The internet today is overflowing with ways to make money online because you’re online with literally billions of other people around the globe you have access to that much more potential customers or visits to your online business of any kind. All you need is the fundamental know-how of how to do business, a bank account, laptop or computer, and some basic online skills. 

These are just some ways to make money online, as I said there are countless ways of making money at home with your laptop or computer: 

20 ways of making money online: 

1- Become an online consultant: 

All you need for this swift and straightforward to set up an online business is knowledge on a particular field (extensive expertise in a specific field would be better, but everyone grows as they go along). You can post this in various ways across social media; for example, you could share this on Facebook, Instagram, or even via online ads and start charging for your services. Start small, and with some time and effort, you can grow into an expert. 

Downside: this process can take longer as if you don’t already have substantial knowledge, it can be a while before you get to the point where you need to be. 

2- Become a blogger: 

Become an online blogger, similar to being an online consultant, except this is all about your writing skills and creating a wide follower range. With time people will get to know you and trust your skills in a particular topic or even a variety of subjects. Remember, the key basis of any online business is web traffic and daily visits to your site. Once you have a larger audience, you can even start promoting company’s, promoting products or ads as well as selling off ad-space on your website. One of the most obvious ways to make money on a blog is to start an online course. Whether it be in yoga or mountain survival, the followers will eventually come once you have enough online content. 

Downside: building a follower base can take a while as well as building up to sponsorships and the point where you can sell Adspace for decent money. 

3- Online Affiliate marketing:

Another straightforward way to make money online is by becoming an affiliate marketer. Selling other companies or people’s products online, whether it be through your site or over social media and the best part is that you don’t have to produce your product. The most commonly known company to deal with affiliate marketers and is easy to sign up to is Amazon.com, as they have almost limitless amounts of products to choose from. 

Promoting Online information products such as ebooks, games, series, and even videos can bring in high amounts of commission and is the easiest product to sell. 

This is why affiliate marketing is seen as one of the best ways to to make money online as its low cost and is easy to do as well as it will only really use up your spare time unless you’re looking to make it big which then it will obviously require a little more from you. 

Downside: The downsides to affiliate marketing are very low as you there’s not much to risk, but the problem is finding products that sell as well as building a client base.

4- Create a Digital Guide: 

Creating a digital guide is essentially producing a one time how-to on a particular topic that covers all its Fundamentals. It should be able to teach someone easily with basic language so that even beginners can understand. Creating a digital guide isn’t the best way of making money, as it’s not the easiest. Creating an audience for this is not easy without you advertising it yourself and on your webpage or either paying to publish it on amazon or without affiliate marketers as this is the only way to grow email lists, Web Traffic, and visitors on your website for this course. 

Downside: finding a topic that is largely related to, or in need. 

5- Become a Vlogger/YouTuber:

Video content is becoming more popular with the people of the world, and by that, I mean everyone. Whether it be a YouTubing or Vlogging, random funny things caught on tape, set up pranks, how-to’s on countless topics, promoting of products and services or repair manuals, everyone prefers video as it’s a visual and audio instead of just a text. 

If you enjoy being in front of the camera and want to show the people of the world your content, then YouTubing/Vlogging is for you as it can be done with any smartphone or android with a decent camera. Remember, the better the quality; the more likely people are to view your video. So start on your mobile but work your way to a proper recording camera once you start becoming more popular.

With YouTubing, you will get continuous ad revenue, and this will only increase as your views per video, and follower base grows. 

Remember a video is a quicker easier way to relay content and information to your viewers so if it’s a How-to or Instruction Manual then take them through each step carefully and with as much detail as possible as be well prepared for whatever you wish to show in your video and have all your necessary tools and ingredients/items nearby. It is proven that people will watch almost anything if it’s shared with them or trending, so try to cover some hot topics as well as grow your topic base as you increase your knowledge. The more well-detailed videos you have, the more chance you have of increasing Views, Ad Traffic, and Web Traffic. Remember that you can also promote products in your videos as well or even start selling your products as many people have been known to do. This requires investment, so leave that for once you’re already making money. 

People have been known to make money within weeks and not need to do anything else as there are so many ways to make money through Vlogging or YouTubing. 

Downside: building a large follower base/ audience takes time as well as finding things that people haven’t already seen.

6- Facebook Advertising : 

Facebook Advertising is growing larger and larger as more and more people are signing up to use Facebook every day. As this community of people grows, so does the potential for online advertising by companies. Lucky for you, learning how to do Facebook Advertising is relatively easy and should take you just a few nights of homework. Once you’ve achieved this skill, you can then start selling yourself to companies and become an online Facebook advertisement manager as many companies don’t have the time to deal with such things that they would rather pay someone to do it for them and that’s where you come in. 

Downside: The profit margins here aren’t that high, as this has a somewhat limited audience unless we’re talking about a scaled-up business. 

7- Dropshipping:

Dropshipping being a reasonably easy way to make money online is when you create a website to sell other people’s products for a commission without you doing any manufacturing or shipping. The entry-level to start is not high and requires little investment for you to start up this, meaning that if products don’t sell, you don’t suffer a loss. Learning how to do Dropshipping is quite simple. 

