How to Make Money Online – 101 Ideas from the Pros

1. Take a picture with a sign to earn $5.

Ginger Dean, Forbes

Fiverr is a platform where people sell their products and services for $5. You can sell almost anything on this website, even a spell that rids people of evil spirits. Spend enough time on the site and those five dollars will start to add up. In this article, Ginger goes over 15 ways to make money using Fiverr.

6. Post your apartment/house on Airbnb.

Amy Fontinelle, Investopedia

Airbnb is a website where you can list your apartment or a room in your house for people to rent. You can use it when you are out of town or at other times if you have a spare room that you can rent out. Getting set up is easy, and you can stand to make a good amount of money with very little work. This is especially true if you’re located in a prime location or tourist location. View Amy’s article to see all of the risks and rewards associated with posting on Airbnb.

7. Sell your unwanted items online.

David Weaver, Vintage Cash Cow

There are many companies online that encourage you to declutter your home and make money in the process by selling unwanted items. Many of them are free to use and make selling your things easy by providing one offer for a box full of stuff. One such site, Vintage Cash Cow, will even accept things like old coins, old foreign currency, old toys, and tons of other things that have just been gathering dust!

8. Download and install these apps.

Home Based Mommie

A lot of companies – including Google – pay you for installing their apps. You also get paid for each month the apps are installed on your phone. Some of these sites include:

• ShopTracker
• Nielsen Mobile Panel
• MobileXpression

11. Recycle your old or broken electronics.

Amy Rice, Gazelle

If you have old or broken electronics lying around the house, there are plenty of websites that will pay for them. Using Gazelle, you simply go to the website, enter information about your gadget, and you are provided an instant quote. An empty box is then sent to you to mail your device in. Once we receive the gadget, the payment is sent. Customers can choose from Amazon gift cards, PayPal, or a check as payment.

12. Use a tool that scans your emails for receipts, then issues refunds when there is a price drop.

Rick Broida, CNET

Paribus is a tool that gets you money back for your online purchases. Once you sign up, they will scan your email archives for any receipts. If it discovers you’ve purchased something from Amazon, Target, or one of the other 16 retailers listed on their website, it will track the item’s price and issue you a refund anytime there’s a price drop.

15. Be a tourist guide for someone visiting your city.

Katya Klishchuk, MeetnGreetMe

There are online platforms, like MeetnGreetMe, that are designed to match up locals to travelers visiting their city. It works like Uber or Airbnb – a traveler contacts a local, orders needed services, makes online payment, and the local delivers the services. These services include meeting upon arrival, 24 hour information support, booking a hotel, internet search, city guiding, etc.

16. Invest your money now; make money in the future.

Jeff Rose, Forbes

If you have a sum of money sitting in your savings account, consider investing. In this article, Jeff goes over 7 easy ways to invest your money, as well as investing best practices. Investing is one of the best ways to make your money work for you.

20. Sell your movies, CDs, and video games with decluttr.

Jason Feifer, Fast Company

Decluttr will buy any movie, CD, or video game that you no longer want. Visit their site to learn more about the process.

21. Name a business using sites like NamingForce.com and SquadHelp.com.

Kelsey Sunstrum, Work at Home Adventures

These crowdsourcing websites pair new businesses with creative individuals like yourself. You can submit your name suggestion, and if your name gets picked, then you can earn up to $100.

22. Scan Craigslist for odd jobs.

Ryan Finlay, ReCraigslist

Some people earn enough money on Craigslist to make a living. In this article, Ryan gives 5 tips for being successful on Craigslist.

31. Help people with their cover letters and resumes.

Julien A. Sharp, AWAI Online

Resume writing is a great market to get into since so many people are looking for help finding jobs. Plus, if you need to find a job, this service is worth investing in since the payoff of landing a job is so large. Learn how to get into helping people write their cover letters and resumes in this article.

36. Offer your copywriting services.

Bamidele Onibalusi, Writers In Charge

If you’re in any way familiar with writers and how they get paid, you will know that copywriters earn the big bucks. You can work on developing great copywriting skills and get paid for it.

There is no defined hours for this because it all depends on your skills and how many clients you decide to take on.

37. Write slogans and taglines.

Nadia Ali, Women on Writing

There are websites that will pay you $50/word to write slogans for their business. You can submit a few ideas and hope your entry gets picked.

40. Help non-tech savvy individuals with technical projects.

Kelli Smith, Skillcrush

In today’s modern world, it’s important to be tech-savvy. However, so many people don’t have the technical skills needed for their business or personal life. That’s where you come in. The task can be as simple as editing, or as complex as web development. Read Kelli’s 8 ways to make money with your tech skills to learn more.

