Make money online fast —
20 REAL ways people make money online.Cathy is in need of a legitimate way to make money online fast. She writes in: “I was a nurse for almost 30 years when I became disabled from a car wreck. I am a very tough person (I’m a redhead!) I went out last October and bought a new PC to try and make money online, but all I have succeeded in doing is getting further in debt. I know you know what I mean by all the scams that I fell into.
I have been reading A LOT and trying to learn as much as I can. I have run into conflicting stories, though. I just don’t know where to start. I am not a computer tech, nor that knowledgeable about how to start. I am NOT asking for a handout; just a helping hand in the right direction.
I’m not expecting to make tons of money today, but ANYTHING to help me get started in the right direction. I have saved thousands of lives and now I can’t even get through the month without running out of food!”
Cathy has the right attitude — she’s not looking for a get-rich-quick scheme, but instead a legitimate way to make some extra money online.
Having been sucked into some scams myself in the past, I know how difficult it can be to find real ways to make money online fast. Thus, I’ve compiled this list. Some ways require knowledge of certain skills, but all these skills can be learned. If you don’t know where to start, I suggest picking one of these ways and learning more about it, then trying it out!
Note: None of the 20 ways listed below contain affiliate links (that is, links that make me money if you click on them.) This list is for your benefit, not mine. Enjoy!
1. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.
Mechanical Turk is a great way to make some extra cash. You probably won’t make much more than a few dollars an hour, but it’s also dead simple to complete many of the tasks. Most tasks take less than a minute to complete and pay a few pennies. If you do a lot of MTurk, it could add up to at least some fun spending money. Sign up for free, then complete qualifications to earn access to higher-paying tasks.
2. Sell stock photos.
iStockPhoto is just one site that allows you to sell stock photos; there are others. Before you decide to go crazy and upload your whole album, take note of what’s selling well and try your hand at doing something similar. iStockPhoto also works for those who know how to render images; some of their most popular images were created on a computer! Have three killer stock photos ready for iStockPhoto’s inspection; they will want them when you sign up.
3. Sell stuff on eBay.
Start by selling your own extra stuff. Then, once you get a feel for selling your extra stuff, go door-to-door in nicer neighborhoods in your town. Develop an eye for what will sell and what won’t (old laptops, for instance, could be a gold mine–if you know how to format them to get rid of the previous owner’s personal data.) Sign a contract where you take 25-30% (or more) of the gross sale. Your customers will be happy to get cash for their old junk, and you’ll make some good money selling other people’s stuff. eBay
4. Become a freelance article writer.
It may not pay well, but there is a growing demand for this. Write 200-300 word articles and submit them to article directories. Potential clients include bloggers, marketers, and small businesses. You can write articles in a niche in batches and sell them as a package to one or more clients, or you can offer your services for hire per word or article and let your client give you direction. A foundation of keyword research is important to succeed at this job (unless you’re just taking direction from a client), but keyword research is learnable.
5. Write articles for magazines or other publications.
If you have a background in journalism, or just a passion for it, you can try your hand at submitting articles to publications. Don’t just randomly fire off articles, however; have a plan and, preferably, a contact at the publication you wish to submit to. The good news is that there are publications in pretty much any niche you can think of. To see some publications that are hiring, visit Online Writing Jobs, PoeWar Freelance Jobs, and Writing.com.
6. Transcribe audio files.
An easy job; doesn’t pay well, but also a quick way to make some money. Sign up on eLance or oDesk to start, and/or advertise your services in entrepreneur forums. Requires good hearing and a good command of the English language. You may also want to invest in a foot pedal if you plan to transcribe often. Make sure you know how to transcribe interviews before you start your first job.
7. Become a virtual assistant (VA).
There are entire books written on how to become a virtual assistant, so this job is definitely worthy of more research. My advice: Focus on one niche (I just hired Lisa Morosky of VA for Bloggers, for instance.) Also, reach out to potential customers directly and let them know what you can do for them instead of hitting up freelance web sites. Finally, you may want to consider resources such as AssistU, which provides training for up-and-coming virtual assistants.
8. Write articles on eHow.com.
If you understand the basics of keyword research, you can make a good monthly income from eHow. eHow pays you a percentage of the ad revenue they make from each “How to” article you create. You can crank out a few articles a day with relative ease. Try this for a month; assuming your article titles match up with what people are searching for in Google, you can make a significant income. The great news is that you write your articles once and get paid month after month. I’ve seen figures of $100-$150/month for 30 articles. Make money writing for eHow.com.
