If maintaining a
blog is difficult for you but you still want to indulge your passion for
writing, you can jot down articles for other blogs or sites such as Weblogs,
Helium or PayPerPost. Writing an e-book can also be a good option. E-books are
investment free, with no cost for printing and shipping. If you have a strong
command over languages, you can become a copy editor, where Webmasters will pay
you to read articles and correct grammatical errors, sentence fragments, etc.
Blogging
If you're a
passionate closet writer who wants to be published but can't find a way to do
so, make each keystroke your way to wealth by penning your own blog. Starting a
blog doesn't require extensive technical skills but it's important that you
have expertise in the field you are writing on. This will attract visitors to
your site. Building a large following will enable you to earn profit by luring
advertisers, writing paid reviews or getting commissions for promoting other
people's products.
Advertising
You can sell space
on your Website or blog for advertisements and you earn when these ads are
clicked by visitors to your site. The sorting and placing of ads is free. The
profitability of pay-per-click advertising depends on the traffic level of the
Website and, most importantly, on the clickthrough rate and cost per click.
Google AdSense is the most popular option, while others are BidVertiser, Text
Link Ads and Blogads. Direct banner and RSS feed are some other forms of online
advertising.
8Online Marketing
Once a Website is
created and optimised for search engine (SEO), the SEM or Search Engine
Marketing begins. A treasure trove lies hidden here. An SEO/SEM expert, who is
responsible for marketing a Website, can promote it in various ways. These
include article marketing, writing press releases, forum posting, blog posting,
submitting your site to directories and search engines, social bookmarking,
etc. Most companies don't do this in-house and pay you to conduct the SEM for
them.
Freelancing for
Professionals
Freelancing is a
great option for professionals who are experts in their respective trades and
know how to ensure customer satisfaction. Various freelancing and
project-oriented sites allow companies that need help to describe their
projects. Freelancers and small businesses offer bids, ideas or proposals, from
which the buyers can choose what they find most suitable. Websites such as
Elance cover everything from programming and writing to data entry and design,
while RentACoder focuses on software programming.
You Tube
If there's a
dramatic performer hidden inside you who craves applause and adulation, upload
yourself on YouTube. You can be a filmmaker, musician or comedian who wants a
wider audience. Your earnings will come from ads displayed on your video page.
This process is similar to the pay-per-click advertising program common to
other Websites and blogs. Sites such as Flixya and Mediaflix can be helpful in
this regard.
e-tuitions/Webinars
The demand for
tutors is high and growing. So, if you like helping others learn, e-teaching
could be the earning ticket for you. All you need to become an online tutor is
expertise in your subject and a few spare hours per week. TutorVista, e-tutor,
SmartThinking and Tutor.com are some of the sites you can enroll with. If you
gain a good reputation as a coach, you could even conduct Webinars-lectures or
seminars transmitted over the Net. College and university students are willing
to pay to gain entry to a well-respected Webinar.
Buying/Selling
domains
Buying and selling
domain names is another way to make money from home and requires very little
investment or time. You can buy domains at their registration prices or even
cheaper and trade them at a profit. However, always research on sites such as
sedo.co.uk, afternic.com, ebay.com or other domain auction sites to get an
estimate of the hottest selling names. The best way to find good ones is to use
terminated domain lists, which contain several expired names that are back in
the pool.
Affilliate/Reseller
For those who have
the knack of selling, one of the best ways to make money online is to become an
affiliate/reseller. An affiliate is a person who gets a commission for selling
every product that he promotes, whether on his Website or through any other
avenue such as eBay. You don't have to own the product. You only need to sign
up for an affiliate program with a company and start selling its products under
your referral link. Firms such as Commission Junction or Click Bank have a
large pool of products.
GPT Programme
GPT or Get-paid-to
sites are becoming increasingly popular among teens. You get paid for signing
up for free Websites, newsletters, playing games and filling out online
surveys. These are suitable for people who don't have a skill set but want to
earn extra money. Taking online surveys is simple- register with a few
legitimate, paid survey sites and answer questions. The topics range from
shopping to politics. This might not help you make a living, but you can earn
good pocket money. Contests2win is one of the trusted GPT Websites.
