Earning From Home: How To Make Extra Money Online

Why I Wrote This Guide

Over a year ago now I started to do freelance work on top of my regular, 9-5 job. I had recently graduated university, but didn’t manage to land one of those great graduate jobs I had heard so much about. Instead, I ended up in a minimum wage temp job. Not exactly what I was hoping for after 4 years of study. With student debts and an overdraft to pay off, I had to find a way to make more money.

Luckily, I was able to make extra money online by writing articles. The thing is, I know I’m not the only person who has found themselves in this position. The CIPD recently stated that 58.8% of graduates are in jobs regarded as non-graduate roles. Of course, it’s not just about graduates. According to the Office of National Statistics there were 1.4 million minimum wage jobs in the UK in 2014.

It’s no wonder that people are resorting to ‘moonlighting’ in order to supplement their income. People do it for all sorts of reasons, whether it’s to pay off debts, cover their bills or avoid payday loans. More than a third are doing it so they can afford to go on a summer holiday. Making money online from home is a great way to save up for something without having to cut down on your spending.

Of course, freelancing isn’t the only way to make money online. You can get money by selling you own things, taking surveys, installing apps and even watching videos. There are so many different ways you can make money online, it’s just about knowing what your options are.

Remember: If you plan on doing any extra paid work, you will need to register as self-employed within three months of starting. This is the case even if you already have a permanent full time job and are just making money online. Failure to do so may result in a penalty. You can find out more about how to do this here.

What You Will Find In This Guide

There are several ways to make extra money online. There are easy, quick money options that will help you make a fast buck without putting in too much effort. Of course, you may not make a fortune this way, but it’s perfect if you just want to make a bit of extra cash.

Then, there are the more dedicated options that will help you to earn more in the long run. These require a bit more time and effort on your part, but may just be worth the trouble if you are serious about making money online.

I’ve managed to boil it down to four main online money-making techniques:

Sell things online: This part will discuss selling your old, used things online such as clothing, books and DVD’s.
Sell services online: This section will cover different services you can sell online, such as copywriting, teaching, design and various freelance services.
Get paid for your opinions: This part will discuss ways you can get paid for your opinions, from writing reviews, to completing surveys and rating songs.
Get paid for things you already do: This section is perfect for people looking for easy ways to make money. It will discuss apps and websites you can use to earn money for things that you are already doing for free.

In this guide I will discuss each option in a bit more detail, including resources and tips to help you make more money from each venture.

Part 1: Sell Stuff Online

Selling things is the perfect way to make money online. Not only do you get to make money at home, but you also get rid of things that are simply taking up space. You may think you don’t have anything worth selling, but you would be surprised at what you can actually get away with selling. Even broken items sell well on places like eBay, so don’t discard your old junk just yet.

eBay

No doubt you would have heard of eBay. After all, it does have 157.3 million active users as of 2015. Whenever people need a bit of extra cash, selling a few used items on eBay tends to be the answer. It’s a great way to not only make money fast online, but also get rid of little used items taking up space in your home.

eBay is great for products that are:

Easy to sell online: Not everything is easy to sell online, particularly if it’s expensive. Some people might not feel comfortable handing over their money without seeing the product in person first, so an online marketplace doesn’t work for everything. This tends to be true of high value items. If you are unsure whether or not your item would sell well online, do a quick search to see if other people have sold it before.
Easy to ship: Selling a product is one thing, but remember that you will have to ship it out to whoever ends up buying it. If its heavy and awkward to ship, it may end up being more hassle than it’s worth.
Rare: People looking for something rare that can’t easily be bought in most shops are likely to turn to online platforms such as eBay. One-of-a-kind items or antiques sell very well online.
Popular: It’s much easier to attract buyers for items that are already popular sellers online, so if you’re looking to make quick money online, go for previous best sellers.

So what sells well? Apparently, these are the 10 hottest selling items on eBay:

eBay has a page that shows you what’s popular in the marketplace, which not only helps you decide what to sell, but also how much to charge for it. The amount of money you can make from selling items on eBay really depends on what you are selling, the condition and the demand for your product. eBay is one of the most popular ways to make extra money online and it’s easy to see why when you can use it to sell pretty much anything.

Sell Old Books, Games and Movies

How many old movies, books and games do you have that you don’t use anymore? As we move away from physical goods and sign up to services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Kindle Unlimited, we have less need for things that we’ve already read, played or watched several times before.

While eBay is great for selling rare and popular goods, it may be worth selling books, games and movies on sites that specifically target those goods. You will have a higher chance of selling your items on these sites, perfect if you are looking for ways on how to make money fast online.

The following services can be used to sell those goods that you just don’t need anymore:

Bookscouter
Amazon Trade-in/Marketplace
Preloved
MusicMagpie
Ziffit

Websites such as MusicMagpie will give you an instant price for your goods, so you can decide whether or not it’s worth the sell. It’s unlikely you’ll earn a great deal of money, but it’s a great way to make easy money online, without having to put in too much effort.

