How To Make Money In Brazil – The Set-Up

The Set-Up

Before reading this article, you should check out How To Start An Online Business & Live In Brazil.

This article is Part 2 in a 5 part series about how to start an online business so you can live in Brazil or visit when you want.

If you read Part 1 and felt inspired to start a website, I salute you. 98% of people who read it won’t.

This series is one half my journey, one half your journey. Keep reading Rio In A Week, but also figure out how you can make money online so you can live wherever you want.

One common question that people have who are interested in living in Brazil:

How do you make money in Brazil online?

If you are young and you don’t feel like waiting for your pension to kick in when you’re 60, this article is for you.

I’ve already explained how people make money online in Part 1. In Part 2, I will explain the set up; the pre game before the real work begins.

Why Dollars Matter

In my article 5 Ways To Fund Your Life In Brazil, I mentioned a few ways about how you could potentially fund your life in Brazil while keeping your money in dollars.

You could:

  • Work for a U.S. company with a Brazilian location (difficult/unlikely for most people)
  • Create passive income with an online business
  • Fundraise your life abroad with a site like GoFundMe (unlikely)
  • Already be wealthy (unlikely)

While we never know what the future holds, the reais is valued at 3.69 BRL to 1 USD at the time of this article.

The Brazilian economic forecast predicts it will stay this way for at least a couple of more years after the 2016 Olympics.

What does that mean?

It means for a very modest amount of money, you could live in Brazil relatively cheap as long as you keep your money in USD.

This is why I don’t recommend teaching English as your main source of income if you can avoid it. Getting paid in reais is not the best move if you want a decent standard of living in Brazil.

For just $1,000, you have R$3,695.

 

For $2,000, you got R$7,365.

 

This isn’t chump change people. In America, $2,000 per month isn’t much at all. In Brazil, it’s very comfortable.

If you could figure out a way to earn $2,000 online per month, do you think you would have a good time in Brazil?

The Start-Up Costs

Like I mentioned in Part 1, making money online is the best and most logical way to make a living in Brazil today.

  1. There is no age discrimination. Anyone can create a website.
  2. You can live anywhere and still make money.
  3. Your customer reach is almost limitless. There are billions of people online as you read this.

 

Source: Internet Live Stats

And one of the most attractive reasons for starting an online business is the low start-up costs. The costs of starting an online business/blog is nowhere near the same as opening a physical storefront.

At least, you’ll need around $30,000 to open up a small business in a major city in America.

Online, you only need a couple hundred bucks. And people even start online businesses for less.

The Set-Up

You don’t need a lot to get started. After you know what your niche will be, you have to:

  • Pick a domain name
  • Choose a website hosting provider
  • Buy a website theme
  • Sign up to an email list service
  • Create your social media profiles

You’ll literally be in “business” in 24 hours.


Step 1 – How To Make Money In Brazil Online

CHOOSE A DOMAIN NAME

To be honest, I have no idea how I came up with Rio In A Week. It just popped in my head one day while I was hanging out with a woman friend.

But I knew from the first time I said it out loud that it was perfect and described exactly what I wanted my site to be.

Most people are only going to Brazil for one week. A simple vacation. They want to know about Brazil before they go. But not everything about the country.

And most importantly:

They want to read about Brazil from a real perspective.

You can easily google Brazil and read Wikipedia or Lonely Planet. But those sites are boring and they aren’t real. You don’t get a real sense of the person who wrote those articles and tour guides about Brazil.

At Rio In A Week, whether you agree with my perspective or not, you know it’s coming from a person who is writing from the heart and isn’t telling you something because they got paid $100 to write the article.

So, Step 1 – Pick a domain name that perfectly describes what your blog is about.

 

I recommend buying a domain from Namecheap.

Make it as short and memorable as possible. Rio In A Week is simple and to the point. It’s rare that someone misspells it.

Idea Pop Quiz

Let’s say you are starting a blog about young men who are losing their hair. Your target audience are men in their twenties and early thirties who are going bald.

What type of website name would you choose for this blog? Is it short and to the point? Would young guys losing their hair remember it?

NOTE: Don’t just stop at purchasing a domain name for your blog. Buy your name too!

Why?

