Are you stuck at a nine-to-five job that you hate? Are you looking for an easier and better way to make an income? Why not do it online?
The internet is the foremost money-making machine. Thousands of people have succeeded making money online. Why not you? In this article, I introduce some effective ways to make money online.
Paid Surveys
There are thousands of companies out there that offer you to take surveys and then pay you for them. Companies need opinions from users and buyers in order to improve their products and services. The internet allows them to reach people who can provide them with reliable data. Yes, that is where you come in.
A paid survey is basically giving your opinion on a service or product and getting paid for it! All you have to do is sign up on a paid online survey site and start earning money!
Ther following are some of the best websites that you can earn some extra cash from surveys.
Survey Junkie
This is one of the easiest, most straightforward survey sites on the web. It is a free membership site where you can earn up to $50 per survey. Survey Junkie has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and millions of members worldwide. You can redeem your points instantly for cash to your bank account, or via PayPal or e-Giftcards.
Swagbucks
This is arguably the most popular paid survey site in the world. Every time you take a survey, you also earn Swagbuck points, which you can later use to redeem gift cards or cash. Swagbucks also offers you other activities such as web-searching, playing games, and watching videos. Depending on the survey and the activity you do on Swagbucks, you will be able to earn between $2 and $50 per survey.
InboxDollars
The great thing about InboxDollars is that it does not practice the point system – it works by offering you cash right away through PayPal or gift cards. You can earn money by taking surveys, playing games, watching videos, and reading emails, but also by buying from selected stores. The surveys on InboxDollars are paid anywhere from 50 cents to $20, and each survey takes 2-25 minutes of your time, depending on its length. InboxDollars gives you $5 if you sign up with them.
Branded Surveys
One of the most popular surveys and market research platforms that pay people for their opinions. It is a great opportunity to work from home and make money by doing surveys from the comfort of your own home.
LifePoints
You can receive points from surveys and then exchange the points for gift cards or cash through PayPal.
Toluna
Toluna is a paid survey site that works with big brands like Coca-Cola, Amazon, Kellog’s, L’Oreal, SONY Music, Fiat, and many more. It is very attractive because it allows you to pick topics you like so you can have more fun doing the surveys. You can receive payment from them in cash or through vouchers. Recently, they have introduced their games section, which allows you to play games and earn money!
i-Say
i-Say offers you paid surveys through IPSOS which is a market research firm. i-Say does not contain as big of a variety of paid surveys as the other sites on this list. However, it is still a very good site you can earn extra cash from. It operates by the points system, but you can always redeem your points either for cash or gift cards.
Google Adsense
Google AdSense is a digital advertising program designed by Google for bloggers, website owners, and YouTubers to use and make money from the ads advertised on Google. Simply sign up with Google Adsense and Google gives you a code to copy and paste onto your website. From there, Google does the rest and you get paid any time someone clicks on your ads and/or makes a purchase.
You can join Google AdSense for free. Also, their eligibility criteria are pretty loose, so even if you have a brand-new blog or site, you will still be able to join.
If you have several websites, you can run the ads from one AdSense account. If you want to use AdSense on YouTube videos, you’ll need to have a minimum of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time.
The success of your AdSense program depends on your niche. Typically, ads that have to do with financial advising and insurance, as well as online education will bring you money faster than niches like electronics, fashion, retail, food, fitness, and health.
The downside of Adsense is that the payouts are generally small. It may take a while to make money from Google Adsense because your new website does not have much traffic. However, when your website has enough traffic, it is a constant income stream for you.
It is important not to cheat by clicking on your own ads. Google can tell and then they will suspend your account indefinitely.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the most lucrative ways to make money online. While the type of affiliates you work with will vary depending on the niche you’re in, keep in mind that some companies will pay you up to $100 per conversion. It’s not too hard to start earning real money with that kind of return on your time.
In the financial planning niche, affiliates include companies like online brokerages, online banks, and financial tools. These kinds of companies pay very good money if you’re willing to promote them.
Affiliate marketing is definitely one of the best ways to make money online. Some people live off affiliate links since they earn four, five, and six figures a month!
Freelance Writing
If you have solid writing skills and can quickly get the hang of all kinds of different topics in a short amount of time, freelance writing is a good way to earn online income.
There are plenty of websites you can search for freelance work. Sign up and list your skills and expertise. Some of the sites may ask for an existing portfolio.
The following are some of the best freelance marketplace websites.
