How to Make Money from Home – 12 Ways to Make Money from Home

Are you looking for ways to make money online from home?  It might surprise you to know that there are plenty of different ways for you to make money from home and more importantly you don’t have to worry about whether you have time to fit it around your other commitments.

Even if you are a stay at home mum with a family to look after or someone who has the dream of earning enough to only work from home, there is an option on our list for you to achieve whatever financial goals you have set yourself.

There are so many services or skills that businesses are looking for and you may have those skills to be able to earn money from them online.  You might not think you have them but trust me you are definitely going to find something for you from this list.  Or you can definitely learn to get those skills.

Once you focus on something you will be surprised at what you can achieve and ultimately earn from that.

The first step you need to take is deciding on what your goals are. What do you want to achieve and what are you willing to do to get them?

What Exactly Are You Looking For?

a young lady looking through a telescope

Are you looking for flexibility where it can fit in around your current routine or are you looking for a good income that you can earn from home?  There are in fact ways you can achieve both, for example blogging with affiliate marketing can achieve that. (That is how we earn money online).

But not everyone is looking to make a full-time income online, sometimes you just want to relieve boredom or just put some money aside ready for Christmas or holiday and that is fine too.

You just need to know what you are looking for, so you can go through our list and see which ones fit the bill for you.

What Are You Good At?

The next stage is to think about what you are good at, and then see how you could monetise that.  Some of you might be thinking you aren’t good at anything and I will stop you right there and tell you “everyone is good at something”.  You might just not have really thought about it or seen it as something you could earn money doing.

Take the time now and think about what you are good at?

Are You Ready to Invest in Yourself?

blocks spelling out the word learn When we mention investment, people immediately start talking about having to spend money and will back away.  We are not specifically saying you need to spend money, but you need to factor in that the more you want to earn, the more you are going to invest in learning.  There are always free courses for things and for the most part they can help.  Google can be a great way of learning how to brush up on things like typing or how to use excel spreadsheets for example.

But there will come a point where you need to invest the time, and a little money to give yourself the best route to earning money online.

Like we said, it ultimately depends on how much you want to earn, how flexible you are with your time and how much you want this too.

Things to Think About Before Working from Home or Online

There are some key things you need to consider before you jump in with both feet into an opportunity you find online.  As soon as you type you want to earn money, you will be bombarded with thousands of opportunities that turn out to be complete scams!

Scams are everywhere, they are after your email address and they are after your money.  They are not interested in helping you to earn money in the slightest, their only interest is to line their own pockets.

If something seems too good to be true, and you cannot find out until you get your credit card out then it is most definitely a scam.

You will have probably already seen an offer where they promise you the world (but lack any of the real details about what you would be doing) and they still expect you to be sucked into believing all their lies and hand over your credit card.

So, once you get past the point where you realise it is possible to earn money online, but you are going to have to work at it, then you can really start to explore the real opportunities that are right in front of you.

Ultimately, you are going to need to consider the fact that there are real ways to earn a little extra money or a lot of money, but they both require you to invest time and effort to achieve what you are getting paid for.

It goes back to focus, if you focus on what you want to do and do your research thoroughly, you will find the right option for you.

How to Make Extra Money from Home

We have broken down the opportunities into 2 main sections.  The first one that we are going to go through is the options that will earn you a little extra money. Let’s start with surveys

Online Survey Sites & Apps

Online survey sites do get a bad rep, as they are don’t particular bring a great return on your time.  However, not everyonesomeone completing a survey is looking for a full-time income online.  You might be one of those people that has the time to earn money completing surveys in your spare time.

It is all down to expectations.  If you are looking for a full-time income, then surveys aren’t for you.  But they could always give you a little extra whilst you are on your route to earning money elsewhere online.

Whilst we were working towards financial freedom with affiliate marketing, online surveys helped bridge the gap until it reached our goals.