Check out this article for the reason: JebBush.com redirects to Trump’s site

CHOOSE HOSTING SERVICE

Not only do you need a domain name but you need a hosting provider too where your website will actually “live”.

There are a lot of hosting providers available, but I’ve only used Bluehost and Dreamhost. I recommend them because they are affordable, have great customer service and the hosting is excellent for a new website.

You really don’t need anything more.

Website hosting recommendations: Bluehost, Dreamhost


Step 2 – Creating The Website

Like I mentioned in Part 1, if you are serious about making money online, you have to create a real website.

Don’t use WordPress.com. Use WordPress.org. There is a big difference.

The Difference Between WordPress.com & WordPress.org

Bluehost makes it simple to create your website on WordPress.org.

 


 

Step 3 – Website Resources

Below are some resources and products I am always recommending to people.

Usually people ask me the same questions.

  1. How do I start a website?
  2. How do I make money online, I want to be location independent?

I’ve used these products myself and stand by them 100%. If you do choose to buy anything below, I will receive a small commission. You will not be charged extra for this.

Domain Name

Namecheap. The name says it all.

Hosting Services

Again, I recommend Dreamhost and Bluehost for hosting a website.

I started this blog with Dreamhost and I have nothing but good things to say about the hosting company. Their customer service was fast and efficient. They have WordPress One-Click Install that makes setting up your site quick and easy. I had Rio In A Week set up in an hour.

Get $50 off a hosting plan with Dreamhost by using the link below.

$50 Discount For Dreamhost Basic Website Hosting Plan

Bluehost is my current hosting service. The biggest reason I switched to Bluehost from Dreamhost is because I wanted to try something new. I always heard great things about the company so I wanted to check it out for myself.

Their hosting plans are affordable and convenient as well. I recommend Bluehost to anyone who wants to make money online and become location independent.

Sign up with Bluehost by clicking this link

And make that cash.


Website Design

There’s no discussion. Use WordPress.org. Not WordPress.com

If you want to build a great site, don’t use those free website builders. Use WordPress.org. It might look difficult, but it isn’t.

I am not a website design expert. You can make a site just like this one.

Theme Forest – Rio In A Week uses the Brixton WordPress Blog theme from www.themeforest.net. Early readers remember when this blog first got started. It wasn’t pretty. I’ve put money into this site so people can enjoy reading it. If you are serious about starting a website, you should buy a professional site theme too.

SumoMe helps you get more traffic by making your site more sharable. That social media slider on the left is by SumoMe. Why don’t you share this page?

Business Books

Read these books if you haven’t already.

4-Hour Work Week

How To Get Rich

The Millionaire Fastlane

Other website tools

Fiverr – Great website to get things done cheaply. From logos to eBook covers to business promotion, you can find a lot of great things on Fiverr.

Snappa.io – I made most of the blog covers on Rio In A Week on this site. It’s really easy to use and there are templates if you aren’t design savvy.

Canva – This is another great website for design. I designed the Before You Go To Rio eBook cover using Canva. You can create Facebook cover photos, Instagram photos, Twitter headers and much more with this handy site.

Mailchimp – My preferred email list service provider. It’s free until you get to 2,000 email subscribers. It’s really easy to use.


Step 4 – The Early Stages Of Building A Readership

So far, so good right?

  • You got your perfect domain name from Namecheap
  • Your hosting plan with Bluehost is signed, sealed and delivered for your entire first year.
  • You completed your 1-Click Install with WordPress.org and you have a good-looking theme from Themeforest.
  • And you bookmarked resources that will help your website like Fiverr, Snappa, Canva, SumoMe, etc.

On to the fourth step to make money in Brazil: building an audience.

Your blog is like a TV show and you need people to tune in. What do you do?

Social Media

Social media will be your greatest focus for the first year you are creating content for your blog. Why?

Because Google doesn’t take your website seriously until it knows you will be around for a while and that you are actually making content worthy of showing up on a Google search.

Many new bloggers don’t understand this. They get confused when they don’t have steady traffic after one month.

Patience is key when it comes to Google. Only the patient win.

Your focus on getting readers will be taking your blog straight to the people.

And where do the people hang out online?