41. Sell Your SEO Services.

Jeffrey Nelson, Work From Home Headquarters

Almost every website owner needs help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in some way or another. Reach out to others in your in niche and see how you can partner on SEO efforts. Many times, an opportunity for the site or work your promoting could be a good fit for more than one site. In my case, for example, I do a lot of guest posting and when it makes sense I’ll include links to other players in my niche for some form of compensation. Additionally, through building these relationships with sites via guest posting, it opens up doors to help them with their SEO as well.

42. Become a game developer.

David Mullich, DavidMullich.com

Many game developers have adopted a “free-to-play” model, allowing gamers to download their games and play them for free. So how do they make money? There are three basic techniques:

1. Sell additional levels, assets, or features.
2. Sell virtual goods (such as power-ups and decorative items) as micro transactions.
3. Sell eyeballs (incorporate advertising).

43. Use Upwork to find businesses that need help with email marketing.

Bjarne Viken & Cameron Rambert, Co-Founders, Digital Mined

Many businesses don’t have the bandwidth to figure out their own email marketing, and also don’t want to hire another person full time. You can find businesses like these easily on Upwork. View this article to see the 7 steps to making money on Upwork.

46. Set up websites with Weebly.

Jason Rueger, Fit Small Business

There are tons of people out there who have no idea how to set up a website for their business. However, in today’s world it is becoming more and more important for even an offline business to have an online presence. Setting up a website with Weebly is super easy to do, and you can make money setting up websites for people who don’t have the time to do it for themselves. Read Jason’s article to learn how to set up a Weebly website, and then post your services on freelance sites like Fiverr and Upwork.

50. Use Shopify to open a store on Facebook.

Ian Atkins, Fit Small Business

Did you know that you can sell your products directly through Facebook? In this article, Ian will teach you how to set this up in 5 simple steps.

51. Design website templates and themes.

Creative Bloq

Lots of businesses are looking for unique templates and themes for their websites. By mastering a platform, partnering with a coder, marketing wisely, you can be very profitable. Also consider crowdsourcing websites such as 99designs to connect with people who are looking for unique web design.

52. Create and post videos on YouTube.

Angela Booth, Lifehack

These days, recording a video is as easy as picking up your smartphone and pressing record. You can post these videos to to make money, and it doesn’t just have to be through advertisements. You can use YouTube to drive traffic to your website, promote products you have created, or by becoming a youtube personality (a little more difficult). YouTube is also a great way to test the market.

55. Teach your design skills to others.

Neil and Linda Shearing, Skillshare

Using Skillshare, you can teach creative classes to people who are interested in learning more about graphic design.

57. Create and sell t-shirts using Teespring.

Benny Hsu, The Hustle

In this article, Benny explain how he makes a living by selling shirts on the online platform, Teespring. Using the site, all you have to do is upload your design to start selling shirts. Accompany this with a little bit of Facebook marketing to take your campaign to the next level.

58. Participate in crowdsourcing design contests.

John McClain, MakeUseOf

If you have graphic design skills, you can sign up for crowdsourcing platforms such as 99designs to connect with people looking for your services. You can submit your design for a contest, and you get paid if your design is chosen. The competition for these contests is pretty fierce, so make sure you know your way around photoshop before considering this option.

61. Start a podcast.

Lewis Howes, CreativeLive

You can make money with a podcast by selling sponsorships. Make sure you have a clear direction and vision, so that your podcast is focused.

69. Draw tattoo sketches for tattoo enthusiasts.

Money Pantry

Tattoos are incredibly personalized. People don’t want the same tattoo as anyone else. They are always looking for new and cool designs, so the market never dies. The more creative you are, the more potential there is to make money with your art.

CreateMyTattoo.com is a crowdsourcing site where anyone who wants a new tattoo puts up an idea and then picks the one they like the best. There are sketches that go for as high as $400 – $500!

70. Write and sell a jingle.

Money In Music

If you have a knack for words and music, try your hand at writing jingles! If your jingle is chosen, you can make a good sum of money.

72. Find opportunities for affiliate links within your existing content.

Hanna Fritzinger, Head of Marketing, VigLink

VigLink‘s core technology scans a blog post or page for products or product mentions and automatically adds a link from an affiliate merchant, in addition to updating old links with affiliate information. This way your content can stay focused on the topic but allows your publisher to earn extra cash flow. It’s like finding extra cash in your couch cushion. It’s very simple to set up and work into existing content platforms.

73. Post ads on your niche affiliate website.

Sterling, Owner, ChainsToGains.com

Creating a website around a passion or hobby that you know a good bit about is a low cost way to make money online. The money comes from you promoting/advertising products or services that are related to the niche you are writing about on your website.

I have a fitness blog and post articles about workout gear and videos. I then use Amazon’s affiliate program to promote relevant items on my site. Any time someone clicks on the ad and buys from Amazon, I get a commission from it. Other affiliate programs include Google Adsense, ClickBank, and JVZoo.

75. Use ClickBank to promote products.

Gael Breton, Authority Hacker

ClickBank is a affiliate marketing network for digital and physical products. If you have a blog, you can link to ClickBank products on your website. If someone buys the product after visiting your site, then you receive commission on the sale.

