shop can grow.

    Tips For Getting Sales On Etsy

    Here are some ideas for getting sales on Etsy, especially as a new seller:

    Pick a niche & stick to it

    On Etsy most shops are very focused around one niche or type of product. You will see successful shops that are full of only funny t-shirts or only printable wall art for example. The best shops are focused on either a certain style, nice or product.

    When you start and try to grow a new shop you should pick a niche and stick to it. If you are planning to open a shop selling SVGs then only sell SVGs in the beginning. It confuses buyers who might find your shop when you are selling 1 or 2 items of many random things.

    Master one thing first

    Similar to the niche concept, master one thing first. You will likely have competing interests and want to copy things that are successful you see others doing. That is human nature. However, to truly have a successful shop you will want to master the one thing you plan to be known for first.

    Does this mean you’ll never get to experiment? Not at all! It means that you will work to establish both your product creation skills and your shop as a a leader. Mastering one thing will allow you to then move on to another to master.

    Be different from others

    Being different from others is key to success on Etsy. Unfortunately I often see people copying others directly or even stealing downloadable products and selling t hem as their own. They may achieve some temporary short term success but in the long run these people never succeed. Why? Because they aren’t different and people won’t remember them.

    In order to stand out and build your shop’s reputation on Etsy you will want to be different from the competition, not a copy. You will want to figure out some way to make your product different and unique. Yes you might sell the same type of item as other shops, but how is your different? Is it a more modern style? Easier to use? You will be inspired by others but instead of copying, find ways to stand out.

    Get sales for social proof

    Sales are social proof. Knowing others bought the product you are selling helps convince buyers to trust you. Etsy does a great job encouraging this by displaying the number of sales and even reviews that shops have. This makes buyers feel more secure when purchasing.

    Your goal in order to get more sales is to build your sales number. Shops that already have a lot of sales in fact tend to get more sales, partly because they are selling a good product and partly because new buyers feel like they can trust someone with thousands of sales.

    Getting your first sales

    Sales, sales, sales. We know it’s important because of social proof but how do you get your first ones? Your first sales will likely come from either being patient (very, very patient) or by getting creative.

    Since sales are social proof you may have to “prime the pump” and have someone you know buy your product first. Or you may want to team up with another new Etsy seller and buy each other’s products. Perhaps your first sale can come from a friend or family member who wants to support you and start you on the path to success. Get creative because often new shops aren’t optimized well enough for SEO and the lack of sales can turn off buyers who do find you.

    Focus on promotion

    Once you’ve got a sale or two you’re ready to scale your shop to get more sales. This will be done by focusing on promotion. If you think people will just know you have a shop and flock to it then you are wrong. It’s easy for people to not know you even have a shop even if you feel like you talk about it all the time.

    Ideas for promoting your shop and products:

    • Create a YouTube channel showing off your products
    • Write tutorials on your blog about the item
    • Create a Pinterest account and use Tailwind to pin and promote
    • Share on your personal social media accounts
    • Share on your business/shop social media accounts

    Remember that you’ll have to continually promote your work and often people will need to see it multiple times before buying.

    Use Etsy’s marketing tools

    Etsy has a number of great marketing tools built into their system. It is in your benefit to not only take advantage of their analytics but also these awesome marketing tools.

    Within Etsy you can do things like set up marketing emails to reach out to someone who has an item in their cart to give them a coupon code. You can run sales and offer incentives that encourage people to buy. These are so useful! The two examples I just gave have driven many sales within my own shop.

    Keep learning how to grow your shop

    The most important part of getting more sales to your Etsy shop is to keep learning and growing. Etsy changes regularly and in order to grow you’ll have to keep learning and growing yourself.

    It’s very easy for new shops to give up. I’ve seen hundreds of people start and quit before they even had a chance to succeed. The ones whoo eventually end up succeeding are usually the ones who simply won’t give up. They might not succeed on the first try but they learn from it and adjust in order to grow.

    These are all tips to start your shop off and get it growing so it can eventually grow and become something you can even live off of financially.

    What I Wish I Knew Before Starting An Etsy Shop

    There are many things I wish I knew about being on Etsy before I started which is why I shared the post and video: What I Wish I Knew Before Starting An Etsy Shop.

