It’s an uncertain time for our finances right now. Even if you’ve managed to retain a job (or get one) during the Coronavirus outbreak, there’s still the unmissable fact that our entire economy is going to suffer long after the virus becomes under control. It’s a real worry and, like many people, I’ve been wondering about extra ways that I could make money online.
I’ve worked full-time for my whole career, but I’ve always had a money-maker on the side. That extra cash really comes in handy plus I like to be doing something useful with my spare time. Whilst you’re stuck at home on lockdown – (maybe now without a job and unable to get a new one, or perhaps your hours have been reduced or your job put on hold) you’re probably getting a bit bored, so having something else to do that makes you cash is a win-win situation. Below I’ve compiled a list of money-making methods that I’ve used over the years to boost my bank balance.
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. This list contains examples of online work that either myself or my partner have positive experiences of. I have only recommended methods to make money online that I enjoy and have found useful.
Freelancing
Freelancing is a great way to make extra money if you have both the time and the expertise. If you’ve got a skill that’s in demand then why not make money from it? I’ve previously freelanced in a few different fields – art, CV writing, and critiquing. There are other types of jobs too, such as data entry, IT, and social media marketing.
Social media is a good way to get clients but requires a lot of effort when it comes to marketing. I’d recommend using freelancing sites to get started. Guru is my personal favourite, but Freelancer and Upwork are good as well. People post jobs that they’ll pay for, and you compete against others (usually with a portfolio and written bid). A portfolio really helps but I’ve managed to get gigs with barely any experience so these sites are worth a shot!
Blogging
If you’ve got a blog then it’s definitely a good idea to consider making money from it! There are many ways you can do so, from affiliate links to reviewing products for the goods or a fee. Once you become more established you could host sponsored posts from other brands on your site. You could even make and sell your own products, such as ebooks and courses!
A good way of picking up paid or gifted collaborations is by applying for them via blogging networks. This is an efficient method for both big and small bloggers! There are loads available – Activate, BrandBacker and Influenster are three I have signed up with recently and I’ve had success with Bloggers Required. Blogger Outreach is well worth signing up for as they can offer both paid collaborations and pre-written content for your site. I also recommend Get Blogged – you can search for paid blogging opportunities using their site, plus they even have their own marketplace where you can work with brands directly. It’s a great platform to pick up paid blogger jobs!
A word of advice – blogging is certainly not a get rich quick scheme. It’s a slow burner, but if you’ve got the time then do it – it’s a brilliant source of passive income once you get going. You can have a free website or there are some excellent, low-cost hosting platforms for your site. I recommend Stablepoint who I use currently – they start at just £3.99 a month!
Online Surveys
Online surveys aren’t going to make you a millionaire, but they do add up. I’ve used loads of online survey sites over the years and they’re relatively easy to find through Google. I’ve used Toluna a lot, and I’m currently enjoying the Streetbees app for its original layout (not all opportunities are paid, though). Swagbucks is also good as it’s more than just surveys – you can also make money through cashback, watching ads, and browsing the web.
If you want use online surveys to make money online then I recommend making a separate email address for them. That way, your primary email won’t get cluttered up with loads of survey offers. Sign up to a few and you should have a good amount of opportunities to work with.
Transcribing
Are you a good listener, with quick typing skills? If so then transcribing can be a good money maker on the side. I have a transcribing account with Rev, where I type up audio files for clients. You have to pass an assessment first to be able to use the site (they want quality transcribers) but once you’re in there are loads of types of audio available to transcribe. I’ve done legal transcribing, adverts, medical, and more.
Payment increases the more you do, and as your quality of work increases you get more opportunities to take on. If you get bored easily you’ll find the work tedious, however it’s something a little bit different (plus looks great on your CV if you work in business admin or similar areas).
Gaming
There are actually quite a few ways to make money online through gaming, and it’s definitely one of the more entertaining methods. For those who know a bit about gaming, whether console, PC, or mobile, you can sign up to be a beta tester. Global Beta Test Network is a great one, for example, where you play games and then write up a report for the developers that logs any errors or issues. PlayTestCloud also does something similar, however you test mobile games and narrate your testing via audio file as you go.
If you like to play games but aren’t so big on the technical side then apps like Mistplay and Money App might interest you. These games encourage you to download a game and complete tasks such as levelling up to make money – it’s low payment, but if you’re going to play them anyway then you might as well get paid to do it. Money App will usually have one task per game (get to a certain level, redeem coins, and so on) whereas Mistplay pays out the longer you play.
Cashback
I’ve already mentioned Swagbucks previously, but this is a great site to use for cashback. It’s easy to use when purchasing something, plus random offers called Swagcodes will often pop up on your screen which allow bonus cashback for a limited amount of time. Quidco is another great one – it’s easy to search for whatever you’re buying beforehand, and makes shopping that little bit cheaper.