9. Do some videos to promote affiliate products.
Enjoy making silly videos? Even short, silly videos can sell products online. Find an product worth promoting that has an affiliate program, then target your video toward potential customers of that product. In your video summary on YouTube, place your affiliate link for the product, and after the video, do a 30-second still frame showing a short URL where people can buy the product. If your video is funny, informative, or useful, you may sell some products. Big tip: Try to promote a product that makes you a fair amount of money for each sale, but doesn’t cost a whole lot for the potential customer. You can find products on Commission Junction, for one.
10. Write an ebook targeted to people who need help.
Alexis Dawes created a product called “Desperate Buyers Only”. I interview her for an upcoming case study on Inspiring Innovators, where she mentions that she is able to make up to $97 from ebooks as small as 12 pages. The key? Finding people who are incredibly desperate for the information you provide and then doing good research to find a real solution to their problems. The result? Happy customers whose problem is solved, and money for you — a win-win situation! Caveat: It may be tough to find a real desperate buyer niche (Alexis reveals some in her case study). Here are some hints: When were you last in a situation where information would have either saved you a lot of money or a lot of pain? Has someone else close to you been in a situation where they could have used information to avert pain? Think legal, medical, and financial niches.
11. Build a small niche website.
Yes, you can make money online.I run a few small niche websites. For instance, How to Convert PDF is a tiny site that has free videos on how to convert other types of documents into PDF format. It sells a piece of software called PDF Creator, and I make a few dollars every time someone buys from that site. I promoted the site using pay-per-click ads and it was profitable. Don’t copy me directly, but do find the intersection of people needing help and a tool, ebook, or software program that will help them fix their problem. Then, create a website designed to get them to buy it!
12. Help local businesses develop an online presence.
Local businesses are struggling. Many have websites, but aren’t getting any results from them. Others don’t have websites at all. You can help by learning search engine optimization, how to set up an email list, and more, and then implementing these for local businesses. If you typically hang around geeks, web marketers, or the Web 2.0 crowd, you may be surprised how many business owners are 10 years (or more) behind you! If you can deliver results, business owners will happily pay. Find customers by going door-to-door.
13. Learn Wordpress, then offer to install plugins and upgrade it.
I hired David from Web Geek 4 Hire to upgrade my blogs and install new Wordpress plugins. He charges $5 to upgrade a plugin…great for him, since most plugins only take a few minutes to upgrade, and great for me, since if anything breaks, David gets to clean up the mess! You can make this a full time position; there is a ton of demand for these services. Find customers by contacting bloggers directly. Get references from bloggers who understand the value of outsourcing these tasks.
14. Become the go-to person for installations of a particular piece of software.
Anything from Amember to Quickbooks is fair game here. In the hosting industry, iDevAffiliate and Plesk Billing were the pieces of software we would have paid a lot of money to have someone else deal with. The more niche and more complex/annoying/frustrating the software, the better! Even if the software company offers free installation, you can make hundreds or thousands of dollars training business owners or their employees on its usage. Focus on one piece of software and become the trusted expert. Create videos and tutorials using screencast software like Camtasia to increase your profitability; this may also lead into a niche product that you can sell. (Amember offers “free installation”, but it took my boyfriend and I over 10 hours to configure it properly. That’s definitely something I would outsource next time!)
15. Interview other people and sell the interviews.
I experimented with this in 2008 and made over $800 from one interview. The key here is to understand a pain point that people are experiencing, interview an expert, and ask the expert the questions that the people experiencing the problem are having. Then create a small website and sell the interview. There’s more to this, including having good copywriting skills so your website sells the interview well, and knowing where to advertise, so don’t expect to immediately pull in hundreds of dollars. That said, it’s a neat way to quickly create a product. Get the interviews transcribed, then string a few interviews in the same industry together as a membership site or bundle that you can sell for more money.
16. Become a freelance “web geek.”
From configuring a shopping cart to installing and tweaking blog themes, there are virtually unlimited projects out there for geeks who enjoy working with small business owners to get them up and running online. Find people looking for web geeks on the Warrior Forum or other places where entrepreneurs gather.
