How to make money online: 25 ways to make money online

Can you make money online? 

To make money online you need a computer, internet connection and dedication. 

Making money online is not easy or fast, but it is possible.

It can be a side hustle, or, with hard work, a full-time income generator.

• If you are a student, make sure you check our guide on 45 ways to make money as a student. 

1. Teach English Online 

If you have good English skills, you can teach English online. There are many websites that allow you to find students all over the world and use useful tools to teach online from the comfort of your own home. Here you will find 29 of the best teaching English online websites. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you also are fluent in another language, you can teach that as well. You don’t need to be a native speaker to teach a language. As long as you are fluent.

2. Start a Podcast

It’s easy to start a podcast. You need a microphone, audio editing software and a podcast platform to publish your content. 

The most complicated part is to know what you are going to talk about and to sustain at least one episode per week.

If you are successful on your podcast, you can start getting commercial sponsorships and make money. It’s hard work, but it can pay off in the long term. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you don’t want to start a podcast, you can specialise in editing podcasts for other people. This is an on-demand job, where you will receive long audio files and will put them together in a shorter format with the only relevant content. You can also learn how to make podcasts opening and closing audios. The possibilities are infinite. 

3. Become a virtual assistant

If you have a couple of hours free per day, you can help someone else with their work.

A virtual assistant can help a company from a distance with many different activities. If you want to learn more about how to become a virtual assistant, you can start with the UK Society of Virtual Assistants.

4. Sell Online Greeting Cards

If you know how to design and you love a good festive date, you can start selling online greeting cards. 

If you come up with a different product, you can be successful. Go check Jib Jab to see how far Animated Ecards can go.

5. Create How-To Videos on Youtube 

YouTube is one of the most popular websites in the world. 

Many people go to YouTube not to be entertained, but to learn new skills. If you have a skill, you can start recording how-to videos to teach it. How-to videos are a profitable niche because people want to learn. You can teach anything you know. 

Once you reach a certain number of subscribers, YouTube allows you to monetise your channel with advertisements. Before that, however, you can earn money by working with brands and getting external sponsorships for your content.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you don’t want to be the star of a how-to YouTube Channel, you can specialise in editing the videos instead. For videos that are teaching skills, editing and special effects are even more important.  They help to deliver the information.

6. Start a Website Business 

Everyone today needs a website, but most people don’t know how to start. If you learn how to set up a website via WordPress, Squarespace or Wix, you can help others do the same.. 

You could even sell them content as well. This is a popular route to make money online. 

There is potential to keep these clients for the long run as you can keep offering them other services to maintain and update their websites. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: You can also create your own websites. You can monetise it by adding advertisements and affiliate links. See here 11 ways to monetise your website in 2021. 

7. Start Dropshipping

Much of the online shopping we see today from big marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon happen via dropshipping. Dropshipping is a business model to sell stuff online.

In this model, you have a website where you list products, but you don’t have any of these products physically.

When a customer buys one of your products, your supplier is the one that does all the work to store, package, and ship the product for you.

You need to make sure you find a good supplier and invest in marketing to promote and sell “their” products.

The best way to learn more about dropshipping is with Shopify, a leader company in the segment. Read How to Start a Dropshipping Business: A Complete Playbook for 2021 to learn more. 

8. Become a Proofreader

If you like reading and you have excellent attention to detail you can become a proofreader. You can start offering your services to people that you know and growing from there. 

You can also specialise in one field which will help you to be an authority on it.

9. Become an Online Life Coach 

You don’t need a college or university degree to become an online life coach. You can get a certification and you will need to keep up with the trends and news in the field.

If you think you can help people to “get their lives together” using life coaching techniques, you can get your certification and start then. In the UK, Animas is a well-known Centre for Coaching with a 3 hours free introductory course. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: You can have more chances of success if you specialise in one thing. For example, procrastination. You can be an online life coach that helps people overcome their procrastination issues. The more specific you are, the better chances you have of finding clients. 

10. Become a Social Media Manager 

If you like spending time on Social Media, you use this time to make money managing other people’s accounts.

This is the perfect side hustle for someone that likes interacting with people online. You can focus on only one platform or offer multiple platforms services. 

The only problem is that you will need to deliver results in numbers. This can bring you a lot of money, as long as you are able to deliver what people want: followers and sales. 

