Best 7 Ways to Get More Instagram Followers

Instagram is quickly becoming a focal point for brands looking to use social media to connect with current and potential new customers—and for good reason.Best 7 Ways to Get More Instagram Followers:

Dubbed the “king of social engagement” by Forrester Research, the top brands on Instagram are seeing a per-follower interaction rate of 2.3 percent, which far surpasses the engagement rate these brands are seeing on both Facebook (0.2 percent) and Twitter (0.02 percent).

With high engagement rates and over 500 million active monthly users, it comes as no surprise then that gaining more Instagram followers is a high priority for any business using the platform.

Unfortunately there’s no magic formula on how to get more Instagram followers, but there are ways of improving your Instagram strategy so that more of your ideal audience can find—and follow—you.

How to get more Instagram followers in 7 ways

In this guide, we’ll cover some of the tactics we at Hootsuite have seen to be the most effective for gaining more followers on Instagram. Want to jump ahead? Click the buttons below to jump to the sections you want to focus on.

1) Create a clear Instagram strategy

Using any social network aimlessly can lead to wasted resources and a low return on investment—and Instagram is no exception. Having a strategy in place will help you define what you want to achieve, so you can better target and attract new followers relevant to your business.

Read: How To Make Money With Paypal Without Doing Surveys

Whether you’re starting from scratch or adjusting your current Instagram efforts, here are three elements for building a solid Instagram strategy.

Research your competitors

Analyzing what your competitors are doing on Instagram will show you:

• What a realistic following looks like for businesses in your niche or industry.
• The type of content other businesses in your niche or industry post—and whether or not it’s working.
• The frequency at which your audience will expect you to post content.
• How other businesses are engaging with your ideal audience.

Now that Instagram is integrated in Hootsuite, you can monitor your competitors (along with customers, industry terms, and any other Instagram content you’d like to keep tabs on) from the same dashboard you use to manage all your other social networks.

Decide what story you’re going to tell

No matter what industry your business is in, you have a story to tell that is perfectly suited for a highly visual social network like Instagram. A compelling narrative in your content will give it a sense of purpose and can inspire word-of-mouth from your current community, making your Instagram account more attractive to new followers.

Satisfy curiosity by showing followers how your product is made, share the perspective of an employee to humanize your brand, or position your brand in an aspirational way by showcasing the lifestyle or achievements of your customers. You don’t have to limit your Instagram strategy to only one of these groups. Most successful brands will tell all of these stories at once in different ways and perhaps across different social channels.

Set goals

Since your Instagram strategy will only be as effective as the goals it was designed to achieve, you need to know what you’re aiming for. We suggest setting goals for Instagram that align with your overall marketing and business strategy—whether that’s brand awareness, driving traffic to your website, or supporting the goals of a larger marketing campaign.

2) Gain more Instagram followers by making your Instagram account more visible

If you’re struggling to attract new followers on Instagram, a simple (yet often overlooked) solution is to make it easier for people to find you. Increase the number of ways that potential new followers can discover your Instagram account.

Here are some specific suggestions:

• Announce your Instagram account to your followers on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or any other social network you’ve already built a following on. Consider boosting these posts with paid advertising to ensure that more of your followers make it to your Instagram account.
  
  For example, Sony Mobile directed their Facebook audience to their Instagram account in this post by focusing on a specific product. This gave their audience a clear reason to follow them on Instagram. They also used a custom URL, allowing them to track success by comparing the number of clicks on the link with the number of new followers they gained on Instagram.

• Link to your Instagram account on your website, in your email signature, and in newsletters so that more people in contact with your brand online can find you on social media.

• Follow people and like or comment on their photos to increase your visibility within Instagram.

• Use relevant hashtags to help your content appear in searches. (More on this in the next section.)

• Embed your Instagram photos in your blog posts.

