Best Online Internet Business to Start
My Top Choice
Mechanical Turk is a program run by Amazon where anyone can sign up and complete simple tasks – like choosing which of two pictures depicts a bridge – to earn a few cents per task. With some practice, you can earn a few dollars an hour while just sitting on your couch watching television. And with enough focus, you can earn an amount roughly equal to minimum wage.
YouTube allows anyone to post nonexplicit videos on pretty much any topic they desire. Recording a video can be as simple as turning on the camera on your computer and hitting the record button. If you enable advertisements on your videos, you can earn money at a rate of about $1 to $3 per 1,000 video views. The more videos the have, the more views you can accrue, so this option really pays off if you record a lot of videos and build a viewership.
eLance allows people in almost any profession to find freelance work at home in their spare time. While the projects on eLance aren’t going to earn you a ton of money, they do provide a great way to build an independent portfolio to show off your skills while also building a network of clients.
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing allows anyone who has written a book on their own to upload it to Amazon to be sold on Amazon Kindle devices. Let’s say you write a novel and want to sell it. If you upload it here and then promote it online through social media or blogs, you can sell copies of your book and earn as much as a 70 percent return on each sale.
Fotolia allows you to sell photos you’ve taken for stock photography usage. For example, if a publisher is looking for a picture of a beach and you uploaded such a picture, the publisher can use Fotolia to purchase the rights to use that picture in its publication and you receive a cut of that money. For a photography hobbyist, this is a great way to earn a few dollars for some of your best photos.
Swagbucks is perhaps the most popular – and most legitimate – of the online survey sites. Swagbucks pays you a small amount for participating in a consumer survey, which companies then use to figure out what kinds of products to make and sell. You can participate in several surveys a day, and Swagbucks earnings can be redeemed for gift cards from Amazon, Target, iTunes and more.
Fiverr is a website where you can make $5 doing almost anything. On the site, people upload jobs that they’re willing to do for $5, like writing Facebook posts for companies. Many of the jobs require creative skills such as graphic design or audio editing, but tasks are things you can easily do on the couch in your spare time.
Skillshare is a website where you can teach an online class and get paid for it. You record series of videos on a topic that you know about – popular subjects include crafts, film, fashion and cooking – and then participate on the Skillshare forums related to your class. In exchange, you receive a cut of the money from the people who take your class. No teaching degree is necessary to get started, and the site says teachers can earn an average of $3,500 a year.
Zirtual is perhaps the most time-consuming, but most rewarding, option. With Zirtual, you sign up to be a Zirtual Assistant to a busy person. The person will send you things to do such as write emails, research a topic and summarize the findings, or personal tasks such as order flowers, manage a personal calendar or write handwritten notes. The starting base pay is $11 an hour, and Zirtual Assistants work weekdays full time.
All of these websites offer great opportunities for anyone to earn some extra money online. It all depends on what you want to bring to the table in terms of time, money and effort.
If you want to make a little spending money from home or earn a full-time salary, now’s the time — especially if you have a computer. Just going online opens up a host of opportunities. The trick is knowing which businesses are legitimate. Here are my top picks.
Sell your craftsDo you knit? Make jewelry? Sew? If so, there are lots of opportunities to sell handmade wares online. As a member of Etsy (), you’ll have your own online store to showcase your items. It’s free to become an Etsy seller, but you’ll pay a fee of 20¢ to list an item with up to five photos for four months. When the item sells, you pay a 3.5 percent commission to Etsy. There’s no limit to how much you can charge, and what you earn is based on how your crafts sell.
Make money from your talentAt Fiverr (), you can offer services that use your skills — designing a business card, creating a podcast jingle, planning a trip — for five bucks a pop. Fiverr keeps $1 and the seller gets $4 per gig. Stefanie Strobel, 28, of Newport Beach, California, writes people’s messages in the sand at the beach and takes a picture that she then emails to them. “I make about $300 per month and can do about 10 to 15 messages per hour, depending on length and complexity,” says Stefanie.