Downside: finding products that not only sell but have a large client base 

8- Instagram and Twitter Sponsorships:

If you enjoy taking photos of certain things or certain hobbies or sports and you’re able to build a large follower base, this opens doors to sponsorships from companies to promote or sponsor their products on various scales. For example, a person who loves soccer can promote soccer boots and T-shirts for local companies. 

Downside: You will need to have an existing account with a broad audience to start sharing. 

9- Freelance Writing: 

Online companies and companies on the hole often look for a freelance writer to write up descriptions on their products or articles for them to post on their websites as this can take lengthy amounts of time, especially for bigger businesses. This being said, there is always work for freelance writers. All you need is a laptop, bank account, and fluent English or whatever language the client requires you to write in. Sometimes a writer gets paid for writing the article in various languages as this then ascertains to a more significant host of people. So being fluent in multiple languages can be a blessing to you in this situation and bring in that extra cash you need.  

Downside: This takes time as you need to research as well as type your articles of good quality. 

10- Sell your logos: 

If you have a knack for different design logos or simply enjoy it, then get prepared to sell off your inventory. There are various companies like LogoKing or CafePress who upload your logos onto the internet. If someone likes them, they print it onto a T-shirt or mug depending on whatever the order, ship it off and send you your share of the money. And this will happen every time one of your logos are sold. Within time more prominent companies may even hire you to design their logo. 

Downside: Your graphics skills will need to be on point, and the need for this is not as booming business like affiliate marketing, for example. 

11- Web Developer: 

Web Developing is not for everyone as coding is not easy, but if you contain this particular skill or if you plan on learning how to code, then web development can make you money. Coding can be done practically anywhere and even while you’re on the go. Being a Web Developer means you’ll build websites from start to finish for companies, and the best way to start up is by developing a cool site for yourself, so they’re able to see your work. Developers with enough skill can usually sell their websites for good prices, and after a while, this can become your full-time job. 

Downside: You will need extensive knowledge of coding, and this can take time to find clients and companies who are interested in your online designing skills. 

12- Start an eCommerce store: 

Starting an eCommerce store has never been easier or cheaper, and the amount of ways to make money through this method has never been higher. With sites like WordPress and Siteground and eCommerce plug-ins such as WooCommerce and Jigoshop, setting up your unique online store has never been easier and with an extensive range of products available for resale the possibility of profit is limitless.

If you’re worried about losing money or your investment, then their ways of working with Dropshipping and other companies’ products so that you, yourself don’t need to make or supply a product, neither do you need to ship it. 

Not only is the profits to be made here limitless and the number of products available untold but the amount of potential customers on the web is endless, and this means that with a little bit of extra work you can grow your online eCommerce store to a point where you’re raking in the dough. 

Downside: The downside to an eCommerce store is either finding an audience or the initial investment to start up. 

13- Listicle Blogger: 

Listicle Blogging is so easy and costs very little and is one of the best ways of making money. 

Listicle blogging is done by various sites such as Viralnova.com, and all this means is to take compelling stories from Facebook, Instagram, Quora, or Reddit and rewrite it in a more appealing format, with more in-depth information. This can be achieved by adding some emotion or humor to these articles and reposting them as their own. Sites like Viralnova.com pay people good money to redo articles in this way. 

With some extra work at advertising on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest, you should be well on your way to thousands of viewers with organic traffic alone. Monetizing your webpage is also a way of making that extra bit of cash through OneClickAds and Adsense. 

For the first few months you won’t be making much but as your web traffic grows and visits your site increases the amount of money you make also increase, and once your site is pulling in the revenue, you can sell it off for a reasonable price, for example, viralnova.com once making approximately 200000$ a month in combined revenues was sold for well over a 100 million dollars. Your site may not grow as large as this, so don’t look at making millions. Your first few sites could sell for a few thousand dollars. Once you’ve become a known professional, you can charge a lot more for a website, and eventually work your way to earning tens of thousands of dollars. If this isn’t what you’re looking to do and want to keep raking in monthly revenue, you’re also able to partner up with someone or sell off shares in your site, and this will also make you that extra cash as well as keep the monthly revenue coming in. 

Downside: Listicle blogging is not easy and takes time. So this will take a while before you start making visible profits. 

14- App Building: 

This is another one for our more advanced users, coders, or developers. 

Smartphones and Android mobile cellular phones are becoming more and more popular as the days are going by, so the demand for new applications and games of various categories are on the rise. Companies like Google’s Android Market and Apple iPhone are on the constant rise. They are continually looking for new apps to produce or sell to their customers as they already have countless apps on the market and in use by their customers. This is a more passive way of earning money online. As developing an app does cost very little other than time, you have a tiny margin for loss also because you don’t pay storage or shipping fees. 

The thing with developing Mobile Applications is that you need to have a really good product that works well with few glitches, whether it be an online or offline application. The other thing with developing apps is that there’s not much work to it once you’re done. You create an application that works and sell it off to various teams or companies. Once this is done, there’s very little work left as all you’ll need to is keep the application updated and running well, minimize glitches, and bugs. If you’re looking at continually attracting new audiences, then the best way to do this is to keep working on your app and posting new updates.

