7 Ways to Make Money Online for Beginners: Starting a side hustle online and generating multiple income streams sounds like a pipe dream. Imagine having more time to spend with friends and family and being able to travel wherever you want while earning more money.
What’s the best part? You don’t have to be an expert to begin. There are dozens of ways to start making extra money online, even if you are a beginner.
Here’s how beginners can make money online (even if they don’t have any skills or experience). You’re good to go as long as you have an internet connection.
7 Ways to Make Money Online for Beginners
How to Earn Money Online as a Novice
1. Participate in market research
Companies are always looking for people to test their websites and digital products and provide feedback on the latest features. The good news is that you don’t have to be an expert in order to participate in market research in fact, brands are often looking for people who don’t know much about their product to get their initial thoughts. A video game company, for example, might pay a gaming novice to test how easy the game is to play for people of all skill levels.
There are numerous websites that pay people to record them using a website or navigating a new product. UserTesting pays $10 for a 20-minute screen recording, for example, and survey sites like Swagbucks and Branded Surveys pay people for their time.
Time to get started: It takes a few minutes to create an account on each site.
Effort: Depends on how many surveys or research activities you want to participate in.
The first payment is made immediately.
What you should know:
Most websites for surveys and market research require people to be at least 18 years old to take part.
There are usually only a few paid surveys available on survey sites each month, so sign up for more than one to increase your chances of getting paid.
2. Work as an online tutor
Teach what you are knowledgeable about. Everyone is knowledgeable about something, whether it’s trigonometry, classic literature, or Spanish conjunctions. The best part is that you only need to be one step ahead of the person you’re instructing in order to assist them.
As a result, there are numerous websites where people from all over the world can sell their knowledge to students. You can work remotely from anywhere because the majority of lessons are done via video chat (or even text chat).
During the pandemic, this industry exploded, providing people with an easy way to make money online regardless of how much they know about a topic. Sites like TutorMe and Wyzant make it simple to advertise your services to potential students in a variety of countries, whether you teach maths, science, English, or another language. If you’re particularly knowledgeable about something, you can create short tutorials or sell your lessons to business owners.
Startup time: It takes a few minutes to set up an account on your preferred tutoring site.
Effort: It takes little effort to get started, but it will take some dedication to maintain a consistent income.
The first payment will be made within one week to one month.
What you should know:
Most tutoring websites require tutors to be at least 18 years old.
Specialises in a particular subject will allow you to become an expert and earn more money.
Tutoring sites frequently deduct a percentage of your payment or charge a fee to withdraw your earnings.
3. Offer your clothes and other belongings for sale
Who doesn’t have a never-before-worn shirt stashed in the back of their closet? Selling your unwanted clothes and other items is a popular way to earn extra money each month while also clearing out your home.
Poshmark, Etsy, and Craigslist are mobile apps that allow you to upload your clothes, accessories, and other items to a personal storefront and sell them to shoppers all over the world. In addition to clothing, you could sell ornaments, small items, and furniture on eBay or local selling sites.
About an hour is needed to take pictures of your items and upload them to your preferred selling site.
Effort: It takes a little work at the beginning, but after that, all you have to do is keep your “storefront” updated and, if necessary, ship items.
First payout: This is determined by how long it takes to sell your first item.
What you should know:
Most selling sites require you to handle shipping, which can quickly add up.
Upload your products to a variety of websites to increase their chances of selling.
Most third-party selling apps take a percentage of your profit or charge a fee per listing.
4. Become a product affiliate for your favourite products
Brand affiliates are given a unique link from a brand and are paid a commission whenever someone in their network purchases a product after clicking on that link. Several brands have affiliate marketing programs in which you can sign up, get your link, and share it with your friends and family. The best part is that you can get paid to recommend products you would normally recommend.
Amazon’s affiliate program allows you to add a unique code to a URL in order to claim a portion of the payment if someone you know or have referred purchases a product (any product in Amazon’s catalogue), but there are also individual affiliate programs for different brands and storefronts that allow you to become an affiliate for your favourite products.
