Looking for ways to make money online from home? You're not alone. Even before early 2020, when a global pandemic caused a mad dash for businesses to take their business online, increasing the number of ordinary workers delegated to carving out office space in their homes, people have sought out ways to make extra cash without leaving the house. Fortunately, as the online world has expanded so have the opportunities and options to do just that. You won’t find ideas like taking online surveys or getting paid in gift cards here. In this article, we're going to share 20 legitimate ways to make money online from home that you can start right now.
20 Ways to Make Money Online From Home Right Now:
- 1. Sell Your Photography
- 2. Create How-to Videos
- 3. Teach English as a Second Language
- 4. Become a Copywriter
- 5. Become a Virtual Assistant
- 6. Start a Podcast
- 7. Buy and Sell Websites or Online Businesses
- 8. Start a Content and Web Development Business
- 9. Become an Online Video Editor
- 10. Start a Dropshipping Business
- 11. Start a YouTube Channel
- 12. Start a Blog
- 13. Sell Stuff Online
- 14. Write an eBook
- 15. Run Facebook Ads
- 16. Create an Online Course
- 17. Become a Social Media Manager
- 18. Become a Coach or Consultant
- 19. Narrate Audiobooks
- 20. Become an Affiliate Marketer
20 Ways to Make Money Online From Home
No matter whether you're interested in starting a side hustle to earn a bit of extra cash or you're looking to replace your traditional job entirely, we've got you covered with this list of ways to make money online from home. If you're looking for something that doesn't keep you in your house, you might want to check out these gig economy jobs instead.
1. Sell Your Photography
If you're someone who loves taking photos, you can sell those photos to stock photography websites. No matter what you enjoy taking photos of, there's probably a market out there for it. Of course, you'll probably have to leave your house to actually take the photos. But once you have the photos, you can sell them over and over again on stock photo websites, turning this into a nice passive income opportunity, too. Check out sites like Shutterstock or Getty Images.
2. Create How-to Videos
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How-to videos are some of the most-watched videos on YouTube. If you're good at breaking things down and explaining them in an easy-to-understand, straightforward way, why not earn some extra income creating how-to videos? There are SEO tools you can use to help you find the right keywords and optimize your video descriptions so they show up in search engines.
3. Teach English as a Second Language
Are you a native English speaker? If you are and you're interested in teaching English to others, you can sign up with sites like TeachAway, English Hunt, iTutorGroup, and more. And, since it's all online, you can bring in a supplemental income from the comfort of your home—all you need is an internet connection!
4. Become a Copywriter
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If you enjoy writing and have a passion for marketing, copywriting is a wonderful way to make money online from home. Copywriting is an enormous industry, so no matter what industry you're interested in, you're bound to find a deep well of potential clients in need of your talents. Plus, copywriting is a job you can literally do from anywhere with an internet connection, so if you're interested in traveling instead of staying at home you can still earn money. Check out sites like Upwork and Fiverr to find copywriting clients.
5. Become a Virtual Assistant
As a virtual assistant, you can earn money online from home by providing administrative or clerical services to both businesses and individuals. These positions typically include tasks like calendar management, customer service, and correspondence, but there's also a large need for virtual assistants with experience in bookkeeping, marketing, graphic design, and more.
6. Start a Podcast
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It's delightfully easy to start a podcast these days. Plus, with a platform like Anchor, you can get started for free and start monetizing your podcast right away—without having an enormous audience. While there are some podcast warriors (we're looking at you, fitness and business influencer Chalene Johnson!) who put out a new podcast episode every day, you can put out episodes as often as you want. Most podcasts are at least weekly, but there are several very successful podcasts that come out every other week. However often you decide to publish a new episode, just make sure you do it consistently so your audience knows what to expect.
7. Buy and Sell Websites or Online Businesses
Buying and selling websites or online businesses is another way to make money online from home and it's just like buying and selling houses—except you don't have to renovate anything. Sometimes people just don't want to maintain a website anymore. Or maybe they've built up an online business (like an eCommerce site) and are ready to do something else. Instead of letting the traffic from the site go to waste, you could buy the site and enjoy the benefits of its traffic or find someone else who wants to buy it. Check out Flippa if you're interested in a side hustle like this.
8. Start a Content and Web Development Business
If you can design a mean website and are comfortable with platforms like WordPress, Joomla, and Wix, you can offer content and web development services to other businesses. To really build your empire, try offering both web development and content creation!
9. Become an Online Video Editor
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Do you have a passion for video editing? Love getting your hands on the latest video editing tools? Constantly critique the quality of the videos you see on YouTube? Try offering your video editing services to brands or even individual influencers to help them produce high-quality videos they can be proud to show off. Take a look at sites like Upwork and PeoplePerHour to get started. Once you have a decent portfolio, expand your business (and your earnings) by approaching creators directly.