3) Create good Instagram content to grow your Instagram following

This may seem like a no-brainer but it can’t be stressed enough: the better your Instagram content is, the more likely you are to get more Instagram followers. Posting photos that are blurry, branded inconsistently, or simply not interesting provides no incentive for people to follow you. Here are some guidelines for improving your Instagram content strategy.

Read: How to Make Money With Selling Used Books

Find the best time to post

Use the insight you have about your customers to help determine the best time for posting on Instagram. For example, if your customers are typically people who work full-time jobs, chances are they won’t be checking Instagram between 9:00 and 11:00 am as often as they would be first thing in the morning, at lunch time, or after work. However, if the new followers you hope to gain are stay-at-home parents, then this time frame of peak Instagram use may change.

The most effective way of determining the best time to post on Instagram is by testing how your photos perform at different times of day. If you notice that photos you post in the mornings are consistently earning you more likes, comments, or followers than those posted in the afternoon or evening, then adjust your content schedule accordingly.

Here at Hootsuite, we found that one of our sweet spots for posting on Instagram is around 8:00 p.m. in our time zone (which is Pacific Standard Time). This is when our North American audience is scrolling through Instagram before bed, while our followers in Australia and Asia are also browsing their feeds on their way to work.

Post consistently

There’s no magic number for how often you should be posting to Instagram, but a recent report from Simply Measured noted that “75 percent of top brands publish at least once a week.” Keep in mind that the goal is to ensure your photos appear in the feeds of your followers so they can interact with them. That activity will then be visible to their followers, which increases your chances of getting new followers. Your followers want to see content from you—after all, that’s why they followed you in the first place. Don’t leave them hanging by posting on an inconsistent basis.

Pressed for time? Schedule Instagram photos (along with their captions) in advance through Hootsuite.

Use hashtags

Including relevant hashtags in your captions will help your posts appear to people who may not already be following you, but are searching for photos related to your brand on industry. Before using hashtags to get more Instagram followers, make sure to review:

The DOs & DON’Ts of using hashtags on Instagram

DO: Find and use what’s popular. 
Use the Trendspottr app in Hootsuite to search for the most popular hashtags related to your product, service, or industry. Then, set up a stream in Hootsuite to monitor content posted with that hashtag on Instagram.

DO: Create your own hashtag.
Come up with your own hashtag that your audience will want to get on board with. Herschel Supply uses the hashtag #WellTravelled as part of their social marketing strategy, which their audience also uses to document their travels. This creates a strong sense of community while exposing the Herschel brand to new potential followers and customers.

DON’T: Go overboard. Although using hashtags are an effective way to getting new followers on Instagram, using too many of them can be distracting for your audience and dilute your message.

DON’T: Use hashtag gimmicks.   Using hashtags such as #likeforlike, #tagsforlikes, or #followme may help you see a temporary increase in new followers, but they may be only be spammers or people only interested in being followed back—neither of which will help you build a meaningful, engaged community on Instagram. Instead, as Instagram recommends, focus on using hashtags specific to your photo, product, or business.

Make use of captions

Although Instagram is a highly visual platform, your photo captions play a big role in helping you get more Instagram followers. As we explain in our guide to writing great captions that drive engagement, there are important things to consider when adding captions to your post:

• Ask questions. This will encourage your audience to leave a comment with their answer, and this type of engagement will help make your account visible to more people. In this example, Winners showcases their products while engaging their community, encouraging them to leave a comment on the photo. 

• Tag users. Tag other Instagram users featured in your photos either in your caption or by using Instagram’s tagging functionality. As noted by Simply Measured, posts that mention other users in the caption average 37 percent higher engagement. Likewise, encourage your followers to tag their friends in the comments if applicable. For example: “Tag someone you know who needs a vacation!” This can help expose your Instagram account to a larger network of people.

• Tag your location. If you work in a business that has a physical location, make sure you tag your photos with that location and encourage your customers to do the same. Users can then click on that location and see all the photos posted from your store, restaurant, or location, which can help expose your brand (and Instagram account) to more people. Searching for the Pike Place Starbucks location, for example, displays the most recent posts tagged by customers at that location.

