When we think of Online Work at home jobs, the first thing that comes to mind is gig work. But beyond gig work, there is an entire economy of online work that often is glossed over by those that write about online work at home jobs.

Dog walking and Dog sitting are generally the first jobs on the list, then writing jobs.  Virtual assistants and Transcribers are typically another gig job that is recommended.  Then there are the medical coders and proofreaders. Usually, buried in the list somewhere is affiliate marketing.

The Gig Economy

Essentially,  Gig work is doing small frequent tasks for little money. There is no job security and no benefits. You are still working for an hourly rate but hoping that your small tasks add up to a significant hourly pay package. The mindset of the Gig worker is still an hourly work ethic but without the safety net of a W-2 you are a contract worker and will end up with a 1099 at the end of the year from each of your contract positions.

USA Today published a list of Gig Economy Job sites.

• Rover – Connect Dog owners with Services – Requires a background check
• Fiverr – Online creative and Professional services
• Upwork – Freelancer work. You bid on jobs that are offered and pay a commission (20%) to the company for a finders fee.
• Babierge – Air BNB for Baby Gear A baby concierge service.

Other Gig economy jobs that were not listed in the USA today list are:

• TaskRabbit- helping out with tasks that a homeowner doesn’t have the skills to do.
• Lyft/Uber- Ridesharing
• Airbnb – Short-term house rental.

The Gig economy is 30% of the workforce. But is it covering the nut for people?

We have been programmed to assume that the gig economy is driven by younger workers but statistics show that older workers that are looking to supplement their retirement earnings are also jumping into the mix. Either for monetary reasons or the need for human contact after a spouse has died, older workers are increasingly turning to gig work.

That is not to say that the younger workforce is not doing gig work, they do but people from all age groups and skill levels are increasingly turning to Gig work to add income to their bottom lines.

Only a couple of these gig economy jobs qualify as Online Work at Home jobs

Fiverr is falls into this category but you see a lot of unskilled workers trying to do anything for a small reward and making it up on the volume of jobs. How many $5 gigs can you get done in an hour and how many hours per day can you work at that pace.

Many of the gig economy sites have a poor record of payouts. Upwork is one that does provide you with a guarantee of payment but increasingly people are finding that the rate of pay is lower than their skills are worth. The 20% finders fee that is charged by the company to provide their service is another problem for many who contract with Upwork.

As you might guess I don’t have a very good opinion of Gig Work. I have tried it, my experience was less than satisfying. I worked long hours for little pay. There was never a good solid contract that would get me through the month. After 6 months of substandard pay, I was looking for another way to make a living.

How To Be an Affiliate Marketer Online

The one online work at home job that has potential is affiliate marketing. While it takes an investment in time for very little reward, the potential for a large sustainable income is within reach for anyone that is willing. You need to change your mindset from that of an hourly worker to an entrepreneur.

When you change your mindset to become an entrepreneur, you go from picking and choosing jobs that other people control to being your own boss. As with any business, the start-up cost can be high. In the case of affiliate marketing your start-up cost is your time. You can get started with a very small outlay of actual cash. The time it takes to produce your first income is the downside.  Some short-term gig work can make up the difference in your income if you are desperate for a quick income.

To be an affiliate marketer online, you will be creating websites that solve a problem for your readers.  Are they looking for a new Drone?  Is an elderly parent in need of a part-time caregiver or food delivered to their home?  Perhaps their car broke down and needs parts.  All of these problems can be solved with products or services that you can review and recommend.  That is the essence of affiliate marketing.  You will solve a problem for your audience.

There is no need for the hard sell that you often see online.  You provide a service for your audience.  You provide them with a recommendation for something that they already need.

How Do You Make Money with Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is technology’s answer to the commissioned salesperson from the past.  Like the Fuller Brush man from the 50’s, you create a relationship with the companies that have the products for you to promote.  Back in the 50’s the Fuller Brush salesman worked on commission and received payment for each unit sold.

Today, you create an affiliate publisher account.  You place a link on your website that tells your affiliate company that you are sending a possible customer to them.  If the customer buys, you receive a commission for that sale.

Affiliate marketing is a win-win situation.  The company or manufacturer gets sales through your promotion of their products. Their sales volume increases due to your promotion.  You get a commission for your work.  Commissions can vary greatly from 1% for some high ticket items to as much as 75% for digital downloads and information products.

I all sounds straightforward.  It actually is quite straightforward after you learn what is involved in getting a website to rank well enough to bring a large volume of traffic to your site and learn how to convert those visitors into a hungry crowd begging for what you have to offer.

What is the Best Affiliate Marketing Training

When it comes to Affiliate marketing training, the best program that I have found is Wealthy Affiliate.  This training program teaches you how to build a site, provides the tools to make building the site easy and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to join.

Wealthy Affiliate teaches you to bring in traffic through organic search techniques so that you are building a sustainable business.  You don’t need to buy ads that will cut into your earnings.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a necessity to help your readers find you.  WA teaches you how to optimize your site to make the search engines happy and ultimately get your site viewed by more people.  After all, if you can’t be found, your audience won’t know that you exist.

If you are involved in Gig Work and have joined one of the gig economy job sites, think about the alternatives.  You can beat yourself up with an hourly rate, or you can start looking at affiliate marketing to generate a passive, sustainable income.

Take a look at the full Wealthy AffiliateReview on this page.  You will learn about an alternative income generator that has the potential to change your life.