81 Legit Ways to Make Money Online for Beginners (2024 Update)

And the best part?

You can do it anytime and from anywhere – at home on your couch, in the doctor’s office (while you wait), at the airport, while waiting in line somewhere, or any other place where you have a few minutes.

Before the days of the Internet, making more money meant doing one of these things:

• getting a second or a part-time job
• cutting grass
• babysitting
• waiting tables
• washing cars
• cleaning houses
• etc.

Thankfully, today there is a wide variety of free ways to make money on the side.

You know what’s the best part?

The best part is that you already have the skill and knowledge that’s required for most of these opportunities.

Sure, you won’t get rich, but you will make enough money to make it worth your while.

Now, for those who don’t mind going the extra mile, some of these options can lead to earnings that can actually surpass what a teenager may earn working at a traditional fast food job.

How to Make Money Online Without Paying Anything!

Let’s get started with our list of scam free ways of earning money on the internet.

1. Help shape the future of Google

Like Google and its products?

Wanna tell them what you think of their products and features?

Become a participant in Google’s User Experience Research Studies.

And yes, you earn rewards like gift cards and donations to your favorite charity.

There are a few different kinds of studies you can participate in:

• Usability study at a Google office: Usually, you’ll meet up with a Google researcher and answer a few questions about a Google product. Needless to say, for this to work, you have to live close to one of Google’s offices.
• Remote usability study: You can do this one from anywhere in the world. This is done through a screen-sharing session with a researcher. They’ll ask you to visit a site (Google-owned properties like YouTube, Google+, etc.) and try different things while browsing.
• Experiential sampling study: You’ll be using a product and asked to take notes or answer questions. This usually takes over several days
• Field study: Google researchers will schedule an appointment with you to come to your house or office and conduct the study in person.
• Surveys: Just like any online survey, you’ll be able to fill out the survey anytime and from anywhere.

To get started, visit https://userresearch.google.com/ and sign up for free.

2. Make money online with Swagbucks & InstaGC

Since you’re reading this, it’s safe to assume you’re internet savvy and know your way around.

You probably read your emails a few times a day, watch a few videos, visit a few interesting sites, shop…

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get paid for doing these things that you already do anyway?

Well, there are a few companies that do pay people for doing exactly the things you do every day online.

One is InstaGC and the other is Swagbucks. And millions of people (probably some of your friends and family, too) are already using these sites to earn some extra cash.

Both are online reward sites, one of the very few sites in that category that get an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.

InstaGC members have so far redeemed over 1,000,000 gift cards and Swagbucks have paid their members $94,247,401 in free online gift cards, to date.

You can make money doing almost anything you do online, including:

• Searching the web
• Playing games
• Shopping (you earn cash back)
• Taking surveys
• Doing easy tasks like website testing
• Answering polls

I’ve been using both these sites for over 6 years now and I have earned more gift cards than I can count.

It’s an easy and fun way to earn a little money without doing much but the usual stuff you do online already.

By the way, if you join Swagbucks now, you’ll get a $5 sign up bonus. And with InstaGC is really easy to reach your cash out since they don’t have any minimum payout requirement. You can get paid even if you have $1 in your account.

3. Get paid $50 to install an app

The Nielsen Computer & Mobile panel is a panel by the famous Nielsen Research.

Basically, they pay you to install their app on your device.

The app works unintrusively in the background gathering data. This information helps companies improve existing products or develop better ones.

But here’s the best part…

You don’t have to do anything differently!

All you have to do is install the app once and get paid for every month you keep it.

You go about using your device as you do today. You don’t have to change a thing!

And yes, the data they gather is totally anonymous.

None of your personally identifiable information is attached to the info they gather. It’s just generic info like sex, geographical location, type of device, etc.

This has to be the easiest $50 you’ll ever make.

4. Ditch Google for Bing

Google is the giant when it comes to search and that means millions of dollars for the company.

That’s why Microsoft is trying to increase the usage of their own search engine, Bing.

And to get more users to search using Bing, Microsoft is now willing to pay you every time you do a search on Bing.

All you have to do is sign up with Microsoft Rewards, then simply use Bing to do your daily searches. Each search earns you rewards that can be cashed out for gift cards (including Amazon).

You can sign up with Microsoft Rewards here.

5. Watch videos via Inbox Dollars

If you’re one of the millions who watch online videos almost every day, this is for you.

InboxDollars pays you for watching videos on their site.

The catch?

The catch is that these videos have ads!

Advertisers pay InboxDollars to put ads in the videos and that’s how ID is able to pay people for watching these videos.

I’m sure you see ads when you watch videos on YouTube, but you don’t get paid, but here you do.

It doesn’t end there, there are tons of other ways to make cash on InboxDollars – taking surveys, playing games, shopping, doing offers, and much more.

The best part is that they’ll actually give you $5 free just for signing up.

Sign up here to get your $5 bonus.

6. Give feedback via video

VoxPopMe is a market research company that helps brands and companies get feedback from real consumers.

Here’s how it works:

1. You signup and install the app for free.
2. Log in to your account and browse a list of available surveys.
3. Pick one you like to start the process.
4. Next, you will record yourself with the app, answering the survey question. It usually takes less than 30 seconds to do a video response.

An average survey pays about $1. You’ll need $15 in your account to cash out.

They pay via PayPal.

The good thing is they pay fast – within 72 hours.

7. Earn rewards for watching TV

Update: Viggle App is no longer available!

You watch TV probably every day, you may as well get paid for it!

Viggle is an app that wants to pay you for watching your favorite shows.

It’s an app that gives you points for watching TV.

Here’s how to get started:

• Step 1: Install the app for free (Viggle for iPhone – Viggle for Android).
• Step 2: “Check in” via the app every time you’re watching a Live or Streaming show.
• Step 3: Earn points for every show you watch.
• Step 4: Redeem your points for gift cards or cash.

The longer you watch a show, the more points you earn.

There are also opportunities for bonus points along the way.

8. Write an article or two for these sites

If you ever thought, “I need money ASAP please help“, consider writing for pay.