17. Enter logo and design contests.
Fancy yourself a good designer? Try your hand at creating a logo or other design that a company loves! 99 Designs is the most popular marketplace. Beware, however; you won’t get paid unless your logo wins against many others, which makes many designers unhappy. In my opinion, this is a great way for a budding designer to build a portfolio and learn quickly what clients love.
18. Create Twitter backgrounds and e-covers.
Competition is stiff, but if you are a savvy designer, this is a good way to pick up extra dollars. Even better, if you are an artist, this is a good way to make your art skills pay off. Consider that every design will need to have a reason why the customer should buy the book or follow that person on Twitter to have a real impact. Twitter backgrounds, in particular, are in hot demand right now. For measurements and caveats of Twitter backgrounds, read “How to create your own Twitter background.”
19. Submit websites or blog posts to social media websites.
Not very exciting work, but in high demand from bloggers and small businesses. This involves setting up accounts on all of the social bookmarking services and then bookmarking your clients’ websites or latest blog posts to help them get more traffic. You may be competing against software that does this, but in many folks’ opinions, it’s better to have a real person do it. Even better is if you can goose your accounts with plenty of friends and become a star on a few of the services; then every site you bookmark has higher credibility and you can charge more. To get an idea of the social media sites you will need to sign up for, start at socialmarker.com.
20. Edit audio for others.
This is something that is fairly easy to learn and also in high demand. On Windows, one good program to edit audio is Sony Sound Forge. I use Sound Forge Audio Studio, but if you are doing this professionally, you might consider the upgrade to Sound Forge 9. Get the hang of editing out “um”s and “ah”s from audio. Even better is understanding the “flow” of an interview conversation and editing out portions that don’t make sense. Finally, learning to find and add intro music really gives podcasts that professional touch. Advertise your services on oDesk or eLance. I pay people to do this for the podcasts I am setting up on Inspiring Innovators, and it’s a job that can definitely be done from your house.
Which One Will You Try? Let Me Know…
There you have it…20 ways for you to make money online fast. Now it’s your turn! I’d like to know which of these methods you would like to hear more about. Please let me know by taking 30 seconds to post a comment below, and I will write more about the most-requested topics.
This post took approximately 6 hours to compile, including research. I’d appreciate it if you would support my efforts by Stumbling this post, bookmarking it on Delicious, and Digging it. Finally, if you are not already receiving my free business tips, jump on board! Every week I’ll send you a thought-provoking post about how to build your business and make more money. You won’t want to miss what I have in store for you… Get my free business tips!
Recommended Reading:
- How to Choose A Business. How do you choose which business (out of many ideas) you will actually run with? I discuss my strategy.
- Trouble Finding a Job? You May Have to Change Your Perspective. How one person found so much work she became unavailable, while many others in her same niche suffered through layoffs and low pay.
- Three Business Ideas That Thrive in A Recession. Want to start a business? Now may be the best time. Here, I give you some ideas on how to appeal to customers during this recession.
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21. July 2009 at 6:26 am
These ideas are basic. The money get you will get is minimal for the time involved and I value my time (REAL hourly wage) much more. There are some exceptions in the list though that gave me ideas.
21. July 2009 at 6:38 am
Hi! Thanks for your comments!
@Tyler: Many of these are for people with no tech skills to easily pick up. If you have skills in the tech industry, it will be easier to succeed in this market.
Also, some of them are deceptively simple. For instance, let’s say you spend 40 hours this month learning keyword research and posting 30 how to articles on eHow. And you make $20. You may think, “Wow, fifty cents an hour. What a waste of my time.” Except, next month, after the articles settle higher in Google, you make $40. A year from now, having done nothing else, you are making $100-$150/month. And assuming Google doesn’t change their rules, you should continue receiving checks for years with no additional work.
This isn’t imaginary…I know folks who have done this. Keyword research is straightforward to learn, and articles are simple to write — most people just don’t know this exists, or they think it couldn’t possibly work for them, or they’re flat-out lazy.
-Erica
21. July 2009 at 7:18 am
Good post, Erica. You have provided a good list on how to make money online – scam free. I would go for ‘Help local businesses develop an online presence’ and ‘Interview other people and sell the interviews’ as these options would help me to interact with other businesses as well as other businessmen. This is a good way to network yourself and make your own circle of friends which may lead to something better.