Online Surveys are typically just side earners, but there are some that let you earn money in other ways, such as searching the web or playing games.  There are also apps that let you earn some extra money just to download them and run them in the background.  Let’s go through some, shall we?

Swagbucks – This is a very popular survey website, and it has a high trust rating too.  It offers a range of ways to get paid – online surveys, watching videos, playing games, searching the web, competitions, etc.  It also comes with a $5 sign-up bonus.  We have used Swagbucks and have written a review.  It is ok for the right person who is looking for a little extra money.

Prolific Surveys – This is another online survey site, but it does have a difference.  It is studies that are used in universities across the world.  I actually found a lot of the studies quite interesting, and it does have a better return on your time than Swagbucks.  The surveys also have more variety, as they are not about consumer decisions, etc.  You could be doing a study into hand-eye coordination or memory tests. If online surveys is the route you want to take, you definitely want to consider signing up for both Prolific and Swagbucks.

Survey Junkie – Another online survey site.  Survey Junkie is definitely legit, and it has a low disqualification rate.  Many survey sites end up throwing you out of surveys as you do not meet the target demographic they want, but they don’t actually tell you what they are after.  I haven’t found the same in Survey Junkie, quite so often.  The surveys are short and pay well (for a survey site). You can redeem the points for cash or gift cards, learn more in our Survey Junkie review.

Nielsen App – Want to earn some passive income? You might want to consider downloading the Nielsen App.  You can earn $50 a year, if you keep the app installed.  They are a research company that collects data based on your web usage, aiming to use the information to improve the user experience.  Whilst the data is never shared and it remains anonymous, you might have reservations.  Do your research before you decide on this one.

User Interviews – This does offer the opportunity to earn up to $200.  This about participating in research studies.  Not all the tasks are partaken online, there is an element of you needing to do video calls or even travel to somewhere to do the research or interview.

But their client base is interesting and includes Vistaprint, Pinterest, Spotify, Adobe.  It does look like a good opportunity for the right person who wants to help share brands and get paid for it.

Microtask

There are small or short tasks such as tying, data tagging and transcriptions. You could become an Amazon Mechanical Turker or work for companies like Clickworker
and complete tasks for money.

Most of these tasks are on a first come, first served basis so you need check back regularly to make sure you don’t miss out on opportunities.

Rater

There are also opportunities for you to become a “rater”.

This is where you will be going through search engine results or going through social media feeds to rate them on certain aspects and guidelines.

It is all to do with improve the algorithms the search engines use to give better and more relevant results to their users.  The better the algorithms, the better the user experience is.

You will need to pass an assessment test prior to being hired. They do not require you to have experience or any expertise, but you will need to be a resident in the country to apply.

Appen (formerly Leapforce) – Appen has many positions available in many different countries, but from what we know the test is quite hard, so you may need to think about how you prepare yourself for the test.

Lionbridge – This is also an opportunity available in many different countries, it is a well-known brand so the opportunities do get snapped up quickly so you will need to keep an eye out on their recruitment page…

Both offer chances to earn money, on average in the US you could between $12 – $15 an hour.  This will vary depending on where you are in the world.

Rent or Sell Online

It is easy to forget the other options to make some money online, for example selling unused stuff via eBay or Craigslist.online transaction

Selling stuff online is still a great option when you are doing a declutter.  You could get a good price for your old electronics; I did a sort out recently and realised I had a number of old iPhones and an iPad I hadn’t got rid of yet.  You could use a site like Decluttr to sell them too.

There are also opportunities for you to rent a spare room using Airbnb.  Take some pictures, write a good description and list the amenities too.  Reply to questions promptly and keep an eye on the reviews to get return business, etc.

You could also earn money from renting your car out with a site like Getaround.  List your car through their website using their app.  Write a good description, and all the renting is done through the app.  They offer a $1 million insurance cover and 24/7 roadside assistance.  This isn’t something I would particularly look at, I am particular about who drives my car, but you might be different (we all are).