77. Use Facebook groups to promote your social media marketing services.

Miranda Hassen, www.mirandahassen.com

I am a social media expert and make money online through Facebook groups. There are dozens of groups out there for bloggers, entrepreneurs, work-at-home moms, and small business owners. I joined a handful of groups–including Blog + Biz BFFs and Virtual Assistant Savvies— and market my service to people who are asking for assistance. So far, I have landed three jobs by using this strategy.

79. Become a brand ambassador on Instagram.

Alexandra Ma, The Huffington Post

If you have over 5,000 followers on Instagram, there’s a good chance that companies will pay you to promote their products. You’ll have to be a consistent and stylish poster, but if you have enough influence on the social media platform, becoming an ambassador is within your reach.

80. Audit a business’s social media pages.

Dominique Jackson, Sprout Social

A lot of busy business owners don’t have the time or staff to audit their own social media pages. A social media audit is the process of reviewing what’s working, what’s failing and what can be improved upon across your social media channels. Make money by helping a business with this process.

81. Help a business with their PPC ad campaigns.

Larry Kim, WordStream

If you understand PPC advertising on search engines, and are able to run successful PPC campaigns, consider using your knowledge to help out other companies. Many people are at a loss when it comes to running PPC ads so there is a big market for this type of help.

82. Set up a retargeting campaign for Facebook pages.

Maggie Aland, Fit Small Business

Another advertising strategy that has some business owners mystified is retargeting Facebook ads. By adding a pixel to your website, you can show ads on Facebook only to people who have visited your site in the last 30 days. Learn how to set this up, and then find businesses that need someone to help out with this.

83. Sell private label products on Amazon.

Selling Family, The Selling Family

With Private Label, you buy products direct from the manufacturer and then place your own logo and/or branding on the package. Since the manufacturer is already making these products, you don’t have to do any designing or inventing.

84. Make an app. Use it to sell products, serve advertisements, or offer a subscription to it.

Ian Naylor, Founder & CEO, AppInstitute

It used to be expensive and time-consuming to create an app, but these days anyone can make an app using an online app maker like AppInstitute or even through services like Upwork to hire developers. So how do you make money with your app? You can sell things through an mCommerce store, serve in-app advertisements, or even offer a premium or subscription model. You can also use apps as a powerful marketing tool to drive customers back to your store with push notifications, which have a 97% open rate compared to 4% for email.

87. Start a fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) business.

John Lagoudakis, www.johnlagoudakis.com

With fulfillment by Amazon, you can sell your own physical products on Amazon’s website, and they take care of everything for you (i.e. payment processing, order fulfillment and refund requests). All you need to do is source your physical product, ship it to their warehouse, and list it on their website.

88. Translate English to Chinese.

James W., Make Money in Life

If you are an expert at languages, you can get paid to translate. In this article, James walks you through the websites where you can find jobs translating.

90. Teach a course online.

Nick Loper, SideHustleNation.com

Udemy is an impressive online education platform where students can connect with teachers from all around the world in any subject. You can create your own course around a topic you’re an expert in and set your own tuition rate. If you have an existing subscriber base to sell to, you might be able to sell the course directly and not have to worry about losing margin to Udemy. See 98 more tips like this in Nick’s article.

91. Join a freelance website so your skills don’t become rusty.

Heidi Hecht, NIPB Blog

Many businesses are looking for people with your skills to help them meet a tight deadline, dodge the components of their own jobs that they dislike doing, or just take care of a one-time project that they can’t justify hiring another employee for. That’s good for you when you get on sites like Fiverr, Upwork, or Freelancer and spend your free evenings and weekends establishing your credentials as a freelancer who can handle tasks like creating spreadsheets or writing product descriptions.

92. Become an internet life coach.

Melissa King, Chron

If you love working with people, have a positive attitude and enjoy watching others succeed, you might make an excellent online life coach. Online life coaches help others from their computer in the comfort of their own home. Many clients prefer online coaching because it’s more relaxed than a face-to-face meeting, and it also allows them to get help from any location at any time of day.

95. Turn your hobby into a side business.

Jesse Ness, Marketing Manager, Ecwid

Every day thousands of people start selling products they make themselves online. All you need is product photos and a platform to start selling your product on. Once you’re all set up, you can start making money online. Popular platforms to sell your products include Ecwid, Etsy, eBay, and Shopify.

101. Automate a cumbersome manual process, and then offer it on demand.

John Turner, Founder, QuietKit

This could be something such as website updates for a specific content management system (CMS), remote bookkeeping, or translation on demand. Since it will be all you focus on, it’s something you can perfect and do much more quickly or easily than others. The idea here is to offer a very specific service, to solve a very common pain point in a very “cheap for the customer” way. And if you’re able to grow, since you’ll have a well thought out structure on how to handle the routine work, it will be easier for you to scale your business.