16 Best Ways to Make Money Online for Free

In this digital age, there are ample ways to earn money online legitimately. All you need is a laptop, internet, and skills to build your own identity and earn for yourself. But it is not as easy as it sounds. The good news is, it is not difficult too.

Even if you are a college student or a stay at home mom or looking for an opportunity, there are several chances to make sustainable income without any investment or scams.

Though like any other business, you will have to put in hard work and dedication to carve a niche for yourself. The online business will take time to grow, but your efforts will reap the benefits in terms of revenue over time.

See Also: 20 Ideas to Start a Business for Under 5k in 2023

Best Ways to Make Money Online

Let’s explore the Best Ways to Make Money Online:

#1 Freelance Writer

If you can write and have creative talent, you can turn your skills into a business and get paid for it. You don’t need to be an expert, but you can earn a viable income and turn into a full-time blog.

A blogger, Holly Johnson who runs a blog Club Thrifty makes over $200,000 by creating content for websites and blogs. She successfully runs her own online course ‘Earn more writing’ and teaches others.

For beginners, UpWork.com is an excellent platform to start by registering and creating a profile on it. To become a successful content writer, always stay honest with the client, and deliver quality content.

See Also: Making Money on Craigslist: How Much Can You Make?

#2 Blogging

Many people are not sure of their writing skills. Blogging is not only about writing skills but also to share knowledge with your audience. If you have information and need a platform to share it, blogging is the right way.

You can become a full-time blogger and earn handsomely. To even help you further, we have a dedicated guide on ‘How to Start a Blog.’ Read it further to learn more about how to start making money out of it.

To turn your blog into a successful online business:

• Find your niche – Write about the topic that interests you or shares your experience. E.g., As a traveler, write a blog about your travel stories, or as a mother you can blog about childcare, education, toys, worksheets, etc.
• Content Writing – Set up your blog and write that benefits the readers.
• Audience – Know and build your target audience (readers) to create traffic.
• Money Making Opportunities – Other ways to monetize is by ads (Google Adsense), paid partnership with vendors, affiliate marketing, sponsored posts.

#3 Affiliate Marketing

It is a lucrative option to make money online where you earn a commission when someone buys products on your recommendation. Usually, you partner with companies that are related to your blog concept or content.

If you mention that particular brand or product on your blog, website, social media platforms and link an affiliate code you received. If someone uses your code to buy the product or service, then you will earn a commission on it.

28-year-old Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, a blogger of Making Sense of Cents earns $100,000 per month from blogs and affiliate sales. A bulk of her income $50,000 comes from affiliate sales and also runs an online course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.

Affiliation marketing is successful if you know your audience and have built up enough traffic to create sales.

#4 Print on Demand

The idea of print on demand is pretty simple. You build an e-store and sell merchandise like t-shirts or hoodies with custom prints. 

Printify is a great platform for all your print on demand needs as it has over 250 different available products as well as 90 printing facilities around the world, including China and the US. 

Working as a middleman also helps a lot since there is no need to worry about inventory, shipping, and returns. Your emphasis will be on marketing and building a sustainable business that will attract a lot of customers. And keep in mind that if you get stuck on coming up with new designs, there is always an option to hire a freelance graphic designer and introduce a little bit of variety.

#5 Sponsored Posts

If you have huge traction on your website or followers on your social media accounts, you can undoubtedly monetize it and make money online by pursuing sponsored posts.

There is a lot of money and kind involved as companies are willing to pay and promote their brands. You can be paid as low as $100 to as high as $20,000 for sponsored posts and companies want a link on your website to theirs.

If you are running a successful blog or have social media account with followers, you can so sponsor content. Let’s say, your Instagram account has huge followers, and you can get different kinds of sponsorship.

A mother blogger with big Instagram followers gets sponsored freebies from healthcare companies, educationists, designer boutiques, etc, or sometimes is paid in cash. The mother promotes the brand on her page and in turn, she benefits from it.

#6 Online Surveys

There are many companies that partner with survey providers to conduct the survey on their behalf. Companies want to conduct market research for their products and give ou questionnaires to fill online.

Another way of making money online is by getting paid for sharing your opinions. You are a part of a focus group for market research companies.

There are many legit websites that offer cash ($1 to $3 per survey) or points or rewards like SurveyJunkie, InboxDollars, Swagbucks, My Survey, OnePoll to name a few. It takes 3-5 minutes to fill it in the comfort of your home and earning as well.

How does it work?

-Get registered and create a profile.
– The website will match surveys to your profile and notify you.
-Take surveys and points will be credited.
-Redeem your points against cash or voucher.

If you wish to understand more about surveys, here’s an excellent post on how to get paid for surveys.

#7 Virtual Assistant

If you are looking for administrative and data related job then you can become a virtual assistant. It is basically doing the work of an assistant but virtual on a daily basis.

The role includes –

• Booking online tickets
• Data entry
• Email management
• Tele-calling
• Coordination with suppliers
• Customer Service Support
• Proficiency with MS Office and others

How Does it Work?

• Register on any online website. E.g., Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr.
• In our case, let’s take Upwork as an example.
• Create your profile and start searching for jobs posted.
• Click on other categories on the website.
• Under other categories, click on Personal/ Virtual assistant.
• You can find many jobs posted by employers and start applying.
• As per Upwork data, average North American earns $35- $50 hourly with a 90% success rate.