    This post may be helpful for you as a new Etsy seller so I’ll share a few of those things below about what I wish I knew:

    • SEO is very important for Etsy success
    • Your effort level determines your success
    • Promotion is very important to your success
    • It is just as easy to sell expensive items
    • Etsy controls your shop and you have to work with that
    • Etsy will take fees from your profit so price accordingly

    Knowing these things before you start is critical for your success as you start and as you grow.

    Opening An Successful Etsy Shop

    Those are a few of the things I wish I had know before starting my Etsy shop in 2019. However, despite the good and bad, Etsy has been an incredible addition to my online business! It’s been a great way to get started with selling products and interacting with customers in the marketplace.

    If you are interested in opening your own Etsy shop, I’ve shared instructions in the video below.

    You can use this link to get 40 free listings on Etsy when you start your shop. When you open a new shop Etsy recommends starting with at least 10 listings but I have started both of my shops with 1 item.

    Tips I’d recommend for building a successful Etsy shop from the beginning:

    • have a strong niche where your products are very focused on either one niched area or style
    • create a strong brand story and share that in your shop and listings
    • continue your brand elements throughout the shop via colors and fonts
    • share photos that clearly show your items and how they can be used
    • make your descriptions clear and very descriptive – the more the better when you are explaining what comes with your item and how it can improve someone’s life
    • clearly articulate your shop’s policies if you don’t offer refunds or have specific policies that a buyer needs to share
    • build your shop with more listings to bring in new buyers and more traffic
    • make sure you promote your listings both on Etsy with seo and ads and off Etsy with social media

    Those are a few of my best tips and I hope your new Etsy shop thrives!

  • Online Business

    No Face Video Ideas For Making Money On YouTube

    Making money on YouTube without showing your face is definitely possible in 2021! In this video I’m sharing video ideas and EXAMPLES of money making YouTube video ideas that don’t show your face 2021 for your YouTube channel!

    If you’ve been waiting to start a YouTube channel because you were worried you have to be an on camera personality then this video is for you!

    These video ideas that don’t show your face are great options for those wanting to start on YouTube without showing their face or being public on the platform. Some of these video ideas don’t even require your voice if you prefer to create content completely detached from yourself.

    Here are the 6 video ideas covered in the video that you can make for YouTube without showing your face.

    How To Videos

    YouTube is first and foremost a search engine. It’s the second most widely used search engine after Google. People use it every day to search how to do something.

    This means how to videos are very popular and serve a huge audience who is constantly searching for them. You can make how to videos on a number of different topics without showing your face.

    My favorite and most successful in this category is software how to videos. These are where I show someone how to use a certain program to achieve an outcome. These videos usually walk someone through a process of doing something.

    How to videos are definitely saturated on YouTube for most topics. You can look for underserved markets where how to questions are not answered and make videos for those people to achieve long term success.

    Tutorial Videos

    Tutorial videos are similar to how to videos because they are teaching your audience something. They are very commonly search focused because people search for tutorials on how to make or do a certain task.

    Tutorials often walk someone through the steps of a project or task one by one. My favorite in this type of video are craft tutorials since that’s what I make and like to watch. These craft tutorial videos can teach someone what they need and how to create a project from start to finish.

    Slideshow Videos

    Slideshow videos are incredibly easy to create. They are at the very basic level just a slideshow. You can create the slideshow and then overlay either your voice reading or just music to create a vibe.

    Slideshows by definition are about the content of the slides. This means they are a great type of video to make if you don’t want to show your face. I love making slideshows of photos combined with music around a certain topic or niche.

    Compilation Videos

    Compilation style videos come in many forms but they are simply adding up multiple clips into one bigger video. These videos have made certain channels huge on YouTube and there are whole business models around compilation videos that use user generated content. A few examples include fail video compilations or funny pet video compilations.

    You can make compilation videos featuring other people’s content or your own content if you have it. Either way you can create videos without your face that are likely to get massive views.

    Unboxing Videos

    This style of video is another good option for anyone not showing their face on YouTube. Unboxing videos focus on the item being unboxed so naturally a face is not necessary. You can create a great unboxing video with just your hands.

    The only downside here is that you may run out of things to unbox if this is your only type of content. It’s likely that unboxing videos would be one of multiple types of videos you would want to try making without showing your face.

    Haul Videos

    Haul videos tend to revolve around personality centered channels but they can also be done without showing your face. The key on these haul videos is to focus on the products in the haul.

