5 Online WordPress Projects You Could Start Today

The prospect of staying inside for any prolonged period can seem a bit strange, especially if you’re someone used to a lot of spinning plates in your day-to-day life. Right now, you might be tempted to sink into a comfy seat and binge on your favorite Netflix series. But there are still ways to stay productive 

Doing something valuable with your time will give you an enormous sense of accomplishment, and keep you occupied. You can do all sorts of things with WordPress. WordPress is a piece of software that allows you to create a website, blog, online store, pretty much anything you can think of. It’s easy to get started with Managed WordPress hosting with EasyWP.

Got a local business? Create a place for potential customers to find you online. Crochet mad? Blog about it and let people in on some valuable tips. How does making some extra cash sound? What I’m trying to say is, you can stay at home and get some cool stuff done — and everyone is capable of it with WordPress. It’s beginner-friendly, quick to set up, and it won’t cost you more than a few dollars to take on the projects on this page.

1. Sell Products Online

Why not use the extra time to generate some money. All you need is an Internet connection, and the motivation to master digital marketing. 

• Affiliate marketing 

Affiliate marketing is an online marketing technique where merchants (shops and brands) pay commission to people who successfully promote their products and services. When someone buys through your tracking link, you earn a commission. This means you don’t have the hassle of actually selling a product, including a stock inventory, process payments or deal with returns. 

If you’re already blogging about something you’re passionate about, affiliate marketing is the simplest way to make some money. With a blog, you’ve got the foundation to earn extra money by adding affiliate offers or ads. 

The best way to get started is to find affiliate products you like and use, and promote them to others. You can promote a wide range of products and services, from dating apps to yoga mats, Nintendo games and everything in between. 

Chances are, you’ve come across affiliate marketing from small-time bloggers like Quidditch blog above. It answers to everything a keen Harry Potter fan could possibly want to know about the fictional sport (plus affiliate links to Harry potter products on Amazon). 

On the other end of the affiliate spectrum, This Is Why I’m Broke is a full-blown e-commerce store that taps into pop-culture and Internet trends. TIWIB finds strange items that appeal to people’s sense of fun, pouncing on consumer trends to seal sales. 

As far as affiliate marketing goes, anything goes. And anyone can make money doing it. 

WordPress is a great solution to monetize a website through dropshipping. Affiliate marketing plugins, like this one for Amazon Affiliates, are a fantastic way to do it. If you’ve already got a WordPress website or blog, use a plugin like Pretty Links to make money from the content you already have. Or start something from scratch. Either way, follow our guide to launch your affiliate empire.

• Dropshipping

There’s also something called Dropshipping which requires little to no investment. Dropshipping is a type of business model that lets you start an e-commerce store without having to buy an inventory of stock, ever. 

You as the retailer sell products which are then shipped to the customer directly from the manufacturer, distributor, or supplier. Basically, you act as the middleman, collecting orders from customers and transferring them to online retailers like AliExpress, and Amazon. The shipment of orders takes place as and when an order comes in. 

While this might sound far fetched, it’s straightforward, and plenty of people are making money this way. Most notably, Galvin Bay once sold up to $60k in a single day. 

Just like affiliate marketing, it’s up to you which products you wish to promote, and there’s plenty of them. For example, Dog Pawty is a dropshipping niche store. Mooshe Socks is another example of dropshipping done well. 

Thanks to low barriers to entry, anyone can get started. Just like any other business, the harder you work at dropshipping, the more you will be able to earn. It takes some time to get off the ground, but once up and running, dropshipping can turn into a nice source of passive income.

WordPress plugin WooCommerce has everything you need to get an eCommerce store up, running and profitable. To run a dropshipping store with WordPress, this step-by-step guide from WPBeginner has everything you need to know. 

2. Blog About Your Passions

Blogging is the easiest and most enjoyable when you’re passionate about a topic. The best reads are when people share expertise. Are you a foodie with recipes to share? Do you have a real-life quidditch league? Maybe gaming is your thing. Whatever you’re into, creating a blog is a great way to share your passion, and connect with people that share your interests. 

My Nintendo News used WordPress to blog about the company’s various consoles.

There are so many other reasons to start a blog. It’s a fantastic creative outlet, and you’ll take a lot of satisfaction from inspiring an audience of friends, family, and the entire world! There’s also the potential for financial gain – if you stick with it. Taking the time to create posts allows the potential for self-growth. It’s also a great writing experience, and you’ll develop skills and knowledge by researching content and publishing posts. 