Top Tip: If you are selling books, DVD’s or games make sure you look at a few different sites to see which sites will pay you the most for your items. Don’t be afraid to use more than one site, most offer free delivery so it’s worth going with the ones that give you the most for each particular item.

We sold some of our university books online after we graduated on Amazon and Ziffit and it was quick and simple. This gives you a nice little overview of how the process works at Ziffit:

We managed to make a decent bit of money from it and it helped to clear out some space in our flat. Postage is free, so they really make it easy for you.

Rent/Sell Your Clothes Online

Selling, renting and swapping clothing online has become a popular choice these days. With people taking to social media to show off their latest outfits, and trends changing with increasing speed, renting and swapping clothes has become the affordable choice.

If you have quality clothing that you are not quite ready to part with, you can now rent them out on various sites. These are just a few of the websites that give you these options:

Swishing.co.uk

Swishing allows you to rent out your clothing and receive ‘virtual money’ in exchange. You might not make real money online, but it does allow you the chance to get a new outfit without having to spend money. When you think of all the money you save in the long run, you may as well be earning money.

Vinted.co.uk

Vented allows you to sell items, as well as swap them. This is a better option if make money online now, rather than simply save the money you would have spent buying a new outfit. The best part about Vinted? You can download an app to make the whole process that much simpler. If you’re want to make money online free, then this is perfect since you don’t have to pay for a listing.

Check out a review of the service from Simplynessa15:

Mysdroom.com

My Secret Dressing room is aimed toward Londoners, so you need a London address for deliveries. You can register to become a Secret Stylist and choose which items you would like to list on the site. If all goes well, you can book a free photo shoot and place your items online. You get to name your price, but it should reflect the original price you paid, its current street value and fashionable popularity.

Swapping clothes is an easy way to get a memorable outfit for a big event, without having to spend loads of money. As My Secret Dressing Room puts it, it’s “a new way to experience fashion”.

Of course, you can just choose to rent out your clothing if you’re only looking for ways to make money online. It works well with high quality items that can withstand a lot of wear and which you only really want to keep for special occasions.

Part 2: Sell Services Online

Many people have turned to ‘moonlighting’ as a way to make money online in order to supplement their income. According to Peopleperhour, some people have managed to boost their monthly incomes by as much as 20%.

Selling a service is actually a lot easier than it sounds. When it comes to deciding what kind of service you could sell, all you need to do is:

Identify which skills you have to offer
Look at which services are in demand

The thing is, almost anything can make you money. The key is changing your mind set and viewing your skills, knowledge and experience as something of value. Something that’s worth paying for. I had never considered myself to be a particularly strong writer, but I managed to make extra money online writing articles. The more experience I gained, the better I got and now I can charge more for my writing.

There are so many different websites that allow you to sell your work online, making it really easy to make some much-needed extra cash. Selling your services not only allows you to make money, but it also gives you the opportunity to develop you skills and expand your portfolio. You never know, it could even help you to land a better job!

Freelance Work

There are plenty of websites that offer freelancers the opportunity to find work online. You can find projects that last a few hours, days, weeks or even months. You can get paid on an hourly basis, or a fixed price per project. You can work part time or full time; the opportunities are endless.

Freelancing is perfect if you just want to earn some extra money on the side, as you simply sign up to a website and look for a job. It gives you a great deal of freedom and you can work whenever you want, for as long as you want.

If you are not sure what kind of services you have to offer, simply look at the skills listed on Upwork:

You can get work in:

Customer Service
Sales & Marketing
Writing
Translation
Legal
Admin Support
IT & Networking
Design & Creative
and more!

Finding a job that suits your skills shouldn’t be too difficult. It’s just about visiting different websites and finding something that suits you. If you want to make easy money online, then I suggest sticking to something you are good at and that you can do quickly.

Of course, if you want to continue picking up jobs then you need to deliver quality work that will get you high ratings. This will allow you to charge more in future and you might even find some contacts to work for exclusively.

Here are some websites you should be checking out if you want to do some freelance work:

Upwork
People per Hour
Fiverr
Freelancer
Guru
iFreelance

The key to landing these jobs is to stand out from all the other freelancers out there and give clients a reason to look at your proposal. That means writing a great bid proposal. You should show that you understand what your client is after and approach them in a way that is engaging and personalised. Take the time to write a great proposal and increase your chances of getting the job.

Write Articles

If you love to write and you are looking for a way to make money online from home, then becoming a freelance writer may just be the answer. If you’re just starting out you can sign up to websites such as iWriter or UpWork.