Time to get started: It takes a few minutes to generate your affiliate codes.
Effort: The initial effort is minimal, but consistent effort is required to make a decent chunk of money from affiliate programs.
First payment: one week to one month, depending on the payment terms of the affiliate programs you choose.
What you should know:
Affiliate commissions range from 5% to 30% on average, so selling higher-ticket items will earn you more money.
Participants in most affiliate programs must be at least 18 years old.
It is beneficial to have a plan in place to generate consistent income, whether through a blog, an online presence on social media, or a community.
Most affiliate programs require you to include a disclaimer in your unique link stating that you will be paid a percentage of the sale.
5. Launch a Drop-shipping store
Drop-shipping allows you to sell products online without personally fulfilling or shipping orders. Customers buy from your store, which alerts a third-party manufacturer or supplier, who then ships the product directly to the customer.
This digital commerce model can be an effective way to start a small business. There is the potential to make a lot of money and earn passive income, but there may be a small learning curve if you are unfamiliar with setting up your own website or an online store.
However, online stores such as Shopify make it extremely simple for even the most inexperienced drop-shippers to set up a beautiful store and begin receiving sales. Choose the previous template, drag-and-drop your store and product information, and connect your chosen drop-ship suppliers to start selling right away.
Time to get your store up and running: a few hours.
Drop-shipping is the simplest online selling model to start if you don’t know much about the industry.
On average, the first payment takes one month.
What you should know:
You can use Shopify’s free trial to determine whether drop-shipping is right for you.
Drop-shipping success is all about selecting the right products; research suppliers and trending categories to get it right.
Most drop shipping suppliers require a monthly subscription or a percentage of each order to sell their products.
6. Recording transcription
Due to the growing popularity of video and audio content, transcription services are still in high demand. Transcribing is simply listening to a podcast, video, or audio recording from a YouTube channel and converting it to text.
You can often find part-time online jobs as a transcription for companies in various industries if you join gig sites like Upwork and Fiverr that advertise transcribing opportunities. They will occasionally allow you to work remotely, allowing you to earn money from home.
Transcribers can earn a good living (up to $25 per hour), but it helps if you’re a fast typer who understands grammar and punctuation in the language you’re transcribing.
Time to get started: a few hours to add your profile to gig sites or find relevant jobs.
Transcribing can be a relatively easy way to make money online if you’re a fast typer. You’ll need to look for new work on a regular basis unless you get a part-time job or a retainer client.
First payment: This is determined by the payment structure agreed upon with your clients or employer.
What you should know:
Transcribers can be paid by the hour or by the minute.
There are no prerequisites for becoming a transcriber, but having an online certificate can help you stand out.
7. Rent out your belongings
People often don’t want to buy a product, but rather have access to one for a set period of time think lawnmowers, kitchenware, cars, and even rooms in your house. Sites like FriendWithA allow you to rent products like this and pay the owner for the privilege.
If you have a lot of stuff that isn’t in use or that people might want to rent out, why not put it up for hire? This way, you can make some money off of items that would otherwise collect dust in your shed, cupboard, or garage.
You can even make extra money on the weekends by renting out your car or a spare room in your house on sites like Airbnb.
It will take a few hours to list your products on relevant sites and upload them.
Effort varies depending on the product; renting out your car or a room in your house requires more effort than lending someone your kitchen scales.
The first payment is usually made immediately.
What you should know:
Rent-to-own websites typically require renters and entrees to be at least 18 years old.
Get insurance or use a site that provides insurance for your products in case they are damaged or lost while being rented.
To make money online, you don’t have to be an expert.
Conclusion
As you can see from the examples above, you don’t need any prior experience, extensive knowledge, or specialised skill set to begin making money online as a beginner. In fact, there are numerous ways to supplement your income, start a side business, or start a new career. Try out some of the suggestions above and start earning money online right away.