Writing articles for money is one of the simplest and fastest ways to start making money online.

You don’t need to be an accomplished writer either. As long as you can write decently, you can get paid to write.

Here are a few good sites that’ll pay you to write for ’em:

1. TopTenz
   They publish “Top 10” style articles–Top 10 Ways to Save Money, Top 10 Cities to Live in, etc. They’ll pay you a minimum of $50 for every article you submit that gets published.
2. The Dollar Stretcher
   They’ll pay you $50 for a 500-word article. They like articles related to personal finance.
3. WOW! Women On Writing
   This is a global magazine that is centered around women’s issues. They pay between $50 to $150 for each article you write.
4. Matador
   Matador is an independent travel publisher, and as you might have imagined, they accept articles related to travel. Their standard pay for a single article is $40, however, longer and more interesting articles are paid way more than $40.
5. Scary Mommy
   This is a parenting website with tips and guides for parents. You can make up to $100 per article.

9. Earn cash buying & selling used books via BookScouter

We all have books we know we are done with. Now you can have your books collect cash for you instead of dust!

BookScouter searches over 40 book buy-back sites to find you the one that pays the most for any given book.

Simply visit the site, enter the ISBN number of the book, and the System will automatically tell you how much your book is worth and which site pays the most.

If you like the number, you’ll send the book to that site via a prepaid envelope, and receive your money a few days later.

You can actually scale this up by finding cheap or even free books from family and friends, garage sales, thrift stores, etc, and selling them at high prices with the help of BookScouter. I know one person who has built a reliable small side business doing exactly that.

10. Take online surveys via SurveySavvy

This is arguably one of the most popular ways to make money online.

Online surveys are one of the tools that the multi-billion dollar market research industry uses to gather feedback from consumers that will help businesses and manufacturers improve or develop new products.

Here is how it works:

You sign up with a survey site and fill out your profile.

Then whenever there is a study that matches your profile and demographic, you get invited to participate.

At that point, it is up to you whether you want to actually answer the survey questions or not. If you do decide to participate, you answer a few dozen questions about the product/service/topic of the survey.

Once you are done with it, your account gets credited with the promised amount.

Some survey sites pay cash (PayPal or Check). But most give you points for each survey which you can then redeem for cash or gift cards.

Surveys usually take between 10 to 40 minutes. And you can earn anywhere from $0.50 to $50, with the average pay being around $3.

Getting paid to take surveys is a fun way to earn a little side cash and free gift cards, while at the same time impacting the development and/or improvement of the products and services that you use in your daily life.

A few trusted survey sites you can try are:

1. Ipsos
2. Valued Opinions
3. PineCone Research

9. Get paid to find coupons

If you’re anything like me, before you buy anything online you open another tab and search for coupons.

That’s great. You save a little money.

But what if I told you not only can you save money, but you can also make money for finding those coupons?

I’m serious!

There is a company called CouponChief that will actually pay you for sharing your best coupon with other members of the community.

Here is how to get started:

1. Visit Couponchief.com/pays2share.
2. Fill out the registration form to become a member (it’s free)
3. Then, click the “Submit A Coupon” tab on the right side of your dashboard to submit your coupon(s).
4. For every member that uses your coupon, you earn cash.
5. Once you have enough cash in your account, ask for a payment.
6. Receive your cash in your PayPal account.

12. Get paid to shop via Rakuten

If you shop online, you’d be crazy not to use a site that gives you cash back for shopping through them.

I mean, if you’re going to buy something anyway, you might as well go through a channel that gets you some of that money back.

And Rakuten is by far one of the best cash back reward sites out there.

You can earn cashback on almost anything you purchase, from food and clothes to electronics, tools, and everything in between.

Sign up with Rakuten here to get a free $10 gift card.

13. Fatten your wallet by slimming down

We all know that every single year, the top new year resolution is losing weight/getting in shape.

We also know that a few weeks into the new year, most of us have already forgotten about that resolution.

Maybe what we all just need is a little more motivation than just looking awesomely sexy–perhaps some of that green may do.

Well, you’d be happy to know that there are a few companies that’ll actually pay you for being healthy.

HealthyWage and DietBet are two companies that’ll let you place bets and earn cash if you actually do lose weight.

You can sign up for free. Then install their apps and start placing bets. Reach your goal and you earn money (money comes from all of those who didn’t reach their goals).

14. Get paid to answer trivia questions

Givling is a site that aims to “End Student Loan Debt.”

It’s basically a platform where you can answer trivia questions to win money.

Here’s how it works:

You sign up for free which lets you play once a day for free (you can play more times with Pay to Play.)

You get paid (randomly) with two other players every time you decide to play.

Then you’ll answer true-or-false questions.

Every correct answer adds more points to your team’s total amount.

If your team scores the highest, you win.

There are big prizes up to $4 million dollars which takes a long time to get there. But you get to win smaller prizes each time you play and win.

I have played a few times and won about $50 so far.

15. Scan your groceries

Most of you know Nielsen. The company behind Nielsen TV rating.

They also have a panel dedicated to market research of people’s grocery shopping habits.

It’s called Nielsen Home Scan Consumer Panel.

Basically, they reward you to scan your groceries (either via the app or a scanner they send you.)

After you join the site, you can install the free app.

Then you can either request a free scanner that they’ll send you, or you can use your smartphone to scan the barcode off of the grocery items you purchase.

You earn rewards every time you scan.

You can then redeem your earnings for all kinds of stuff–electronics, household merchandise, toys, and even jewelry.

Here’s how it works in a few simple steps:

• Step 1: Join the site and install the app. You can do it here for free.
• Step 2: Scan your groceries.
• Step 3: Earn rewards every time you scan.
• Step 4: Redeem your points for prizes and rewards.

Longtime participants also earn entries to sweepstakes with prizes that include cash, brand new cars, vacations, and more.

16. Review movies

This would the best job for anyone who loves movies. Unfortunately, finding one that can get you consistent gigs is very hard to do.

The closest you can get to being paid for watching movies is through market research companies that conduct studies about movies and TV shows, where you watch a show or a movie (normally just some parts of it), and then answer a few questions about it.