Cheers,
Pritesh
http://twitter.com/mehta1p
21. July 2009 at 7:22 am
Hi Erica,
Very nice article helping people that just get started. It is important that people know that money can be made online. However it is more important to be doing than keep investing in the next get rich quick product.
Though many of these jobs are in the lower echelon of pay it will give a person ideas and the experience to make more money. From some videos I created in Camtasia for people that needed solutions, I actually has people contact me direct and make $95.00 an hour.
I charge that much as I deserve it, and also I prefer to work on my own business as an affiliate marketer. I find this better for me as it allows me to control more of my schedule and not get involved in price wars.
21. July 2009 at 7:45 am
Good list. Some definitely good examples, if people really want to try. I think “interview other people and sell the interviews” will work the best. Or just build a website and post those interviews. I have managed a few websites where we interviewed people and those get a lot of visits from Google searches. For anyone out there willing to interview people I would recommend it, it will make you money.
21. July 2009 at 7:46 am
Interesting to see wage deflation in web technology now occurring domestically (USA). Happening sooner and faster than I thought.
I agree with Pritesh: build relationships with real people first and foremost. Helping local businesses get online is rewarding in ways more than financial.
21. July 2009 at 7:55 am
I do number 12 (Helping local businesses with their online presence).
I got laid off a few months back from my accounting job, (was already confident that I knew my way around the web, seo, web design, Google Adwords, etc.) and I offered my services to local businesses.
I’m now 5 clients in and while I haven’t replaced my full-time salary yet, I’ve been hanging in there.
Seriously, this is not hard to do, and you can outsource most of the work or anything you can’t do.
Yes, Erica, this post may lead to more competitors for me, thanks alot!
Haha, but the truth is, there are so many cities out there, with so many small local businesses, there is room for folks who can get in there and make things happen.
I would be happy to answer any questions on this.
Great post Erica!
21. July 2009 at 8:08 am
Another great way to earn income is to start your own blog and add google adsense to your blog.
Everybody should have their own blog or website now a days. And, everyone can earn money doing what they love. I have found that when you take your own hobbies, passions, and interest and turn them around to help others, you definitely earn any income you want.
The best part is—-you love what you do. Do your research on wordpress, a hosting company, and pick a hypnotic website name and domain name. Then, just start blogging about a particular interest, hobby, or passion of yours. As you start doing this two things will happen. One—-people are interested in your hobbies because you provided some kind of value in that niche. Two—-you’ll soon discover what works, what doesn’t work, and what people are after. Then, you’ll be able to put a spin on your niche and tailor it to what people want.
Remember to provide value in your niche. Don’t make your blog ego-centric. People want solutions and answers, not what you did this morning. How to blogs, latest findings, current news, and entertainment are things people want. Take your hobby and spin them into a how to, latest finding, etc.
Nick Pfennigwerth
21. July 2009 at 9:40 am
Thanks so much for this informative post! I have been trying to find a way to work from home ever since my son was born in 2003 and I just haven’t found the right fit yet. I’ve dabbled in the VA thing and sold a few things on ebay. I am actually now starting a business (in its very early stages), but I would love to write articles for magazines as well.
Fabulous post!
21. July 2009 at 10:27 am
Will do 4, 5, 8, and just may hire David in the near future. Thanks for the great post!
21. July 2009 at 2:53 pm
Thanks for the shoutout, Erica!
For those who are struggling financially, keep in mind one thing: you’d be surprised how motivated and successful you are when you NEED to succeed. For example, I’m self-employed. I NEED to succeed at being a virtual assistant, and I NEED to succeed at being a blogger, otherwise my husband and I don’t eat! Let the desperation drive you.
Great list, Erica. I think I’ve done the majority of these at one point or another.
21. July 2009 at 3:30 pm
Wonderful ideas! something for everyone whos willing to work not whine. Thanks for sharing the first steps!
21. July 2009 at 3:33 pm
Very informative read and those 20 points really do give a base on which to start earning good money online.
Most people unfortunately fall short of making a good income online beacuse they try to take too much information on board and then do not follow through on the required actions to make it happen, but if they act on at least some of these 20 points and you will start to make money in a resonably short space of time.
Keep up the good work.
21. July 2009 at 5:29 pm
Hi Erica,
Great post. I’m going to try Mechanical Turk and the ehow articles. Eventually, I will do a small niche website.
Thanks.