Get creative with video

Instagram is the perfect place to take advantage of video, a trend that is only continuing to grow and dominate social media. The brands that are leading the pack when it comes to Instagram video are attracting new followers through user-generated content, fun and innovative videos that showcase their products, DIY tips, tutorials, and content that piques (and satisfies) curiosity.

4) Get more Instagram followers through contests and campaigns

Contests

Running contests on Instagram can help further grow your audience, drive traffic to your website, and even help you sell product. To enter the contest, ask people to either follow you, like, comment on one of your photos, use a specific hashtag, or repost one of your photos. Encouraging user-generated content as part of your contest will help you reach more people. Those who don’t follow you already will be exposed to your Instagram account through a post created by one of their friends, which is an effective way of building trust with new followers.

Read: How to Make Money With Social Media Step-By-Step

Benefit Cosmetics has successfully used Instagram contests to tie together the online and offline experience of their customers. For a recent campaign, they partnered with beauty retailer Ulta to run an Instagram contest that encouraged users to share a selfie after a visit with a brow expert at a local Ulta store. By following the @BenefitCosmetics account and posting their selfie using the hashtag #browbestie, the customer would be entered to win a year’s worth of brow service as well as $250 in Benefit products.

This contest achieved three things: it acted as an incentive for new followers, it showcased and promoted the in-store experience, and it rewarded the community for an online behavior that came naturally to them.

Campaigns

Incorporating Instagram into your overall marketing campaigns can help you gain new followers and connect the offline and online experience for your customers. For example:

• Run a teaser campaign that is exclusive to Instagram and slowly reveal an announcement, such as a new product or service.

Taco Bell announced they were going to begin serving breakfast in a quick Instagram video that was fun to watch, showed the product, and got their audience excited.

• Use Instagram to provide coverage of live events including conferences, community gatherings, or in-store promotions.

5) Help others build their community

Like all social media networks, Instagram is about the communities built within it. Find potential new Instagram followers by following them first, and then get involved by liking, commenting, and sharing their content—many people will often return the favor.

Set up Instagram search streams in Hootsuite to find, monitor, and engage with users. If you find someone who is posting relevant content, leave a comment and ask if you can share the photo on your company’s account. (Just make sure you give credit to the individual who posted it originally.) Travel Alberta, for example, regularly re-posts content from their audience. As stated in their bio, users give permission to have their photos shared on the Travel Alberta Instagram account by using the #ExploreAlberta hashtag.

Collaborating with other successful Instagrammers in your industry can help both you and these influencers reach new audiences and gain increased followers and exposure. The Trendspottr for Instagram app in Hootsuite can help you gain insights into who these influencers are, and the most popular content they are sharing on Instagram.

6) Consider Instagram advertising to gain more followers

If you have a budget for social advertising, Instagram ads should definitely be on your radar. A sponsored ad is a powerful way to reach new potential Instagram followers, fast. Instagram now allows almost anyone to purchase sponsored posts within the platform, using online ad-buying tools that are offered by official Instagram partners. This means you can now log onto one of these third-party sites to create, target, and place ads on Instagram, in a self-serve style.

In a study done by Nielsen Brand Effect of more than 400 Instagram advertising campaigns, ad recall from sponsored posts was shown to be 2.8 times higher than other online advertising. A&W Restaurants saw a 39 point lift in ad recall and a 4 point lift in message association after running their Instagram ad campaign.

7) Measure and analyze your Instagram results

If you’re not gaining new Instagram followers at the rate you want, reviewing your metrics and analytics on a regular basis can help you identify areas where you can potentially adjust your strategy.

For example, you may notice a correlation between the time of day you post, certain hashtags, or the type of content, and a spike in new followers. Try focusing on repeating these moments to see if you get the same results.

