30 Experts Reveal How to Make Money Online during Lockdown

My number one tip for making money online during the pandemic is being considerate and patient with your customers. Cater to them with things like discount codes, customer appreciation gifts added onto an order, or even a voucher to use for their next order. I recommend this because once COVID-19 is a thing of the past, they will remember the businesses that helped them or that gave back to their customers and the community. That is how you develop a loyal and returning customer. 

-Sharon Mills, Lead Publicist at BySBM

I’ve been making money online for 4 years now. Mostly through freelancing which is the easiest way for anyone to earn money online. It’s not a get rich quick scheme and is easy to try during this coronavirus lockdown. I recently wrote a LinkedIn article showing all of the freelancing websites and things that you can do to earn money. 

-Rein Bautista, Remote Project Manager (Freelance), Owner of Pitch & Press

Empathy sells. Connecting with your clients in a very personal, authentic way has never been more essential. People are craving connection, support, and humanity. Now is the time to be generous, to offer value to your customer base. Doing this while still building your business is essential. 

Offer a free event that adds value to them. Use this event as an opportunity to offer your services. Make sure your services are aligned with your clients’ needs today. Offer payment plans. Address their immediate needs and price out a custom package for them. 

–Holly Jean Jackson, Success Coach, Business Consultant, Speaker, Holly Jean Jackson LLC

I would like to say that by understanding exactly who your niche is, you are going to more likely weather out the storm. People who panic and try to broaden their audience now in a crisis time (which I accept is quite understandable) will not achieve the desired effect. 

Better that you niche down, and really focus on attracting your target. Provide solid and sound content and work hard on maintaining good relationships with those you can truly serve. 

-Andrew Taylor, Director, Net Lawman

Connect with your customers. At a time when everyone is isolated and some feel lonely, there’s no better time to reach out and offer a friendly voice. You’re not calling to sell, but the investment in your relationship now, will pay dividends.

–George Hammerton, Director, Hammerton Barbados 

Right now is the best time to develop a trusted relationship with customers and potential customers. This means write emails to them that sound like you’re a human being, not an autobot. Reply back to their emails with sincere, enthusiastic (or at least empathic) replies.

Engage with them at multiple levels–social, email, phone, zoom. People will remember how you treat them and will vote with their hearts and wallets accordingly.

–Reese Spykerman, Owner & Designer, Design By Reese 

Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. Anonymity is a major sales-blocker online today as buyers around the world are wondering if they can trust you or not. Therefore, strategically place pictures and videos of yourself all over your online business. This will make people know you are a real, living, breathing human being with a story you want to tell. 

People are feeling alone and isolated, especially with COVID-19. They are scared and feeling wholly let down by society. They want to feel like they can trust you, and the quickest way for that to happen is for you to be open and honest about your appearance. You don’t need to look good or spiffy. You just need to be YOU. 

-Alex Fasulo, Copywriting Business Owner and Serial Entrepreneur, Fiverr

Offer an easy way to get in touch and jump on a call. We see businesses of all kinds that have an online form on their website. They send many emails back and forth with potential leads until they then, finally, send an online meeting invite (for which the client has to oftentimes download a software or plug in).

You have to make every touchpoint of your client’s user experience seamless. Our recommendation is to use a scheduling tool right on your website. One that converts website visitors immediately into a meeting, without the back and forth, and ideally connect this with a video tool. 

-Susanne Klepsch, CEO & Co-Founder, MeetFox  

If there is one light in the world as COVID-19 spreads, it’s that people now more than ever are willing to help others out. People truly want to help others. No matter your methods for making money online, this is the best time to promote your projects or business as it will be well received by others.

Take advantage of social media platforms to expand your reach. Note your struggles and successes for others to see and hopefully promote. 

–Forrest McCall, Owner, Blogger, Marketer, Dont Work Another Day 

If you’re serious about making money online during the current worldwide Covid-19 lockdown, start a blog. Blogging is one of the easiest and most sustainable income sources. As long as the blog is setup the right way, in the right niche, with the right content targeted at the right audience, and the offer is complementary to the content, you could make a tremendous amount of passive income from a blog. 

While some might think that starting a blog is an arduous effort, when you understand the precise steps you need to take, it becomes far easier. It all starts in the decision of choosing a profitable niche and picking the right domain name. From there, you need to build your offers. You can easily sell things like mini-email courses, online trainings and ebooks. 

–Gerald Mumpuku, Founder, Shrewd Studio

My number one tip for making money online during the pandemic is writing about bread and butter (evergreen) topics. Write informative articles with resources on how people can solve basic issues in their lives. Issues like, how to make money during the pandemic, how to save money and how to deal with debts during the pandemic. 

Help people solve bread and butter or financial survival issues with your own tips, ideas and personal experiences.

