Five Ways to Make Money Online
I have been working online for the last six years and have been pretty successful at it. There were some ups and downs but I can say that I have learnt so much in those six years and I am still planning on pushing further into the online world. My goal is to make an attractive passive income one day with the online work I published in the past. Nowadays, with all the technology we have at our disposal it has become much easier to spread the word about your talent online. Talent, passion, endurance, time and knowledge of the online sources that enable you to make some money are the key to being successful. Does that sound too difficult? It is not...as long as you are passionate about what you do. Passion is everything! At least being passionate about what I do has worked for me. And it can work for you too.
Stock Photography
if you are good at taking pictures and have fun doing it, you should consider selling your pictures on microstock and macrostock websites. Even semi-professional photographers and hobby photographers can make a living there. If you are passionate about taking pictures, it is probably a good idea to invest in a good digital camera and a photoshop subscription to create beautiful photographs and illustrations. There are millions of pictures online for sale on various websites, so you are going to have to find your niche and be original, if you plan on making a full-time income with your online work. If you have found a niche, earnings will come sooner and increase faster. If you haven't you can still make some money but it will take much longer because your competition is high. At the same time, your pictures should have a value for clients. If you are not sure what kind of pictures sell most on stock websites, I would suggest you take a look at the most important ones to get an idea:
- Dreamstime
- istockphoto
- Shutterstock
- Fotolia
- Photodune
- Bigstockphoto
- 123rf
- Panthermedia
- Depositphotos
- Canstockphoto
- Foap (You can download an App to your smartphone to upload the pictures you take with your phone. There is no need to have a professional camera.)
Teach a Language
Do you speak a second language fluently? The best websites for online teachers are Verbalplanet, gofluent, Worldspeaking, OpenEnglish and Livemocha. Verbalplanet is the best one in my eyes, as you are not forced to adapt to any companies procedures. You can define your work schedule, use your own lesson plans and really adapt to the student's needs. Sometimes, company procedures limit you in a way which is not always good for your student who might have some very specific needs.
The Top 10 Work Opportunities for Online English Teachers
Make sure you take the time to create your profile in which you mention your experience as a tutor, your education and what you offer your students in your lessons. This profile is visible to your potential clients and you should take great care to provide the best information possible about yourself. Define your prices and wait for clients to contact you. Start with lower prices until you have built up a reputation.
Work as a Translator
Translate: there are multiple platforms out there which offer you translation jobs. Translatorscafe and Proz are one of the most important ones. You can create your translator profile, define your prices and answer to job ads which are posted daily in all kinds of language combinations. If you want to work directly for a company or agency, why not send your application to one of the following translation agencies:
How to Make Money as a Translator and Work from Home
Make sure to check the identity of your client. If possible, talk to him on the phone, before you take on any job! In the translation industry, it is very common to be paid 30-45 days after you have completed your work. If you don't know your client, it might be the best idea to suggest an advance payment. You should also check your potential client's website to get an impression of whether the client who is contacting you is professional. Whenever a new client contacts me, I do a background check on google, in order to avoid scams. Once, I didn't do a background check of one of my clients because the purchase order I had received seemed very professional. The person who contacted me appeared to be working for a German translation agency. I checked if this agency really exists and it did. However, it turned out the person who contacted me had a fake identity and never really worked for that agency. I lost 2000 Euros to that person! Nobody gave me that information when I started working as a translator and that is why I am giving you that information right now to spare you the pain of working long hours and not getting paid in the end.
Create Youtube Videos
Are you good at something you can share with others? Are you an artist, a linguist, a technology expert, a gardener, a teacher or another type of expert? Do you have children and can talk about their different development stages or have some good suggestion for children's birthy parties? Creating videos on youtube and making money from it is a lot of fun and not as hard as you think! Google makes it possible to earn big bucks on YouTube. Smartphones make really good videos these days so you don't even need a professional camera to make those videos. You will be amazed at how many views some of the videos get. Some are not even great, rather mediocre, and still have a huge audience! I just started publishing my videos on youtube and I will keep you updated on my progress.
Blogging
Obviously, blogging is a great way to earn a passive income online. Share your talents and write about them. If you are passionate about a subject you will find a way to write about it. With every article you publish in your blog or on a website, you gain experience and improve your writing skills, thus increasing your income.
How to Earn a Passive Income on Hubpages
Don't write about topics with a high earning potential if you know nothing about them. I once wrote an article about car insurances even though I have never even owned a car. This article, even though one click is supposed to make you rich (I am exaggerating) is useless to me because I pretty much know nothing about insurances and had to look up all the information on the internet. I didn't have any fun writing it and only wrote one single article about that topic. It turns out it is one of my least successful articles here on Hubpages. So don't write about topics you are not interested in. It won't get you anywhere. It is recommendable to write about your expertise in a certain area and publish many articles relating to that speciality of yours. Keep your blog updated and try to post at least once a day, even if it is just a video or a reminder to your bloggers about certain contents on your blog. Blogs which are regularly updated receive a lot more traffic than outdated blogs. Another advice would be to regularly go through your old articles to check them for dead or broken links. Broken links affect your Google ranking. This should not be underestimated. Google is our best friend (or should be, if you want to be a successful blogger).
Some Last Tips
All of these ways are a great way of earning a full passive income on the Internet but it will take lots of time. It is not easy and you won't get rich by publishing 3 photos on Fotolia or 5 articles on Hubpages or 4 Videos on YouTube.
Some tips
- Set yourself realistic goals
- Work consistently and regularly
- Take a break and go back to your platform(s) when you have refreshed yourself. If you overdo it and work too many hours you won't be creative
- Use your talents
- Be different than others
- Watch and learn from others and their published work
- Don't copy anyone. Be original
- Update your work regularly and check it for quality issues to stay Google's friend!