There are times when we find ourselves at loose ends in our careers. Sure, we could watch movies, take long walks on the beach, or play WoW until the kids get home, but that gets really boring, really fast. But there's hope, even when jobs are tight. We can turn to creative solutions to beat the blahs and generate some income, and what better way to do that than to use the Internet? There are ways to make money online that don't require any up-front capital. What follows is a sampling of the potential opportunities and some pointers for capitalizing on them and putting cash in your pocket.
Online Opportunities
- Play to your strengths. Making money online is a lot easier when you are doing things directly related to your source of income.
- For example, if you are a regular blogger and have a following, you can use Google AdSense to generate income. AdSense analyzes your content, and directs ads to your page that is relevant to your followers. The more followers you have, the more AdSense will work for you.
- Perform a service. There are many businesses out there that need as many people as possible, working online, to become successful. Usually these service-oriented companies do not pay a lot per item, but if you're fast and accurate, the the pennies add up to dollars and can be a great source of income. Look for opportunities like these:
- Online surveys. Consumer data is an incredibly valuable commodity that companies will pay a lot of money to have, and the way a lot of this data is collected is through surveys. The more surveys you complete, the more you will earn.
- Be a writer. The Internet is jam-packed with readers (you're one now!) The one thing that readers need the most are writers. There are sites such as Zerys that specialize in bidding out writing jobs that range from $.01 to $.10 a word. You may start in the $.01 to $.03 range, but the more you write—providing you write well—the more you will make per word.
- Put your skills on the market. You may have talents in audio or film editing; you might be an awesome graphic designer; maybe your forte is programming, or making mobile apps that people love. Where once people went to the temp agencies, they now sign up with sites like Elance and oDesk.
- Sign up is free, generally easy, and often can be handled simply by signing in through Facebook or Twitter. Create an online profile, use a professional photo, and people who need your skills will see your smiling mug and awesome skillset when they're looking for somebody with your talents.
- Become an affiliate marketer. Like using Google's AdSense, if you have a web presence with any kind of following, becoming an affiliate marketer can generate a substantial income if you do it well.
- Sign up with a company that has an affiliate program. You can research popular or trending topics with Google Trends, and pick an affiliate partner based on current events, or you can pick a partner based on your own preferences.
- For example, if you are a musician, Musician's Friend offers an Affiliate Program that is very partner-friendly.
- Buy and sell the Internet. OK, maybe not the whole Internet, but buying and selling domain names can generate some extra spending money.
- Think beyond the obvious. While most short names have been long-since taken, consider a couple alternatives: hyphenated names are more common now that the one-word names have been assigned; also, unique family names have selling potential. While it may not generate the kind of dollars a multinational corporation might pay for a name, family names are personal enough that people might be willing to part with a few hundred dollars to "own" their surname on the Internet.
- Be creative. Above all, use your imagination when investigating online money-making opportunities. Regardless of your education or experience, you have skills that people want. Grab your Google, plug in some keywords, and find your niche!
0 comments:
Post a Comment