#8 Start a Youtube Channel

You can create videos that add value to your audience. This platform also gives ways to earn online but is not easy as you need to create content that is engaging and attracting viewers and will not happen immediately.

If you are interested in videos and have talent, then make the best use of it. Make tutorials and teach through videos about creativity, fashion, make-up, games, cooking or if you are a funny person then upload stand up comedies.

• Youtube pays 1 dollar per 1000 views.
• Create your own channel and regularly upload content with keywords. With the growing
• views and subscribers, you can monetize the videos with Adsense and sponsored posts.

According to Forbes, the most popular gamer “Markiplier,” earned $17.5 million over 12 month period.

#9 Online Tutoring

Online tutoring is gaining popularity where students can learn with the help of mobile and laptop. You can be a virtual teacher and earn extra money at the flexibility of your own schedule.

It is a good alternative for educators who can do what they love at their own comfort and is cheaper as well. Students get options to choose the course they would like to learn and is best for them.

Also, people across the world are eager to learn a foreign language, and a virtual teacher can help take one-on-one lectures to teach the language. It will be a win-win situation for both. You could teach a variety of topics from technical to nontechnical skills.

A typical session lasts for 40-45 minutes and is required to work a minimum of 4 hours a day. You earn on an hourly basis depending on the subject. Few websites that offer online tutoring are: Khan Academy, Coursera, Tutor hub, Tutor.com, VIPKID, Vedantu, Chegg Tutors, etc

• Generally, there is a 5 step process to be hired as a teacher:
• Fill and submit the form.
• Experts will check and if found suitable will be invited for the test.
• Demo and test is conducted
• Background check, documentation and profile creation.
• Short Training

#10 Dropshipping

It is one of the legitimate ways to make money online for those who want to start online business or E-commerce.

In the words of Shopify, it defines, “Dropshipping is a local fulfillment method where a store doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock.

Instead, whenever a store sells a product, it buys the item from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer. As a result, the merchant never sees or handles the product.”

You can start an online store without worrying about storage. E.g., there is a designer who wants to sell his products. He can display the products on his website or online store for sale and inform the drop shipping company who will fulfill and ship the order.

#11 Be a Consultant

If you think blogging is not your area of interest and are looking to earn money online then become a consultant. Basically, it is selling your advice and knowledge.

You can counsel people and help them grow their business through different tools and increase their brand value. You can be a Marketing plan consultant, Brand consultant, Finance consultant, etc.

Let’s say, you are good at marketing and have a flair of knowledge and expertise to increase the brand presence on social media.

You can give business advice on the best use of social media tools like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram to increase sales and grow brand. There are consultants who charge $100 per hour for their services.

If you aren’t sure where to start from, register for free on Clarity.fm and get paid for counseling sessions. Another way is to make your own website and look for customers online.

#12 Micro Jobs

Another way to make money online fast with basic knowledge and skill is by doing micro-tasks on micro-jobs websites. Micro-tasks included creating an email account, finding information on Google, posting ads, etc.

It is most suitable for students, homemakers, and others who can earn side income. There are websites like Fiverr where you get paid as less as $5 for your skill.

Another example is Mechanical Turk by Amazon where micro jobs like tagging pictures, copying or listing URLs, data verification, clean-up.

In fact, any other simple task done for others is called HIT or Human Intelligence Tasks. You don`t get paid much, but a couple of HIT’s can make you money quickly.

#13 Build your own course on UDEMY

Udemy is an online learning platform to build a course, teach and earn money on every student enrolled. It is not a certified course, but students take them to sharpen their skills.

It can earn you extra income by developing your own educational course and selling it on Udemy. You can teach about anything on UDEMY from web development to creativity.

#14 Create an App

Build an app in your area of interest and make money. If you know how to develop and design an app, it can reach a wide audience of smartphones.

It is more related to technical skill but has high possibilities for upscale and monetize it. Before building an app, do thorough research and analysis as it requires time, money and energy.

#15 Airbnb

You can earn money by renting a space in your apartment. It can be an excellent way to earn as Airbnb is a trusted renting business website.

How does it work?

• Share photos of your spaces and describe your requirements and no.of guests allowed.
• Mention the charges expected.
• Payment will be made via Paypal, Direct deposits or others.

#16 Drive Uber

If you are looking to earn cash for the short term, take advantage of your driving skills. You can work with the popular car-hire app UBER and if your vehicle meets their specifications and criteria, get your driving license ready and set to drive.

Also, read – 

20+ Legitimate Ways to Make $500 Fast ($500 Fast Cash)

How to Get Quick Money? 15 Super-Fast Ways To Make Money

Final Words

There are innumerable ways to earn money online. I have just given a gist, but it is for you to explore and utilize your skills to make money and check online to know many success stories and remember, registration for any work is free, and no investment or fee is involved. Set out to build your own success story.

See Also: How to Travel the World For Free (17 Ways to Travel for Free)

FAQ

How to make $100 a day on the internet?

1. Selling Custom Products 2. Selling products on amazon 3. Affiliate Marketing 4. Tutoring/Online Courses 5. Freelancing

How to make money right now?

1. Sell dropshipping products 2. Sign up to be a virtual assistant 3. Re-sell used items 4. Uber Driver 5. Rent out your place in AirBnB

How do i make $1,000 a month?

1. Online classes/Tutoring 2. UserTesting(for testing websites) 3. Trading 4. Buy and sell domains.