Whilst creative web industries continue to get more competitive thanks to a struggling economy, don’t worry – if you can write, design, take photos or develop, there are still plenty of ways to boost your online income. Creating additional streams of income means you aren’t sitting around waiting for work, and if you’re just starting out, new projects can help to impress potential clients and get you noticed.

Writing

A simple search brings up plenty of websites offering to pay for original tutorials, with prices often up to $300 or more. In addition to earning money, a good guest post on a popular website will increase your authority and even result in more clients. For well-known and highly regarded websites it may well be worth creating content extremely cheaply or even for free due to the benefits. Don’t forget to share your published posts via social media and mention them on your website. Saying you’ve written for Smashing Mag or similar always looks impressive.

If you’re a writer, the sky’s the limit in terms of opportunities. It’s harder to find non-tutorial guest posts which pay, but there are some out there and promoting your writing via guest posting is a great way to build your authority. Again, experimenting with search terms in Google is the fastest method of finding paid gigs. If you have a blog you can explore reviewing and potential sponsorship opportunities too.

Putting together your own ebook is also easy to do thanks to the numerous free PDF converters available online. There’s also plenty of advice on how to promote and sell your ebook. Unless you’re a recognised authority in your field, selling via a marketplace may be the easiest and least time-consuming route to take. Keep your ebook concise, interesting and original, and consider offering a discount or freebie for buyers as an incentive.

Sell your photos

Adding your photos to community marketplaces doesn’t take long, and you can get a cut every time someone purchases one of your pictures. Many sites offer different commission levels based on one-off or multiple purchases. There are lots of sites desperate for pictures, to get started check out PhotoCase, iStockPhoto and UltraShock.

Take a shortcut by uploading photos you’ve already taken, but make sure that you still hold all the rights if you’ve previously uploaded them elsewhere. If you’re serious about selling your photography, it pays to do some research into subjects that are short of imagery and then take your photos accordingly. Use profiles to your advantage by asking people to get in touch if they’re after something specific or photo editing.

Create paid/freemium resources

There are plenty of options here including icons, themes, fonts, plugins, apps and much more. They require time and effort, but in return they can be very lucrative and you can easily split the work with someone else, or share skills as part of a small team. For example, if you’re great at design but not coding, find a developer to team up with, or alternatively outsource aspects that aren’t your forte.

Offering ‘freemium’ resources opens up more options, for example making a free ‘light’ version of a script or plugin and encouraging upgrades, asking for donations, offering the first few icons/images in a set for free but charging for the complete set and so on. Asking for a link back to your website can prove useful for gaining visitors and clients too, especially if you submit your resources to directories and marketplaces. A good place to start is Theme Forest.

Develop a directory

CSS directories are always popular, and can be monetised relatively easily with small listing fees, upgraded listings and advertising space. Get in touch with sites that list directories or offer directory submission for a small cost and ask to be added to their lists. If you’re feeling adventurous, set up your own icon or theme directory and take a cut of the sales or charge by listing. Finding a specific niche or having something different to the other options out there will help. Create a directory specifically based in the niche you work in for maximum reach and promotion of your own work.

There are plenty of free directory scripts out there, so all you need is a custom header or logo and a domain name and you’re ready to get started.

Offer complementary products

If you’re a designer or photographer, selling posters, greetings cards and similar can help supplement your income. Etsy is a great place to showcase and sell your handmade creations, and is cheaper than eBay for listing items. Depending on your style and market, you could also try having your designs or photos printed on mugs, bags, t-shirts and much more via CafePress, or developing custom designs and products.Even if you don’t want to go down the physical product route, there are plenty of people selling icons and graphics on Etsy too.

Create an advertising-driven blog or forum

This is one of the most time-consuming and difficult things to crack, but if you’re successful there’s a chance to earn a huge amount of money. For the greatest success, work on building a reputation for yourself. It’s unlikely that you’re going to be a big name overnight; you need to do the branding, be active in communities, and take time to interact with others. Eventually other people will do the recommending for you.

Start small if you only work on a small scale or you’re new to design. Offering other sites completely free resources and guest posts to start with (choose sites and projects carefully to avoid wasting time) can help you develop your reputation and direct people to your website. Make sure your content is engaging and have several posts before you start promoting it. Offering high-quality downloads and resources can also have a huge impact on getting work, being found by clients, approached by advertisers and so on. Get in touch with any useful contacts in your niche and ask for their help to promote your site via social media.

If you already have a popular blog, look at ways you can monetise it with sponsorship and advertising opportunities. If you don’t get thousands of page impressions, signing up to Google Adsense and Commission Junction is a good first step. Google Adsense in particular is good for new sites, and it works well across almost any niche. You’ll see the best benefits from focusing your site around a specific subject, for example villas in Spain or sample sales – the options are endless. Popular sites can head straight to BuySellAds to start selling ad space on their site quickly and easily, with plenty of advertisers bowsing the site to find new opportunities.

Become a creative affiliate

Keep an eye out – there are many affiliate programs out there that are ideal for creative professionals, such as WooThemes’ and Thesis’. We have our own Heart Internet affiliate program as well. Think outside the box to increase your sales – a detailed personal recommendation, tutorial or thoughtful article goes much further than a simple affiliate link on its own. Make sure links on your site are prominent but not too overwhelming for your visitors.

Sell web hosting

We’re more than a little biased, but signing up for our reseller hosting means you can maintain a steady stream of income from clients even after you’ve finished designing, developing, writing content for or promoting their website. Many small businesses find it easier to have a one stop shop for all their website-related needs, particularly if they don’t know much about websites, which is where you come in.

Although hosting has a strong reputation for being competitive, working with existing clients who come to you initially for design, development or similar helps. Develop relationships with existing customers and contacts to get started, and consider offering a discount when people purchase multiple services. Finding your niche – for example specifically becoming known for ‘web hosting for photographers’ – can help too.

Look for community opportunities

Check out communities based around freelancing and paid work, such as People Per Hour, Social Spark, Freelance Switch and similar. Joining web-themed forums, for example in the affiliate or domainer niches, provides golden opportunities to offer your skills to those who need them in a less competitive environment – but don’t spam.

Teaming up with others with different skills can go a long way too, particularly if you create a centralised studio website with the services you offer.

Expand your skills

Design, development, SEO, writing, marketing, social media…there’s always more to learn. A reasonable background knowledge of as many areas as possible can help expand your appeal, and something as simple as a book or website can be enough to kickstart your learning and help you learn or improve on your skills. To avoid wasting time, don’t force yourself into areas you struggle with, and avoid learning specific technical examples – you’re likely to forget them if you don’t use them frequently.

How have you expanded your creative income, and how has it helped? Let us know in the comments!