These websites allow you to choose which articles you want to write so you can go for topics you have an interest in or you can easily write about. You’re unlikely to earn a great deal of money per article, but it’s a great place to get started and gain some experience. Some websites allow you to charge more as a ‘premium’ writer, so it’s important to get good reviews for your work and build up your reputation.

Another option is to write articles directly for websites. There are plenty of websites that pay over $100 per article, so it’s worth submitting to these if you’re looking for ways to make money online.

Here are just a few of the websites that pay as much as $100 per blog post:

Listverse
ScaryMommy
Cracked
Back2College
A List Apart
International Living

With so much content being produced for millions of websites around the world, there’s always work to be had in writing articles. It may not be the best solution if you want to make easy money online, but if you’re good at it then it can be worth the effort.

Write a Slogan

Do you have a way with words? Are you good at summing things up in one quick sentence? Well, then you might be able to make money online writing slogans. Here are some sites that run slogan contests:

Get a Slogan
Slogan Slingers
Freelancer

Slogan Slinger states that you can make up to $999 per contest (minus a small admin fee), with rewards typically starting at $200. Since the rewards are quite high for a relatively small amount of work, it is pretty competitive, but still worth a shot to make easy money online.

That gives you an idea of the kind of slogans that win. “Click Ass” won someone at least $200, that’s at least $100 per word! Not bad, not bad at all.

Become a Teacher

Do you consider yourself an expert is something? Have you ever thought about teaching someone a new skill? You should consider becoming an online teacher. Online learning platforms have become incredibly popular over the last couple of years, with some people making serious money off it.

One of the most popular platforms to publish and sell online courses is Udemy, which has 16,000 instructors and 7m students. They include courses on everything from SEO training, to learning to play the guitar and how to visit Disney World on a budget. The average instructor makes $7,000 from their courses, not bad if you’re looking to make extra money online.

This is a sample of the type of courses on offer:

As you can see, topics and prices vary, so it really depends on what you have to offer.

The great thing is that you don’t need any previous teaching experience and they even provide you with free-to-use course design tools. This is perfect if you are just getting started and want to build out your audience. It offers a great platform to develop yourself as a person of expertise. The trick to making serious money is to market your courses through the use of YouTube and social media.

Of course, Udemy is not the online platform you can use. If you’re interested in selling your own courses online, you should take a look at this list of 15 platforms to publish and sell online courses to find one that will suit your needs.

Sell Your Digital Designs

If you love playing around on Photoshop or Illustrator, then why not use those skills to create things you can actually sell? You can either create your own graphics, templates or fonts to sell on an online marketplace or create custom designs for clients.

One of my favourite websites to get graphics from is Creative Market. This platform allows creative individuals from around the world to sell their digital design content online. You can sell anything from fonts, to icons, product mockups, logos, photos, textures and themes.

Remember, this guide is about how to make money online, so if you want to sell your designs you need to think like a seller. The key to making money is to cater to current trends, get involved in community discussions and gain the attention of the staff at Creative Market. That way, you have a higher chance of getting featured or included in their big bundle sales, which can give you a significant boost in income.

Check out Adrian Pelletier’s guide to using the marketplace and learn how you can make real money online by selling your designs. In it he mentions how he made $9,471.45 in about a year of casually selling, not bad!

There are several other creative marketplaces online, so it’s worth doing a bit of research depending on what you are trying to sell. Here are some other websites that are worth checking out:

Etsy
99 Designs
Society 6
Graphic River
My Fonts

Alternatively, you can look for freelance design jobs on sites like Upwork and PeoplePerHour. This will require working to a brief and you will face competition from other designers for the jobs posted. However, if you are looking for a way to make money fast online, then it’s probably best to seek out job listings.

Part 3. Get Paid For Your Opinions

Getting paid to give your opinion is one of the best ways to make easy money online without the need for any particular skills. All you have to do is provide your opinion by filling out a survey, reviewing a website or even giving feedback while listening to music.

Companies value your opinion and they are willing to pay for it. While the task itself is normally pretty quick and simple, it can take awhile to accumulate enough money to make it worthwhile. However, with some people claiming to earn as much as £800 a year just for providing a quick opinion, it can definitely be worth the effort.

Online Surveys

Taking online surveys is one of the most common ways to make money giving your opinion and it’s pretty easy. All you have to do is sign up to a website, wait for them to send you survey offers to complete and then answer the questions.

Completing surveys is not a get rick quick, route to success. It’s merely a good way to make some easy money, with minimal effort. Even if it’s not a lot of money, it still helps towards the bills.

