Are you looking for ways to make extra money as a freelance graphic designer? Are you wondering how to make money on the internet with your designing skills? Check out these ways to develop your secondary source of income.
The world has never been a better place for graphic designers. Now that everyone is carrying all the information in the world on their palms, businesses are starting to capitalize on digital marketing.
This helps them target the millions of eyeballs scrolling through their phone screens all day, providing more jobs for designers like you.
However, it’s okay if you can’t find a job even if you’re skilled. The internet is full of scams and malpractices, and it’s challenging to pick out the right websites to work for.
If you’re looking for how to make money on the internet as a graphic designer or wondering how to make money during a recession, we’ve got you covered. Read along to find out.
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How to Make Money on the Internet As a Graphic Designer?
Whether you’re an amateur or a professional, you can easily find a money-making opportunity online while graphic designing.
Freelance graphic designing allows you to diversify your portfolio and work on your terms.
From high-paying projects like customized website designing to small ventures like sticker designing, there are lots of options for you to choose from according to your needs and your skillset.
For those looking for how to make money on the internet while graphic designing, here’s our list of options you should check out.
1. Create Email Templates
Email marketing is one of the most profitable marketing techniques for small businesses today.
This lets them capitalize on the time that potential clients spend in their inbox. They can also connect and communicate with the masses on a personal level, which makes their business relevant and approachable.
That’s why automatic email marketing websites like Constant Contact are so popular these days. They help business owners devise a complete marketing strategy through email and extend their reach to consumers worldwide.
However, some business owners don’t have the budget that permits a complete design template package. In this case, most of them approach DIY design websites to fulfill their needs.
Here’s one of the most popular sites from this genre.
Canva
Canva is a well-known platform where consumers worldwide can build customized email templates for their businesses in minutes.
The best part is, Canva lets graphic designers contribute to their platform for money. All you have to do is create your own email templates and upload them on the website.
After that, every time someone uses your email template, you get paid through Canva. It’s highly convenient for students wondering how to make money while in college.
The website lets you upload the designs you create whenever you’re free and keep earning a passive income. Besides that, you get to keep the rights to your creation, so you can upload your email templates on other design websites and make more money.
2. Offer Customized Design Services
Another profitable venture for graphic designers asking how to make money on the internet is by offering complete design packages for customers online.
You can start by designing webpage templates for WordPress and move on to complete website designing gigs. Similarly, you can offer branding services that include logo, stationery, and email template designs together.
Believe it or not, these services are some of the highest paying gigs on popular freelance sites, and you can earn up to seven figures for each project once you gain enough credibility.
If you’re ready to get your creative juices flowing, here are a few sites you can sign-up for to get your first online client today.
SolidGigs
SolidGigs is a legit freelance platform for graphic designers looking for how to make money on the internet. What makes SolidGigs different from other freelance websites is that it provides scrutinized gig lists for its members.
This means you don’t have to go through many irrelevant leads before landing a real design project on the internet. All you have to do is sign-up on the platform for free and complete your profile.
After that, SolidGigs uses your information and combs the internet to find the jobs that fit your needs and skillset. This way, you only have to pitch around 15-20 clients every week and only work for those that meet your terms.
You can use the time you save to work on your skills and create graphic design products to maximize your income.
Toptal
Toptal is a go-to platform for professional designers looking for how to make money on the internet. Here, every candidate is thoroughly scrutinized during the sign-up process.
This includes a one-on-one interview session to explore the skills and expertise of the freelancer. Meaning, the platform attracts legit high-paying clients who want good quality, professional designing services.
Once you become a member, you can easily land design projects ranging from simple logo designing to complete digital branding and website design. If you remain consistent and maintain your ratings, you can earn around six figures for every project you complete on Toptal.
Fiverr
You cannot enter into the freelancing world without joining Fiverr. The website connects graphic designers to employers all over the world.
What we love about the platform is its flexibility. You get to post your own gig advertising your designing skills to the masses.
You can also fix your prices, offer different packages, and pitch clients on your terms. However, attributing to the vast number of graphic design freelancers on the platform, it will be challenging to get your first client on Fiverr.
But, once you gain credibility and maintain a positive rating, you can easily earn a passive income through the platform.
Additionally, you can start small with logo or stationery design gigs and then diversify your design portfolio with extensive projects like website designing and app interface creation after you establish yourself on the platform.
3. Submit Designs on Merch by Amazon
Is this new to you? No need to worry – it’s not complicated. As a graphic designer, your opportunities for making money online are limitless. And, Merch by Amazon just made things even better.
This is a program that gives designers a chance to showcase their talents and make some money. To make the idea even more appealing, it’s a source of passive income.
Merch by Amazon just requires your exquisite designs. Once these designs are approved, all you need to do is sit back and relax. And of course, wait to earn.
But before you can pocket some bucks, you need to do some intensive research on the best designs, create attractive work, and submit it to Merch by Amazon, together with price tags.
Amazon, on the other hand, handles everything else from here – right from the listing and production, to delivery of the products to customers. And since it’s a print-on-demand program, there are no additional investment costs on this.