Blogging will connect you with kindred spirits passionate you’re the same things you are. Join a whole host of beautiful and popular blogs built with WordPress. The blogosphere is a welcoming place, and with EasyWP WordPress hosting, you can start yours in a matter of minutes. Here’s our guide to starting your own website. 

3. Create an Online Community

Spending time away from friends, family, and co-workers is tough on everyone. And while nothing can replace real-life interaction, it’s possible to create a sense of community from a distance. 

The Internet is a vast space for connecting and networking. You can make that space a friendly one by creating your own online community. With WordPress plugins, you can build an online forum to talk to engage with like-minded people, or a private social media network to keep your intimate chats between a select group.  

• Online Forum

An online forum is like a message board where online discussions take place. People visit forums to hold conversations about topics they’re interested in or to ask for advice from the community. You can start your own online forum with WordPress with plugins like BBPress.

AngryBirdsNest is a great example of community engagement through a forum. Thanks to BBPress, an entire community of Angry Birds fans are in touch. Sharing tips, or simply chatting with their ‘fellow nesters’. And this small forum to bring together the University of Utah Sports fan community. 

• Social Network

With your own social network, you can stay in touch with friends and family, on your own terms. With WordPress free BuddyPress plugin, you’re no longer at the mercy of a third-party service like Facebook. Everyone you want can create a profile and communicate from one single place. You can even add a calendar of events. This way, you can add an event like ‘family video catch up’, and you can be sure everyone knows when to jump on Skype. 

Better still, add a link in the event to live streaming from Whereby. With Whereby, no one needs to set up an account, just click the link to launch the live video stream. It’s even got Youtube Integration to play your favorite songs and hilarious clips to everyone in the room. Friday nights are looking up!

To launch your social networking site with WordPress, follow this guide from WP Beginner.

4. Showcase Your Work Online

You’ve been meaning to do it, but never got round to creating a portfolio of your work online. Now’s the time. You can build a professional portfolio that shows your photos, paintings, poems (and more), the way you want them to be seen.

With free WordPress themes, you can build a professional portfolio site, where you can sell your work and advertise your services. Take a look at the examples below. Both were made with WordPress using portfolio theme templates. For inspiration for your online portfolio, take a look at the examples below.

Further Reading: How to Create an Awe-Inspiring Artist Website, How to Create to A Successful Digital Portfolio

5. Create a Local Business Website

Building a website for your local business prepares for the day normal service is resumed. Once you can open your doors again to the public, a business website can help make up any lost revenue. There’s some compelling research to suggest all local business need a website:

• 46% of Google searches are for local businesses, SEO Tribunal
• “Near me” searches have increased more than 500% in the past few years, Bright Local

Websites are valuable for businesses of any size because they help potential customers find you, and you can market your products or services. Potential customers are searching for a business like yours, close to them. If they can’t Google search for your business you’re missing out on a lot of income. You can fix that with a website, and it shouldn’t cost you more than a few dollars a year (yes really). 

Take a look at the screenshot below. Jocelyn Petroni’s website for her skin and nail salon is a great example of a well-organized WordPress website. Everything is in one place; customers can navigate through testimonials, the latest blogs, and media coverage. Best of all. there’s an option to make an appointment directly. Without a doubt, this type of local business website has a competitive edge.

There are WordPress theme templates suitable for any kind of business. Small local businesses are particularly well catered for with categories covering every trade going.

Next step, list your business with a link to your website in Google My Business. The search inquiry below illustrates how this works. Google adds the nearest or most relevant (listed) businesses to the top of the search results page and to Google Maps to help people find them.

You might not have pursued creating a website because you don’t have the skills nor the time to build a fully functional site, until now. WordPress is one of the easiest ways to build a professional-looking business website. To start yours, follow Namecheap’s guide to making a small business website.

Further Reading: Optimize a Small Business for Local Voice Search

Start an Online Project Today!

Hopefully, this blog has given you some ways to make the most of staying at home. Whether you want to start a blog, launch your local business online, or bring your portfolio to the masses, these projects could be the start of something big. All the tips on this page are possible with WordPress. In fact, the five tips on this page are just the tip of the iceberg. 

As you’re starting out with WordPress, you might want to consider managed hosting. This takes the cumbersome steps out of installing WordPress, and leaves the hard stuff for the host to take care of. At least that’s how it works with EasyWP. Using EasyWP, you can start a WordPress website in minutes, and connect it to any domain name. You also get quality support, as and when you need it. 

If this has got you all inspired, and you really do want to start today, it just so happens that our #GetCreativeToday initiative is on, which could help you save on turning your idea into a reality.

Are you planning a WordPress project? Have you tried any of these tips? We’d love to hear about your experience in the comments below.