How To Make Money With Paypal Without Doing Surveys

PayPal has made it much easier and faster for anyone to pay and get paid online.How To Make Money With Paypal Without Doing Surveys.

Although there were online payment processing systems before PayPal, none of them were/are as popular and as effective as PayPal.

Perhaps the best part is that now almost anyone can make money and get paid fast online through this company.

Although there are many methods to do this, not many are as good as making money writing articles online for webmasters. Especially since in most cases you receive your PayPal payments instantly or within minutes or hours of delivering your work.

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If you like getting paid for surveys, and are going to join only one site, I would recommend you choose Ipsos-iSay. Ipsos is the most fun and well-paying panel. Give it a try to see how you like it. It is free anyway!

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If you want some fast cash in your PayPal account, here is how to do it.

Write and Get Paid

If the English language happens to be your native language (or even if it’s not but you can speak it as if it were your own mother tongue,) and you need some cash in your PayPal account quickly, your best option is to offer your English skills for cash.

Read: How to Make Money With Selling Used Books

Yes, I’m talking about writing for money.
Fresh, quality content is the most important asset for hundreds of thousands of websites and blogs.
But creating them takes time and skills. And not every webmaster or blogger has the time or skill to write their own content. That’s where you come in. You can offer your services as a freelance writer and get paid for doing so.

 

The market for fresh content is huge and is only getting bigger as more and more businesses realize they need an online presence.
The great thing about this moneymaking idea is that you are not expected to produce magic read in order to earn money. Often, strict guidelines are provided and you just need to make sure there is compliance on your part and the client will have no problem paying into your PayPal account.

Where to Start?

For me, I like to take my writing skills to websites where written contents could be easily traded, you can think of these as some sort of online marketplaces.
It works well for me because I can find work that interests me and works that I can write plenty about.
When you hang around long enough, people will notice your specialization and webmasters in those niches will actually look you up for work.

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Digitalpoint.com and WarriorForum are two of my favorite marketplaces.
Each of these forums (and many other webmasters related forums) has a “services” section where writers and webmasters in need fo content find each other.
I like my articles to be around 400 to 700 words so that I can bundle them into pack of 5 or 10 and sell them as bundles (most clients on these forums prefer bundled content.)

How Much to Charge?

You can charge as much or as little as you want. It all depends on how much you value your time and skills.
Of course, when you first get started, it’d be hard to charge premium rates. But as you establish yourself in the community and clients see the quality of your work, it becomes much easier to charge premium rates.

Where Else Can I Find Clients?

The two forums I mentioned are not, of course, the only webmaster related forums.
There are many of them out there, but these two are the largest ones and so the chances of you being to make money as a writer are much higher.
Here are some of the top Webmaster Forums:

• DigitalPoint.com
• WarriorForum.com
• SitePoint.com
• WebmasterWorld.com

Freelancing Sites

There are also other options. You could use freelancing sites to find clients to write for.
Working as a freelancer on these sites, of course, has its own advantages and disadvantages.
On these sites, prospective clients will spell out the exact specification that they want, from topic to length, text layout to format. As a freelance writer, you can bid on the work and if you win the bid, you get the work.
Since you don’t call the shots here on the kind of work you want, you probably have to do some research if the article is to be on topics you’re not familiar with. As a result, you probably find yourself to be less productive (and creative with your writing) than writing for people on forums like Digitalpoint.com.
Of course, you can demand more compensation per article, and as with most freelancing sites, there is also a system in place that guarantees you payment even before you start your work.
Here are some of the best freelancing sites for writers:

• UpWork
• Patch
• Online Writing Jobs
• Journalism Jobs
• Pitch Me

You probably are shocked for not seeing big freelancing sites like Freelancer.com.

Read: How to Make Money With Selling Used Books

The reason I didn’t include them is that although they are good freelancing sites for many other kinds of freelancing work, the pay rate on these sites for writers is just pathetic. You’ll not get near as much as you would on sites mentioned above.

