I get a lot of questions (especially from non-techie people) on how I make money from what I do, specifically copywriting stuff.
The good part about making money from the internet is there’s multiple ways to monetize something.
So while most of my income comes from selling a subscription to The Copywriting Course, my training program for writers, there’s roughly 8 different income streams surrounding my copywriting content.
Here’s the way each revenue steam works:
#1.) Copywriting Course Subscriptions:
It sells a membership course that trains people to become better writers with a focus on selling. Small businesses buy this to learn how to write better company, companies buy it for their employees to teach them to write better copy. If people want help on their copy, they post it here, and myself and writers go through it and change it up for them. Then on Thursdays we get on an Office Hours call and take up to 8 questions from members, and re-do copy or talk strategy live on the call. So the Copywriting Course is a combination training and community…and we sell monthly and yearly subscriptions to it.
#2.) Swipe File:
A swipe file is a collection of good marketing materials you like or can learn from. Years ago I started building my own swipe file on a desktop folder. Also a phone folder. But then when I wanted to recall something like Pricing structures, I’d have to sift through the whole damn thing. So I created SwipeFile.com, where the whole world could access my private swipe file. I wanted to SwipeFile to be an independent site, and not necessarily related to Copywriting Course. The way it makes money is it has Google Adsense ads on it, and when someone clicks an ad, I get a portion of that revenue. Swipe File makes money and pays for itself, but the main goal of it is to build the worlds best swipe file.
#3.) Book:
I self published a book called This Book Will Teach You To Write Better. it sells on Amazon. I originally tried to make it free, but with Amazon I have to charge some money. I made it $5, and it was designed to be a readable-in-30 minutes crash course on writing copy. Till this day it still sells and has hundreds of reviews.
I will say, of any form of income I make from the copywriting world, this book is the most “PASSIVE” of them all. I published it a few years ago, and have done NOTHING since. It just naturally sells on the Amazon platform, and still keeps going to this day. Honestly if I wanted to boost my passive income, I’d re-do this book and boost the price to $20/pop.
#4.) 1-on-1 Consulting (aka, actually doing copywriting)!
Before I started copywriting course people would ask for help with their email newsletters, and I’d charge them by the hour, sometimes by the project depending on the client. I would help people re-write things on the spot, which is honestly very rewarding in many ways: I got to see insider numbers of different companies, hear what methods work and don’t work for them, get to meet really cool people, and they pay me money. All around it’s pretty awesome.
If all I did was consult, that would make a pretty good living. I think the reason most people find other income streams though is if you ONLY consult, your time becomes quite in demand, and your business can’t function without you. In fact, YOU are the business. This is why finding other streams of income outside of just consulting is good.
#5.) YouTube Channel:
I post videos about copywriting, people subscribe, and I get paid in two ways:
1.) People decide to buy our copywriting course training. So they signup for a subscription.
-and-
2.) I get a percentage of ad revenue. Whenever people watch my videos, YouTube will show advertisements, and you get to share in a percentage of those.
You can see all my YouTube stats at CopywritingCourse.com/stats
#6.) Amazon Affiliate:
When people click links (like these book links), and buy a book, I get a small percentage of that. This usually isn’t HUGE revenue, but if you make a few hundred bucks a month like this, it’s usually very passive.
For example I wrote a post about how I setup my home office camera setup and lighting. When it started ranking in the search results, people would often buy the cameras I recommended, and if I get 4% of an $900 purchase that’s $36 I didn’t have to work too hard for. So this isn’t full time income, but it adds up to a little nugget.
#7.) Email Sponsorships:
Sometimes people sponsor my Friday SWIPES email and pay me for it. This email goes out to just shy of 60,000 people every week, and sponsors can promote their product in a small section of the email. I’m even testing out a self-serve method at copywritingcourse.com/sponsor.
#8.) Advising Companies:
Sometimes medium to large companies will bring me on as an adviser. This means I get equity in the company, and a certain amount of advising fees. I often help the companies develop their email newsletters out, much like with TheHustle or AppSumo, and if there’s a sale or acquisition, I might see piece of that upside too.
So if you’ve ever wondered how someone likes me “makes money on the internet”....with respect to my copywriting activities this where the income comes from!
So to re-cap the 8 revenue streams are:
#1.) Copywriting Course subscriptions
#2.) SwipeFile.com ad revenue
#3.) Book
#4.) 1-on-1 Consulting
#5.) YouTube Channel
#6.) Amazon Affiliate
#7.) Email Sponsorships
#8.) Advising Companies
Most of the money comes from Copywriting Course and consulting, but I would like to make the advertising income higher, including the Friday email ads, YouTube ads, and SwipeFile.com ads etc...
Then outside of strict income streams…..the other cool thing about publishing on the internet is the OTHER opportunities it brings. For example, greater access and reach.
Let’s say I’d like to start podcasting more, and want to invite high profile guests. Well if I have a large platform on the internet, guests are far more likely to say yes to an interview. Then I could start monetizing that method.
Hope this sheds some light on how someone like myself makes money online. This has been a common question I get from people, and this should clear it up.
Maybe you could even learn a thing or two from this and start making income online on your own!
Sincerely,
Neville Medhora
Read this on the blog: https://copywritingcourse.com/blogs/172-how-i-make-money-from-copywriting
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