    The most successful haul videos without someone’s face will be very niche specific and focused instead of broad. You’ll want to share lots of detail about the products and good close ups of the items. Since it’s less about you and more about the items the focus will be on them, allowing you to not have to show your face on camera.

    No Face Video Ideas

    You can do all of these YouTube video ideas on your own and the examples I’ve included show you others who are making videos without ever showing their face.

    This list of no face video ideas is not comprehensive but I will be creating a much longer list of ideas so subscribe for more!

    Can you make money on YouTube without showing your face?

    If you’re considering starting a channel and want it to be profitable then you probably are wondering if you can in face make money without ever showing your face. The answer is yes!

    In fact, the channel I started to make videos without showing my face actually now makes more money than my first “primary” channel. Below is a screenshot of my earnings for my faceless videos last month. I made over $1,800 from videos on YouTube without ever showing my face in them!

    That is a significant amount of money to earn just from ads without ever showing your face. And that is not even counting affiliate marketing income or sponsored videos on this channel!

    The type of video you make and the ability to connect with or educate your audience matters more than if you are on camera. You make money on YouTube by providing content that helps people in one way or another and having your face in the video is not necessary to accomplish that goal.

    Be careful though – YouTube is not quick money. It often takes months or even years of hard work in order to get to a place where the income is sustainable and enough to replace a creator’s full-time job.

    In fact, making money on YouTube is hard. It’s hard work. It’s hard to compete. It’s hard to constantly be creative. And if you are new it’s hard to even get monetized and make ad revenue. In order to be part of the YouTube partner program and earn money from advertising you have to hit a number of requirements.

    Before you can make any money from ads you have to first:

    • Have more than 1,000 subscribers
    • Have more than 4,000 watch hours in the last 12 months

    Those are hefty requirements that usually take new creators a while t achieve. This keeps the platform in better conditions for advertisers and viewers alike so it’s a great requirement even if it is a higher hurdle for most new creators.

    All this means is that when you start making videos for YouTube you need to be realistic about the amount of money that you may be able to make. At first you won’t make anything and this phase can last a long time. You might be creating content and not earning anything for months or years. I made videos for at least 6 months without earning a dime. It’s important to remember that YouTube is a long game for income.

    Growing Your YouTube Channel

    If you want to make more money from your small Youtube channel then the best way to do it is to grow your channel. The more people that find you the more money you will make.

    I’ve written a few times about the ways I’ve grown my channels on YouTube. Here are a few of those tips:

    • Use YouTube growth tools like TubeBuddy
    • Learn about and implement SEO
    • Build a community around your channel
    • Make quality content with good videos
    • Provide unique value in your videos
    • Experiment with ideas on your channel
    • Find ways to be more efficient in your processes
    • Keep growing and learning because YouTube changes!

    You can read more in my post How To Grow A YouTube Channel.

  • Personal Finance

    How To Raise Your Credit Score With Credit Card Use

    I’ve gone through the process of improving my credit score and I’ve also helped my husband and several friends do the same. Working on your credit to reach an 800 credit score can be both frustrating and very rewarding.

    Figuring out what works to raise your credit score takes a bit of effort, reliable resources, and time. The things you need to do to increase your credit score to 800 are well documented and anyone can do it. In this video and blog post I’ll share what I’ve learned about raising my credit score to 800 and how I used credit cards to do it.

    Learn About Credit Scores

    You are probably starting off with a bad or non-existent credit score so the world of credit seems mysterious and unknown. Luckily while the exact formula is not public information, the general knowledge of how to increase your credit score is well know.

    Learning about credit scores and how credit works will help you raise your score on your own or find the right person to help you do it. If you’re new then reading up about how to improve credit is a great place to start. I’ve share multiple posts about credit scores that can help get you start:

    There are no real secrets to credit repair and anyone can do it with a bit of self-education. Most of the things that increase your credit score are actually just solid financial principles likes paying down old debts and not spending more on credit than you can afford to pay.

    Figure Out Your Why

    Credit scores and even the use of credit can be controversial in the personal finance world. Some people are for it, some are against it, and others like me accept it as part of our current system as a tool we can use to better our life.

    Credit scores are important to regular people living their lives for a number of reasons from buying a car to purchasing a home to even getting better rates on insurance. There are a number of reasons in life why you might want a good credit score and thinking about your own personal reasons will help you during this process.