Upwork
If you’ve ever dabbled in freelancing, you must’ve heard about Upwork. It’s a site that offers different kinds of freelance jobs in sectors such as IT, software, and web design, as well as graphic design, writing, translation, engineering, and architecture. It’s a great place to search for freelance work if you’re just starting out. Go here to learn more about Upwork alternatives.
Contently
As the name suggests, this company is aimed specifically at freelance writers. Contently works by connecting writers with top global brands. If you want to sign up for their services, you will have to upload a portfolio, so this is recommended for more experienced writers who have many completed projects and at least a few years’ worth of work experience under their belt.
We Work Remotely
This is another great site to search for freelance work. It offers remote jobs all around the world, for all kinds of tech and writing expertise.
Freelancer
This is an old classic; many established freelancers first started out on Freelancer.
Fiverr
It offers a wide range of freelancing jobs, among which you can find lots of writing and translation gigs as well. Go here to learn more about Fiverr alternatives.
Sell Online Courses
Offering online courses is similar to coaching, which means you need to have a deeper understanding of a certain topic or a set of skills. An online course can be a PDF or a video series. Just keep in mind that you have to deliver the goods and make sure your product is high quality.
The following are websites that will help you set up your own online course.
Udemy
Arguably the most well-known site for online courses, Udemy gives you a vast space in which you can show your talents and expertise.
Teachable
This is a site that allows you to create your very own online courses and offer coaching services. Teachable even offers you a free webinar so you can learn how to get started faster.
SkillShare
SkillShare is another great site that offers lots of categories to people who want to teach online and eager students alike!
Sell Physical Products
There are plenty of online stores and platforms on which you can sell your handmade products, including Etsy, Amazon Handmade, Ruby Lane, Aftcra (for US users only), and Folksy (for UK users only).
You can learn to create an ecommerce store with WordPress and Elementor site builder. Elementor has many done-for-you site templates for different niches. There are also platforms that allow you to create your own store at an affordable price, such as Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, and others.
You can also earn money by launching a dropshipping store. With dropshipping, you do not need to handle the product directly. You work as an affiliate to another brand, business, or creative individual.
5. Sell ebooks
You can write a book about any topic in a hot niche. If you are interested or already an expert in certain topic, other people will be interested in reading and learning from your ebook.
An ebook can be an online guide or a tutorial. For instance, if you are in the nutrition niche, you can create meal plans. If you are in the sports niche, you can create an exercise routine.
You can put yours on your website for sale. However, I would recommend that you sell it through Amazon because there is already tons of traffic. If your ebook is in high quality and high demand, it is not difficult to make some sales. Certainly, it is good to promote ebooks on social media platforms.
If wish, you can make a type of digital subscription in which you will serialize your expertise or knowledge, share step-by-step guides, and churn out fresh and up-to-date content for your subscribers.
The cool thing about a book or an eBook is that, once it’s out there, you can just keep selling it over and over.
Work as a Virtual Assistant (VA)
Bloggers and online business owners could always use a helping hand to take care of some admin work, customer support or post on social media. That is where you come in as a virtual assistant working from your own home.
You can search for VA jobs on the company websites or post your skills on Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, Toptal, PeoplePerHour, Outsourcely, etc.
Flipping Websites
People buy and sell websites all the time for a variety of reasons. And, if you know what to look for, you can consider buying websites that have the potential to help you earn some passive income over time.
If you want to search for websites to buy and later sell, check out Flippa, an online marketplace that offers websites, apps, and digital real estate (like online businesses).
How does it work?
Sometimes, site owners want to sell their website because they do not have the time to continue running their website or they get bored and move on to something else. That is an opportunity for you to own a website especially if you do not want to create a site from scratch.
You can make money from ads that are already running or you can try to get a cheaper site and make it bigger. You can sell the website for more money later or keep it if it works for you.
Another way to make money is to buy and sell domains. Some domains just have good keywords or great word combinations in them, and some gain momentum with time. It is the same idea as with websites – you buy a cheap domain and then you sell it at a higher price.
Some good places to buy and sell domains or websites are Namecheap, GoDaddy and Flippa.
Final words
The above are just some of the practical ways to make money online. There are hundreds other ways that enable you to quit your 9-to-5 job. There are thousands of people, yound and old, who are making a good income from their own home. You should at least give it a try. Since online marketing is a very low cost business compared to a brick and mortar business, you have very little to lose.
The bottom line is – if others can do it, why not you?