When developing games that work well, the best way to keep attracting new audiences is to frequently update your app, make the base file larger with more to do, and constantly upload updates for the game with even more scenarios, scenes, or levels. This is what keeps the people playing as always having new stages to play is fun and helps pass time. 

Downside: The downside to this is the skill needed to develop apps, not everyone can do it, but if you can, then this is for you. 

15- Buying and selling of Domains: 

More and More people have been purchasing and reselling domain names over the past few years. High Valued Domain names with popular keywords can be bought at reasonably low prices and can be resold for a marginal profit. The best thing to do is some homework so that you can learn what is trending and what sells as it’s been known that people usually look for the shorter or straight forward Domain names. You can do this homework on sites like Sedo.co.uk, domainbid.com, or expireddomains.net as well the many other Domain auction websites out there. 

Like I mentioned before, people or business usually look for the shorter domains or a domain name that best suits their business, but it’s also known that buying and selling of expired domains is a really good way to make money as these are usually websites that were known to people already or have really good high valued domain names that have made there way back into the resale or rebidding business. 

Downside: The initial investment in starting up. 

16- Start trading Forex and Stock: 

Trading of Forex and stock has grown into a massive industry but is also high-risk. Stocks and Forex have been known just to take random plummets, and in this, you may end up losing a lot of what you have invested, which can sometimes be as high as 70%. 

Please remember that this is just helpful tips and not a guide. Trading Stock, Forex, or any sort of CryptoCurrency is a risky business. 

There are many different companies, websites, and applications that allow you to trade Stock and Forex such as IQOption and eToro. These will enable you to trade Stocks, Forex, Various CryptoAssets, and CFD’s. These are all things you’ll need to do a little homework on so you understand what it is and where you think you’ll make a profit. Remember, you need to be able to understand these things before you can start trading them. 

Downside: Trading Stocks and Forex or CryptoCurrency is a risky business as there are times when the value of these stocks and Forex drop, and you lose almost if not all your investment. 

17- Social Media Consultant: 

If you know your way around social media and have skills with advertising, then this could be your quick way to making some cash online.

Large companies have the resources to hire full time in building social media operators. However, smaller businesses usually manage their social media accounts themselves and therefore end up with less turnover. If you can offer this service to them and make it work by implementing various sales techniques/ pitches, new applications, or social media platforms, posting and update schedules, etc. , at an affordable price, then smaller businesses are bound to take the offer. Remember, the more revenue these ads or social media accounts bring in, the more revenue you will be making. 

Various online applications can even help you manage all these social media accounts with the greatest of ease, such as Sendible or quickaccesmanagement.com. 

So this should be a fun, easy way to make that extra bit of money. 

Downside: Being a social media consultant takes lots of your time, as you will need to work on various aspects that come with this job and make sure they work. 

18- Skype Tutoring/ Online Coach: 

If you have excessive knowledge or skills in certain subjects, then this is the way to go. There are millions of students across the world of all ages who are always looking for tutoring or help. If you have the required knowledge, it will be easy for you to do this. There are various ways to do this and multiple sites which support it. Tutormenow.com, Tutor.com, or TutorVista.net, as well as Skype, are some well-known examples.

People are always willing to pay for education, especially from an expert. So it’s best to be profound in your field. Conducting these online tutor sessions or seminars is easy and only requires and decent laptop with WiFi or internet connection and a camera for video calling or Skyping worldwide. Within months you’ll be able to build your client base and push your price up, and soon you’ll be online teaching your way into the large profit zones. 

Downside: This is not easy as you need extensive knowledge in the field you’re going to tutor in, and building up a client base can be difficult depending on the subject. 

19- Become a podcaster: 

Podcasting is a more natural way to relay content to your audience than what texts or written pieces are. It’s portable and easy to consume, so people will start listening. Building an audience is not easy and takes some promotion on your side, but once your audience has been established and they trust you, it will be a lot easier to promote your products and services. You can also bring in extra revenue by acquiring sponsors and promoting their products or services in your podcast. There are many online guides to starting a podcast. 

Downside: Podcasts aren’t that popular anymore. You need effective verbal communication skills.

20- Amazon FBA Business: 

Fulfillment by Amazon. This means Amazon will list your products, and every time a sale occurs, they will do all the hard work, so they will prepare and distribute your product for you. 

This also allows you access to Amazon’s client base and distribution network. 

All you need is to find and produce profitable products to send to Amazon for sale. Whether it’s information documents or physical goods, ebooks, or clothing, Amazon has a large client base, so there is always a margin for profit. 

Being an Amazon FBA Business means your supplying goods, and Amazon is your store. The benefit of this is that Amazon is connected to millions, if not billions of people online, and allows you to start small and make it big as the profits start rolling in. 

Downside: The investment of initial startup and finding a quality product that can sell at a reasonable price. 

Conclusion: 

There are untold amounts of businesses online, many different ways to make money off of one business idea; most of them don’t require much to start up. Still, if you’re serious about making it big, then it’s easy enough for almost anyone to do with a little bit of time and effort.