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How to make money online - 10 ways you can start today.

Updated on September 16, 2012

How to make money online - an introduction

I am sure you will agree that the internet is a phenomenal invention and has completely revolutionised our lives, opening up a whole new world of opportunities for us all.

One area in which it is creating new opportunities is in the area of making money. New ways to make money online are being created all the time.

My friends, family and I have all used the internet as a tool to make online money, and I am confident you can too.

Below are 10 free and legitimate ways we have used to make online money. They are all fairly easy, you just need to learn how and put in a little bit of effort.

I hope you find these 10 ways to make online money useful.

No. 1 - Make Online Money with eBay

eBay is a website that allows you to sell your items to other people. You may already be familiar with it, perhaps having even bought and sold on it yourself, but you may not be familiar with the other ways, both large and small, that you can make online money with eBay.

Small & Easy, that requires no money to do.

  • Sell your unwanted items on eBay for extra cash. If you don't know how, ask a friend to show you or maybe they could do it for you for a small commission.
  • Many people don't know how to sell on ebay. If you know how to sell on eBay, you could provide a service where you sell their items in return for a commission.

Small & Easy, that requires some money to do.

  • Buy up items cheaply at CarBoot sales and sell them on for a profit on eBay.

Larger and more difficult, it needs some money to start but can be done.

  • You can create an online eBay business, by buying items from wholesalers and selling them individually on ebay.

No. 2 - Make Online Money with Blogging


Blogging is becoming increasingly popular as a way to make online money. A blog is similar to a website but simpler and cheaper (often free) to set up.

The idea is that you write regularly on any topic that you like. Some people use their blog as a diary, writing everyday, others write on subjects that they are passionate about. It doesn't matter if your interest is bizarre, other people may want to read your blog about it.

You can set up a blog with Blogger.com for free and it is easy to set up.

I have a blog with Blogger.com - http://chicandminimalistwardrobe.blogspot.com.

Take a look at my blog and you will see how I have "monetised" it to make money from it.

  • Google Adsense Adverts - I have a block of adverts at the top and on the right hand side. I have joined the Google Adsense program and Google puts the adverts on my blog for me. My blog is about fashion and clothes so the adverts are often fashion adverts. The adverts on your blog will relate to the subject of your blog. When someone clicks on a Google Advert, I earn money, the amount can be anything from a few cents to a few dollars.
  • There are Amazon products on my blog. and if someone clicks onto the Amazon product and buys it, I earn a small commission. I joined Amazon as an Affiliate seller.

If you would like to start making online money with a blog, you need to join Google Adsense to get the adverts on your blog and Amazon.com as an affiliate to put Amazon products on your blog.

There are many companies that will help you set up a blog for free. Blogger.com is the best known. It is owned by Google. It is fairly basic and you may find eventually you want to progress to a full website or a more sophisticated blog, which you will have to pay for.

For most people starting out, a Blogger.com blog is fine.

No. 3 - Article writing

If you enjoy writing you may be interested in making money from writing.

There are several ways to make money from writing articles.

As an example, I am a member of Hubpages and write articles regularly. It is free to join Hubpages and they have a great learning centre to get you started.

It is easy to write articles and you can "monetise" them in several ways so that they earn you money:

  • Join Google Adsense - it is free to join - and Google will place adverts on your Hubs. You earn money when someone reading your hub clicks on the adverts. The amount you earn per click can vary from a few cents to a few dollars.
  • Join Hubpages Ad Program - it is free to join- you allow Hubpages to put adverts on your hubs. You receive a payment from Hubpages everytime someone reads your article.
  • You can sell Amazon.com on your Hubs and receive a percentage commission everytime someone clicks on the item and buys it. You need to go to the Amazon.com website and become an affiliate.
  • You can sell eBay products on your Hubs.

To see an example of one of my monetised hubs - Click Here

To Join Hubpages or find out more - Click Here

No. 4 - Make Money Freelance Writing Online

This is a particularly popular way to make online money. The idea is that you write a article on a topic of someone else's choice.

Once you have finished the article and submitted it, you are often paid the same day.


No. 5 - Create and Sell E-Books


An e-book is an electronic book that you publish online. You can write a book about anything you have knowledge of or are passionate about. The customer purchases your book online and then can either read them online or print them out and read them.

You can also sell E-books as an affiliate. If you have a website or blog, you can feature E-Books on them and receive a commission from the author.


No. 6 - Make Money Selling Photos Online


Are you a budding photographer and enjoy taking interesting photos? Well, there is a huge market for photographic images and people will pay to use your photographs.

There are internet sits where you can upload your images and everytime someone downloads one of your images, you get paid.

No. 7 - Make Money Selling Videos Online


This idea is similar to the one above on selling you photos to make online money.

With this method, you make money selling your videos online.There are two main Web Sites that you can upload your videos to "Revver" and "Break".

They will share a percentage of their ad revenue with you. Plus you get something everytime someone downoads your video.

No. 8 - Work as a Virtual Assistant


Working as a Virtual Assistant is becoming a very popular way to work from home. As a Virtual Assistant you will probably be paid per hour or by task.

The types of tasks that you may be given to do could include research, finding things, doing time consuming tasks, making phone calls etc.

To get started you could set up a free blog or website to offer your service.

No. 9 - Buying and Selling products and services online

The internet has revolutionised the world of business, and how we as individuals buy and sell products and services to each other.

On a small scale, many individuals have set up their own web-based business and on a larger scale, many established businesses have added a website to generate additional sales.

No.10 - Sell Craft and Art Work Online


Are you good at painting pictures or have a skill in making craft items?

You can sell your art work and craft items on Web Sites such as ebay or Etsy or classified sites such as CraigsList.

If you aren't artistic or creative yourself, you could create a website and sell other people's work for them in return for a commission.

A friend of mine is an artist who has her own website and also sells other people's paintings on it for them, in return for a commission.

So, these are 10 free ideas on how to make online money which you can start today.

Many of the ideas are a great way to create one-off sums of money, others provide a great way to start earning Passive Income.

Whilst these ideas will not make you rich overnight, if you start to learn how to us them to make money online, you will learn valuable lessons and you never know where they may lead. For example, if you start a blog, it may be successful and lead you to writing an E-book about your subject or creating a website.

I hope you found this article useful. You may be interested in other articles I have written on Hubpages.

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