I haven’t been able to find a market research company that is only dedicated to those studies.

So your best bet is join a few top survey sites so when they have those kinds of surveys you can get on board quickly.

17. Take pictures on your phone

There is an app called Foap that pays you for the pictures you take using your smartphone.

Simply install the app and register yourself with Foap (which is free by the way). Then upload pictures you snap on your phone to Foap’s marketplace.

Every time someone buys one of your pictures, you make $5.

So, a single picture can earn you an unlimited amount of cash, and that’s all passive income. Once you take the picture and upload it to the site, you don’t have to do anything else, but collect your money.

Keep in mind, though, your pictures have to be quality and they must get approved by the Foap team before it gets added to the marketplace.

18. Get paid to click

This is one of the oldest and most famous ways of earning pennies online.

I don’t really recommend this since the amount of money you earn for spending so much time clicking on links is just too little to make this worthy of your time. But since this post is about available money making options, I am including it here.

Basically, you are paid pennies for clicking on ad links. The page opens up and you keep it open for a few seconds and you earn your cash. Not much work, but not much earning potential either.

If you’re interested, check out Ysense (former ClickSense).

19. Let your computer pay your internet bill

MQL 5 – Distributed Cloud Network is a research company that pays you for sharing your computer’s unused CPU.

Basically you will be selling the unused power of your computer to the members of Distributed Cloud network. They use that extra power to do tasks like optimizing Expert Advisors optimization or developing mathematical models.

It’s an easy way to make money from your computer.

20. Become a (mock) juror

Online mock trials are used by lawyers and representatives to get a feel for their case and how an actual jury may react to their case.

And in order to get people to participate as jurors in these fake online trials, they’ll pay you.

Interested in becoming a mock online juror?

Try eJury.com.

21. Help students with their homework

If you can help students with their homework, they can help you with your bank account!

There are many homework help and tutoring websites out there. One of the biggest ones being Chegg Toturs (formerly, Student of Fortune).

Students post their questions, and experts (you) earn a certain amount of cash for helping them with answers.

There is also a cash incentive for the best available help or advice. If you are still pretty much in touch with schoolwork, this can be a great avenue to earn some money.

Answers posters have claimed that they could make a decent living out of this platform, with the top performer reportedly to have made $127,000 a year.

22. Get paid to test designs

The design of websites and apps plays a huge role in the success or failure of said apps and websites.

That’s why companies behind them put a lot of emphasis on getting it right.

One way they try to “get it right” is by getting feedback from the same people who will be using these websites and apps.

Of course, nobody is going to devote their time to testing designs and providing feedback so these companies can make more money with the same apps and websites.

So to entice people to participate, companies and developers pay you to test websites and apps and provide feedback.

Interested?

Join UserCrowd (formerly known as UsabilityHUB).

This is a platform where designers and developers post paid design tests gigs and testers can make money participating.

You can earn between $6 to $10 per test.

If you are interested in learning more, check out my extensive review of UserCrowd and how best you can use it to make more money.

23. Work from home as a nurse

This company, Fonemed, will only accept professionally registered nurses. Members are expected to provide triage and medical information over the phone.

It will be helpful if you also happen to be a Canada or U.S. resident as their clients are largely doctors and especially pediatricians based in North America.

Your job is to attend to the phones after office hours (so expect to work in the evenings, nights, weekends and public holidays).

Fonemed says a typical nurse can make $27 per hour.

24. Become a professional mystery shopper

Mystery shopping has been around for the longest time. It is a common practice for businesses to send out anonymous individuals to check out restaurants and outlets.

After all, the feedback gathered will serve the useful purpose of products and services improvement.

While there are many different takes on this practice, what is beyond doubt is that the ubiquitous nature of the Internet has further expanded this industry.

Typically, mystery shoppers will be dispatched to do their shopping or dining out, and they are to report back their experience.

Subject to the sort of task assigned to you, the reward varies greatly in the range from $40 to $300.

Naturally, the company involved will pick up the bill (only after you send it to them) resulted from the corresponding assignment.

One nice thing is that you may be able to take ownership of the stuff that you are asked to buy.

Here are a few top paid mystery shopping companies:

1. Best Mark
2. Market Force
3. IntelliShop

25. Turn your pictures into cash

If photography happens to be your thing and you are good at capturing that special moment, you can trade your skills and expertise with a number of stock photography sites. Basically what you do there is to upload the shots that you have taken.

Every time a user takes a fancy about your picture and download it, you will earn a commission on that image.

This moneymaking option is a slight departure from most of the stuff I mentioned here. It is special because it represents one of the few passive income options online.

Remember you just need to do the upload once, and your picture may just bring in the cash repeatedly.

Of course, you’ll need to be good with your camera, and have that peculiar instinct to spot images that are going to appeal to the masses.

Want to give it a try? Try these sites:

1. Getty Images
2. Shutterstock
3. 123RF
4. Dreamstime

26. Turn the latest trends into cool t-shirts

You know how when something major happens, suddenly there are all kinds of merchandise related to that issue that come out? Well, instead of buying those items, you can be on the other side of it and make money by turning the latest trends and happening into cool t-shirts.

And you don’t even have to spend a dime to get started. Here is how you can use a site called TeeSpring to make money designing and selling t-shirt without actually dealing with printing, shipping, and handling, payments, etc.

Visit TeeSpring and create an account for free.

Then use their easy to use online tool to design a T-shirt. You can use images or text with your design.

Once you have created your T-shirt, set a price for it and set a goal for the number of Ts you want to sell within a certain period of time.

Let’s say your goal is to sell 100 Ts in 2 weeks.

You can promote your product anywhere you like (on your Facebook page, school, at work, etc).

If 100 T-shirts are ordered within the 2 weeks time frame you set, they’ll be printed by the company and shipped to the buyers. The company then will pay you your share.

If, however, you don’t reach the goal, nothing happens. None of the buyers get charged anything and no T-shirt will be printed. You don’t lose anything either.

Best of all, you can create another campaign and either try to sell the same T-shirt again, or you can design new ones.