Be a nurse on call If you’re a registered nurse, consider a company like Fonemed (), which provides phone-based triage and medical information to their customers in Canada and the U.S. These companies contract with medical-related clients, mostly doctor’s offices and especially pediatrician’s offices, to answer questions when the offices are closed (the work hours are typically evenings, nights and weekends). You must be licensed in the state or province where you are located and have at least three years of recent clinical experience with adults and children. Fonemed nurses are paid an hourly minimum plus a fee per call, and are eligible for benefits like health insurance and paid leave. A typical Fonemed nurse makes $27 per hour, according to Fonemed owner Charlene Slaney.
Write, edit, proofreadSites like Demand Studios () and Associated Content () hire experienced freelance writers, editors and filmmakers to work on projects for sites like eHow, LiveStrong.com and YouTube. At Demand Studios, assignments pay anywhere from $15 to $100; if you meet tenure and activity requirements, you can be eligible for health insurance plans. At Associated Content there are three ways to earn money: Upfront payments for content you write ($2 to $15 per article), assigned articles ($10 to $100 per article) and performance payments ($1.50 for every 1,000 page views of your article if it’s posted online).
Design graphics and websitesElance () works like an online marketplace, setting up designers and computer programmers with companies that need their services. Companies post jobs and freelancers bid on them, listing their experience, portfolio and the price they will charge for the job. If your bid is chosen, you’ll pay Elance a commission of 4 to 6 percent of what you earn.
Tutor kids or adultsIf you have a college degree or are currently enrolled in college and think you have the skills to tutor math, science, English or social studies, tutoring online might fit you perfectly. Check out Tutor.com, where tutors work as independent contractors and earn around $10 to $14 per hour based on the subject and hours worked. Very active tutors can earn anywhere from $800 to $1,600 a month.
Give adviceKnow a lot about medicine or car repairs? JustAnswer () is a paid question-and-answer site that’s growing its community of experts in the medical, legal and financial fields, as well as in other specialties like car repair and home improvement. Registered customers ask a question and then name the price they’re willing to pay (usually from $10 to $40) for an expert answer. The expert usually responds within an hour, and once the customer accepts the answer, keeps from 25 to 50 percent of what the customer pays. How much experts earn depends on how many questions they’ve had accepted by customers. Experts are vetted through a fairly grueling process, with credentials, education and background verified.
Provide customer serviceMany retailers are outsourcing their customer service operations to third-party companies like Alpine Access () and Working Solutions (), who in turn contract with home-based workers. The reps, who typically work 20 to 40 hours a week, take calls for large and small companies. The hourly rate is about $9, but agents can earn up to $13 with incentives and bonuses or up to $30 for special projects. Some companies offer benefits like health and dental insurance and a matching 401(k) plan. LiveOps () is similar, but service reps operate as independent contractors, typically invoicing LiveOps $10 to $15 per hour depending on the type of call and performance. And with LiveOps you can work as many hours as you want. The hiring process is rigorous: Expect a comprehensive written or online application, skills exam, phone interview and background check.
Make a little spending moneyWhen career librarian Rachel Singer Gordon, 40, of Lombard, Illinois, quit her job in 2005 to take care of her children and pursue freelance writing, she knew she’d need to find other sources of income to supplement her writing. She dove headlong into couponing and frugality, and became a wizard at finding ways to earn money online. Soon Rachel was bringing in small amounts of income from lots of sources she calls “multiple profit centers.” “They’re the equivalent of a nice, steady part-time job,” says Rachel. In 2009, she started the blog Mashup Mom () to share all the stuff she was learning. In fewer than two years, the blog has become yet another profit center for Rachel, as has her first book, Point, Click, and Save: Mashup Mom’s Guide to Saving and Making Money Online. Tap into multiple profit centers with Rachel’s favorites.
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Launch a blog. “If you have something interesting to say, grow your readership, post ads and earn some dough,”