It’s also worth checking if your employer has a cashback system in place (especially if you work for a big company or public service). My workplace has a great cashback program which covers all sorts of things, from a cup of coffee to a holiday.
Internet Crowdsourcing
Internet crowdsourcing is essentially people using the internet to find others to complete small tasks quickly and efficiently. It’s kind of similar to freelancing, except the type of jobs you undertake will typically require less skill and are smaller, such as data entry, answering surveys, and performing research tasks for AI.
Amazon’s Mechanical Turk is one I have used before, and although tasks are paid in small amounts I found it added up fairly quickly if I logged on whenever I had a few minutes to spare. Clickworker is another well-known one – I haven’t used this one myself, but have heard good things about it.
Selling Your Stories
Do you have something particularly exciting or relevant about your life that you can share? Maybe there’s an experience you’ve gone through or an opinion that you hold that people would love to hear about? If so, then selling your stories can be a great way of making some extra cash!
I did this last year for Fabulous Magazine, where I attended a photoshoot and shared my view on topless sunbathing. It was a really fun experience and I made some good money from it. This isn’t something that will generate regular income as opportunities are spontaneous and you can only appear a certain amount of times in the press, however it’s worth contacting newspapers and magazines (or their agents) if you think you’ve got something exciting to say.
Other Cash-Making Apps & Websites
The methods mentioned above are some of my favourites, however these are great too:
SnapMyEats – Developed by Amazon, SnapMyEats is an app where you upload photos of food shopping receipts for Amazon gift cards. It’s a really simple and an easy way to earn!
Shoppix – Shoppix is another receipts app, however you can upload any type. You can also earn bonus tokens from surveys, which can then be redeemed for all sorts of gift cards.
Job Spotter – Job Spotter is an app developed by Indeed where you upload pictures of hiring signs in shop windows. Not the best one to start during a lockdown, however it’s good to have on your phone in case you happen to pass by a job advert.
Mobeye – Mobeye is an app where you upload photos of different objects. However, they don’t need to be high quality like stock photos do. The items requested change frequently, and it’s not too hard to see the pounds increase with this one.
20 Cogs – 20 Cogs is one of my favourite apps to make money online as, by the time you’ve got to the withdrawal part, you could have made quite a bit of cash. You have 20 tasks (cogs) which you have to complete, and each will ask you to complete a task. Many are signing up to and completing free trials, but you’ll also find other types as well. Just remember to cancel the trials before you start paying for them (unless you love them, of course).
What methods have you used to make money online before? Are there any on this list that you would try out to make some extra cash? Share in the comments, and don’t forget to like and pin! If you’re currently working from home then check out my article on how to work from home efficiently.
Great post! I tried transcribing once and couldn’t do it for the life of me so I’ll give that one a miss haha! I download Shoppix yesterday actually and just downloaded Mobeye thanks to your recommendation 🙂
Thank you! Yeah I don’t find it the most exciting thing ever, but it certainly has helped to have it as an option. Looks like Mobeye now has a survey option too which is good!
I joined Rev recently but haven’t fully got started yet. This post is brilliant, I am always looking for new ways to make money using the skills that I have. I have bookmarked this for later!
Thanks!
Rosie
Glad you found it useful! My favourite ones on Rev are the short video adverts – they don’t come up often, but when they do you get quite a lot at one time and they don’t feel quite so time-consuming.
This is such a great post! I will have to try some of these ideas out as a way to make a little side money! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you!
Hannah,
True, quick rich scheme does not apply on the internet unless you are running a startup that scales and grows very fast – and that too takes time.
If there is anything that is full of spam is earning money online. This is because there is an ocean flow of money to make from the internet. Amazon Mechanical Turk But if you get real and ask someone to actually show you or even forward you a legitimate link, they grow cold feet. I love that you are putting this out there so that someone can add to their cash flow. This ‘small cents’ add up to big monies. My team and I prefer training people to create online businesses – if they have the will power to succeed.
I am sharing these ideas.
Thanks for commenting!
Great tips! I love reading these posts because even though I make money online already, there is always something new to learn! I had no idea transcribing was a thing, so I might give it a try!
Thank you! Yes transcribing is a good one!
I always love reading about new ways to make money online, and this list definitely had some that I haven’t heard of before. I like that gaming one, sounds fun. SnapMyEats and Job Spotter also seem like an easy way to make money, I wonder if they are only for UK or worldwide though. Will have to check that out.
I reckon SnapMyEats must cover other locations as it’s Amazon, however I think Job Spotter is just UK (I may be wrong though). Glad it was useful to you!
I had no idea that there were so many different ways to make money! I’ve used a lot of survey sites in the past but all the ones I used seemed to stop offering me any which was annoying. I’m interested in the transcription idea, that sounds like it could be something I could easily do from home! Thanks for the ideas.
Survey sites do sometimes do that, which is a shame. It’s good that there are so many options out there, though!
These are really interesting ideas, I’ll check them out.