You can do all of this without spending a single penny. The company does all the work. All you have to do is design the T-shirt and send people to your T-shirt sale page to buy it.

27. Rate short music samples

Research.fm is a site that pays you to listen to short music samples and provide feedback.

It’s basically like online surveys but exclusively for music.

You get to rate the latest and newest songs playing on radio stations around the country.

Here’s how it works:

• Visit http://www.research.fm/index.aspx and sign up for free.
• You’ll start getting survey invites in your inbox.
• Every time you get one of those invites, click the link, listen to the sample music and answer the questions in the survey.
• Get paid in the form of free Amazon gift cards!

They also have apps for both Android and iOS devices.

28. Answer text messages

Yes, there are companies and apps that pay you to text. Check out our list of ways to get paid to text for a list of legit companies to make money with as a paid texter!

 

29. Take part in online Focus Groups

There is not much difference between paid surveys and focus groups. So, if you can handle surveys, you can handle focus groups.

One basic distinction between them is that focus group often calls for your physical presence. It is commonly held in major cities where participants congregate in some room or office.

You will join your fellow participants at the focus group, and the focus will be revolving around some issues related to some products or services.

The payout for focus groups is relatively generous. Participants stand to make between $60 and $250, depending on whether it is an hourly engagement or a whole day exercise.

2020Research is one of the best companies out there that conducts online focus groups you can participate in.

You can also find local focus groups that are held in physical locations, by contacting your local universities and market research companies.

For a list of 200+ legitimate focus group companies, check out our list of legit focus groups.

30. Review software

If you have a critical mind that is slanted toward software development, SoftwareJudge will pay you for reviewing their collection of software.

The expectation is that you do your review diligently and be honest to report back on your observations and opinions.

The upside is that once trust is developed, you will get more opportunities to review software, thus progressively making more money.

31. Answer questions

Answer sites work on the premise that knowledge is not proprietary and they encourage their members to actively share their expert knowledge and understanding of subjects that they are familiar with.

Your job here is to explore which subject area can be interesting and, which you have intimate knowledge of.

By structuring your expertise into some form of answers or advice to people who would like to learn more about the subject, you will get paid.

If interested, try a site like Just Answer.

32. Do customer service at home

Outsourcing is all the rage among national retailers nowadays.

The business function that they normally contract out is their customer service operation.

There are some great outsourcing companies that specialize in this field, with Alpine Access and Working Solutions being the two most prominent service providers in the industry.

These companies are not dependent on an army of staff on their payroll to fulfill their obligations. Instead, they often turn to part-timers or home-based workers to carry out the work.

These outside representatives usually have to commit to 20 to 40 hours work week.

The responsibilities include taking calls for large and small companies.

The compensation goes by the hour and the average rate is about $9.

However, it is not uncommon for agents to make as much as $13 in an hour when you factor in the bonuses and incentives.

For project-based jobs, it can be up to $30 for an hour.

33. Translate your bilingual ability to cash

Know more than your native language?

Turn your multi-linguistic skills into cash!

This is especially helpful if you are an English speaker.

With globalism spreading rapidly, more and more employees and employers have to deal with files, documents, and conversations in other languages.

If you can translate files, documents, and conversations from one language to another, you might want to check out a platform like Proz.com.

Proz is one of the best places where you can use to get paid for translating documents, files, conversations and more.

34. Test mobile apps

You know those nagging app update notifications you get on your phone constantly?

You probably know that these updates fix problems and/or introduce new futures.

But what you may not know is that app developers pay people for testing their apps and talking about those issues and features.

But how do you find paid testing jobs and opportunities?

Through sites like Userzoom.

Userzoom will pay you between $5 to $10 to test out apps and websites.

All you need is an internet connected device (desktop, phone, tablet, etc.) Then you install the free UserZoom’s eCertified testing software so you can test apps.

You get paid via PayPal.

You must be 18 and above and all you need is a desktop, tablet or smartphone, and a good internet connection. They pay through PayPal. You can read more about Userzoom here.

35. Try trial offers via Vindale Research

Update: Vindale Research closed its doors in November 2021. If you are looking for alternatives to Vindale, check out our list of the best survey sites.

There are a lot of companies out there that will actually pay you to try their products by opting for their trial offers.

Why would any company pay you to do a trial offer?

Because they know once you try their product/service, you are likely to become their long-time customer. So while they may lose a little money upfront by paying you, they make more in the long run.

Now, finding these companies one by one is hard, not to mention most of them don’t deal directly with consumers.

They go through sites like Vindale.

Think of Vindale as a middle-man site where companies pay Vindale to get their products/services tested by real consumers like you and me.

You earn money–anywhere from $1 to $100– for every trial offer you do.

Trial offers include things like Free Netflix trial, iTunes, eMusic, GameFly, and much more.

The secret to actually making money with trial offers is organization.

Use a calendar for every trial offer you sign up for, so you can cancel the trial before the free period ends and they charge you. That’s assuming you actually don’t want to keep using the product or service.

But if you are going to for example sign up with Netflix, then this is a great way to make a little cash for buying something you were going to buy anyway.

36. Sell your arts & crafts on Etsy

Have you reached retirement age but still aching for some action?

Are you always attracted to stunning works of art and think of being the creator rather than the admirer?

If the answer to both questions above is a resounding YES, then train yourself with the many online tutorials on how to create artworks and sell them online.

Sites like Etsy make it extremely easy and quick to open up an online storefront for free and start selling your handmade items.

There are tons of people who are actually making a living on Etsy.

37. Sell your talent, any kind of talent!

Doesn’t matter what you can do, as long as you can do it well, you can make money on Fiverr.

Fiverr.com is a micro freelancing site where you can sell any kind of service, from graphic design and coding to writing, signing, drawing, taking pictures of yourself holding a sign, prank calling someone and so on.

To get started, sign up for free at Fiverr.com.

Describe the kind of gigs you are offering to your potential clients, be it making breakfast delivery, singing a song to the wedding anniversary, dress up as a Spider-man, or anything else you can imagine.