21. July 2009 at 7:23 pm
Happy Birthday enjoyed the post and granted your birthday wish with a digg. Going to have to give some of these a try. So many ways. Just pick one and do it.
I like the ehow one might have to be next months case study.
21. July 2009 at 11:22 pm
Dear Erica,
First, I would like to say, Happy Birthday!! Second, Awsome post!
Third, I see that I found your site not in error but fate. I finnaly found a human being behind a website. I do know “NOW” how people can truly make money online and I am extatic to get started. From reading your list of comments, some did not understand the meaning of being new to trying to make money online. How they say “Just start a website or Blog”. Some of us thought RSS Feed, Niche, Keyword Search,etc was greek. In otherwords, like me being a nurse it would be like a Dr. telling me to just run down and handle my brain surgery for me!LOL!!I did however find most of their websites informative as well enjoyable. Again, You are an “ANGEL” and I am looking forward to your next post!! I will keep you posted on my success.
Cathy
22. July 2009 at 12:32 am
Hey Erica, great article!
I’d definitely be interested in hearing more about the VA stuff – where do you start? And about keyword research, finding a niche, discovering potential clients – how do you go about those things?
22. July 2009 at 10:01 am
Good starting list! I appreciate the idea of establishing a small income stream that may compound into substantial revenue in the future. The same principal applies to investing and anyone that believes there is not work involved or that you can get rich quick with little effort is greatly mistaken. I have owned/sold several successful businesses, none of which were built over night or the easy way – long hours are mandatory for any business and you can forget about “The Hourly Value of Your Time” – that’s an employee mindset.
Second, I am interested in your experiment with #15, “Interview other people and sell the interviews”. Looking forward to reading further details about your experiment with that particular venture.
22. July 2009 at 10:13 am
Hi Erica:
How refreshing it is to read an offer sharing so many creative ways to earn money online.It is especially nice to receive this information from someone we can trust. I too have been burned by online scams; so I apreciate your free offer to jumpstart those of us who see the benefit of this list.
I found all the writing ideas very helpful. I will be pursuing those because, as a writer, I feel I can be a valuable asset to those who may need assistance from a devoted and experienced scribe.
Carolyn
22. July 2009 at 11:04 am
Ahoy Eric,
Great article on the basics for Internet beginners.
An Internet business can make all the difference in one’s financial well being in this difficult economic time. Go for it.
Be able to do what you want to do when you want to do it!
Captain Rob
26. July 2009 at 9:05 pm
Hey,
Could you show me an example of a website that sells interviews.
27. July 2009 at 10:17 am
Hi Lulu,
I have an interview website coming out soon at InspiringInnovators.com (it’s not quite ready for launch yet, but will be soon!)
If you’re signed up for my free business tips, you’ll get a notification when I launch the site.
-Erica
3. August 2009 at 9:28 pm
Thank you so much!
I’d like to try from No.8 and No.19, hope it does work.
4. August 2009 at 11:22 am
Wow. I plan to investigate several. I already sell on eBay, but selling other people’s stuff can be iffy. Those I will look into are 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, & 20.
Great post – Thanks!
6. August 2009 at 6:16 pm
Hi Erica,
Those are some really solid ideas, Thanks so much for that. I’m trying variations on #4 and #8. I’ll let you know how it goes.
-Netadept
16. August 2009 at 5:33 pm
Thank you so much!
I’d like to try from No.8 and No.19, hope it does work.
19. August 2009 at 6:54 pm
I am not techno-savvy as some of the people above, but the VA and the Mechanical Turk gigs interest me. Please publish more about these. Thaanks for the info! Great job and I digged it!
23. August 2009 at 9:54 am
Thanks for this post Erica! I’m actually in the process of looking for ways that I can supplement my current income and these are some really interesting ideas. I’d like to learn more about: Help local businesses develop an online presence, Interview other people and sell the interviews, and Write articles for magazines or other publications.
24. August 2009 at 6:23 am
I love the irony of a scam banner ad at the bottom of this page.
25. August 2009 at 4:45 am
Wow, this is a very useful article. Liked it very much and found it very useful…Thanks a lot
31. August 2009 at 11:47 pm
Hello Erica!
Awesome article! noted down on notebook (same as yours!) Definitely will do it on my spare time. I am actually practicing how to sell affiliation products. After completing it, I will move on and try other methods to make side incomes too.