The Bottom Line

Of course, there are other ways to get money in your PayPal fast as well, like selling stuff on eBay, selling your own hand made stuff, and even accepting PayPal donations, but I personally prefer content writing services.
Writing content is a great way to make some PayPal cash.
There is no need to invest a dime.
You can find clients fairly easy and quick.
And best of all, you get paid as soon as you deliver the work.
Put all of that together and you get one of the best ways of making PayPal money online fast and easy.

 

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How to Make Money With Social Media Step-By-Step

There are more money-making opportunities on social media than you might realize. Social media, in fact, can be quite lucrative.Many experts say that social media is for connecting with people, and not for selling, but at some point, you're going to want to leverage the connections you create. If you've built up enough trust with your followers, they'll be more inclined to check out your recommendations and the links you share.

Here are six ways you can make money on social media.

1. Promote affiliate products.

No matter what industry you're in, you can find great products to promote on ClickBank. And if that doesn't quite jive with you, you can also become an Amazon Associate, promote products of your choosing and earn commissions on them -- Amazon has no shortage of products.

Next, instead of spamming links on Twitter and hoping for the best, keep in mind that the most honest and effective way of promoting affiliate products is through reviews. If you personally use a product and like it, and know that your followers serve to benefit from it, then write a long-form review on your blog, and share why you like the product. Don't be afraid to talk about what you like and don't like about it. You can even use video if that's more your style.

Read: Best 8 Ways to Earn Extra Income While Christmas Shopping

Also make sure to disclose your affiliate relationships. This is a legal requirement in most cases, but it's also "best practice." Your readers or viewers will appreciate your honesty.

2. Create and promote your own information products.

If you already have a blog, and you've demonstrated your expertise on a specific subject over a period of time, there may be an opportunity to create an ebook, audio program or video course and sell it to your audience. Social media is the perfect place to promote such a product.

Platforms like Gumroad, Sellfy and Amazon's KDP program make it easy for you to publish and sell your PDF, MP3 or video file at a price of your choosing -- keeping in mind that all platforms do take a cut, even if it's small.

As with anything, quality is key to creating something people not only want to read, but will pay to read. If you take extra care in creating great information, designing and promoting it well, you will definitely see more sales.

3. Promote products and services.

There are many opportunities for you to share sponsored posts that promote the products and services of other businesses. This is a very direct way of earning money from social media.

But, if you don't have a sizable following, this may not be much of an opportunity. You also have to beware of over-promoting products for want of money, because if your followers see that you're constantly tweeting about one product or another, not only will they not click on the links, they will also un-follow you.

It's important to mix things up. It's wise to take the time to craft a proper social media posting schedule, to make sure you're adding value to your followers while promoting products. Calls to action should definitely be a part of your social media strategy, but every post can't be a call to action.

4. Use visual media to promote your crafts.

If you tend to create handmade crafts, art pieces, or even articles of clothing and knitting, there may be an opportunity to showcase your products on social media. Instagram and Pinterest may seem like obvious places to hit, but Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are also great channels for sharing visual media.

Read: Best 8 Ways to Earn Extra Income While Christmas Shopping

If you have an Etsy account, you can direct your followers to check out your products there, and between the different channels, you have the potential to make a good living.

5. Promote your coaching or consulting services.

Social media is a great place to generate leads for your consulting business. Whether you're a guitar teacher or a life coach, if you have demonstrated expertise in a specific area, you can create more interest for your services by connecting with your target customer on social media.

Coaching sessions can be conducted over Skype, so this is definitely an opportunity to make money without leaving home. Consulting can be lucrative, so remember not to undercut yourself -- charge a fair price for your time and effort.

This strategy can also work in unison with selling information products, as those who want your advice are more likely to be interested in the ebooks and courses you've created.

6. Join the YouTube Partner Program

Building a popular YouTube channel can be a lot of work. But if you already have a following, or you're determined to build your audience, joining the YouTube Partner Program to make money on advertising might be a path worth exploring.