Food Delivery

This option has been around for years, delivering takeaways.  But is has become more sophisticated and the number of places that are doing delivery now has multiplied.  Even McDonalds are now offering delivery through UberEats.  You will need transport to be able to do the deliveries, but this is an option that is available across the world.  There are also other places that offer this opportunity, this might even include your local takeaway too.

Postmates – This is an opportunity I found for the US.  You will be working as a food courier, you will need a bike, scooter or car and you will also need to pass a background check.  But you could earn around $25 per hour with them

Pet Sitting

a dog looking at the cameraIf you are a pet lover, you could always consider becoming a pet sitter with a company called Rover.  It is as simple as it sounds, you will be looking after peoples pets whilst they are at work or on holiday.  You get to create your own flexible work schedule and set your own rates.  People have been known to earn up to $1,000 a month.  The sign-up process is easy, and it could be a great side gig if you love pets.

Stay Active

Did you think you could earn money just by being active or getting fit?  Well you can and it is a great way of keeping you on target with your weight loss or getting active.

HealthyWage – This one rewards you for reaching your weight loss targets.  Set yourself a target and then get active to achieve it and you will earn rewards

Sweatcoin – You can earn “Sweatcoins” when you walk or run.  You can earn a maximum of 5 sweatcoins in a day and then you can redeem these for Amazon gift cards or merchandise.  If you build up a huge pool of coins, you can also redeem them for cash.  Download the app and then go for a run and check it out.

There are more and more of these types of app come on the market, are there any others that you are using?

How to Make Money Online from Home

The ones above, we would say are what you would consider a side gig.  They will earn you money, but not a full-time income.  If you are looking for something more substantial that could earn you good money, then keep reading…

Freelancing – Proof Reading

This is a great option if you are great eye for detail.  You can join freelancing sites like Fiverr or Upwork and offer your services as a proof-reader. Going through documents and finding errors such as spelling mistakes or checking their grammar.  This is a really flexible role where you could it around your routine.

If you want to be taken seriously with regards to proof reading, you may want to consider taking a course.  You can learn more with a free workshop with Caitlin Pyle.  She is a pro when it comes to proofreading and has earned over $43k working part time as a proof-reader.  Definitely worth it if you are looking at pursuing this route.

Freelancing – Virtual Assistant

Become a virtual assistant.  There are countless ways of helping people as a virtual assistant. This is where you can do tasks for business owners in return for money.  When you check out the list of opportunities on freelancing websites like Fiverr, there are plenty of ways.  It might be creating content for them, accounting, editing images, the list goes on.

Whatever you are good at, you will find something on the list to offer.

It can be a little competitive and hard to get your name out there in the first instance, so think about how you brand yourself when you add yourself to sites like this.  You stand out from the crowd to get work coming your way.  The better your profile and the more work you get, the more you can charge for your services.

Tutoring

a teacher teaching a lessonYou could become an online tutor.  If you love teaching, this might be the best option for you.  Signing up with companies like Cambly or Tutor.com where they teach specific subjects.

You don’t have to tie yourself to specific subjects though, you could always teach English to children.  Examples include VIPKid or OKids, where you can teach conversational English to Chinese children.

There are minimum qualifications required for these companies, and there will also be a video interview before you are accepted, but you could earn between $14 – $24 per hour.

Blogging

scrabble tiles spelling out the word blogIf you check out the list above you will notice in most of them you will still be working for someone else, and you might be thinking I don’t want that.  I want to work for myself.  That is where Blogging and Affiliate Marketing come into play.

Blogging is how we earn a living online.  You are on a blog now.  If you have a passion, a hobby or something that you are interested in and can help other people with you have the basics to start a blog that can earn you a full-time income.

As a blogger you are your own boss, you can work when it suits you.  Blogging is such a rewarding enterprise, mainly because you are helping other people.  It is not as difficult as you might be imaging at this moment.

