How to Start a Digital Marketing Side Hustle

Digital marketing represents a fantastic landscape for countless entrepreneurs planning on starting their own side hustle.

By 2030, the digital advertising and marketing industry market is expected to reach a value of $1.5 trillion, and earning opportunities for creative professionals are constantly evolving.

If you have the right skills, a willingness to learn, and a growth mindset, there are various side hustles to explore, from content marketing to search engine optimization.

We’ve examined some of the best, most valuable digital marketing side hustles for would-be marketers to bring you this extensive guide. Many of the ideas covered below can even be executed remotely.

Best Digital Marketing Side Hustle Ideas

1. Become a Freelance Writer
2. Become a Digital Marketing Specialist
3. Become an SEO Freelancer
4. Start Blogging For Money
5. Start an Affiliate Marketing Business
6. Start a YouTube Channel
7. Create and Sell Online Courses
8. Become a Facebook Ads Consultant
9. Become a Google Ads Specialist
10. Buy and Sell Websites
11. Become a Social Media Marketing Specialist

1. Become a Freelance Writer

Freelance writing is one of the most versatile side hustle options for today’s entrepreneurs.

While generative AI tools like ChatGPT are influencing the trajectory of the market, there are still opportunities for people with the right strategy and expertise.

Freelance writers can produce different types of content, from copy for website pages to ad content for PPC campaigns, social media posts, email templates, and video scripts.

Regardless of what type of content you specialize in, you can earn a significant wage in this industry, with an average hourly salary of around $29.32 per hour in the US.

Becoming a freelance writer is also relatively straightforward. However, you will need to hone your skills if you want to make a decent income.

The first step is often practicing your writing skills. Reading books on writing, taking courses, and following other creators online can help.

However, the most effective strategy is to practice writing with your own blog consistently.

Creating your own blog or website will give you a platform to develop your skills and experiment with crucial strategies like search engine optimization.

You’ll also be able to use your site as a portfolio of your work, building a more powerful reputation over time.

To make a significant income as a freelance writer, you’ll need to:

• Develop the right skills: Not only do you need to be an excellent writer, but you’ll need to master SEO, link building, and other tactics to appeal to clients. Focus on building your knowledge in niche areas to outshine the competition.
• Build a brand: As a writer, your reputation will be crucial to finding new opportunities. Create a website and portfolio to showcase your skills and establish profiles on freelance platforms. Don’t forget to network with other industry experts.
• Focus on client retention: Retaining clients is far more cost-effective for a freelance writer than constantly searching for new customers. Concentrate on building relationships with your clients and earning their loyalty.

For a step-by-step guide on becoming a freelance writer as a side hustle, visit our comprehensive guide.

2. Become a Digital Marketing Specialist

Similar to the freelance writing space, digital marketing offers a versatile range of opportunities.

You can work with companies and clients on various projects, exploring Search Engine Marketing, SEO, social media advertising, and more.

The average digital marketing salary in the US is around $72,000 per year, meaning you can earn a significant wage even if you pursue this career part-time.

With the right tools, skills, and resources, you can also build your digital marketing career from anywhere, working remotely from your own home.

Developing your career as a digital marketing specialist can be time-consuming, as you’ll be required to wear multiple hats in your role.

You’ll need to begin by developing a deep knowledge of the various marketing methodologies used in the digital world, from search engine marketing and PPC to search engine optimization, email marketing, and social advertising.

You’ll also need to learn how to use a variety of essential tools, such as keyword research software, content management systems, and social platforms.

Once you’ve honed your skills, you can make money by offering various services to customers, from affiliate marketing to SEO services, content writing, and social media management.

You can increase your earnings by:

• Experimenting with different services: Offer your clients a variety of different services, from consulting to digital marketing management. Include things like keyword research and on-page SEO optimization in your content options, and help businesses create more effective strategies for social media and PPC.
• Earning certifications: Earning certifications is an excellent way to distinguish yourself from other digital marketers in your field. Accreditation from reputable institutions like Meta and Google is often highly sought after.
• Create and sell digital products: Consider expanding on your income potential by selling eBooks, guides, webinars, and online digital marketing courses to other professionals interested in digital marketing. This is a great way to earn passive income.

For more information on how to get started, read the following guides:

3. Become an SEO Freelancer

Life as an SEO freelancer can offer a range of benefits to professionals with skills in both digital marketing and content creation.

Knowledge of search engine optimization is one of the most sought-after skills in the marketing world.

