Money-Making Content Basics | What is a Content Creator?

Even if you’re already familiar with how to make money as a content creator, it never hurts to review today’s content creation basics to maximize your profit potential online!

This article is Part 1 of 3 in our guide to How to Make Money as a Content Creator | Expert Guide to Content Creation.

So, you’re a content creator. You’ve made some money online, and are determined to make your business much more than just the average side-hustle. But how can you supercharge your online content sales and make more money as a content creator?

We at The Digital Navigator have made it our business to seek out proven ways that content creators can grow their existing content sales. In doing so, we’ve come up with some fool-proof methods anyone in the business can use to scale content offerings to make more money with their content.

What we want to show is that you already have what the tools in your content arsenal to boost your income. You’ve done the groundwork, curated an excellent content library, and have created small systems to keep the flow going.

Now, it’s time to give those systems a leg up, and build a recurring revenue model using simple tools that will see great returns in the long term–without a ton of heavy lifting down the road.

What is a Content Creator?

What is a content creator?

No brainer, right?

Wrong. So many content creators forget the basics of content creation when they start building out their content systems. Others aren’t even aware they are in the business of content creation at all!

So let’s take a moment to remind ourselves of where we came from, and how to become a content creator.

To us, content creation is a synchronistic relationship between marketing, education, and sales. The content you create should first and foremost educate your audience, build brand awareness, and provide a quick solution to consumer problems by allowing them to purchase more products and services to help.

But what kinds of content do that, exactly? And what kinds of businesses can use content creation to help build sales online?

What kinds of products do content creators make?

You might be a content creator if you make any of the following as a part of your business. This is also how to make money as a content creator.

• Blogs and Articles
• Whitepapers and eBooks
• Images and Infographics
• Videos
• Audio Recordings or Podcasts

What kinds of businesses use content creation models to make more money?

Usually, content creators are businesses who offer courses, coaching, consultations, or education to their audience. These can be anyone from authors, to speakers, to influencers, to experts and even networkers or opinion writers–and all fall under the umbrella of content creator.

Here are some examples of successful content creators we love that know how to make money as a content creator:

• DataDriveNU
• Quitting Culture
• The Amy Robinson
• VR Trader
• Simply Music
• …and many more!

How do these types of content creators use their content to make money?

The real key for how to become a content creator are the ways in which these business entities turn the content they create into products, memberships, and services that bring in repeatable revenue.

This means transforming created content into:

• Course Material
• Tutorials and Webinars
• Coaching or Group Programs
• Paid Community Access
• Sponsorship and Ad Placements
• Paid downloads including software, images, or other intellectual property
• Certifications

Once content has been created, these content makers usually rely on content management systems (CMS) to organize and deliver their content products to targeted audience leads. Platforms like WordPress, Kajabi, and Udemy can for instance act as a sort of ‘hub’ where content creators can sell curated, educational content.

Get Help Selling Your Content

How to become a digital content creator (for real)

Knowing how to be a content creator, and learning how to make money as a content creator, is about much more than just publishing an article and hoping it sells; it’s about using your content and expertise to make you money.

Likely, at this stage you’ve already done a ton of work to make sure your content is something your audience really wants. At this point you should be familiar with the basics of the content creation process.

5 Basics of Successful Content Creation | What is a Content Creator?

1. Understand your target audience
2. Find your voice and style
3. Be social and consistent
4. Observe other content creators and your competition
5. Practice and Publish

Now, the key for how to become a content creator is to put that content to work for you.

Even if you already consider yourself an expert content creator, there are options out there to build out the success of your sellable content using a ‘set it and forget it’ approach. Ideally, once you build a system that sells your content without your supervision, you will be free to create more excellent content products.

What Content Should I Create, and Why? | How to Be a Digital Creator

With so many more people these days working from home, or leaving their jobs for greater independence, there has been a surge in audiences who need skilled expertise or added professional development.

That’s where you come in as a content creator. There’s enough technology online now to support your content business without many barriers, which means your main focus should really be on the type of content your audience wants.

But what content should you create, and why? | How to Be a Good Content Creator

Here’s what we know about the four most popular types of content that creators make, including which options may be the most successful for learning how to make money as a content creator.

1. Online courses and eLearning products. This type of content is incredibly successful for content creators, with the market in the US set to grow by more than $12B by 2024! We also believe that online course material is one of the best ways to ‘set it and forget it’, since you only have to create and establish the material one time, and watch the sales roll in forever-more! (This is truly how to make money as a content creator).
2. Members-only Content. Although this isn’t the best place to start for content creators new to the market, developing and delivering ‘members only’ content is an excellent way to increase revenue streams for content creators in the $60K to $100K range. Think of it this way: if you have some serious street cred, you might be ready to start delivering members-only content. (We’ll expand on how to set up membership content in the next section.
3. Blog Posts and Articles. To be honest, this type of content doesn’t normally generate money unless the content creator is an established author, writer, journalist. Ad revenue from these articles is typically small unless content comes from a major publication. However, this type of content – when provided for free to your audiences – becomes a marketing investment. They help you establish authority, and can include things like sign-up forms for free resources. Best of all, blog posts and articles help generate search engine optimized content to boost your brand reach.
4. Podcasts. Similar to blogs, podcasts don’t often have a huge revenue potential, but can be really successful when paired (perhaps as a bonus offering) with existing products and services you offer. Be clear about how your podcasts will blend into your monetization strategy, and make sure to publish podcast transcripts (and the audio itself) on your website to further leverage the benefits of visiting your blog.

PS…you can also turn your virtual meetings into leads and sales engines that keep content sales turning. Click the button below to sign up for our how-to masterclass with in-house expert.

Sign Up for Masterclass

Alright! Now that you have updated your sense of content creation basics, it’s time to get to the heart of the problem: making money with the content you create!

Follow along in the next step of this series, where we explore the specifics of how you can boost revenue with insightful content sales models.

This article is Part 1 of 3 in our guide to How to Make Money as a Content Creator | Expert Guide to Content Creation. Once you’re finished reading, skip to Part 2: How Content Creators Make Money, or go ahead and read Part 3: How to Make MORE Money with Online Content.
 

FAQ