-Sylvia Cruz, Owner, Savvy Money Making

Having a following for our blog has allowed us to give customers great advice and information. We have also been able to get great deals and business from it. Anyone can start a blog if they have the passion, skills and know how.

Our blog and YouTube channel have enabled us to give our customers engaging content, even when the world is changing around us. Create something unique, and sell yourself and your company. Customers really like that personal touch, so let them get to know you better.

– Ethan Taub, CEO Goalry

Think critically about what you are currently paying for, and the things you need but you’re not paying for. Then, figure out how you can offer the products or services that you are either paying for or which you would like to be paying for, to other people.

Using yourself as the litmus test is a great way to gauge areas where there would be demand in any market. You could extend your small test in a low cost way to your immediate friends and family to see if there is any interest. If there is, you can then expand your market even further. 

-Stacy Caprio, Founder, Growth Marketing 

If you want to make money online during the COVID-19 lockdown, solve a relevant problem. Because that’s the one thing that hasn’t changed. Not only are all businesses (including online businesses) still established to solve problems, but more problems than ever are in need of being solved.

If you want to make money online and start a business, now is actually a great time to do so. Opportunities are available and, especially online, more opportunities are available than ever before. Now is the moment to get online and be a relevant solution. 

-Lacey Sites, Business Mentor and Success Coach, A Lit Up Life 

As an online virtual therapist and coach, my number one tip to making money online is very simple. Be entertaining. Whatever you are selling – An online class, a membership, coaching sessions, even workout videos. You need to be funny and entertaining.

People like stories and if you let them into your world, you have their attention. One way I garner attention and become entertaining is my tagline of ‘just do squats’. I have my clients doing it, my student’s etc. What can you do to stand out from your competition and tell a story that your listeners will love? 

–Dr. Cali Estes, CEO, The Addictions Coach and The Addictions Academy 

The quickest way to start making money online without too much effort to find business, is to join a freelancing platform and begin offering services based on the skills you already have. Skills such as consulting, copywriting, graphic design, social media management, voice over work, managing facebook ads, etc. For instance, I sell my services on Fiverr, UpWork and Clarity and I literally wake up to paid work that I can do online, from anywhere. 

-Sam Laliberte, Founder, Freedom Lifestyle  

Make some extra money with your skills and hobbies. I’m always looking for new revenue streams, and the coronavirus has provided a pretty unique opportunity to pick up some extra work. In the past I’ve actually used Fiverr to bring in some extra income, and I’ll be refreshing my listings to do so again.

People tend to pass over Fiverr because many believe you can still only offer work for $5, which is rarely worth anyone’s time. But you can actually set whatever price you like and add different tiers for the service as well as add-ons. 

-Dan Bailey, President, WikiLawn

Don’t feel like you need to shoot for the moon and start the next Google. Focus on the skills you have, and look for a way to turn those skills into a few bucks. The gig economy online allows for plenty of unique opportunities to turn hobbies into cash. 

-Jason Lee, CEO, Freelance Master Course 

Focus on content marketing, especially if you’re in the SaaS industry. It’s a trying time for everyone, and people are cutting non-essential spending. The best we can do is help them better understand how they can get the most out of a service, how it can benefit them through content marketing.

Enable people to do side-hustles, improve themselves, learn something new with quality content, show that you care, and have a good product at your back. I’d consider that ethical and have seen plenty of success with it for our business. 

-Domantas Gudeliauskas, Marketing Manager, Zyro 

My number 1 tip for making money online during the current lockdown is to take advantage of affiliate opportunities on your website. Right now, there is a giant surge of search activity and curiosity on the internet because people are locked down.

Many businesses who have online clientele are thriving. And most of those businesses offer affiliate commissions for referral traffic. Find the best affiliate programs that are related to your audience. The more related the affiliate offering is to your site’s audience, the better your conversions and revenue. 

-Susan Gonzales, Founder, Node Marketing

Whether you realize it or not, there’s a good chance that you’re an expert at something. There’s a hobby, topic, or niche that you know a little more about than the next guy. Find some (free to join) affiliate programs around this niche and create a YouTube channel with the goal of educating people on this topic. For example, if you’re really into juicing, you can make YouTube videos with juicing tips and recipes.

You can monetize these videos with links to your recommended juicers, blenders, or recipe books in the video description. If you’re more comfortable behind the camera, you can start a free blog on Medium.com and begin creating content today. 

–Ilir Salihi, Head of Content, FreedomRep 

What are you the go-to person for in your circle of friends? In other words, what are you naturally gifted at? What is a learned skill that can solve an existing problem for others right now? You can create a series of tutorials using free software like Zoom or Loom.

You can host the videos in a Facebook group, and sell a mini-course through PayPal. People are spending more time at home and on screens than ever, and many are investing in e-learning during this downtime. 

