10 Best High-Income Online Side Hustles in 2024

Online side hustles promise something everyone dreams of getting paid to do what you love from anywhere, anytime. You may worry that the online marketplace is already saturated and that there are enough professionals in any niche you can think of. 

The truth—and the good news—is that many opportunities are opening in the online world every day. New businesses are starting, more clients are outsourcing their jobs, and the demand for new content to generate and convert new leads will only get higher. 

That means there are many avenues to pitch your services to an audience whose pain points can be resolved by the skills and expertise you have. This article explores the top-grossing side hustles that remain very relevant.

Social Media Management

Every business or organization uses social media to convert new customers or maintain a firm grip on existing ones. Social media marketing offers choices: casting your net wide or targeting specific customers. 

Well-established businesses have teams dedicated to social media marketing. Smaller businesses might struggle to create a meaningful presence across major social media platforms. 

This is where you come in. You can lend your social media management skills to needy businesses if your schedule allows. You can offer your services to multiple businesses simultaneously. 

As a social media marketing assistant, you will learn about your client’s target customers to post relevant content. Other duties include:

• Ensuring your client’s brand profile stays attractive and inviting.
• Engaging with your client’s audience by responding to comments, shares, and likes, and monitoring your client’s reputation.
• Spying on your client’s competitors to learn about their successes and failures and implementing such insights into your efforts.
• Creating a content delivery strategy.
• Tracking performance and metrics like engagement (shares, likes, comments) and impressions.

An excellent social media marketer must have a lot of free time to respond quickly to client interactions. Delays can hurt a client’s brand reputation. 

You should also know how to optimize content for different social media platforms, as each algorithm favors particular content formats.

Blogging

Blogging involves writing and posting content on your site—called a blog. The content is generally informational and can range from articles to videos to podcasts. Whatever the format, it centers on a particular area of interest. 

Blogging is a great way to make money online because you share knowledge and ideas around a topic that you are good at or excites you. 

Ensure that your chosen niche is something that interests a lot of people. In digital marketing lingo, choose a niche with high search volume. 

There are several ways to make money via a blog. Many of these require time to unlock as your blog gains traction. Factors like your niche affect the amount of traffic to your blog and the quality of that traffic. Here are ways blogs make money:

Ads: Displaying ads on your site is a quick way to start monetizing your blog, especially with a good ad network. Exercise caution with ads, as too many can harm user experience.

Selling a product via your blog: If you have a product to sell, a blog is a good way to build an audience interested in your product.

Affiliate marketing: Sign up for an affiliate program and promote their products via your blog with your affiliate link. You get paid a certain percentage once a sale is made.

Starting a blog does not cost nearly as much as you might fear. The most important costs are domain registration and web hosting. With a little over $20, you can launch a fully functional blog using a free website builder like WordPress.

Vlogging

Vlogging is the video counterpart of blogging. Instead of creating and posting text-based posts on a blog, you create informative or entertaining videos uploaded on platforms like YouTube. 

The idea is similar to blogging in almost every aspect. You select a niche that:

You are passionate about.

Has a large potential audience base.

You can dedicate enough time to it.

YouTube has become a global video-on-demand marketplace with hundreds of millions of content creators. According to recent estimates, YouTube has about 2.5 billion monthly active users. 

People watch over 1 billion hours of video daily, with the average individual spending almost an hour on the YouTube app. YouTube is now the second most effective platform for B2B content marketing after LinkedIn.

YouTube content creators insert ads in their videos, and the revenue goes 55% to you and 45% to YouTube. To get started, join YouTube’s creator partner program, requiring a minimum of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours.

YouTube videos turn into real money magnets when your channel accumulates a large audience following. 

Brands will start paying you to create promotional videos. Beyond ads and sponsored videos, the best way to make money from YouTube is to build a brand. 

Focus on delivering high-quality content, investing in your craft, and exploring other income streams like brand deals, consulting, and courses.

Notion Templates

Notion is a productivity and note-taking platform with many features to organize anything. From templates to project tracking to bookmarks, Notion has it all. 

