A common question I get is, What skills do I need to make money online? To which I reply, 80% are the same as you would need offline, and 20% are new things you might have to learn. And I say might, because this depends on if you are willing to pay others instead.

For example, on Fiverr you can find a lot of people that know how to make a logo, build a website or do Marketing. This means you do not have to learn these skills in order to succeed.

What is the internet? In my opinion nothing more than communication technology. It is a method to reach more people in a short period. It is literally an extension to the phone. It makes it possible to communicate with people in so many different ways than before.

And in order to make Money, you have to communicate with others, because other people have money, and they are only willing to give it to you if they trust you and feel that what you have is valuable.

So, what skills do you need to make money online? There are a few that are very handy, but let’s start with the obvious, what skills do you have now that you can use to make money?

Use the skills you already have

What knowledge do you have? What profession did you learn? Are you able to record video or sound? Can you make art? What is your profession? Can you teach?

It is advised to start a business about something you know, rather than having to learn something totally new. Every niche is unique and every niche has an audience. This means that if you can add something unique and valuable to your niche, you will have a chance of making money.

If you do not want to choose something you already know, it will be harder, but it’s not impossible to succeed as well. Because the internet is full of knowledge, often for free. So most of the things you need, you can learn.

Find a solution to a problem.

Now that you have chosen a niche, something that interests you, something that you are already knowledgeable about, it is time to think about what you can offer that audience.

If you have no idea where to start, I suggest you take your time to think about it, don’t rush it. This part is important because you will have to find something that is worth it. A hole in the market, so to say.

The best way to start is to look for problems within your niche, what does your audience complain about the most? What is it that needs fixing or updating? What tool can be improved or does not yet exist?

Make a list of problems, and find out how big that problem is, the bigger the better. Because the more people have the same problem, the more money you can earn.

Entrepreneurial skills

You have to become an entrepreneur if you want to make money yourself. This means you need a plan, a strategy, a way to reach your audience, and a way to make money from them.

If you don’t want that, then I suggest you just get a job and forget about making money yourself. Because you have to think like a business owner in order to make money, nobody is going to pay you a salary for your efforts. No matter if you work 40 or 60 hours per week, making money online is all result based.

To give you some ideas, you could become a freelancer and offer your services to others. Or you could become an online teacher. Or you could start a youtube channel, blog, or podcast. These are all business ideas you could start, and for all of them, you can use the knowledge you already have to get started.

Marketing skills

If you do plan to do everything yourself, then you obviously need to learn marketing. Marketing your skills, your businesses, or whatever way you choose to make money is utterly important.

You could be the most skilled, most knowledgeable person in your field, if nobody knows how to find you, you’re not gonna make any money.

Besides this, if you have a solution to a problem, would you just wait and hope people would find out about it? Or would you go out there and tell people about it? The latter would make more sense.

So, if you want to succeed online, then it’s advised to learn something about marketing. 

SEO Skills

SEO is basically another form of marketing, but instead of directly reaching out to people, you try to get your online business ranked as high as possible on Google and other search engines. 

To do this you have to understand SEO, you have to optimize your website in such a way that your site will rank at top of the list. The higher it ranks, the more traffic you will receive and the more chances you get to make money.

Conclusion

So, I hope you now understand that you don’t need any magical internet skills to earn money online. That the internet is nothing more than another way to communicate with potential customers. ANd that it is up to you to make people want to give you their money.

Whatever kind of method you choose, be it a blog, youtube channel, freelance, teacher, etc, etc, you have to understand that it won’t come overnight, that you have to spend a lot of time, energy, and hard work to make it a success.