If you’re looking for an easy way to make extra cash, you’ve probably considered trying your hand at some side jobs. After all, the side jobs seem like less effort with high rewards, right?
While there’s certainly merit to this strategy, you need to be careful not to abuse the side job idea. Instead, you need to look for ways to make extra cash in a legitimate manner. Luckily for you, we’ve got 24 legitimate ways to make money online that don’t require any special training. So grab your wallet and your computer and get to work. Let’s explore.
1. Start a Blog
Blogs are a great way to make money online. You can use a blog app like Blogger to quickly and easily start a blog. The best part? You can do this from the convenience of your home. No need to worry about finding a physical space for your blog. Plus, you can use a tool like Hello Bar to integrate a profit-making microsite into your blog. Having a microsite within your blog allows you to leverage the powerful functionality of a standalone site but with the added bonus of generating revenue within your own site.
The best part? You can use a tool like Google Adsense to easily put ads on your microsite. Once you sign up for an account, you’ll see an option to put ads on your microsite. Simply click on this option and follow the on-screen instructions. You can then choose the type of ad unit you want to use (text, image or video ad) and set the size at your convenience. Some examples of ads you can put are search ads, display ads, or social media ads.
2. Start an Online Store
Online stores such as Shopify, Bigcommerce, and Storenvy offer an alternative to blogging. If you’ve got something valuable to sell and don’t want to upset the lawful equality of commerce, starting an online store is the next best thing to creating a side job. When you have a product you want to sell, setting up an online store through any of these platforms isn’t too difficult. Simply visit the site, create an account, and start setting up your store.
Once your store is live, you can start marketing your products. To do this, you can use the platform’s tools to build up a following. If you’re interested in using social media to grow your business, you can use platforms like Hootsuite to gain followers and connect with people interested in your niche.
3. Start an Affiliate Marketing Career
If you’ve been blogging for a while and have amassed a sizable audience, you might consider trying your hand at affiliate marketing. With affiliate marketing, you’ll pay people (typically bloggers or websites) to promote your products or services. You’ll often find yourself paid per click or per impression (case studies suggest this is the most popular method) and can even earn great money just by encouraging people to click on a link or buy a product that’s promoted on your site.
The best part? You can do this from the comfort of your home. If you sign up to a free affiliate marketing platform like Commission Junction, you’ll gain access to hundreds of affiliate marketing products you can promote on your site. To get started, simply visit the site and create an account. From there, you can select an affiliate marketing tool that suits your needs and get to work.
4. Start an Online Real Estate Business
While investing in real estate isn’t for everyone, if you’ve got the money and feel comfortable taking the risk, getting into the real estate business can be lucrative. You’ll need to learn how to be a landlord, buy properties, and manage buildings to make money with this strategy but can make a decent living if you do it right. To get you started, purchase a house or apartment that you can rent out to make money. If you want to get into the nitty gritty, you can use platforms like Airbnb, or Roomorama to help you find a place to stay when you’re traveling. Then, all you need is a comfortable place to sit and a computer or a mobile device to access the Internet. Once you have that, you can begin your adventure into online real estate.
5. Start a YouTube Channel
YouTube creators can make a lot of money if they hit it big. Between displaying advertisements and earning revenue from Amazon affiliate sales, you can monetize your content once you’ve reached 1,000 subscribers. To get started, create a professional-looking video that answers a question or provides value to your audience. Then, simply repurpose that same video for YouTube, adding in additional content and some flashy graphics.
To succeed on YouTube, you need to create content people want to see. To ensure this, find a niche and build a community around that content. For example, if you’ve got a popular video series documenting the artistry of cake decorators, you can leverage this content into a standalone blog post or online store that focuses on cake decorating. Then, when you’ve got your own blog or e-commerce store, integrate Google Ads and display ads within the content you create.
6. Start an Online Fashion Store
Just like with personal shopping websites like Shopbop and Nordstrom, you can use free platforms like Shopify and Bigcommerce to set up an online fashion store. Launching a fashion store doesn’t require a lot of investment or expertise and can be a quick way to make money online. Plus, you can use a tool like Shopify to create a sophisticated e-commerce site that showcases your products and allows shoppers to discover new items easily.
To succeed as an online fashion retailer, you need to have a clear understanding of your customers’ needs and wants. If you’re fortunate enough to have a sizable customer base, you can build a robust e-commerce store that allows you to easily and effectively fulfill customer orders. If you’re new to e-commerce, try out Shopify’s built-in tutorials to get started.
7. Start a Blogging Career
If you’ve been blogging for a while and have amassed a sizable audience, you might consider trying your hand at blogging. The opportunities to make money online are endless if you can become a go-to source for your chosen topic. To get started, simply pick a niche (for example, travel or fashion) and create content on a regular basis. To generate consistent revenue, you can put ads on your site or sell and promote affiliate products. If you want to take this route, try out HubSpot’s affiliate marketing program.
What you need to keep in mind as you establish yourself as a thought leader in your chosen niche is to build credibility. To achieve this, create high-quality content that’s extremely relevant to your target audience. If you want to become a travel blogger, for example, you can start a blog documenting your travels. While this might be a fun project that draws lots of attention, if you want to make money off your blog, you’ll likely need to focus on building a following in your chosen niche. And remember, with each step you take, alternative ways to make money appear.
8. Start an Online Bookstore
With the growth of e-books, self-publishing, and audiobooks, the era of the traditional book hasn’t ended. However, if you want to make money online, establishing an online bookstore is a great way to meet your goals. To get started, create a professional-looking website that looks and feels like a book store. In addition to having a bookshop feel, you’ll need to integrate payments so readers can make purchases. If you’ve never done so, establishing an online bookstore can be a bit daunting, but with the help of platforms like Shopify, you can take the mystery out of setting up a bookstore website. Plus, you can use a tool like Shopify to create a sophisticated e-commerce site that showcases your products and allows shoppers to discover new items easily.
9. Start a Podcast
Blogs and podcasts aren’t going to disappear but will always exist alongside one another. To make money online, you can leverage this fact by creating and curating a podcast on your chosen topic. To get started, simply create a podcast using any of the popular podcasting apps like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify, or find a niche podcast that already exists and begin adding value to the conversation. What you need to keep in mind as you establish yourself as a thought leader in your chosen niche is to add value to the conversation. By generating and sharing content that’s both informative and entertaining, you can build a following that’s interested in what you have to say. As you gain more and more credibility, you can begin to integrate Google Ads and make money online from a podcast—even if you don’t have any listeners yet.