Many people think they need technical expertise, know how to use computer code and be a great writer.

I will say you are going to need to invest some time into learning an effective route, and you will need to invest some effort to make it earn the money goals you have set yourself.  But it is such an enjoyable route that we cannot get enough of it.

But it is not difficult.  Websites are easy to build these days without any technical help and everything you need to know you can learn.

You might be asking how does blogging earn you money, well the best route we feel is affiliate marketing and we will get into that shortly.  But you can also earn money from your blog via sponsorships, advertising and even take it to doing videos on YouTube and earn money from advertising on there too.

My son is 7 and loves watching Ryan’s Toy Review on YouTube.  Ryan (and his parents) are multi-millionaires from their YouTube channel and that is the power of Blogging on something you love.

There are going to be stuff you need to learn, and it isn’t going to become successful overnight but if you want to build a financial freedom and get starting now, you will do no better than following the training set by our top recommended training platform Wealthy Affiliate.

Stick to their training and you will be building the foundations for a profitable online business that will definitely earn you a full-time income online with the best support in the business.

Affiliate Marketing

Blogging and Affiliate Marketing go hand-in-hand and with the help and support from the guys at Wealthy Affiliate gives you multiple ways of earning money from your blog.

If you haven’t heard the term before, don’t worry about it.  Before I stumbled on the term, I didn’t know what it was and yet I had probably been involved in it many times without even realising.  I bet you have too.

People often think to sell products online you need to own that product.  But that isn’t the case, you can promote other people’s products and earn a commission for that sale.

That is basically what affiliate marketing is.

flow chart of how affiliate marketing works

When people are buying online, they are doing endless research to find the best product or service for their needs, but they need help.  Most people know what they want to buy, but not necessarily which is the best product to do what they want.

An example the other day was Gem, my wife spent over an hour researching which type of product was the best option for a present for her dad.

Where did she get the answer?  A blog dedicated to that niche talking about all the things to consider and which would be the best option for certain circumstances.  She read the blog and chose to follow this bloggers recommendation.  It took her to Amazon, and she made the purchase.

Let’s break that down.

A blogger has created a helpful guide that has helped a reader (Gem), it included an affiliate link and because of how helpful this blogger was, Gem trusted them enough to make the purchase.

That blogger earned a commission because of the sale.

That could be you!

a lady pointing her finger at youThe benefits of affiliate marketing is that you are able to choose a topic that you love, help people in a topic you love, and you don’t need to buy a product to be able to sell anything and make money.

We have been doing it for a couple of years and feel it is the ideal way for a beginner to get online and make money.  It will require patience; it will require some time and effort to put everything into motion and it will not yield immediate results.  But when you earn that first commission, you will be bouncing off the ceiling as it is such a great feeling.

If you want to learn more about how it works, then you might want to check out our step-by-step guide to affiliate marketing and see what exactly it entails.

Final Thoughts

We just want to finish on a couple of points, remember to do your research before jumping into anything online.  Make sure you know as much as you can and ask questions if you need to.  A genuine blogger like ourselves will always get you an answer.  If something online is vague or someone is avoiding the question, then the best option is to walk away.

The options on this list hopefully cover off all the different options that will fit in and around you.  Finding time can sometimes be hard, but then again if you want something you will find the time.

If you are serious about making money online from home, then know you are going to need to focus and be prepared to learn.  Things change all the time, but as long as you keep learning on the agenda, you will find that you will stay on top of it and earn some good money from it.

Thanks for checking out our list, have you got an experience you can share with them?  Do you still have a question?  Then please write them in the comments below.  WE would love to hear from you, and we will get back to you as soon as we can. 😉

16 thoughts on “How to Make Money from Home – 12 Ways to Make Money from Home”

  1. Thank you for sharing 12 ways to make money from home as I always live to have that extra money just in case. When it comes to money having extra is always welcome in my family lol. Tutoring and surveys seem to work with my crazy schedule. Affiliate Marketing is also great as well, I do not mind spending time on it. I will take it as an investment. 