To add more to your twenty list, here’s another article I found which is similar to yours, called “30 real ways to make money blogging” Worth a look!
http://www.blogussion.com/monetization/make-money-online-blogging/
Thanks again, for sharing such an awesome list. Cheers.
Daniel
25. September 2009 at 5:48 pm
Everyone thinks making a buck online is a cinch – it’s not!
It took me some time to really master the whole ‘write good content and they will come’ mantra.
I will say to anyone looking to make money online
~ a word of advice ~
if you want to be successful go all out, otherwise you’ll never reach your goals.
-b
29. September 2009 at 1:00 pm
Going ‘all out’ really takes some good tech skills in order to utilise your income. Finding a ‘niche’ market is nigh on impossible if you are an absolute beginner. But let’s not take a negative stance on this.
A friend of mine went around all the local antique stores, took notes of the antiques and photographs of them. He then published them on eBay. He became so busy that his wife has given up work to work with him full time instead. She works extra hours, but it’s more fulfilling than having an idiot boss breathing down your neck.
The reason for their success … sheer determination and ‘reasonable’ marketing skills.
Another friend found a burger bar, which served chilli burgers. He had never tasted these before and loved the taste of the chilli sauce. So he got in touch with the supplier, and supplied them with bottles and lables, and started taking orders from restaurants world-wide, through a little (very little) marketing savvy. He started 2 years ago and is now about to be bought out for over 1.2 million.
Are you catching my drift yet? To make things very blatant, you will not make a good income online, unless you are tech-savvy, or spend good money on good consultants. There are a million+1 blogs like this that give no real direction and are used purely to market others website and the ads that they carry (have a look all around this site!)
The way to make any money is initiative and hard work, and use the internet as no-more than a tool to utilise for that initiative. I really mean that. It’s just a tool to help you in your endeavours.
You can do it, using some imagination.
You can stop reading now, unless you want another example … ?
I recently gave some marketing tips to a bunch of local professional photographers who formed a company about 3 years ago. There are 7 of them and they were making around £400 a month (collectively). So I advised them to create a website, show their individual skills on the site, and start promoting themselves. (No no no, not the way you are already thinking!) The skills about their technical know-how, courses they can offer, and (very importantly) reviews of the latest equipment on the market.
I told them to get the review from the PR departments from the camera manufacturers, and the reviews were sent on a weekly basis from the manufacturers to this bunch. Next to the reviews, I then advised them to place adverts where a viewer can buy the equipment reviewed.
There income has gone from £400 to over £3000. At the cost of determination only, and no cash injection.
Now, do you get my point? And if you do, what is stopping you?
29. September 2009 at 1:13 pm
Oh, I just want to also add, Erica Douglass is very good at marketing, hence her main income is from sites like these. They are good sites, but the ideas given do not give a ‘real’ income at all. Well done to Erica and I wish you well.
30. September 2009 at 1:13 pm
Good post Erica.
This is so good for all those folks who are wondering if it’s possible to make money online. You provide adequate proof that there are many legitimate ways to make money online and the $-amount simply depends on the desire and dedication.
Keep up the good work with your inspiration for others.
30. September 2009 at 1:17 pm
oops, I’ve used the wrong email address for my avitar.
30. September 2009 at 1:54 pm
Great article. The eHow bit is legit, I have 32 articles I wrote about a year ago and get about $20 every month sent to my paypal account.
I recently started a new blog called Project DB9 and am literally trying every online way to make money I can get my hands on. I found this blog while doing research for some new ideas and signed up for Mechanical Turk. It’s tedious but I will give it a shot for a week or so and post the results here for everyone to see.
Thanks again for the article.
16. October 2009 at 9:11 pm
I’m trying the commission junction thing…but the problem is getting traffic to the ads.
I guess it’s too late to edit my name….supposed to be Natespost
20. October 2009 at 10:55 am
I’m looking into making some revinue online, I have a blog and I’m trying to get a google adsense accoung. once thats approved I can start posting advertsiements to my blogs. Along with that i’m using amazon Mechanical Turk. I just started these two internet moneymaking tools, I guess next month I will make another comment and let everyone know how it works out for me!