  1. Facebook
  2. Twitter
  3. Tumblr
  4. Pinterest
  5. Instagram
  6. Reddit
  7. Quora
  8. Yahoo Answers
  9. Online forums

So, creating your social media profiles is important and one of the first things you do when you start a website.

At least create a Facebook and Twitter page.

Email Subscriber List

If you don’t do anything else right in the beginning stages of your website, at least do this.

Set up a way to get email subscribers.

When you read Rio In A Week, you see these email opt-ins:

Your email list is the most important tool when it comes to making money. Visitors come and go. But the readers who sign up to your email list clearly said:

I like your website. I want to know more. I will give you my email so you can contact me.

With an email list, you can:

  1. Let your most interested readers know when you published a new blog article
  2. Send offers to them or let them know about products you are selling
  3. Touch bases and tell them something interesting about your blog niche
  4. Ask them focused questions, so you can give them what they want

Again, your email list is important in the long run but also during the beginning stages of your website.

Don’t avoid it.

More on how to build a readership: The Complete Guide To Building Your Blog Audience


Step 5 – Content Planning

Before you start writing articles, you should brainstorm about what you should write. I’ll briefly go over two key points about content planning that every new blogger should remember.

  1. What Does Your Audience Want
  2. The Different Types Of Content

What Does Your Audience Want

Your content will be based on what your readers want. Well, what exactly is content?

Content is how you give your information to the public.

Youtubers show the world their content with videos. Podcasts give information to their audience via audio. Rio In A Week is a blog that primarily uses written articles to show content.

You should know how your audience likes to receive information from you. For example, I sent out a survey in December 2015 to people subscribed to my email list.

I asked them how do they like to learn about Brazil. From memory, I listed the following choices:

  • Video
  • Written Articles
  • Podcasts
  • eBooks

By far, written articles won. With that information, I can either focus most of my time on writing more articles which will make my core audience happy or waste my time doing something else that no one would really pay attention to.

For now, I will focus on writing more but I will also survey my email list again since it is larger now.

I also asked: What do you want to know about Brazil?

They told me and I have planned my content around it. Subscribe so you can let me know what you want to see on Rio In A Week on my April 2016 survey.

The main point about knowing what your audience wants is this: don’t waste your time creating content your readers don’t want.

Don’t take advice from random people who don’t read your blog or don’t fit your target audience. Go to the readers who actually signed up to your email list and enjoy your content.

Your readers have questions and problems. Your website and online business should answer those questions and solve those problems.

How do you make money as an entrepreneur? You solve problems.

The easiest way to know what problems your audience has?

Ask them.

NOTE: At first you won’t have an email list to ask your audience questions. That’s why social media is so important. Go on websites where your readers already are and read what they are talking about and what questions they are asking. That will give you more than enough information in the beginning.

The Different Types of Content

 

Rio In A Week now has: blog articles, FAQ’S, pictures, a quiz and a resource page.

I recommend sticking with the Big 3: Written articles, YouTube videos, Pictures.

  • Articles are great for evergreen content and getting Google to like your website. Keywords are still important in 2016. I’ll explain keyword research in Part 3.
  • YouTube videos will continue to drive traffic and money to online businesses. People like to watch content.
  • Pictures are easily shareable. Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest and Tumblr are killing the game for a reason. People love photos.

My content list is very simple. There are many more ways to produce content. But do you need to know more to make money and start your website?

Probably not.


There’s a lot more to learn about content planning, website design, building a readership, etc. But this is all you need to know when you are getting started.

Sometimes you can hurt yourself by reading TOO much. Too much information can keep you from doing what you should be doing:

Taking action.

If you’ve read Part 1 and now Part 2, you have more than enough knowledge to get the ball rolling.

In my next article, it’s all about work.

  • Keyword Research/SEO
  • Knowing What Content To Produce (Video/eBooks/Podcasts)
  • How To Get People To Read Your Blog
  • How To Choose What To Sell & When To Sell Something (Don’t make the same mistake as me)
  • Keeping A Positive Mindset & Staying Focused

I hope you didn’t think it was going to be easy. I’m not selling a dream or a scam. This isn’t going to be quick. Real money takes time.

That’s why you have to start now.