For many peoples, making money online would be a dream come true. If they could find a way to make money with a website or some other online venture, they could quit their job to focus on entrepreneurship, spend more time with their family, and finally take back control of their time and their lives.
There are 10 ways to make money online Earning money has always been associated with traditional 'offline' ways found in the real world. With the Internet taking over a large part of our lives, more people are looking to ways to earn money online to increase their financial inflows. However, you have to be careful of the platform that you opt for. While there are numerous ways to earn money online, some of these could end up being scams, hence you have to be careful. Also, do not expect to earn a huge amount quickly when using online avenues to earn money.
Here are few online platforms, websites, and resources that can help you earn money online.
1. Freelancing Freelancing has always been a popular way to earn money online and the Internet has a plethora of options. There are several websites offering freelance tasks for people with varying skills. All you need to do is to create your account, browse through the listings, and apply for the task that suits you. Some websites may even require you to create a personal listing with the details of your skill set, so that interested clients can contact you directly. Outfiverr.com, upwork.com, freelancer.com, and worknhire.com are some websites that provide freelance jobs. You can earn anywhere between $5 and $100 through these websites. But remember, you will only be paid once you complete your task and it has been approved by your client. This may even mean revising the work several times unless the requirements of your clients are not met. Some sites may ask you to set up a PayPal account, as most clients prefer to make payments through it.
2. Start your own website There is enough material available online to help create your own website. This includes choosing the domain, templates, and the design for your website. Once ready to service the visitors with the relevant content, sign up for Google Adsense, which when appear on your website and clicked by visitors help you make money. The more the traffic you get on your website, the more will be the potential for higher earnings.
3. Affiliate marketing Once your website is up and running, opt for affiliate marketing by allowing companies to insert web links on to your site. When visitors to your site buy products or services by clicking on such links, you earn out from it.
4. Surveys and searches and reviews There are several websites offering money to undergo online surveys, carry out online searches, and write reviews on products. To get the credit, one needs to disclose certain information to them including one's banking details. This is why you should use this route with utmost care. Some of them may even ask you to register with them before working on projects. The most important watch out in such projects is to stay away from websites offering money that appears too good to be true. Be careful while evaluating the reputation of the website as many of them could be a scam. Most sites promote businesses showing copies of cheque payments which may have been given to the middlemen only.
5. Virtual assistantship Doing all the corporate stuff from one's home is what a virtual assistant (VA) does. VAs basically work remotely with their clients and manage the aspects of their business that they are too busy to handle themselves. When you work as a virtual assistant, you can choose to work as an employee or you can set up your own business. VAs are skilled, home-based professionals that offer companies, businesses, and entrepreneurs administrative support. Some of the major areas of work includes making phone calls, email correspondence, Internet research, data entry, scheduling appointments, editing, writing, book keeping, marketing, blog management, proofreading, project management, graphic design, tech support, customer service, event planning, and social media management. Becoming a VA can entail some degree of training or briefing, depending on your qualifications. However, if you have good communication skills and are capable of using applications like MS Office, you can just sign up on sites such as Elance.com, 24/7 Virtual Assistant, Assistant Match, eaHelp, Freelancer, FlexJobs, People Per Hour, Uassist.Me, Upwork, VaVa Virtual Assistants, Virtual Staff Finder, Worldwide 101, Ziptask, Zirtual and so on. A VA my expect earnings in the range of Rs 500-Rs 4,000 per hour.
6. Translating Knowing a language other than English may even help you earn some extra bucks. There are several websites that offer translation projects that require translating a document from one language into another. This may include Spanish, French, Arab, German, or any other language to or from English. For many, this can make the task rather time-consuming and therefore they hire translators available online from anywhere across the globe. Several websites such as Freelancer.in, Fiverr.com, worknhire.com or Upwork.com offers you a platform to be a professional translator. Those who do not have the knowledge or do not have the time to complete their projects on their own, put up their work on these platforms where you can register and start bidding on translation jobs and get paid in the range of Rs 1-Rs 5 per word. This can go up to Rs 10 for some languages.
7. Web designing Not all business owners are tech savvy but the need of the hour is to have a website of their own. Those who have a knack for all- things- tech, especially related to websites, can help small businesses set up their own websites and earn from it. Coding and web designing are the essential ingredients in setting up websites. Further, websites need maintenance and may require frequent updates, which may add to one's revenue. Depending on the client and job, a single project can fetch you anywhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 1 lakh.
8. Content writing Online platforms can be a good starting point. Depending on the quality of the articles, one gets paid. One may be asked to work upon articles with specific guidelines as well. Develop a niche in your area of expertise and build strength in that domain to increase the revenue stream.
9. Blogging It starts with a hobby, interest, and passion and soon blogging becomes a career option for many bloggers. There are a number of full-time bloggers in the country. There are two ways to start a blog: you can either create a blog through Wordpress or Tumblr, which requires no investment, or go for a self-hosted blog. In case of the latter, you will have to spend money on domain name and server hosting space that can cost you between Rs 3,000-Rs 5,000 a year. Self-hosted blogs have an added advantage that it allows you to customize elements and functionality of your website. In case of the former, you need to make peace with the tools and plug-ins made available by the service provider. You may monetise the blogs through ads, product reviews, and so on. But remember, earning through blogging may also take a lot of time and effort. For some, it may take as long as year to actually earn through blogging.
10. YouTube If you are not comfortable in penning down your thoughts through blogs and content writing, make use of your camera to create a video presentation. Create your YouTube channel, upload videos and start monetising them. Choose a category or subject that you want to make videos on and get started, but make sure it's a topic that will interest a lot of people. Everything from cooking shows to political debates can find many takers on YouTube. You have to create a YouTube channel, which works on a similar model as a blog. As you make your channel popular and the number of subscribers grows, so will your earning potential. The payment one gets is based on every thousand views.