SEO specialists in the US earn around $57,589 per year, working with companies to create search engine strategies, content, and marketing campaigns.

As an SEO freelancer, you’ll be able to enjoy a flexible career with complete control over your pricing strategies, the services you offer, and the clients you choose to work with.

You may choose to focus on on-page SEO, off-page SEO, technical SEO, keyword research, competitor analysis, or a combination of all of these options.

Becoming an SEO freelancer starts with developing strong SEO skills. You’ll need to learn how search engine algorithms work and the methodologies you can use to manipulate them. This is an ongoing process, as the search engines are constantly evolving.

Starting your own blog is an excellent way to showcase your SEO knowledge, build an effective personal brand, and start reaching new clients.

You can also use your blog to earn money from ads and affiliate sales. Or you can convert your site into an e-commerce store, selling digital and physical products.

To boost your earnings as an SEO freelancer:

• Constantly expand your knowledge: Take SEO courses, earn SEO certifications, and stay up-to-date on the changing algorithms used by search engines. Frequently experiment with tools and technologies like keyword research apps.
• Build authority: As an SEO freelancer, you must demonstrate your authority to clients. This means not only showing your ranking ability with your own blog but sharing testimonials, case studies, and reviews from other clients.
• Set the right rates: Be careful with your pricing strategy. Ensure you deliver clear value to your customers with your services, and outline everything you’ll do for each client, such as keyword research or technical SEO.

To get started with SEO, read the following guides.

4. Start Blogging For Money

Starting your own blog can be a powerful step in developing various kinds of digital marketing side hustles.

It will help you to connect with clients as freelance writer, affiliate, or SEO consultant and give you a place to practice your skills.

However, you can also use your blog as a source of income. If you know how to make your site rank for commercial intent keywords and connect with a wide audience, you can earn significant cash by showcasing ads on your site.

Blogging is an excellent side hustle option because it appeals to a wide range of creatives. You can write about anything, from fashion to travel, and still make money by partnering and connecting with the right businesses.

To get started, you’ll need to set up your own blog with a memorable domain name and begin building a powerful brand.

Think carefully about the content you produce. Conduct keyword research to tailor your blog to customers in the later stages of the buyer journey.

Make sure your content is meaningful, insightful, and valuable. This will help you to rank higher on the search engines. It’s also worth experimenting with SEO tactics to improve your brand reach and increase visibility.

Once you have your blog, you can make money by:

• Selling your own products or services: A blog can be an excellent way to draw attention to your own online store. You can sell everything from physical products and merchandise to digital downloads, courses, and webinars.
• Sell Ad Space: Using Google AdSense, you can sell space on your website where other companies can advertise their products. Make sure you experiment with the platform to find out which ad placements and options work best for you.
• Affiliate marketing: Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to make money with your own blog. All you need to do is join an affiliate network and promote products relevant to your brand and audience in your blogs and posts. When a customer makes a purchase based on your recommendations, you’ll learn a commission.

For a detailed guide on how to make money blogging, read the following article.

5. Start an Affiliate Marketing Business

Speaking of affiliate marketing, it’s another of the best options worth considering if you want to create a fantastic side hustle.

The great thing about affiliate marketing is that you can earn a passive income. After you create amazing content and ensure it’s optimized for the search engines, you can use it to attract new buyers to other companies consistently.

According to some studies, the average salary for an affiliate marketer in the US is around $55,202 per year.

However, your earnings could be potentially limitless if you know which products to promote and how to connect with your target audience.

In today’s world, customers are paying less attention to traditional ads and are starting to prioritize recommendations from industry influencers when determining what to buy.

With affiliate marketing, you make money by showcasing the products customers might be interested in on your website, social media channels, and even in videos.

To begin, you’ll need to build your own content-rich website. Designing a compelling website packed with useful information for every stage of the purchasing cycle will help you to earn the trust of your target audience.

To boost your earnings as an affiliate marketer:

• Optimize for the right keywords: Using commercial keywords in your content and transactional keywords can help you to earn more targeted traffic from Google. Research your audience, and build content around the words and phrases they use.
• Promoting the right products: Be cautious about the products and services you promote on your website. The best solutions will be products that generate high sales, offer fantastic commissions, and are relevant to your target audience.
• Optimize your links: Make the most of your affiliate links. Place contextual links in the body of your content, and make sure they’re easy to find. You can also use banners and buttons to attract the audience’s attention.

For all the required steps, read the guide below.

