How to earn money online

November 2, 2019

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Earning money has always been associated with traditional ‘offline’ ways found in the real world.

With the Internet taking over a large part of our lives, more people are looking to ways to earn money online to increase their financial inflows.

However, you have to be careful of the platform that you opt for. While there are numerous ways can help you earn money online, some of these could end up being scams, hence you have to be careful. Also, do not expect to earn a huge amount quickly when using online avenues to earn money.

Here are few such online platforms, websites, and resources that can help you earn money online.

1. Freelancing
Freelancing has always been a popular way to earn money online and the Internet has a plethora of options. There are several websites offering freelance tasks for people with varying skills. All you need to do is to create your account, browse through the listings, and apply for the task that suits you. Some websites may even require you to create a personal listing with the details of your skillset, so that interested clients can contact you directly. Outfiver.com, upwork.com, freelancer.com, and worknhire.com are some websites that provide freelance jobs. You can earn anywhere between $5 and $100 through these websites.

But remember, you will only be paid once you complete your task and it has been approved by your client. This may even mean revising the work several times unless the requirements of your clients are not met. Some sites may ask you to set up a PayPal account, as most clients prefer to make payments through it.

2. Start your own websiteThere is enough material available online to help create your own website. This includes choosing the domain, templates, and the design for your website. Once ready to service the visitors with the relevant content, sign up for Google Adsense, which when appear on your website and clicked by visitors help you make money. The more the traffic you get on your website, the more will be the potential for higher earnings.

3. Affiliate marketingOnce your website is up and running, opt for affiliate marketing by allowing companies to insert web links on to your site. When visitors to your site buy products or services by clicking on such links, you earn out from it.

4. Surveys and searches and reviewsThere are several websites offering money to undergo online surveys, carry out online searches, and write reviews on products. To get the credit, one needs to disclose certain information to them including one’s banking details. This is why you should use this route with utmost care. Some of them may even ask you to register with them before working on projects. The most important watch out in such projects is to stay away from websites offering money that appears too good to be true. Be careful while evaluating the reputation of the website as many of them could be a scam. Most sites promote businesses showing copies of cheque payments which may have been given to the middlemen only.

5. Virtual assistantshipDoing all the corporate stuff from one’s home is what a virtual assistant (VA) does. VAs basically work remotely with their clients and manage the aspects of their business that they are too busy to handle themselves. When you work as a virtual assistant, you can choose to work as an employee or you can set up your own business.

VAs are skilled, home-based professionals that offer companies, businesses, and entrepreneurs administrative support. Some of the major areas of work includes making phone calls, email correspondence, Internet research, data entry, scheduling appointments, editing, writing, bookkeeping, marketing, blog management, proofreading, project management, graphic design, tech support, customer service, event planning, and social media management.

Becoming a VA can entail some degree of training or briefing, depending on your qualifications. However, if you have good communication skills and are capable of using applications like MS Office, you can just sign up on sites such as Elance.com, 24/7 Virtual Assistant, Assistant Match, eaHelp, Freelancer, FlexJobs, People Per Hour, Uassist.Me, Upwork, VaVa Virtual Assistants, Virtual Staff Finder, Worldwide 101, Ziptask, Zirtual and so on. A VA my expect earnings in the range of Rs 500-Rs 4,000 per hour.

6. Translating
Knowing a language other than English may even help you earn some extra bucks. There are several websites that offer translation projects that require translating a document from one language into another. This may include Spanish, French, Arab, German, or any other language to or from English.

For many, this can make the task rather time-consuming and therefore they hire translators available online from anywhere across the globe. Several websites such as Freelancer.in, Fiverr.com, worknhire.com or Upwork.com offers you a platform to be a professional translator.

Those who do not have the knowledge or do not have the time to complete their projects on their own, put up their work on these platforms where you can register and start bidding on translation jobs and get paid in the range of Rs 1-Rs 5 per word. This can go up to Rs 10 for some languages.

7. Online tutoringIf you are an expert in a particular subject, you can earn by tutoring people online. Online tutoring provides a means to connect online with students of all ages, across the country to provide homework help and tutoring in the subjects for which you have demonstrated expertise.

One may sign up on websites like Vedantu.com, MyPrivateTutor.com, BharatTutors.com, tutorindia.net as an online tutor by creating a profile, and listing the subjects or classes you want to teach, how much experience you have, what your qualifications are, etc. Some of the platforms may offer flexible and convenient time to work as an online tutor.

Most platforms follow the process that will ask you to apply by filling in a simple form, and then a teaching demo will have to given their experts. Once selected, documentation and profile creation will be done, followed by training and induction webinar. Once you attend the webinar, you will be listed as a teacher and will get your online sessions to conduct. Beginners can make around Rs 200 per hour, which can increase to Rs 500 as you gain experience and expertise.

8. Social mediaIn addition to interacting with friends and strangers, social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,and Snapchat can be used to make money. Companies and popular brands pay social media strategists to further boost the popularity of their products. With lots of competition around and the constantly shortening of attention time of online viewers, creativity is essential to create posts, videos etc that can go viral quickly and enhance the brand value. Remember, social media needs dedicated time and energy to stay relevant. Hence, you need to share posts regularly and interact with your followeron a regular basis.