Selling photos
If you enjoy
photography and are good with a camera, you could be sitting on a huge reserve
of revenue. There are people who will be interested in your collection of
images. Nowadays, it's easy to take your photos to the public, providing a
convenient way to build a secondary income stream. Many stock photo agencies,
such as Fotolia, Dreamstime and Shutterstock, offer incentives for people to
earn from their photos.
Making themes
As more and more
people seek an online presence, the demand for Website templates and WordPress
(Blog) themes will keep increasing. If you are good at Web designing and
coding, you can earn a lot from designing Web themes. In this segment, there
are mainstream Websites, such as TemplateMonster and ThemeForest, which act as
a marketplace where you can sell your themes. Templates are sold and priced
depending on the rights and features that are bundled with them.
Support &
service
Providing coding or
fixing other Webmasters' issues is another great way to earn extra bucks. There
are simple jobs ranging from adding a script to setting up sites, but knowledge
of Web coding is essential. One can offer support for Web CMS (content
management systems) like Drupal or Joomla. After you are comfortable with your
own installation, you can help other people to set these up and configure them.
Selling your own
brand
If you have a flair
for designing cool images, don't bother about creating your own inventory. As
long as your design can be printed on a product, you can pocket some money. You
can upload designs on various Websites such as CafePress, and if somebody
orders these designs, the company will print them and distribute the products.
It could be designs for T-shirts, hats, bags, books, posters, calendars,
greeting cards, etc. You will receive a commission for each sale. Other such
sites include Lulu and Zazzle.
Stock/forex trading
Joining the
stock/forex market may seem a bit risky. However, you can start small and
continue researching till you gain experience in this area. Once you do, it
will be easy to earn from exchanging foreign currencies and/or stocks. Their
rates fluctuate depending on supply and demand, and economic and political
influences in the world. The aim of any trader is to spot which currency/stock
is likely to rise or fall in value against another. The more time you put in,
the more you will earn.
Transcription
Medical
transcription involves making written copies of oral material dictated by
doctors or other medical experts. These may include history and physical
reports, clinical notes, consultation notes, reports, letters, psychiatric
evaluation and so on. The dictated material needs to be transcribed swiftly and
accurately, which is the most challenging aspect of the job. To become a
medical transcriptionist, you need to have a good knowledge of medical
terminology and a high typing speed along with accuracy.
Virtual Assistant
Small businesses
always need help in running their processes, but may not be willing to hire a
full-time employee. As a virtual assistant, you are expected to perform
practically any administrative task that a traditional secretary or assistant
would, such as make travel reservations, handle expense reimbursements or pay
bills. You can do it from the comfort of your home, interacting with clients
either online or by phone. Your expertise will decide how much moolah you rake
in.
Inbound call centre
Many companies, who
are facing space constraints, especially those in metro cities, prefer to hire
workers outside their offices or outsource certain processes. You can set up an
inbound call centre at home to handle such jobs. Research different companies
that are outsourcing their work as they may have opportunities for inbound call
centre agents. You can work for more than one company. This can be either a
part-time or fulltime engagement, depending on your need.
Building
Applications
With smartphones
gaining popularity, the demand for their applications, or apps as they are
popularly known, has also shot up. There are over 3 million apps for the iPhone
and over a million apps in Google's Android market. Most of these are selling
like hot cakes. Developing and selling your own smartphone app is becoming a
lucrative way to make money on the Internet. Apps cost virtually nothing to
develop and entail no storage or shipping costs. So they enjoy the best profit
margins.
Researching for
others
Don't be morose if
you can't write, design or code. Lack of talent cannot stop you from making
money online. If you're willing to work hard for a few hours a week, you can
take up simple research jobs for other people who don't have the time to do it
themselves. You could search for opportunities in organisations that provide
funding for research and offer to assist them through online investigation.