    Reply
    • HI Nuttanee,

      thanks for checking out our blog.  Everyone has different money goals, that is why it varies amongst our list.  It needs to fit around you.  Tutoring sounds interesting, whilst surveys aren’t really my thing. But it shows they work for you.

      We love Affiliate Marketing, but not everyone is going to want to do that.  But it beats a lot of opportunities out there.

      thanks

      John

      Reply
  2. Hey thank you for the awesome insight!  I really enjoyed reading this and I felt like I have learned a lot.  I actually blog online, and that is one of the ways I make money.  It is a fun way to go about making money at home because it is based on your passions, and things you like to do!  Teaching online is also fun, and there is always a need for English teachers online.

    Reply
    • Hi Jessie,

      thanks for checking out our blog. I am glad you found it insightful and useful! We love the fact you have learned something.  Blogging is a great option for someone who is looking for their own financial freedom but it isn’t for everyone.  

      Teaching English can be a great option and there is a big hunger for more teachers, so is also a viable option.

      thanks

      John

      Reply
  3. The various ways to make money online are diverse so one can carefully choose a model that suits him or her based on capability, interest, availability, location, amount of money to be earned and many other options. I have tried some of these; I made money from some of them and I didn’t make any money from some others. Even the money I made wasn’t worth my time invested (these are online jobs from the first section). So I have decided to go now into affiliate marketing and I am fully prepared for it. It’s the way forward right now!

    Reply
    • Hiya,

      thanks for checking out our blog.  There are different ways to make money for different goals.  Some people are happy doing surveys as it relieves boredom, it isn’t a great return on input but they do serve a need.

      WE prefer affiliate marketing as it allows you to pursue an interest you love and can earn a full time income from it and that is the route we took. 

      Looks like you have taken the same road, hope you are able to achieve your goals.  If you ever need any help, let us know

      John

      Reply
  4. Hi Crossley, I must really commend you for your efforts on this article aimed at assisting a lot of people achieve their motives and ambitions for venturing into the affiliate business.
    As we all know that the world now is all about affiliate marketing and millions of people around the world makes money on the Internet every other day.
    I think your post has been able to enlighten a lot of people on what they need to know, the pros and cons and many other privilege information on the affiliate business.

    Reply
    • Hi Carol,

      thanks for checking out our blog.

      There are always opportunities for people to make money online or from home.  Not everyone will be ready for the affiliate marketing world.  But there will be a portion of people who have never heard of the term.  We hadn’t before we found it on a blog, and we are so glad we found it and are now helping others find it too.

      It is not going to be for everyone and that is where there are plenty of options on this list that may not reach the financial highs of affiliate marketing but will meet their needs depending on their goals.

      Affiliate Marketing is a great way of taking a hobby to the next level and make money from it.  We have helped many people explore this option and we feel it is the No.1 way of making a full time passive income online.

      It definitely wet our appetite when we came across it and with the right work ethic (and training) it can be such an elative feeling when you earn your first commission online.

      It is a simple path, but that doesn’t mean it is an easy path.  But we liked that as it was sort of a challenge to achieve something and when you do, you feel like you can achieve anything.  It is a fantastic route for the right person and we wouldn’t be without it.

      All the best

      John

      Reply
  5. Holy smokes! I’ve never seen a more comprehensive post such as this! Many of the items are new to me like sweat coin and LionBridge. Before I forget, I thought I’d let you know that the first two on your list opens in the same window. I am bookmarking this for future reference. Thanks for putting this together! 

    Sunny

    Reply
    • Hey Sunny,

      thanks for checking out our blog.  There are definitely loads of different ways of making money online.  As long as you do your research and check they are genuine to avoid the endless scams out there, you should be ok!