There are prominent YouTube content creators who have made substantial amounts of money with this program, but they are the exception rather than the rule. It would take a lot of time, strategy and sheer luck to make money on YouTube. However, this is a good thing to keep in mind with advertising in general. Unless you're already getting a lot of views and clicks, you're not going to make a lot of money on them.

Final thoughts

These are just some of the many ways you can make money with social media; there are plenty of other money-making websites for you to explore.

Read: Best 8 Ways to Earn Extra Income While Christmas Shopping

It's important to remember that making money on social media isn't necessarily easy. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit and are willing to work hard, test and experiment, your chances at success will be far greater than the chances of those who just want to "give it a try" to see what happens.

So, build a strategy; don't just wing it. Make a plan for how you're going to reach your financial goals, and be willing to adjust as necessary.

Best 8 Ways to Earn Extra Income While Christmas Shopping

Christmas shopping can be expensive and time-consuming.Best 8 Ways to Earn Extra Income While Christmas Shopping.Wouldn't it be great if you could take advantage of that time to make some extra money? Fortunately, we found a few ways for you to earn extra cash for the holidays while you do your Christmas shopping.

1. Use Your Car

If your vehicle is in good condition, you may want to consider signing up with one of the ride-share services. With services like Uber and Lyft, you can choose which rides you want to provide, at a time most convenient for your schedule. So, for instance, you can pick up riders when you have some extra time, who happen to be going in the same direction as your favorite holiday shops. You can even charge for carpool services to take your neighbors with you on your next shopping trip. They can avoid taking their car, you'll get gas money, and you can even shop together to make the experience more enjoyable.

Read: Best 7 Ways to Make Money With Amazon

If you're already using your car to drive people around, you may also consider renting out your car with sites like Turo when you're not using it. Around the holidays, people tend to travel more and are in need of a reliable vehicle during their vacation.

2. Deliver Items

Getting paid to run errands can be fun, rewarding, and a quick way to earn money on your own time, on your own schedule. Typically, these gigs include shopping for groceries, delivering food, driving people around, and a myriad tasks that may be suited more to your specialties or interests. You can deliver items and run errands with sites like Postmates, Instacart, Amazon Flex, Door Dash, TaskRabbit, Fiverr, and many more.

During the holidays, it can be especially lucrative to run errands for people when they are too busy with holiday plans to do things like gift buying, shopping for decorations, and mailing out packages at the post office. If you actually enjoy holiday shopping, you can even make money personal shopping for people who just don't have the time or desire to do it themselves. All you'll have to do is complete their holiday shopping while you complete your own, so it won't take much time out of your day and you can earn a decent amount around the holidays. Typically, you can charge by the hour or by the trip. You can also sign up with a company like Care.com to run errands for seniors, with an average rate of $13.50/hr.

3. Use Rewards Cards and Reward Sites

Using credit cards with rewards for holiday shopping can result in quite a bit of cash back after holiday shopping is complete. If you need to spend money on Christmas gifts anyway, you might as well save money, and earn a little money, while you're doing it.

Sites like Ebates and Swagbucks can give you cash back when you shop and save you money with promo codes. With these sites, you can also take advantage of surveys, videos, and online games that reward points upon successful completion, which you can later exchange for gifts. You can even play games and watch videos while you're waiting in line to pass the time and earn points for dollar rewards. Sites like Ibotta also offer challenges (such as shopping at particular stores or for particular items), and once you prove that you have completed these challenges by submitting a screenshot of your receipts, you can earn points for cash.

4. Complete Online Surveys

Completing online surveys while you stand in line will help you earn a little cash and will make the time fly by. Sites like Opinion Outpost, ProOpinion, and Nielsen Homescan will pay you for each online service you complete, so you can complete them on your own time. You can also be selective about which surveys you fill out, only completing the most lucrative ones.