People pay for help organizing various aspects of their life, and Notion templates can provide clear plans to achieve their goals.

Check out the story of an Etsy store selling templates for money budgeting, weight loss, meal planning, and more. 

They started in 2022 and have since made millions selling templates alone. Their bestselling template, Monthly Budget Spreadsheet, has made over 8,600 sales.

Find something you are good at and passionate about, and build a product around it that solves real needs. You can sell your templates on marketplaces like Gumroad, Etsy, or Notion’s marketplace. 

Notion’s marketplace gets over 2 million visits weekly, increasing your chances of getting discovered by buyers.

Ebooks

Ebooks remain popular due to the convenience of access, reading, storage, and portability. Ebooks are also excellent tools for lead generation as businesses rank them with video content as premium choices for lead magnets. Creating and selling ebooks can build trust in you as a subject expert.

Creating an ebook involves:

• Identifying your target audience.
• Researching your topic.
• Creating an outline.
• Writing, editing, and formatting.
• Publishing.

Ebooks allow you to deliver comprehensive information on a subject in a hierarchical order. For more information on creating and publishing ebooks, check out resources from Hubspot or Tara McMullin.

Freelancing

Freelancing allows you to offer services remotely. Your client could be a business, company, or individual. 

Freelancing offers flexibility, control over your schedule, and the potential to make more income than traditional office work. You can make money off any skill you possess and get better in the process.

Freelancing is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It might take months of patient dedication and hard work before getting your first client. Until then, your present job might sustain you for the long haul.

Popular freelancing platforms include Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.com. Enrolling in a course or reading free resources can help you avoid pitfalls and learn the ropes faster. 

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing involves directing people to a merchant’s product and earning a commission when a sale is made. It is a business model used by large e-commerce setups like Amazon, eBay, and Airbnb. 

Blogs often use affiliate marketing by promoting products and earning a commission from sales.

To get started, choose a niche and find an affiliate program. Avoid broad niches like “health and fitness” or “technology.” Instead, go for something specific like “diet plans for weight loss” or “smartphones.” 

Find suitable affiliate programs by searching for “your niche+affiliate program” or joining an affiliate network like ClickBank.

Create reviews around products in your niche, either as articles or videos, and include your affiliate links. Use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest to find quality keywords with high search volumes.

Stock Photos and Videos

If you love taking pictures and shooting videos, you might consider stock photography. However, stock photography marketplaces are saturated, making it difficult to stand out. 

Rather than competing with established professionals, consider starting a blog to share your photography or videography insights. 

Build a loyal audience base, pitch your courses or online tutorials, or offer your photography services as a freelancer.

Virtual Assistant (VA) Services

A virtual assistant (VA) gets paid to carry out tasks for a business remotely. These tasks might be administrative (scheduling appointments, managing email accounts) or content-based (product reviews, blog post writing). VAs might also manage social media accounts or handle e-commerce tasks.

VAs are in high demand as businesses prefer to outsource tasks to maximize productivity. To be a VA, you need a range of computer skills, software fluency, and business programs. You can level up by taking online courses in relevant skills. 

Udemy is a great place for such courses. For expert insights, check out Gina’s Fully Booked VA course.

Proofreading

Proofreading involves detecting and correcting grammar errors in a write-up. It requires good listening skills for tasks like transcribing videos and podcasts into text. 

Proofreading has many income streams, including freelancing on platforms like Upwork and Fiverr, working remotely for transcription companies, or creating and selling online courses.

Proofreading is in high demand due to the tons of content businesses produce for advertising and marketing. One grammatical flaw can impact audience reception. 

Proofreaders like Caitlyn Pyle have built successful careers. Her Proofread Anywhere course teaches proofreading skills and how to pitch your services and set up a proofreading business.

Pair your grammar knowledge with expertise in a specific niche to appeal to businesses needing specialized proofreading.

You should check out the Proofread Anywhere Free Training to get you started.

Wrapping Up

Finding the right side hustle skill involves discovering what you are already good at and finding the right channel to showcase your talent. 

With enough time and dedication, many side hustles eventually become a full source of income. Yours might just be around the corner. Happy hunting!