If you’re like most of us, you spend quite a bit of time online every day, whether you’re checking the news, posting on social media, or spending time on your favorite sites for entertainment. If you want to turn that time into money, though, there are several approaches to making money online that might work for you and your circumstances. Here are eight ways you can use the Internet to make money without needing any special skills or training.
1) Sign up for affiliate programs
Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money online. Affiliates promote products through their own sites and get a percentage of each sale they send. Although Amazon dominates affiliate marketing, you don’t need to use it exclusively; other programs like Google AdSense and ShareASale are also good resources for affiliate marketers. If you’re wondering how much money can be made through affiliate marketing, keep in mind that it requires a significant amount of traffic before even thinking about reaching out for bigger commissions; some common affiliate offers include 15% or 30% commissions with additional bonuses if you reach high sales numbers. Of course, that all depends on what niche you’re promoting.
2) Use your professional skills
People always need help with something. Many skills fall under what you could consider professional—from writing and graphic design, to IT help and customer service. If you have an area of expertise, start freelancing in your free time using sites like Fiverr, Freelancer or Upwork. Just be sure to double check all work for accuracy; if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Always make sure any companies are hiring legitimate employees before signing on with them. You may also want to try working with smaller firms as a contractor first before interviewing for a full-time job, as these can often be more flexible that way.
3) Accept payments from people in your area
If you live in a big city, there’s probably someone who wants your services—and if you offer these services online, people will pay for them. Amazon Mechanical Turk is a service that lets you complete small tasks for other people and receive payment via Amazon gift cards. It’s not technically a get-rich-quick scheme because you’ll have to complete some of those micro jobs before your money adds up.
4) Build an online course and sell it
One of today’s hottest methods for earning income online is by creating a course, webinar or even a PDF document and selling it. However, if you want to sell your knowledge or expertise on a topic—whether on something general like blogging or photography, or niche-specific like cooking or graphic design—building an online course with Udemy is one of the easiest ways to do so. The website offers all kinds of tips and tools for designing your class and making it successful.
5) Start a blog or YouTube channel
If you're a blogger or videographer, it's pretty easy to monetize your hobby. Whether you make money with affiliate links, display ads or sponsored posts, blogging can be lucrative. You don't need millions of views either. While top YouTube stars like PewDiePie and Lilly Singh have tens of millions of subscribers, there are still plenty of ways for niche creators who get a few thousand views per video to make money on YouTube every month—which isn't that difficult if you have an engaged audience and aren't afraid to ask for money in exchange for extra content (remember: YouTube is huge but also small). If you're serious about making it big on YouTube, though, I suggest you start from square one with our complete guide on how to become a YouTube creator.
6) Drive for Uber, Lyft, or Sidecar
Ridesharing services like Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar can be a great way to earn cash when you need it. If you have a car, use that to your advantage! You can also partner with drivers if you don’t have one of your own. I’ve seen drivers who rent their cars out through Turo (formerly RelayRides) drive for Uber at night and then put their cars up on Turo during the day when they aren’t using them.
7) Sell junk
There are a lot of ways to make money without any investment, one of which is by selling stuff you no longer need. If you have old textbooks, CDs, or games lying around gathering dust in your basement, put them up for sale on sites like Craigslist and eBay. If you’re not tech-savvy enough for that kind of thing—or if paying storage fees is just a waste of your time—there are plenty of apps out there that let you sell things online quickly and easily.
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