6. Start a YouTube Channel

As the world’s second-largest search engine, YouTube is an incredible platform for digital marketers looking to start a side hustle.

The platform attracts billions of active users every month and offers creators a variety of monetization methods.

The great thing about using YouTube as your side hustle platform is you’ll have various different ways to make money.

You can invest in affiliate marketing, promote the products of other companies, sell your own products or merchandise, or make money from sponsorships.

You can even use YouTube to drive traffic to your own site.

To get started, you’ll need to develop your skills as a content creator, focusing specifically on video creation.

Learn how to produce high-quality videos that immediately capture customer attention and keep your audience watching.

Once you’ve mastered video creation, experiment with different monetization methods, such as the YouTube Partner Program, which allows you to sell ad space within your videos.

You can also work with other companies to promote their products as sponsored sellers or affiliates. You can increase your YouTube revenue by:

• Developing your community: The more subscribers and watchers you have on YouTube, the more you’ll earn from ads, affiliate marketing, and your own sales and marketing tactics. Connect with your audience and create valuable, relevant content.
• Optimize your videos: Pay attention to the analytics and reports you can gather about your customer’s preferences. Look at video watch time to see how long customers stick with your videos, and track engagement levels to boost performance.
• Experiment with new strategies: You don’t have to stick to just one monetization method on YouTube. You can combine ad selling with promoting your own products or work as both an influencer and affiliate at the same time.

Use the guides below to get started.

7. Create and Sell Online Courses

The growing demand for e-learning has led to many opportunities for course creators in the modern world.

According to the World Economic Forum, more than 20 million new learners registered for courses last year alone.

Like many of the options for digital marketing side hustles we’ve covered so far, online course creation is a versatile landscape.

You can create and sell courses on virtually any topic. All you need is a deep knowledge of your niche and a passion for creation.

Moreover, selling online courses can open the door to passive income. As long as you keep your course content up-to-date and relevant, it can earn you money while you sleep.

The first step to becoming successful as an online course creator is choosing the right topic to teach.

Use keyword research tools like SEMRush and Ahrefs to search for popular and trending topics, or check out tools like Google Trends.

Examine some of the best-selling courses on other channels, and look at the topics you already rank for on your website.

Before diving into course creation, take the time to validate your idea with surveys and customer feedback.

Once you have the right course idea, you can increase your potential revenue by:

• Choosing the right pricing structure: Think carefully about how you want to sell your courses. Do you want to offer customers a taster of your learning resources with a freemium model? Will you sell courses with a one-off price or use a subscription model to retain customers for longer?
• Optimize your sales funnels: Consider how you’ll convince customers to purchase your courses and keep returning to your brand. Use email marketing to nurture audiences, Facebook campaigns to target lookalike audiences, and retargeting strategies to capture potentially lost leads.
• Invest in promotion: Constantly promote your online brand to earn credibility and visibility. Experiment with content marketing and SEO to improve your ranking potential on search engines. Use paid ads to generate instant interest for customers searching for specific keywords and leverage the power of social media.

Read the guide below for all the details.

8. Become a Facebook Ads Consultant

Paid advertising is becoming increasingly crucial in a time of generative AI and rapid search engine algorithm changes.

As earning organic traffic becomes increasingly difficult, businesses rely on paid ads on channels like Facebook to reach their audience.

Starting a side hustle as a Facebook Ads consultant is an excellent way to earn money with one of the most effective forms of online advertising.

Specialists in this niche can earn around $47,820 in the US, and you can even increase your income by offering other services, like ad copy creation and social media management.

Becoming a dedicated Facebook ad consultant starts with learning everything you can about the Meta advertising platform. Meta (the company behind Facebook) offers a variety of Facebook Ads courses and certifications you can use to boost your skills.

You’ll need to learn how to track the right metrics in campaigns, use custom and lookalike audiences to your advantage, and leverage different types of ad campaigns.

Learning how to use other analytical tools and social media management software can also help you to become more effective in your role. To increase your earnings as a Facebook Ads consultant:

• Get certified: Certifications from companies like Meta will prove your skills to companies searching for social media experts. They’ll also help you to develop your knowledge of how to optimize social media campaigns and landing pages.
• Experiment with targeting: Facebook is excellent for creating highly targeted ads. Experimenting with a range of different audiences will help you to improve the reach of your clients and boost their revenue.
• Focus on analytics: As a Facebook ad consultant, you must constantly prove your value to customers with rich reports and valuable insights. Learn how to use Facebook’s analytical tools and other third-party resources to your advantage.