11. Become an Audiobook Narrator

As mentioned before, audio content is growing and it’s going to be the next big thing. The publishing industry has learned that and most books are being realised as audiobooks as well. If you have a good voice and you like reading, you can become an audiobook narrator. If you want to start in this market, you can use ACX to learn more about audiobooks and how to be a professional in this segment. You can also join the VoiceOver Network.

12. Become a virtual call centre attendant 

If you like giving customer support, being a virtual call centre attendant can be a good option for you. The best place to find open positions is The Virtual Call Centre Network. You will receive the calls from the comfort of your own home and deal with the customer queries, everything online. 

13. Write and publish a Kindle eBook

Amazon has one of the best self-publishing programs in the world. You can publish any type of book you want from low content to epic fantasy series. However, it is difficult to get sales and is as much about marketing your ebook as it is writing. Depending on your book niche, marketing skills and writing, it can be profitable. 

14. Create an App

This used to be a big trend in making money online, but is less so with the rise of social media... If you have a good idea for an app that can help people, you could learn to make one. You will need to sell your app via Google Play or at App Store. Learn how to create an app in 2021 in 10 easy steps. 

15. Create a Membership Site 

A membership website is a platform where people pay a monthly fee to access exclusive content. There are many different types of membership sites. 

You just need to make sure you will be able to offer exclusive high-quality content and to create a community around it. 

Here the same rule applies, the more specific you are, the better chances of success you have. 

Use some of the best membership site providers which will give you all the support you need to create your own membership site. 

16. Become a Data Analyst 

In the digital era that we are all living in, everything is about data. If you are good at analysing data, you can become a data analyst.

 Your clients are going to give you a bunch of spreadsheets and you will need to come up with reports. These reports will or show what actions they should take based on your data analysis. Here you can learn more about how to become a data analyst. 

17. Create a directory or listing site 

Directory and listing sites are an easier way to make money online with websites. People are always looking for information, and when all the information is in one place, things are much easier! 

You can start making money by adding Ads, but in the future, selling premium listings. You can create lists about everything from the newspapers available in your area to the local dentists. Check here how to start a directory site. 

18. Sell pre-built blogs

This is also a long-term way of making money online, but if you know how to create websites and can create content to keep them updated, you can build blogs and sell them at Flippa.com.

If your blog is profitable you can make good money by selling it. This site at Flip makes around 500 dollars a month and it costs 10,000 dollars. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: You can also buy and sell domain names. Learn more about it here. 

19. Become a Twitch Streamer

Twitch started as a gaming platform, but now is becoming quite popular in other niches. On Twitch you can make money by streaming. Here you can find some of the most popular Twitch Streamers that aren’t gamers, there is even a delivery man showing the city of New York during his rides. 

20. Become an Influencer

If you can become an influencer, you can make lots of money online. Ideally, you need to have more than 10,000 followers on your account to make a considerable monthly income from your following. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: It’s not an easy job to become an influencer, you will need to pick a niche and stick to it for a long time. The more “niched” you are, the better. Deliver the type of content your audience wants and needs to be successful. 

21. Become a TikTok Consultant

TikTok is the newest social media platform and brands are interested in professionals that can help them grow their audience there as well. If you are good at branding and social media, this is work you can do even from your phone. You will need to understand viral content and how to produce it. Here are some of the top Tik Tok consultants from Upwork. 

22. Start Affiliate Marketing

If you have a platform where you can share content for your followers, you can make good money with affiliate marketing.

This involves sharing affiliate links to products and services you recommend. Most companies have an affiliate program. Here you can find a guide on how to start affiliate marketing. 

23. Create Online Events and Host Webinars

With the changes that the world has seen in the past years, online events and webinars are going to grow even more.

If you are someone that likes to organise events, you can start your own online events and webinars company.

You can learn how to host a successful online event here. 

24. Create and sell e-products 

E-products are also known as digital products, you can create them and sell them online. Here is a list of some product ideas. Then you need to use a platform to sell them, you can do that on a website or via Payhip, for example. 

25. Create a Newsletter 

With Substack, you can now charge for people to read your newsletter. You can start it for free until you build an audience, or if you already have one, even better. You need to make sure you have premium content to deliver at least once a week to your subscribers. Newsletters usually need to be informative, interesting and entertaining. You can make good money from this even if you only charge less than £5 per month, it all depends on how many readers you have. 

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