10. Start a Dropshipping Business
You've probably heard the term "dropshipping" but might not know what it means. Simply put, dropshipping is a retail model in which the seller doesn't actually have to keep physical inventory on hand. Instead, the inventory and shipping are managed by a third-party. Sometimes those third-parties even handle customer service issues for dropshippers. Dropshipping is a great way to get started in eCommerce without having to put money out upfront to buy inventory that might not sell. You'll find dropshippers on Amazon and eBay. We suggest checking out Oberlo to get started fast.
11. Start a YouTube Channel
If you've ever wanted to be the star of your own show, starting a YouTube channel will make it possible. This isn't a get-rich-quick scheme, however. Growing a profitable YouTube channel can take months or even years. Of course, if you like making videos, you can start a YouTube channel really easily and start getting more YouTube subscribers. Turning on ads and selling channel memberships are two great ways to monetize your YouTube channel. Once you have 10,000 subscribers you can even start selling merch!
12. Start a Blog
Yes, blogs are still a thing. And, yes, you can actually make good money from blogging. You'll want to start by deciding what you want to write about. The sky's the limit here. There are blogs about blogging (so meta), freelance writing, affiliate marketing, travel, fitness, self-help, food, and just about anything you could possibly imagine. The more specific your niche, the better chances you have to earn money with your blog because your audience will be much more interested in and engaged with what you have to say. Go ahead and share your opinions, product reviews, and knowledge.
13. Sell Stuff Online
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You can sell anything online, making this one of the easiest ways to make money online from home. You could even just look around your house and find stuff you want to get rid of. Then, list it on Facebook Marketplace. Easy money! Of course, you can also use an eCommerce platform to set up an online store to sell physical or digital products. Sites like Etsy make it easy for crafters and creators to sell their products, but you can easily create your own website to sell products without having to pay Etsy's fees.
14. Write an eBook
Writing an eBook is the logical next step for the freelance writers and copywriters out there. And, thanks to platforms like Kindle Direct Publishing, it's really easy to publish your own eBook. Even if you're not keen on writing an eBook of your own, you could find an already published print book and license it to publish it digitally. You'll have to pay either royalties or a one-time fee for the online publishing rights.
15. Run Facebook Ads
Facebook is an enormous platform, with more than 3 billion active users worldwide. Because of its potential reach, Facebook ads are incredibly popular. The platform itself is easy to use but not all businesses have the time or skills to run their own Facebook ads. That's where you come in. If you're comfortable with Facebook and can put together a decent ad, you can market yourself as a Facebook Ads campaign manager and bring in plenty of clients.
16. Create an Online Course
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Creating online courses is a great way to build up a passive income stream. If you're knowledgeable and passionate about a topic, there are a number of online learning platforms that make it easy to create a high-quality course that others will want to buy. Try Kajabi, Teachable, or Learnworlds.
17. Become a Social Media Manager
Social media is no longer just about sharing thoughts, images, and funny GIFs with friends. These days, social media is one of the most popular ways for brands to stay in touch with their customers and potential customers. But social media takes time to do right and many smaller businesses just don't have the time (or personality) needed to succeed on social media. Working as a social media manager for a business (or several businesses) is a fun way for people who are already going to be on social media anyway to make money online from home. You can set up social media marketing campaigns, handle customer complaints or questions, or even bring in sales.
18. Become a Coach or Consultant
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Do you want to help people live their best lives? Life coaching or career coaching might interest you. With the skills and experiences you've acquired throughout your life and career, you have valuable information that others at earlier stages of their lives and careers can use. Life and career coaches can help their clients create and achieve goals, build effective habits, and overcome their doubts and fears. Businesses also regularly search for coaches or consultants who can help with team development.
19. Narrate Audiobooks
If you've been told more than a few times that you have a great voice, maybe it's time to put it to work by narrating audiobooks. Audible accepts submissions for people who are interested in narrating audiobooks for the platform. You can also check out ACX. It works similar to Upwork where narrators create a profile and actively pursue the books they're interested in recording and producing.
20. Become an Affiliate Marketer
If you're already blogging, we highly recommend adding affiliate marketing to the mix. If you generate a decent amount of traffic on your site (at the very least 10,000 pageviews per month) you can start affiliate marketing to make money online from home easily. There are affiliate marketing networks you can use to connect you with businesses with affiliate marketing programs in place. If you can't find the business you love, just check out their website or do a quick Google search of the business name plus "affiliate marketing" to find out if they have an affiliate marketing program you can join. Some affiliate marketing platforms require that you meet certain criteria (usually a certain amount of traffic or that you write about topics related to the product you want to promote) but it's not hard to get started at all.
Wrapping Up
There you have it. No gift cards, no online surveys. Just real ways to earn money. You can use any one of these ways to make money online from home but you might want to combine a few to take the revenue potential to the next level. Blogging and affiliate marketing are pretty easily added to any of the other items on our list. You can also combine podcasting or starting a YouTube channel with most of them, too. If you've never done something like this before, just choose one thing to get started. Once you get into the swing of things and are ready for more, head back to this article to find your next source of income or check out this list of work-from-home marketing jobs!