Put a price on it and start making money.

You’ll get a unique page where your gig resides. You can then promote your service by sharing the link on social media and other platforms.

38. Self-publish with Kindle

Amazon’s Kindle publishing platform has made it extremely easy to create and sell your own eBooks without the hassles of traditional publishing.

Not to mention, in most cases, it won’t cost you a dime to create the book.

I actually have a few books on Kindle as well.

The beauty of Kindle books is that they can be any length. There are best sellers on Kindle that have only 30-40 pages of content.

Another benefit is that you can turn almost any topic into a kindle book–recipes, fictions, guides, and even quotes.

If you’re looking for help, here is a great guide that will help you write and publish your first book on Kindle.

39. Make money blogging

Blogging occupies a prominent place in the online world, and it looks to continue in the foreseeable future. With tools and utilities abound, setting up a blog has never been easier.

If you are new to the blogging space, there are many sites that provide free platforms (setting up takes less than an hour), and off you go!

After you have this sense that blogging is the thing for you, you may want to consider arranging your exclusive hosting and domain name (paid service).

The good thing about blogging is that you are completely free to talk about anything that fancies or irritates you.

You may have a strong opinion about politics or that you have something to say about AIDS prevention in South Africa. You may believe there is a serious conspiracy going on with the NSA surveillance program, or there is a serious lack of compassion in our society nowadays. You would like to talk about the great sex you had last night, or you just want to let go of your frustration after a tough day in the office.

The point is that there is nobody going to draw the line on what topics your blog should adhere to. You just want to make some noise and hope there is an audience outside somewhere!

Blogs can be a formidable revenue generator. People have taken advantage of their blogs by placing AdSense ads, selling their own stuff, selling affiliate products, hawking advertising space, and many more.

Because blogging represents a multitude of money-making opportunities, people sometimes have this misconception that they could simply turn into bloggers and straight away make tons of money overnight.

The truth is that it is possible to get rich through blogging, but it will take tremendous discipline and effort so that all your energy channeled into your blog can come to fruition.

Here is a great course titled 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, from one of the most successful bloggers out there, Darren Rowse.

40. Turn your home into a cash generating machine

This is the age of sharing economy.

You can now rent your house to travelers using sites like Airbnb.

You set the price and list it on the site for rent. You can set the price for a night, week, or even a month.

Airbnb offers a $1,0,0,000 guarantee that will protect you from any damage that may occur.

You can use their rating system to pick and choose who you want to rent your house to.

VRBO is another site you can use.

41. Win cash playing online games with Cash Dazzle

I am sure you’ve heard of people making a fortune from playing online games.

The most famous person being Ansche Chung, who became the first person ever to make a million dollars playing the Second Life game.

Now, you aren’t going to make millions on CashDazzle, but if you do play a lot of online games, this site allows you to earn a little side money doing what you enjoy.

There are tons of different games you can play on this site, including Spin & Win.

Sign up and start getting paid for playing games here.

42. Rent your car for $10+ an hour

RelayRides is another company created because of the sharing economy.

It lets you rent your car to other people in your area for $10 an hour or more.

They, of course, provide insurance on every car rental, up to $1 million.

You can also try GetAround.

43. Do odd jobs

Ever do random little things for friends and family?

Well, now you can get paid to do those little random things for local people, thanks to a site/app named Zaarly.

These little random gigs can be anything–dog walking, babysitting, picking up kids from school, being a personal shopper for a day, etc.

44. Let your phone pay its bill

There are tons of apps that will let you earn cash for doing a variety of stuff-taking surveys on the go, shopping, playing games, doing tasks, etc.

Here are a few you can try:

1. WeReward
2. Gigwalk
3. CheckPoints
4. Juno Wallet: iPhone – Android

45. Be a research subject

Universities and clinics are always on the lookout for participants for their studies, and they actually pay good money for it as well.

You are paid based on the potential risks and the amount of time it takes to finish the study.

There are some studies that have no risk and are very easy, such as sleep studies where you simply sleep at a local facility (instead of at home) so the researchers then monitor your sleep to gain insight on many different things–what our brains do, how active our brains are when we are asleep, how deep we sleep, etc.

On the other hand, there are also riskier studies that involve taking new medications, so the researchers can test the effects of them.

Such studies usually pay upwards of a few thousand dollars and can last a few days and up to a few weeks or months.

Find out more details from the National Institutes of Health, or browse ClinicalTrials.gov to find studies to partake in.

You can also contact local universities for psychology experiments.

46. Get inked!

Yes, companies are now using our bodies as advertising billboards.

But fear not, you don’t have to get a permanent tattoo.

LeaseYourBody is a website where you can set up a profile for free and offer any part of your body to be used as an advertising billboard.

You set up the price and if an advertiser likes it they’ll pay you to put a temporary tattoo on your body for a certain amount of time.

47. Make money on YouTube

More and more people are finally realizing that they can make money on YouTube.

There are tons of people who are making a living on YouTube by creating videos.

You can either focus on one main topic – makeup, workouts, video games, food, etc – or you can have a channel where you talk about everything.

Either way, having an interesting personality will go a long way in helping you develop a loyal fan base.

Need examples to inspire you?

• Park Seo-Hyeon of South Korea makes $9000 a month by simply eating in front of a webcam on YouTube!
• James Wilson Jr (known as UberHaxorJames/UberHaxorNova on YouTube) makes between $175,000 and $1.2 million a year playing video games and adding his commentary while he plays.
• DisneyCollectorBR is a channel owned by an unnamed Brazilian woman that makes her between $1 to $8 million annually! She collects Disney toys and uploads videos of herself opening up the boxes, playing with the toys and explaining how each of them works.

The funny thing is that these are not even the most bizarre ways people make money on YouTube. There are hundreds of thousands of people who make thousands and even millions by filming themselves doing the craziest things.

Sure, you may not become the next YouTube millionaire, but you could certainly make a few extra hundred or thousand dollars a month.

It will take time and hard work, but it is well worth it.

48. Be a game tester for Nintendo

If you enjoy games, this opportunity to become a paid game tester can be both exciting and rewarding.