Here are some dos and don’ts of survey sites:

Money Saving Expert recommends these survey sites as the top 20. I recommend heading over to their site to read the full list as they provide great information on each, including information about payment method, typical survey time and typical earnings per survey.

i-Say
Swagbucks
GlobalTestMarket
Crowdology
MySurvey
OnePoll
Pinecone
Newvistalive
Toluna
YouGov
Valued Opinions
Panel Opinion
Survey Friends
Vanson Bourne
Pureprofile
Vivatic
Opinion Outpost
OpinionWorld
Justtheanswer
Mindmover

Watch out for scams: There are fake survey websites out there, so it’s worth doing a bit of research and reading reviews. If they are making an offer that seems too good to be true, it probably is. Avoid websites that don’t offer company information, don’t have a privacy policy and especially those asking for money.

Not all survey sites pay out cash, some offer vouchers, so it’s worth finding taking the time to find ones that pay out actual money. Since you typically need to accumulate enough money or points before you get a pay out, you will need to be patient about getting your money. If you were hoping for a way to make quick money online, you might want to look elsewhere.

Review Websites

Another easy way to make extra money online is to review websites. User Testing pays out $10 via PayPal and all you have to do is visit a website or an app and complete a set of tasks. These take about 20 minutes to complete and you just need to speak your thought aloud as you complete the tasks.

You need to download the sites testing software, which will allow them to record your screen so they can track your mouse movement and clicks. It also records you while you verbalize your steps, so it is able to identify any problems you might come across. The aim is for companies to receive an honest review about their app or website in order to identify any issues with usability and clarity.

It’s perfect for making a bit of extra money on the side but again, don’t expect to get rich from it. The number of opportunities you get to test out different sites will depend on various factors such as demographics and the quality ratings you receive. Do your best to give find a quiet spot to record, give an honest review and point out areas for improvement to receive a higher rating.

Review Music

For those of you looking easy ways to make money, consider using Slice the Pie. This website allows you to give feedback to artists by reviewing their music and pays you for it.

You need to listen to at least 90 seconds of the song and the more you write the more you can earn. On average, you earn about 10 to 20 cents per song, so don’t expect to get rich from this scheme.

For a review of the site, check out this video:

As you can see, it looks like a pretty straightforward process and doesn’t take too long to complete. The only downside is that you don’t earn a great deal of money from it, so it will take a while to accumulate a decent amount of cash. The good thing is that you get to earn some money simply listening to music and giving your opinion of the song.

Part 4: Get Paid For Things You Already Do

If you’re looking for an easy ways to make money, then you’ve come to the right place. It doesn’t get any easier than earning money for things you already do online. Whether it’s playing games, using a search engine or buying products, you can earn small amounts of money just by using these sites or apps.

Don’t expect to earn a great deal of money this way, but it’s not a bad way to make extra money online with minimal effort. These options are a great way of making a bit of money in the background, so you have a little extra spending money at the end of the month.

Sell Your SmartPhone Photos

Most people own a smart phone these days and most people use it to take pictures. When you have a camera handy 24/7, it’s easy to end up with lots and lots of photographs. Why not ‘turn your real photos into real money’?

By downloading an app called Foap, you can easily submit pictures that are already on your phone and receive $5 per sale. The great thing is that you can sell the same photo again and again. Even better, they run missions (essentially competitions) for big name brands, which will use the photos in their marketing campaigns. These missions offer rewards from $100, to as much as $500.

Now, I don’t know how easy it is to make money using this app, but I think it’s worth a shot since it requires minimal effort. I downloaded the app myself about a month ago, but have yet to make a sale. That being said, I only uploaded a few pictures and haven’t attempted going for any missions. My advice is to make sure you use plenty of tags to make it easier for buyers to find your photos.

Use the Web with Swagbucks

Earning money with Swagbucks is easy. The site pays you Swag Bucks each time you perform a task, but many of those you already do. It includes doing things such as participating in polls and surveys, watching promotional videos, playing games and buying products. Each time you complete these actions, you earn Swag Bucks, which you can then cash out via PayPal, swap for an Amazon gift card or use on other deals.

The easiest way to make money on this site is to use their search engine. All you have to do is download their search engine toolbar and use it. As with most of these options, don’t expect to get rich from it. This program is perfect for people that are happy to earn an extra $5-10 a month without having to make a big change to their online habits. If you’re looking for a get-rich-quick scheme, keep looking.

Sell Your Notes

If you’re a student looking to make a bit of extra money, consider selling your notes on Notesale. All you have to do is upload your study notes in PDF format, set your price and wait until they’re sold.

Prices vary from £1 to £10 on average. When uploading your notes, it’s worth taking the time to write a good title and description of your notes. Make sure your topic is clear and select the relevant subjects. People can preview your notes, so it’s worth making the first page look good.

If you want to make extra money online, then get out there and start earning. There are so many different options out there, it’s easy to find something that fits your skills, knowledge, time constraints and motivation. From minimal effort activities, to tasks that require a a decent amount of time and effort, there is something out there for everyone.

Have you tried any of the above methods? Leave a comment below and let other readers know about your experiences.