One of the greatest things about the time we live in is the opportunities we have to work from the comfort of our own home and make money online.
Deciding to start an online business and blog has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I don’t have to worry about waking up before the sun or commuting to work. It’s been great.
If you want to make some extra money from home, I hope you’ll enjoy going over this list of 10 ways to make money online.
1. Start a Blog
It’s probably no surprise that I’m a huge advocate for starting a blog. Whenever friends or family mention wanting to work from home, the first thing I suggest is for them to start their own blog!
Starting a blog is not a get rich quick scheme. It will take a lot of hard work, dedication, and persistence if you hope to make a part-time or full-time income with your blog.
If you’re willing to put in the work, there’s no reason why you can’t make money with your blog.
UPDATE: Bluehost has a great deal! If you purchase your hosting through Bluehost for just $3.95 a month, they’ll give you a free domain name.
2. Affiliate Marketing
If you have a blog, affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online. Affiliate marketing is the process of promoting a publishers product or service with your affiliate link.
For each sale that is generated through your unique link, you will earn a commission.
I implemented affiliate marketing into my passive income strategy and was able to increase my affiliate income by over 3150%. I was able to do this by taking a course called Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.
Within a few months time, I went from making $50 a month in affiliate income to over $1,500 a month thanks to Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.
Even if you’re making an extra $100 a month in affiliate income, that’s money that could be used to help pay for your blog or other expenses.
Recommended Reading: 300 Handpicked Affiliate Programs For Bloggers
3. Surveys
I want to start by saying that from my experience, you cannot make a living taking online surveys. However, people have an interest in finding legit survey sites, so I’m including the one’s I’ve tried and recommend below.
Back when I was a college student, I loved taking surveys as a way to make a little extra money on the side. Taking surveys didn’t supplement the income that a part-time or full-time job would provide.
However, I was able to make an extra $50-$75 a month (in cash and rewards) which to me, was pretty decent money considering all I had to do was sit at the computer and answer a few questions.
If you want to start taking surveys as a way to make extra money, keep in mind that there are a lot of scam survey sites out there, so make sure you do your research before signing up with a company. Below are my top 3 legitimate survey companies.
Swagbucks: With Swagbucks, you earn points (Swagbucks) by taking surveys, doing online searches via the Swagbucks search engine, making purchases online, watching videos, and playing free online games.
After you’ve accumulated a certain number of Swagbucks, you can use those points to buy gift cards from merchants like Amazon, Walmart, and PayPal.
CashCrate: CashCrate is another favorite of mine that I highly recommend. CashCrate allows you to earn cash rewards by trying new products, taking surveys, and playing online games. They have a minimum payout of $20, and process payments on the 10th of the following month.
If you want to see proof of their payouts, check out their “payment wall” where real people post screenshots of the payments they’ve received from CashCrate.
Inbox Dollars: Inbox Dollars will pay you cash for watching TV, taking surveys, shopping online, playing online games, and reading the emails that they deliver to your inbox. When you sign up for Inbox Dollars, you will receive a $5 bonus.
5. Become a Virtual Assistant
Due to the increase in people working for themselves online, there’s been a surge in the need for virtual assistants (VA’s). A virtual assistant or VA is a self-employed (typically) office assistant that works online from their home office for other small businesses.
As a virtual assistant, some of your responsibilities may include the following:
- Write or edit blog content
- Manage social media accounts
- Write listing descriptions
- Create marketing graphics (such as Pinterest images)
- Read and respond to emails
- Promote products or services
When it comes to scheduling your clients’ social media, Hootsuite makes it really easy to schedule multiple social media accounts, which is why it’s perfect for virtual assistants.
6. Work as a Captioner
Captioning is the process of transcribing audio to text. That text is then placed onto video files. For example, when you’re watching a video online, and you see the CC (Closed Caption) option, that’s what captioning is.
I recommend checking out the site REV if you’re interested in earning money online as a captioner. As an online captioner with REV, you’re paid per video minute, which means for every minute of the video that you caption, you earn a certain amount of money.
7. Test Websites
As a website tester, it’s your responsibility to make sure websites are running properly. Your exact tasks will vary based on the job you’re assigned. As a website tester, you can earn around $10 for each test, which makes it a good way to make extra money online.
If you’re interested in testing websites, here are a few websites you may want to check out:
8. Open a Shop on Etsy
If you have a hobby or skill that you can earn a profit from, why not sell your work on Etsy? I began my business by selling premade Blogger templates on Etsy. In my 1st year, I was able to make over $6,000 in passive income on Etsy.
If you can create or supply items that are handmade, vintage, or craft supplies, try selling your items on Etsy. Here are a few of the most popular categories on Etsy:
- Clothing and Accessories
- Jewelry
- Craft Supplies and Tools
- Weddings
- Entertainment
- Home and Living
- Kids and Baby
- Vintage
To receive 40 free listings for your new Etsy shop, sign up through this link.
Related Post: What I’ve Learned After 1,000 Sales On Etsy
9. Use Cash Back Programs
Cashback programs can be beneficial if you’re using them to purchase items you would have purchased anyway. Two of my favorite cashback programs are Rakuten and Ibotta.
Rakuten: Rakuten offers cash back at over 2,000 stores whenever you begin your shopping through the Rakuten website. Whenever I shop online, I always check to see if there are cashback opportunities if I shop through Rakuten. When you join Rakuten, you will receive a $10 welcome bonus in the form of either a Walmart gift card or a Rakuten cash bonus (your choice).
MyPoints: Another way to earn money shopping is by shopping with MyPoints. MyPoints allows you to you earn gift cards for shopping online with any MyPoints partner including Walmart, Groupon, eBay and more.
Ibotta: Ibotta is a mobile app that pays you for shopping at your favorite stores. Ibotta works by allowing you to unlock rebates via the app from your favorite stores (such as Walmart, Target, or Best Buy).
When you go shopping and purchase the items that you unlocked, you’ll earn cash back after you scan your receipt to prove that the items were purchased. I love using Ibotta because I’m earning cash back on items that I was going to by anyway. When you join Ibotta, you will receive a $10 welcome bonus.
10. Write an Ebook
Writing your own e-book is an excellent way to make money online. Plus, you get the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve written a book, which is cool.
Last year I wrote and self-published my first e-book “How I Made My First 1,000 Sales on Etsy and How You Can Too!” I published my e-book on Amazon for Kindle, and it received hundreds of downloads within a few months.
Publishing your ebook on Amazon is a great way to gain exposure, however, if your purpose is to earn a decent income, I recommend selling your e-book on your own blog or website.
Related Post: 5 Options for Selling your Digital Products
So there you have it. 10 legit ways to make money online. Do you have any favorite ways to make money online?
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