But for this exact same reason, a lot of crooks have entered this industry to take advantage of the excitement in the market.

Indeed, the number of scams is ridiculous.

You have to be discriminating enough to be sure that the company you are eying for is a full legit company; otherwise, you could have been easily taken on for a ride.

I don’t mean to scare you with my experience, but there are a lot of scams out there so be careful.

One thing that would definitely help you avoid scams is that you should never ever pay a fee to join a site that claims to pay you for testing games.

No legitimate company will ever ask you to pay them so you can test games for them. Thye will actually pay you (cash, gift cards or free games.).

And yes, there are a few other legit companies that pay you to test games.

49. Become a virtual assistant

Wanna work from home (or anywhere you like)?

Become a Virtual Assistant.

As a VA, your job is to help companies by doing simple daily tasks for them.

What kind of tasks?

Anything from conducting research, finding things and taking phone calls to scheduling appointments, responding to emails, managing social media accounts and so on.

The pay varies from company to company.

Fortunately, there are tons of companies out there that hire VAs.

But I think one of the best ones is Assistant Match.

Their pay starts around $12 – $15 per hour.

However, you can make up to $25 per hour if you have graphic design experience.

50. Make money with Amazon Turk

mTurk is a micro freelancing site owned by Amazon.

It’s a platform where companies and businesses are matched with freelancers from all over the world.

The kinds of tasks posted here are usually different than your normal freelancing sites.

These are mostly small tasks that take seconds to complete, like tagging a picture, doing a Google search, separating text from a picture, etc.

The pay isn’t that great, especially for shorter tasks. But the beauty of it is that since most of them don’t require a lot of brainpower and focus, you can do ’em while watching your favorite TV shows on the couch.

It’s an easy and fun way to make a little cash in your spare time.

51. Sell your stuff

We all hear about eBay being one heck of a successful enterprise and there are frequent stories about eBay sellers pull in an enormous amount of money year after year.

So, whatever misgiving you have on eBay or its corresponding business model, it is time to put them aside and start to seriously explore the business opportunity represented by eBay.

Most eBay members will tell you that they are motivated by the prospect of setting up stores at eBay because of zero (or relatively low) investment.

Indeed, some of the most successful sellers there got started by gathering those old and unwanted stuff inside the household or around the neighborhood, and giving them a new look, or restoring them. They then moved these items online on eBay.

This is surely a good way of getting rid of things that are no longer in use while making some pocket money out of them.

And if you are the ambitious type, eBay is just the right place to support your goal. They make it easy for you to find out what items are selling like hotcakes.

As an idea, you might want to follow up on that fact-finding and go on to find your own wholesaler for similar products. Place your order in bulk to ensure price competitiveness, but sell them loose on eBay so as to maximize your profitability.

52. Flip websites & domains

There is an element of the proven strategy in the equity market: identify/acquire undervalued, but good, domains and resell later for profit.

You can also buy a domain and create a site around it. Spend some time developing it, then you can sell it to interested buyers on sites like Flippa.com.

You can do this over and over again.

The beauty of it is that every time you do it, you get better and faster at it.

53. Do graphic design

If you know Photoshop like the back of your palm, you can make good money doing it.

The biggest hurdle, especially for beginners is finding paying clients.

Thankfully, with platforms like 99Designs it is much easier to get your foot in the door.

There are loads of design competitions to win prizes, from logos and t-shirts to icons, website designs and more.

54. Become a drop shipper

You can go to Zazzle and set up a free online storefront.

Your role as a drop shipper means that Zazzle will handle almost all the business ends of things.

Your sole responsibility is to attract customers to your online storefront.

55. Get paid for testing websites

A successful website is a user-friendly website.

That’s why companies are willing to people to test the different functionalities of their website.

Usertesting.com is a site that connects companies with testers. You can sign up for free and start testing websites.

You can make $10-$15 for every test that may take around 15-20 minutes or so.

56. Become an affiliate marketer

This is probably one web-based business that presents a low entry barrier, which also explains partly the huge popularity associated with affiliate marketing.

With affiliate marketing, you are not involved in the creative part of the work, like conceiving products or services.

As an affiliate, your main responsibility is to move products made by others in order to earn a commission.

Some of these digital products include e-books and short reports.

If you have trouble sourcing products for sales, then you might want to check out websites such as ClickBank and PayDotCom, which represent two of the biggest affiliate networks out there.

57. Design logos

Good at designing logogs?

Turn it into a money making business!

A great place to find logo design projects is DesignCrowd.

58. Earn money freelancing

For most people, online freelancing seems like a natural idea when it comes to making money on the Internet.

The beauty of freelancing lies in its simplicity and cost-effectiveness.

You don’t have to invest any money into it. All you need is your time, talent and commitment.

You don’t even have to go look for clients on your own these days.

With platforms like UpWork, it is easier than ever to find paying clients.

To get started, visit UpWork and sign up.

Then create your profile and start browsing jobs.

Apply for the ones you are interested and take it from there.

59. Get a free $10 Amazon gift card

MyPoints is one of the oldest online rewards/cashback sites.

You can earn points for shopping, taking surveys, completing offers and more. The points are redeemable for cash, free gift cards, and other prizes.

The only issue I have with it is that they don’t offer a lot of points for completing these tasks, compared to similar sites like Swagbucks.

But they have one thing going for ’em…

And that’s their $10 free Amazon gift card.

You can get that with your first purchase (of anything) through their cashback platform.

So next time you want to buy something online, instead of visiting the merchant’s site directly, go through MyPoints.

I mean, you’re going to buy that product anyway, you may as well go through MyPoints and get a free $10 gift card.

Here’s how to get your free $10 gift card:

1. Join MyPoints here for free.
2. Visit the shopping portal (includes over 1,900 online retailers including Amazon, Walmart, and Target), find the merchant you want to shop from, click the link and do your shopping as normal.
3. Get your free $10 Amazon gift card.

And that’s not all…

You can keep earning points by doing more shopping, taking surveys, playing games, visiting websites, and more.