5. Make Extra Crafts to Sell

If you have a talent, such as painting, jewelry making, knitting, or crafting, consider gifting some of your work to your friends and family. It will cut down on who you need to shop for, cost you less, and will mean more to the recipient. Better yet, consider making extra crafts to sell on eBay or Etsy so you can also make some extra money from your craft.

6. Take Photos

Sites like Fotolia, Shutterstock, and SmugMug will buy your original photos. Consider taking photos of your area while you Christmas shop to sell online. This can be particularly lucrative if you live in a large city or popular destination. Just take a camera with you during your Christmas shopping and you can sell the photos later when you get home.

7. Become a Mystery Shopper

With mystery shopping, you will be paid to visit a store and give input on your experience. Whether you complete your mystery shopping in a store that you were already going to shop at, or at the same mall that you were already planning on shopping at, it will only require a small investment of your time and can garner you some serious side cash. However, it can be difficult to find legitimate mystery shopping positions that pay well, so you may have to research this a bit before getting started.

8. Lose Weight

Believe it or not, you can actually get paid to lose weight. Sites like DietBet, Pact, and HealthyWage will allow you to set weight loss goals for yourself. If you meet those goals, or complete weight loss challenges and contests, in a specified amount of time, you will receive money. Not only will this help you make a little money while you're running around doing your Christmas shopping, but it can also provide another incentive not to gain an excess amount of holiday weight. Achievement offers a similar type of payout program for completing healthy activities, which won't require any additional investment of time or energy during the holiday shopping season.

Read: Best 7 Ways to Make Money With Amazon

Many people actually burn calories during their holiday shopping, but then gain it back during their holiday eating. It doesn't take much more effort to burn more calories while you're out and about, so this is an easy way to make a little bit of extra money on the side. The only downside to this is in order to take part in these challenges, you will need to contribute a small amount of money yourself. If you do not complete the challenge or meet your goals, the money you invested will be split among the winners.

Best 7 Ways to Make Money With Amazon

Let's face it, Amazon is brilliant at making it incredibly easy for you to make a purchase.Best 7 Ways to Make Money With Amazon. This is especially true with their one-click purchasing via their mobile app, and their tempting free shipping offers. Wouldn't it be nice, for a change, if you could figure out how to make them pay you on a regular basis? Here are six ways to make the online retail giant do just that.

1. Join the Amazon Affiliate Program

If you own a website, blog, or even moderate a discussion group, you have the opportunity to join the Amazon Associates program and earn revenue by directing visitors to Amazon products. Depending on the product, you'll earn anywhere from 4%–10% if the click results in a qualifying sale. It works by Amazon giving you a unique referral url that you post on your site or blog. Then when someone clicks on the embedded url, the referral is tracked, and results in you getting paid if it ends in a purchase.

Read: Best 40 Ways To Start A Make Money Online

As with any affiliate program, your mileage will vary depending on how "ready to buy" the people you send to Amazon actually are. The key is to provide value on your site or blog and a reason to make a purchase. For example, if you run a blog dedicated to photography, start by doing a weekly in-depth product review of new digital cameras and accessories and include Amazon referral links in your review. The review should always be an honest assessment and provide content that is better than anything else on the subject. If you oversell, or come off as fake and commercialized, your readers will see right through the facade and click elsewhere.

2. Sell Items on Amazon "Handmade"

The braintrust at Amazon recently launched Amazon Handmade, a service that allows you to sell your handmade wares to the Amazon audience. Currently, for a 12% referral fee, you can sell your handmade jewelry, home products (artwork, baby bedding, bath, bedding, furniture, home décor, kitchen & dining, lighting, patio, lawn & garden, storage & organization), party supplies and stationery on their platform. While Amazon hopes this new service will eventually become an Etsy killer, it currently offers artisan sellers a large number of potential buyers for a reasonable cost. If production capabilities have you concerned, don't fret, as you can set your own production time (up to 30 days) on every product you make. Also, it's worth noting that product UPCs and professional photos are not required to get started.