      All the best

      John

      Reply
  6. As one who is always looking for new ways to make money online I am very glad to have come across your post here. 12 different ways is pretty outstanding. I agree that online surveys can get a bad rap, though I have run across one or two decent ones such as Swagbucks. I can’t recall hearing of Survey Junkie, though, and it looks like a pretty solid one as well, so I appreciate the reference. Another one I hadn’t heard of is microtasking, and I’m looking forward to checking out your Amazon Mechanical Turker link further. Something like Sweatcoin sounds like an interesting concept. I’ll check your link out there as well for sure. Affiliate marketing is one that I feel can help you make the most income, and Wealthy Affiliate I know is one of the best platforms and communities out there to help do so. I’m looking forward to checking out these links, thanks for the references and background information!

    Reply
    • HI Brandon,

      thanks for checking out our blog.  Glad you found some useful information here.  I have only recently heard of the Amazon Turker one, but it does look like an interesting concept. 

      Surveys are surveys, if you are happy doing them then you can’t grumble.  At least they are genuine (most of them are).

      But it all comes down to how much you want to earn, how much are you wiling to put into learning and how much time/effort are you willing to put in to achieve it.

      Most people have this unrealistic idea that you can earn money overnight.  It is impossible to do, other than doing online surveys.  But we are talking about people believing you can become a millionaire overnight or earning thousands by doing nothing.

      That is the bubble we have to burst and tell people, you can earn thousands online but you need to work your butt off to do it.  Once you realise that you can enjoy your hobby at the same time, people start to realise the huge potential with affiliate marketing and the work they are going to need to put in to achieve it.

      Wealthy Affiliate brings you halfway.  They will provide you the tools and the training needed to be successful.  All you need to bring is the time, effort and inclination to make this work.  If you can do that, you can be extremely successful online and earn some serious money with affiliate marketing.

      Thanks for dropping by and leaving us some comments

      John

      Reply
  7. Hi John

    Thank you very much for this detailed review of 12 ways of making money from home. It really shows you if you are prepared to put in the time and effort , then you can make money online. It is not a quick procedure, as you only get out to what you put in, especially true if you try affiliate marketing. 

    You have come up with some inventive methods, some I have heard of before and some new to me, but I can I can imagine them working quite well. Taking surveys I really do not like, as often you put all the effort in to be rejected half way through, and they do not pay well. Some great methods have been disclosed here. The problem is which one to choose. I think they are all viable. If you had to choose one, which one would you recommend for an absolute beginner?

    Thanks

    Antonio

    Reply
    • Hi Antonio,

      thanks for checking out our blog.  I would first need to turn the question back on you and ask you what are your money goals and how much time are you willing to spend.

      If you are just looking for some pocket money ready for Christmas and have some time to spend online, then maybe online surveys might be right.  I know what you said about online surveys being hard to earn sometimes, but it does prove one thing – you can earn money online.

      Another factor to consider is, do you want to feel like you are achieving something?  Then blogging and affiliate marketing might be right for you.  With the right training, you do not need experience or skills – only the ability to learn.

      They are all viable, depending on your goals and your time constraints.  Want to build a financial free future with passive income, then we would naturally recommend affiliate marketing.

      But, if you are just looking for some extra money, you might not have the time needed to do it.

      I leave that decision up to you…

      All the best

      John

      Reply
  8. Great post! You literally covered everything from a to z. I wish I had found this page when I was getting scam after scam because there’s a lot of really great ideas to choose from. Very well done and informative! And you even stuck WA in there ☺️ best place for learning everything you need to learn to make money online.

    Reply
    • Hey Melissa,

      thanks for checking out our blog.  It is such a shame when you just seem to hit roadblocks along the way that scammers put out there to hinder your efforts and make them money.  Hopefully, you are past all that now?

      Thanks for the recommendation about Wealthy Affiliate – hands down the best place for people looking to make money online!!

      All the best

      John

      Reply

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