For more details on how to make money with Facebook Ads, read our step-by-step guide.

9. Become a Google Ads Specialist

Becoming a Google Ads specialist is similar to pursuing Facebook Ad consulting as a side hustle.

Once again, you’ll be focused on the paid advertising world, looking for ways to increase the visibility of your clients on Google’s platforms.

This is an excellent side hustle option, as not only can you earn a consistent income as a Google ads expert, but you may also be able to earn commissions too.

Plus, you can apply your skills to your own business if you decide to sell products or services later.

Becoming a Google Ads specialist starts with learning how the Google Ads platform work. You’ll need to develop a deep knowledge of everything from search campaigns to display and shopping ads and app or video ads.

You’ll also need to build your skills as a PPC expert, refining your writing abilities, performing keyword research, and experimenting with client bidding strategies.

Certifications provided by Google and other Google Ads courses can help you to improve your abilities and connect with a wider range of employers.

To ensure you’re getting the most out of your Google Ads side hustle:

• Develop your online presence: Building your own website and promoting it with Google Ads is an excellent way to experiment with your skills and attract new customers. It will also help you to build a powerful portfolio.
• Stay informed: Google Ads strategies and methodologies are constantly changing with updates to the Google algorithm. Staying up-to-date on the latest evolutions in the market is crucial to succeeding in this space.
• Get certified: As mentioned above, a certification can help to validate your skills as a Google ads expert. Google offers its own certifications for Ads professionals, but you will need to renew them regularly throughout your career.

To start making money with Google Ads as a side hustle, read this guide.

10. Buy and Sell Websites

Websites are essentially online real estate, and just like physical real estate, you can make money purchasing low-cost websites, optimizing them, and selling them to the highest bidder.

Buying and selling websites can be an excellent way to make money from the comfort of your own home.

Depending on your chosen niche and how much time you put into developing a website, you can earn thousands from every sale.

However, you must cultivate several skills to pursue this side hustle.

To make your websites more appealing to buyers, you’ll need to know how to improve their design, which means investing in UI/UX design knowledge.

You’ll also need to optimize the websites for search engines, which means auditing and updating content and making technical SEO changes.

The key to success when buying and selling websites is finding the right sites to buy. Choosing a specific niche can be helpful, as you’ll be able to apply your own knowledge to the content you create for each site.

Learn how to value websites effectively, using insights into things like traffic and growth potential.

To increase your earnings from each website sale:

• Optimize the website copy: Enhance the quality and quantity of content on the website, optimizing for SEO along the way. If your website ranks for crucial terms, then it will be worth more to a prospective buyer.
• Build backlink profiles: A quality backlink profile will make your sites instantly more appealing to sellers. Reach out to other authority sites in your niche, and focus on developing a strong link list.
• Explore income options: Boost the monthly income of your website through the use of affiliate link programs, email marketing strategies for nurturing leads, and selling advert space.

11. Become a Social Media Marketing Specialist

We’ve already discussed the benefits of becoming a Facebook ad expert as a digital marketing side hustle, but Facebook isn’t the only lucrative social platform.

Brands worldwide are relying more heavily on all kinds of social channels to reach their audience today.

As a social media marketing specialist, you can help companies build connections with the right consumers on a range of channels.

Social media managers earn around $57,060 per year in the United States, and you can even increase your income with bonuses and commissions.

To become an effective social media marketing specialist, you’ll need to learn how to effectively use various social media channels, as well as accompanying tools.

As well as understanding how to promote paid and organic content on each channel, you’ll need to be an expert in social listening, social influencing, social selling, and networking.

A good way to start building your career is by creating your own social media presence.

Creating business accounts on major social media platforms will allow you to experiment with different marketing tactics and demonstrate your skills.

You can also increase your income by:

• Building a client portfolio: Showcasing testimonials, case studies, and reviews from other companies is an excellent way to increase your potential as a social media manager. Work with as many companies as possible to develop experience in your sector and cultivate positive reviews.
• Learn how to use crucial tools: As well as mastering social media platforms, you’ll want to learn how to use social monitoring and listening tools, social media management solutions, and automation platforms to boost your efficiency.
• Become influential: Becoming an influential figure on social media is a great way to attract more clients and increase your income. You can even use your influence to earn money from affiliate ads, sponsorships, and brand partnerships.

Additional Learning Resources

Read the following guides to learn more about how to start a digital marketing side hustle.