-Ellen Yin, CEO, Ellen Yin Media LLC 

I actually have two tips that involve three suggestions. If you want to make money instantly constantly, go for something like online tutoring. Many kids these days are likely on a home schooling set-up, and an online tutor could be a big help. 

You could also write an e-book or create YouTube content. But it will take some time before you reap the fruits of your labor. On the flip side, it can help enhance your creativity, which you can work on while on quarantine. 

Jack Wang, CEO, Amazing Beauty Hair

My tip to make money during this crisis to increase your online advertising as soon as possible. When everyone “zigs,” you “zag” and this is the time to go on the offensive. In an effort to save costs, most companies have paused their online advertising. This move by other companies is driving ad prices down on Google and social networks like Facebook and Instagram. So you have the opportunity to get in at a low price.

–Jason Davis, CEO, Inspire360

If you’re an expert in your field, consider starting an online course! While it may take some time to film and edit your online course, you’ll never have more time than you do right now! Once you have your video assets, you can use a platform like Teachable or Thinkific to easily upload your videos, format them into lessons, and begin marketing and selling your course! 

You can sell your course for anywhere from $30 – $100 or more depending on the amount of content and your level of expertise. Don’t forget to consider the cost of the course software, which can run anywhere from $20 – $50 per month on average. 

-Meg Marrs, Founder, Safer Senior Care  

Many businesses are now faced with the challenge of how they can keep revenues flowing despite the COVID-19 lockdowns. Here is my tip on how to get past this challenge and make money online. Sell your specialization. Consumers now take to the internet for their necessities and services. Find out which of these are in high demand and identify which of your skills meet them. You can start selling your skills to potential customers once you find your niche. 

Here is an example. The demand for data protection is high because several companies have shifted to remote work and are looking for ways to protect their employees’ information online. It is a huge chance for our company to pitch our internet privacy services and gain new clients. 

–John Stevenson, Founder/CEO, Top VPN Canada

Anyone looking to make money online should explore the possibility of starting a print on demand business. The reason a print on demand business is so attractive right now is that you can sell products online without having a single item in inventory. Instead, you list products for sale on your website or on a marketplace like Amazon, Etsy or eBay. And you don’t actually create the product until somebody has purchased one. 

Once an item is purchased, your order can be automatically sent to a print on demand provider that prints your design onto the selected product and ships it out to your customer on your behalf. 

You can sell t-shirts, coffee mugs, shower curtains, throw pillows, wall art and dozens of other items. I recommend starting out in a very narrow niche (for example cat designs printed on socks), and then growing and scaling your listings into different categories as you see success. 

–Justin Blase, Owner, TedsVintageArt.com

This is the prime time online entrepreneurs have been dreaming of: almost every person on earth in front of their computer for multiple hours per day. It’s not time to settle back and relax. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime to make a lot of money online. At least that’s how we see it. Frankly, there’s just no other way to see it!

We’ve retargeted our entire list of customers, leveraging the powerful #stayhome message as a marketing tool. People recognize they’re confined to their homes for extended periods of time and appreciate the gesture of a company that understands their reality. This has worked extremely well for us! Our numbers have shot up 400% since the start of the marketing campaign.

-Jay Smith, President, Web Wizard Media 

During a lockdown, like the one we’re experiencing with Covid-19, consumer behavior changes. For example, before the lockdown people would spend on future plans. Now, they’re focused on the present and what they need in the current moment. Before, they would buy things that may not be absolute necessities, but now people are focused on the things they really need. For businesses and entrepreneurs, it’s important to identify how these changes in behavior impact what we sell and how we should communicate with customers.

So my top tip for ecommerce businesses is to keep investing in ads as long as they’re profitable. If you can spend money to make more money right now, do it. Acquiring customers and building up cash reserves right now is critical and will pay off when the crisis is over. 

For other types of businesses who typically sell courses, subscriptions, or projects with long timelines, it’s time to change your sales message so it focuses less on the long term impact your product can provide, and more on the immediate value. While this could mean a smaller sale than what you’re typically used to, once the crisis is over you’ll always have the opportunity to upsell to these customers. 

–Raphael Paulin-Daigle, Founder, SplitBase 

Contact every single past customer you’ve had with a 15 minute check-in call without any intention of selling to them. Just call them. Ask about their health, family and how they are. Then, follow up in two weeks and keep following up every two weeks. Do Not Sell. Just listen and offer to help them if your company provides what they need.

Refer folks and businesses to them that they need. If the services they need don’t fall within your company’s bandwidth, then connect them with people and organizations that you know and trust. This may sound super basic, but it works and money will flow to you! I used this technique during the 1996, 2007 and 2014 market adjustments.  

– Janine Bolon, Financial First-Responder, The8Gates, llc