60. Domain drop shipping

What this is about is actually the resale of domain registration for big domain registration sites (TuCows for example).

The resale term would allow you to set up your own brand, so there is a chance that you can make it big with the support of the big names in the industry.

The nice thing about this is that you not only just get a commission for every new purchase.

Additionally, you will be entitled to a cut whenever the customers renew their yearly subscription.

61. CPA marketing

If you find affiliate marketing tough to handle, then CPA or Cost Per Action may be a more suitable option.

If the person who heads to the merchant’s site through your links commits to a specified action, like agreeing to receive newsletters, opting for email updates, taking a poll or whatsoever the merchant can think of, you will be entitled to a commission.

In that sense, the commission scheme is not solely dependent on sales, so this CPA marketing idea surely has an upside about it.

You no longer have to wait for your prospects to come to a buying decision before you are assured of your commission.

At the same time, the challenge to entice people for their purchase is far greater than getting people to think about whether to opt for free things or not!

Sign up with a few good CPA networks (these are sites that connect advertisers with marketers), find a few good offers to promote and start your journey.

62. Build your own forum

Some people attribute the popularity of online forums to the rationale that we humans are simply social animals. It has been built into our genes to engage, share and corroborate.

Those business owners have seen through our characteristics and there is no escaping even when we are online. They have built popular forums, and they have made big bucks!

Assuming you always had a passion for politics, and you are ever eager to discuss at length on policy matters, then why not set up a forum that focuses on politics.

Granted, the early movers have left the scene, but there is still money to be made. After all, it is better late than never.

Moreover, the proliferation of the Internet is set to continue, which means that you can have a common over an ever-expanding audience.

Get people excited about your forum by talking about it openly as you visit other forums.

Another way to promote your new forum is to make completely bizarre comments while deliberating the issues of the day if only to get people to pay attention to you, and your new forum by extension.

Continue to work on it as you start to accept progressively more traffic until it comes to a point when you want to incorporate online ads to monetize your forum.

Another tactic could be highly rewarding, though it can backfire. You have seen some of the most successful forums charge a fee for members who wish to participate in a specialized section of the forum.

You may want to include this practice into your overall business strategy, as this means recurring revenues for you. If you wish, do research to find out how the WarRoom section of the famous WarriorForum is able to pull that off!

Forumotion is a great free forum making tool that you can use to quickly create a forum in minutes.

63. Upload files

Online sharing is not just restricted to photography.

You can do the same thing with documents and files, as you do with images.

There are some sites that specialize in file sharing and it is entirely up to you as to what files you are willing to share. If your files are deemed useful enough and get downloaded, you will make some commission.

These sites do not specify the kind of format required to be associated with your files.

But in order to broaden the appeal of your files, you may want to output your files in the most popular formats, like Microsoft Word or Acrobat PDF, for example.

Try DocStoc if you are interested.

64. Sell old electronics

What good does a pile of old and unused electronics do for you?

Instead of hoarding your old cell phones, sell them for some quick cash on sites like Gazelle, Next Worth, and USell.

65. Sell your hair

Yes, people will pay for your hair as well.

Check out HairSellon to learn about their requirements and what you need to do to get cash for your hair.

66. Get paid to help companies understand how we shop online

ShopTracker is an app from HarrisPoll Online, one of the top market research firms in the world.

It aims to help companies understand how and what shoppers buy online.

So you install the app and it tracks your Amazon purchases in the background.

Why would I want a company to know what I buy?

Well, they won’t!

You see, they remove all the identifiable information from the data. ShopTracker automatically removes your name, shipping address, and any payment information before your purchase history is shared with the app. It only catalogs shopping data. It guarantees your complete anonymity.

Of course, you get paid!

As soon as you install the app, you get paid $3 (Amazon gift certificate) which is emailed to you instantly.

Then, you earn another $3 for every month you keep the app on your phone.

It really is that simple.

Basically, you get paid to install a free app!

Here’s how to get started:

• Register for the app by visiting ShopTracker.
• Get your $3 immediately.
• Keep getting paid for each month you keep the app installed.

67. Get instant refunds on price drops automatically

You don’t technically “make money” with this, but the end results is the same – more money in your pocket.

It’s basically a money saving app/site.

How many times have you kicked yourself for buying something a little too early?

You know what I mean – you buy something on Amazon (or any other site) only to find out a few hours/days later that the price has dropped.

I know I have had this happen to me many times.

Here’s what most people don’t know or simply forget about…

Amazon and many other sites offer price drop refunds. Yes, if within a certain period (of the purchase point) the price of an item drops, they will refund you the difference.

Here’s the problem…

Keeping tabs on prices is time-consuming and simply not practical, especially if you buy a lot of stuff online.

That’s where Paribus Capital One Shopping comes in. You connect your account to the app, it then keeps an eye on the prices of things you purchased and automatically files a price adjustment claim on your behalf.

Since I started using it, it got me a little over $300 back.

That’s essentially free money!

Currently, Capital One Shopping works with a bunch of merchants including Amazon, Walmart, Kohl’s, Costco, Best Buy, Target, Apple, and more! They are also adding more merchants as time goes on.

Visit https://capitalonechopping.com to get started.

68. Get back in the kitchen

If you’re always complimented about your cooking, you can use your skill and passion as a way to earn money, by cooking for people in their homes.

And you don’t have to worry about finding clients. Try KitchenSurfing, a service that lets you get paid for cooking meals for families in your local area.

69. Do micro jobs

Micro jobs are on the rise as companies realize the power of crowdsourcing small, but time-consuming tasks.

These tasks can be anything from transcribing an audio file or rewriting a sentence, to proofreading an article, making a few phone calls, and everything in between.

Try Microworkers.

70. Provide tech support

Are you great with computer related stuff? If you’re a hard-core techie, why not register with Experts Exchange.

Here, you make money by resolving people’s issues on computer hardware, software, programming and whatever related.

71. Re-write poorly written ads on eBay

Online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay are full of ads listing all sorts of merchandise. Pick on those big-ticket items like cars and study their ads.

If you are confident of improving their ads, write to them and propose that you will rewrite these ads at a fee.