    For example, knowing you need to increase your credit score to finally purchase a home of your own is much more motivating than just the general idea of having good credit.

    In this step you can also decide if you really want to pursue a good credit score or not. Most of the things you can accomplish with good credit can also be done with no credit at all as well. However, you need to pick one route or another because ending up in the middle without a plan leaves people with bad credit that hurts more. You need to think about why you want good credit and then either commit to having the best credit possible or no credit score at all. Either option is valid but you need t commit to what is best for your situation.

    Open New Credit Strategically

    Opening new credit can boost your credit score if it’s done in the right way. You need to have a strategic plan for opening new credit so that doing so helps you and raises your credit score instead of pushing you in the wrong direction.

    Building your credit by opening multiple new lines can actually hurt you if you do it all at once. Instead of running out and opening multiple new credit cards at once, you’ll want to do one now and wait a few months until making your next move.

    Opening credit for the first time can be done by getting a commonly offered card or even getting a secured card if you can’t get approved for another. A secured card is where you put down a deposit in order to have a credit line equal to the amount of the deposit. This protects the credit lender and allows you to build a history with credit.

    Because you won’t be opening all your new credit lines right away you’ll have to accept a longer term perspective for increasing your credit score to 800. It won’t happen overnight and depending on your starting point it could even take a couple years. This is where having a reason why and having a purpose will keep you on track.

    Using Credit Cards Wisely

    How much credit you are currently using will affect your credit score. If you are only using a small percentage of the credit you could be using then your score will be higher.

    Having a good credit score doesn’t mean you need overwhelming amounts of debt. In fact, having large debt balances usually hurts your credit score because of the credit utilization factor. You never, ever want to max out your credit cards because doing so will hurt you and your credit score.

    Your credit utilization is the balance of your debt compared to the available credit you have access to. This contributes 30% to FICO score’s calculation which means it is something you need to work on asap. 

    The goal here is to pay off debt while still keeping your credit limits high. This lowers the amount of credit you are using compared to the amount you could actually use. 

    Keeping your credit utilization low will involve several things:

    • Paying down existing balances – Keeping your debt levels on credit cards lower will help you keep your credit score high. If you have high existing balances your first move will be to pay those down.
    • Use your cards with bills not spending – Personally I recommend most people don’t use credit cards for day to day spending because it usually gets out of control and leads to debt. The best way to do it is just charge a bill or two to your card so it’s active and being used but not hitting 30% use (I find 10% or less to be effective).
    • Increase credit card limits – Another way to help utilization is to increase the amount of credit you have access to that you are not actually using. A great way to do this is to increase your credit card limit by asking the company to raise it.
    • Pay your bill on time once it’s been reported to the credit bureaus – Every lender reports their existing balances to the credit bureaus at different times. This is a critical thing for you to know because you want to make sure you pay your bill before it’s overdue but after it’s been reported so it will help you credit score. While it’s normally around the statement date, the best way to find this date for each card and lender is to ask them directly.
    • Never max out your cards – This has been mentioned throughout the post but you do not want to max our your cards when trying to increase your credit score. This will just hurt your score.

    Apply for New Credit As Needed

    Having multiple accounts open for long periods of time can help your credit score but that doesn’t mean more is better.

    You don’t need to open 25 different accounts to get a good credit score. In fact I have less than 10 and have an excellent credit score.

    Be selective in the credit lines that you open. Don’t max yourself out with too many new open lines of credit. It will drop your credit score temporarily and it could potentially put you in a precarious situation.

    If you are in a credit building stage, then you should work on opening new cards strategically over time but never all at once. Wait 6 months or more between opening new credit lines.

    Don’t Obsess Over The Score Daily

    It might be tempting to pay someone to help improve your credit score quickly, but be cautious of these services. Many are not helpful but take your money for something you can do yourself.

    You can improve your credit score over time by following common sense credit guidelines and getting on a budget.

    The less you obsess about your credit score the better off you will be.  Ultimately a credit score isn’t the most important thing in your financial life and there are ways to operate around a bad credit score or no credit score at all.

    If you are planning to use credit less and don’t need it for a future mortgage or car loan or new job then your credit score will be less important.

    Remember that even if you are planning to use credit in the future, you can work with what you already have, pay things on time, use credit responsibly, and build your credit score from there.