You earn loyalty fees once your designs are bought, making this an incredible form of passive income for you.
4. Participate in Design Competitions
Establishing yourself in the online graphic design community might take some time. That’s because there are so many options available nowadays for employers to try out.
Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean there’s no hope for beginners looking at how to make money on the internet. You can start your career as a freelance designer by participating in design competitions.
99designs
One of the most popular sites for legit graphic design competitions is 99designs.
This website works like any other freelance platform. It connects graphic designers with people who need creative designs for their businesses.
What makes 99designs stand out is its design contests. The site regularly advertises design projects and calls out all its graphic designers to participate.
The winner gets to sell his design to the customer, and make good money. This provides an excellent opportunity for beginners to participate and create an identity for themselves in the freelance graphic design market.
Similarly, you can learn how to market your design skills and maximize your income on the platform through its educational resources. It has an interesting blog complete with educational materials where beginners can sharpen their saws and learn how to make money on the internet.
5. Become a Part-Time Logo Designer
A logo is the face of a company. Nowadays, no business can thrive without an attractive and engaging logo design.
Even small businesses who can’t afford complete design services stretch their budgets to get a good logo deisgn. You can quickly meet this demand by creating logos as a part-time job.
If you’re a professional designer, creating a logo that meets your client’s brief will barely take you about an hour. By working part-time, you can easily make around 2-3 logos every day and sell each for $20-$50.
For graphic designers wondering how to make money on the internet without investing much time, logo designing is the best option.
6. Sell Stickers
This is perhaps the most profitable venture for graphic designers wondering how to make money on the internet. It’s simple and doesn’t take a lot of time.
All you need is access to Photoshop or any other design software and get to work. You can create anything from text-based to illustrative stickers depending on the demand.
If you don’t want to manage inventory or complete tasks like packing and shipping, you can try dropshipping to market your stickers to customers worldwide.
Besides that, you can market your sticker designs on your online store. Etsy and Shopify are some of the most accessible platforms to market creative merchandise in personalized eCommerce stores.
7. Create Designs for Printable Products
Apart from designing digital products and providing online services, graphic designers can create printable products as well.
These include creating graphic imagery for comics and graphic novels. Most people don’t know that comics make up a billion-dollar industry. Thousands of new comic books and hundreds of new graphic novels are released every month.
This means you can get a piece of revenue from this thriving market by selling comic designs online. Selling them online for people who’ll print them eventually will save your shipping and logistic costs.
Similarly, you can sell printable coloring books. It’s common knowledge that coloring books are no longer restricted to children. There’s a profitable market for adult coloring books as well.
Besides that, people prefer to buy innovative designs from self-publishers as compared to traditionally published books. You can create your own designs, print them with your personal trademark, and turn graphic designing into a profitable business.
8. Become a Design Consultant
If you’re already working a full-time job as a graphic designer, you can use your skills to offer freelance consulting services to clients.
Not only can you earn money advising companies on their branding strategies, but you can also create an appealing portfolio for yourself and explore various design concepts.
To start as a design consultant, you’ll have to create a strong design portfolio for yourself on freelance sites like Upwork, Behance, and Dribbble. You can even write guest posts for popular designing blogs to promote your skills and knowledge on the subject.
The best way to get regular consulting gigs is by building your reputation with past clients. This ensures you’ll get consistent work through good ratings and referrals.
9. Conduct Graphic Design Workshops
Nowadays, people are realizing the importance of skill-based learning and are willing to invest in it. That’s why educating other people on design skills is one of the best options for graphic designers wondering how to make money on the internet.
You can create your own workshop, course, or training session and upload it on sites like Udemy and Coursera. The best part is, graphic design is a multi-faceted field. So if you’re an expert, you’ll never run out of topics to teach.
However, you will have to work on your content quality to make sure your buyers get the value for their money. If you don’t do that, you’ll get a bad rating, which will affect the further sales of your resource.
Try to make your resources engaging, accessible, and easy to understand for beginners.
This way, you’ll be able to target a wider audience. Besides that, you can either create a one-time resource to sell online or keep it subscription-based and pump out new content regularly for your followers.
10. Sell Customized Merchandise
If you have the mind of an entrepreneur and a graphic designer’s skills, you can create customized merchandise to sell on the internet.
Start by forming an online store on sites like Etsy. The platform is a hub for creative people generating revenue through art. You can print your designs on mugs, shirts, bags, jackets, stationery, and bedding to sell them worldwide.
Additionally, if you don’t want to manage packaging and delivery, you can try dropshipping your products and earn a passive income.
Final Words
That concludes our list of options for graphic designers asking how to make money on the internet. Graphic designing is one of the most profitable skills these days, but you won’t earn anything if you don’t devise a proper strategy.
Remember, if you want to become a freelance graphic designer, you’ll have to hustle in your initial journey. That’s because there are already many designers waiting to meet the demands of an audience who only wants to pay for the best.
Work hard and create an appealing portfolio to gain credibility in your field. Once you achieve that, you can easily turn freelance graphic designing into your primary source of income.