3. Publish an eBook

By registering for free with Kindle Direct Publishing, you can have your ebook published on the Kindle platform within five minutes and appear in Kindle stores worldwide within 48 hours. Gone are the days of cut-throat book publishing where rejection letters are the norm. You can now publish your novel or amazingly helpful "how-to" guide online and earn up to a 70% royalty on your sales. Plus, you get to keep complete control of your publishing rights and have the ability to set your own pricing. Amazon will even help you format your ebook to optimize it for Kindle users. Also, you can opt into the Kindle Owners' Lending Library so Prime members can borrow your ebook, and in turn, help you gain even more exposure.

4. Become a Third Party Seller

If you shop at Amazon regularly, you've probably noticed that while the majority of items are fulfilled directly by Amazon, some items are actually sold by third party sellers. If you have a niche product for sale, or perhaps are an artist and have artwork you're trying to move, becoming a third party Amazon seller provides an excellent opportunity to reach the masses.

You have the option of signing up for the individual plan, which is great if you plan on selling 40 or less items per month, or the professional plan if you plan on selling more. With the individual plan, you pay a flat $0.99 selling fee per item sold, plus a referral fee in the 8%–15% range of the product's selling price. With the professional plan, you pay a flat $39.99/month with no per item selling fee, but still have to pay the referral fee.

While the 8%–15% referral fee may seem steep compared to other online selling programs, the large customer reach you'll have by listing your items on Amazon can easily make up for the higher fees. If you really want to step up your game, you can have Amazon fulfill all of your ordersby having them store, pick, pack, and ship on your behalf. This is a fantastic way to let potential customers utilize Amazon's customer service department as well as have your items become eligible for Prime two-day shipping.

5. Sell Your Original Content

Another smart way to get paid by Amazon is to sell your original content like DVDs, books, MP3s, CDs, and video downloads directly on their site. This is done via CreateSpace, an Amazon-owned company, and it works by paying royalties whenever your product is sold on the Amazon platform.

Read: Best 40 Ways To Start A Make Money Online

For example, if you've produced your own music and designed your own artwork to go with it, CreateSpace will turn it into a "retail-ready" CD with full-color inserts, jewel case, and printed disc face. They'll even assign a free universal product code (UPC) to your CD and sell it directly on Amazon.com, which means it'll be eligible for Prime two-day delivery and incredible consumer exposure. Royalties vary by product category, and range between 40%–60% of the retail price.

6. Get Paid for Small Tasks via Mechanical Turk

By completing small online tasks via Amazon Mechanical Turk, you have the potential to earn a decent chunk of change. Examples of popular tasks include looking at an image and describing it in 10 words or less for a 10 cent payment, and a semi-detailed product review for a quick $2.50. While many of the tasks are low-paying, they can add up fairly quickly if you have the patience to wade through the riff-raff to find the better paying tasks. If you work at a job that has regular short delays — a customer service rep jumps to mind — Turk could make for a great way to fill those breaks with tasks that pay.

7. Score Discounts for Amazon Reviews

Another cool way to essentially let Amazon pay you is to create an account at Snagshout. The site is completely free, and works by giving you access to a large marketplace of extremely discounted Amazon products, in exchange for an honest review of the discounted products you buy. We're talking discounts that range from 50% to 90% off the original retail price. Surprisingly, some of the items are actually free or only cost 99 cents. You simply shop like you normally would, then after the item arrives, you'll be asked to leave an honest review of the product. By doing so, you'll gain access to another plethora of highly discounted items. If used correctly, you'll be getting "paid" via huge discounts on items you'd hopefully be purchasing anyways.

While some of these tips require more up-front work than others, they all have the potential to be lucrative. This is especially true if you have a blog in place and can incorporate affiliate links into your content, or have inventory ready to sell directly to Amazon customers. In any case, the time has come for the folks at Amazon to start paying you on a regular basis.