The acceptable going rate now is 1% commission on sales.

72. Join a revenue sharing forum

If it is just your nature to want to participate in online forums or you have been a member anyway in any forum, you can use this to great effect.

Watch out for the “Ad Share” symbol in your user CP.

This refers to a sharing program where forum owners would not mind sharing with their members the revenue they earn from ads that pop up in their forums.

In fact, increasingly more online forums, such as Webmasters.org, are in two of these “Ad Share” programs. You have so far chosen to be busy at the forum, why not trade your time with some real money that you can spend.

73. Post on forums

The reason online forums are mushrooming is because they are great money makers. But it is during the early stage that new forum builders will have to struggle, as they find means and ways to attract new members. But they are well

aware of the Golden rule that governs all great online forum sites; the need to appear busy.

The fact is, it is hard to get people to join a new forum. This is the reason why some people in this business pay you money to join their forums.

Your participation in any new thread and post will be rewarded. Based on the industry average, I think $0.25 is just about a fair price for every posting you make.

Try TheCashChat if you are interested.

74. Sell ready-made websites

If you would rather sit aside and quietly built quality websites, why not turn your passion into a vocation.

It is certainly a decent financial proposition as hundreds of new businesses coming online every day.

With fantastic and user-friendly software like Kompozer available free, it certainly takes the cost and pain out of website design.

Or, you could take advantage of open source CMS like WordPress to quickly and easily build professional looking websites.

75. Turn your unused space into an office

Much like Airbnb that lets you host travelers in your house, Desktime lets you rent a room to local entrepreneurs who are looking for low-cost office space.

Create a free profile on DeskTime, list your space with some detail about it, and how much you want to charge–daily, weekly, or monthly.

DeskTime will arrange everything with the interested parties and will transfer the money to your bank account, minus a 2.5% service fee.

76. Listen to & rate music

If you are a music lover (who isn’t?), you’ll also love this opportunity.

There are a few sites out there that’ll actually reward you for listening to all kinds of songs and music in a variety of genres, and rating them.

That’s all there is to it!

Needless to say, you won’t much, but it’s a great way to earn a few dollars enjoying music, and best of all, discovering new artists you may have never listened to before.

MusicXRay is one site that you can earn potentially $1 for every song you rate for them.

77. Give advice

If you are the one in your circle of family and friends who people turn to when they need advice and help with everyday stuff, you could make some extra money by becoming a paid advice giver.

Ammas is a site that pays experts and everyday people with a wide variety of knowledge to share their knowledge and know-how with other people.

78. Get paid to tweet

If you’re active on Twitter and have a lot of followers, this the gig for you.

PaidPerTweet is the site that you can sign up with for free and earn money by tweeting messages from their advertisers to your followers.

The pay varies from a few dollars to upwards of thousands of dollars per tweet.

Obviously, the more well-known you are and the more reach you have, the more you get paid for each tweet.

79. Help Columbia Business School

Center for Decision Sciences from Columbia Business School pays people to participate in their online studies.

They conduct studies on consumer behavior, the implications of decision making on public policy, and the neurological underpinnings of judgment and decision making.

According to the site, you earn approximately 16$ per hour.

You need to be 18 years or older and be a fluent speaker of English.

You get paid via PayPal or you can choose to receive Amazon.com gift certificates.

To get started, visit CDS Virtual Lab Online Panel and sign up for free.

80. Sell your closet

Well, not literally your closet, but the content of it!

Ok, not ALL the content, just the ones you don’t need or want anymore.

If you’re even remotely like my girlfriend, then you have a closet (in her case, a room designated as one) full of clothes that you no longer wear.

Good thing you can sell them on a site called ThredUp.

They’ll pay you $2-$30 for items from major brands such as Banana Republic, Gap, J.Crew, and many others.

Simply put your clothes in a box, ship the box, and get your cash.

For a faster alternative, you can try local consignment stores such as Plato’s Closet where they’ll pay you cash for your brand name clothes right there on the spot.

81. Be an at-home politician

If you care about social and political issues, you are going to love this.

There are a few sites that offer work at home opportunities that are right up your alley.

Two of the most well-known sites are the DDC Advocacy and the Next Wave Advocacy, LLC.

They organize political campaigns related to the day’s issues to raise awareness and push for new laws. They then pay people like you and me to call constituents or advocates who may also be interested in the issues at hand.

You’ll call these people from home and basically help them call or write to Members of Congress.

You’ll be working somewhere between 20 to 25 hours each week and earning between $12 to $15 an hour or so.

Why so many money making ideas?

This post is just a list.

A list of possibilities. A list of opportunities. A list of what’s out there.

I wanted to include different options so anyone could find a few that fit their skills, interest, and lifestyle.

In making this list, I am in no way suggesting that every single method is suitable for every single person who reads this post, or that every person who reads this post is going to earn cash no matter which of these money making ideas they try.

The main reason for this post is to create a resource for everyone.

Share this post with your friends and family.

Share on Facebook, Pinterest and other social media sites you use.

Bookmark it!

Then start using the sites and methods mentioned to give your bottom line a (however small) boost.

Making Money Online: The Bottom Line

I truly hope you find this post useful.

Please keep in mind that until you take action and do some work, you won’t make any money, no matter how many posts like this one you read.

Don’t be one of those people who keep asking “how can I make more money?” or “how can I earn money online?” despite reading hundreds of posts like this one.

They never make any money, so they conclude “it’s all a big scam!”

The truth is they are looking for a button they can push to print cash on demand.

Well, I got bad news!

There is no button you can push to generate money (unless of course, you are the treasury department!)

The good news is most of these options are free.

Again, we’re not talking about get-rich-quick schemes here…

We’re talking about a quick and easy way you can make a little cash whenever you have a few minutes free. Enough to pay for your daily cup of Joe, or get you a few free Amazon.com gift cards here and there.

And the good thing is you can use ’em to make extra money without investment (financially at least, you still have to invest some time and effort.)

Remember, the online world may be a virtual one, but there is nothing virtual about the money you can make from it!