Our web shop and spaces in local antique centres are perhaps the most obvious sources of revenue for our vintage business. However, we also earn part of our livelihood from other online sources. Some methods run into the thousands of pounds per year and others are simply a bit of ‘pin money’. Here’s a run down of the ways in which we boost our income.
Sponsored posts
Sponsored posts are where we make most of our income outside of our vintage shop sales. It’s something that has taken us many years to build up into a viable stand-alone income. We’ve been blogging for a decade, we’ve built up traffic, a following and a reputation in our field and are now able to monetise in certain ways.
Most of the sponsored blog posts we do these days are repeat transactions via long-term relationships with freelance writers and SEO companies. Sometimes though, we seek out opportunities on the ever-increasing number of sites that link up advertisers with bloggers.
Places from which we’ve received sponsored post opportunities include:
Sponsored posts usually take the form of blog posts but they can also be posts via social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. If you’re less of a blogger but post frequently on Instagram, Twitter and/or YouTube and have a large following, these are a few of the places where you can sign up for sponsored social media campaigns:
Affiliate schemes
There are lots and lots of these schemes available out there. Some that we’re signed up to have been more successful than others. The user dashboard interface on some are much quicker and easier to navigate than others. This can make a lot of difference to the amount of time it take you to register, build links, input and run performance reports.
We have most success with Skimlinks as they have perhaps the largest range of merchants in the categories about which we write e.g. interiors and food. They also cover many of the merchants found on some of the other schemes.
Bear in mind, payment thresholds vary widely from scheme to scheme. Currently, Skimlinks pays out once your earnings reach £7 / $10 / €8. Whereas with the eBay Partner Network the figure is $25, Affiliate Window is £20 and Rakuten Linkshare £50.
You just need to try them all out to see which one works best for you.
- Affiliate Future
- Affiliate Window
- Chicory
- CJ Affiliate
- eBay Partner Network
- Rakuten Linkshare
- Performance Horizon
- Shareasale
- Skimlinks
- Tradedoubler
- VigLink
- Webgains
Advertising
We get quite a few visitors to our blog who are into décor, gardens, food etc so sometimes we get asked by companies within those niches to host banner ads on our home page in the sidebar.
We also host ads placed via third parties either in our sidebar, within or at the bottom of blog posts or in our comments section. Usually what you do is register via their website, specify the type of content and the size of ads you’re willing to carry, insert some code into your blog template and presto – ads appear! The more traffic your blog receives – and the more people click on the ads – the more revenue you make. Here are the ones with whom we’re signed up.
Surveys
Surveys are just a bit of fun in the evenings when I have one eye on the television. I tend to prefer lots of short surveys or single questions over ones that take 20-30 minutes – but that’s just my personal choice. Again, payment thresholds vary; Opinion Outpost is £2.50, Prolific is £5, Viewsbank is £12.
Smartphone/tablet apps
I’ve downloaded a few to my iPhone which allow you to scan receipts from select high street shops and supermarkets. Depending on the app, you’re given money off, free (usually food or drink) items or entries to win cash prizes. We don’t ever buy anything that we wouldn’t have bought anyway. At the end of the year, we cash-in and treat ourselves to Amazon vouchers, PayPal payments or a few Christmas-y treats with the money earned.
We hope that you find the information and tips useful. A bit of extra income can be useful – and sometimes invaluable to the small business or the self-employed. Do you have any ways in which to earn money online that you’d like to share with us and our readers?
[disclosure*]