24. October 2009 at 1:41 pm
While some of these are great ideas..others, like Mechanical Turk seem to take a lot of time for very little $. The eHow seems to work. Another suggestion while you are looking for work is to list your resume at sites that pay you when potential employers download your resume. They collect a fee and give you part of it. Resumark.com even pays you when people you’ve invited have their resumes downloaded. I think it’s about $1 for your own resume and $.50 for people you’ve invited..again, not going to get rich but might as well get paid for looking for a job!
25. October 2009 at 12:04 pm
In my quest for information about working online I must say Martin Lewis is the only Person who has spoken sense so far. Erica I also appreciate your well targeted article and I can say you are smart in marketing yourself. Keep moving.
If you are not tech savvy you cannot earn anything online and let no one tell you that you can just setup a blog or niche site have money streaming in. The dynamics of getting traffic to your site is very complicated. I have been a web developer for over 12 years now but I can assure you that the road is not smooth. The learning curve is the longest than earning PHD.
Do you know that 98% of us spend our time online enriching the 2%? Read on and you will get my point…..
Nobody makes good money online legitimately unless you go the way of so called “blogging gurus’ that are are minting millions from desperate people.
1. Setup numerous single page sales letter websites(you don’t need a programmer to do this but you can still hire my services) each targeting a niche market.
To find a niche market( use the free google keyword tool) to know which words are commonly searched for.
2. Look around the internet for articles to do with those niche keywords(google gives an estimation of searches).
3. Rewrite(we have software to automate this) them in reverse with rich keywords just good enough for both google machines and human reading.
eg. “How to reduce your taxes” can be changed to “101 ways to increase your income by cutting down on rates”
Then run your article through copyscape for originality. If you pass this test. Post the article to your niche site.
4. Do not forget to “plugin” in you google adsense and make sure you have a well positioned form for desperate visitors who will leave you their email contacts(loop-hole for spam) for your follow up.
5.Follow up with a bait in form of a newsletter download of say a 6 page “how-to-manual” or say “how-make-money-while-on-holiday.” or “millionaires bible”
6.Keep generating new articles and posting them to your “niche” site frequently because google does not like out-dated articles.
If you are lucky to have even 1000 x $97, that is “enough free money”.
What most of you have never known is that you can have your own network of these so called “niche” sites in hundreds so you can keep recommending yourself on each site by refering to another of yours. Google likes this too because you are ranked by how many backlinks you have on a site.
I think that sounds simple as long as you dont mind using legally illegimate tricks those fleece those craving for information by giving them recycled stuff that never solves their problem.
My advice is think outside the box as Martin Lewis said. Use the internet as an aid to excel your hobby or skill rather than using the black-hat method I mentioned above.
28. October 2009 at 12:02 pm
Great list! I created a niche website (but not small) at http://gamestorebuilder.com, it is a really niche website and the only one out there. However I dont’t make much money from it yet
5. November 2009 at 12:37 pm
great list Erica. ithink mturk is one of those money making methods that not many people know about it. so this will help many people to know that such oppertunity exist. thanks again.
9. November 2009 at 9:38 am
Awesome list Erica!
I been using free ways to make money online for quite some time now and you opened my eyes on a few new things for me.
Thanks a bunch!
12. November 2009 at 5:35 am
Before joining any money making schemes do research on the company and try to check on how long the company has been in the business.
Do not fall prey on these work at home scams. Keep an eye out for these signs, and if you detect one, report it to the proper authorities right away. You not only need to protect yourself, you need to protect others as well.
17. November 2009 at 12:12 pm
I took the plunge and signed up for 99Designs. I have already submitted 2 designs in my spare time. Now, in middle school and high school I was into art pretty hardcore. But my love from computers caused me to put down the pencil and pick up the keyboard. I am glad to find something that has gets me drawing again, and can earn me a bit on the side. Thanks again!
18. November 2009 at 8:04 am
#11 is a scam.
Okay, maybe not an actual scam scam, but there is a program by the same name, PDFCreator, made by PDFForge (pdfforge.org) that is a free, open-source PDF creation program that works like a printer driver. Just thought you should know. Just be careful not to install the stupid toolbar.
23. November 2009 at 11:18 pm
Wow, lots of good ideas.
27. November 2009 at 2:12 pm
Thanks for the great info. I use mturk.com and because of your website I will checkout ehow.
God bless…
Thanks
3. December 2009 at 3:07 am
Here are more ways of making money online:
- Buy ready to run websites
- Buy established websites
- Create Facebook/MySpace applications
- Forex trading