Making Money: 8 Ways to Earn an Income Online From Home

There's a multitude of ways to earn an income online, some are merely ways to make pocket-change and others are real opportunities to make a living. The internet abounds with opportunity, you just have to be willing to do what it takes to reap the financial reward.

What does it take? Time. Lots of time, tenacity and motivation. It also requires, putting in an honest effort and being able to think of failure as a lesson in what works and what doesn't. As well as having the resolve and motivation to stick it out for the long haul.

If you think you've got what it takes, here are some resources that offer a real opportunity to get your foot in the door to online earning opportunities. Many successful online earners choose to utilize a combination of resources to achieve their income goals.

Fiverr is a marketplace for individuals and businesses connecting with talented people who offer their abilities for hire. The platform is designed to host freelancers from across a broad range of skill-sets. Including, creating capturing dating profiles, finding people, giving advice, fortune telling, palm reading, writing, graphic design, tutoring, blogging, reviewing products, photography, proofreading, transcribing and surprisingly more. The opportunity to earn is knocking.

It's easy to get started, all you have to do is sign up at Fiverr.com. What comes after that is work, and you'll only reap what you sow. Putting your best work forward, meeting deadlines and providing value with exceptional customer service is imperative. The marketplace is competitive and has a large pool of talented people ready to work, with great reviews. Your reputation is everything and it will take time to make one for yourself, but once you have you can make a steady income.

Amazon Mechanical Turk, like Fiverr, is a marketplace for people with abilities to be connected with businesses that need them. What makes Mechanical Turk different is that it's specifically designed for work that requires human intelligence. Developers typically use this service to design human intelligence into their programs and applications.

The assignments available on MTurk vary widely and offer an opportunity to people from a wide range of backgrounds, skills, and abilities. Assignments from basic tasks, to highly skilled projects, can be found on MTurk. As a newcomer, you won't be qualified to take the higher paying assignments right away. However, as you complete assignments with success, over time, you will qualify for more and better-paying opportunities. The potential is there and getting started is easy, all it takes is signing up at MTurk.com and waiting for the go-ahead to start accepting work.

Upwork is an online marketplace like MTurk, where clients and freelancers come together. However, Upwork is different, in that it is designed to be a place to run a freelance business from a profile hosted on the Upwork platform that acts like a resume and business advertisement combined. Potential clients can search freelancers to contact directly or they can post jobs. A freelancer would search available job listings, submit a proposal and either be hired or not. If this opportunity is approached like a business, with professionalism and dedication, an income can be made.

Getting started is as easy as signing up at Upwork.com. Achieving success? Well, that's going to have to be earned. Starting out with a valuable skillset, experience and an established body of work will put you well on your way. However, there is always the opportunity to work from the ground floor up. If you're willing to put in the time, prove yourself and earn your stripes, then you can be successful here too.

PeoplePerHour is a marketplace like Upwork and operates in a similar fashion. Although PeoplePerHour is based in the UK it offers worldwide opportunity, providing freelancers a platform to offer their skills for hire. Clients, looking to hire, post their work available on a register of job postings. Some job postings have a set hourly rate, some have a fixed dollar amount and others request a bid from applicants. In any case, the better work a freelancer does, the better rating they get, the more clients hire them, the more jobs are completed and the higher up the ranks they move. Being successful here takes building a reputation for dependability, quality work, and customer service. With those, a regular and steady income can be earned.

Prospective freelancers have the ability to go to PeoplePerHour.com and browse the available job postings before signing up, to make sure it's a good fit. From there, signing up is easy and self-explanatory.

CafePress is an online income making opportunity different than any other we've listed so far. It is a place for the artistic type or those with a graphic design ability. A place where art, designs, and photos can earn money. The platform allows freelance artists, photographers, and graphic designers a place to upload their designs. Which are then applied to a multitude of products, from pillow covers, phone cases, clocks, pens and more. Then, CafePress markets the merchandise for sale. When the products with the uploaded designs are sold, the designer makes money. Anyone uploading designs for sale can also market the merchandise to increase their income potential. Many who use the site upload designs of their own brand and then market the products for sale on their blogs, websites and online storefronts, further capitalizing on the income opportunity.

Getting started is easy and only requires signing up at CafePress.com. The most successful are likely to have found their success in synergy and networking, using this opportunity to expand upon other opportunities.

NextWaveAtHome is an opportunity for the politically passionate. It's where writers are hired by advocates, associations, businesses, coalitions and the like, to write on any number of political topics that could become law. NextWaveAtHome is a bipartisan firm designed to create content that identifies new political supporters, speaks to the known supporters and educates them both. Clients, looking to hire, are of a variety that crosses party lines, with common goals of inspiring action and getting supporters involved in the political process. In today's political climate there is an opportunity here. If you have the political passion, eloquence, and skill, this is the place to capitalize on that.

Reading through the NextWave@Home website is highly recommended. The opportunity to be an independent contractor with them is far more involved than any opportunity we've discussed yet and is only for the truly motivated and determined. The process is lengthy and is as follows:

1. Sign up at Nextwaveathome.com
2. Submit a resume, cover letter, and writing samples.
3. If selected, complete a timed grammar and usage assessment administered online.
4. If the grammar assessment is passed a writing assessment will be administered.
5. If both assessments are completed successfully a phone meeting will be conducted.
6. Should the phone meeting go well and an offer to become an independent contractor is made, and an agreement will be drawn up for review and signature.
7. Then, training will begin.
8. When training is complete an "open-book" assessment will be given.
9. If the training assessment is passed, assignments will be offered.
10. Once an offer is accepted, training specific to the campaign will begin with a training call and a schedule determined.

Blogs have long been a tried and true source of income for the most passionate and dedicated. A blog can be home to almost any content under the sun and is a platform open for anyone to use. The opportunity a blog presents for residual income is unlike the marketplace opportunities we've discussed. Blog postings have the potential to earn money far into the future, long after they were written and posted.

The most successful blogs are created by people with a passion for a niche in which they are well versed and genuinely involved. Creating new and interesting content on a regular basis, specifically dedicated to a focused topic. Interacting with followers, networking to draw in new readers and utilizing the most basic way to monetize a blog, partnering with an advertising affiliate like AdSense. The more views, the more successful the blog, the more potential to earn. Although, some advertising affiliates, like AdSense, required a blog to be seasoned before it is eligible for ad placement. It is not uncommon to be required to have 6 months of activity on a blog before eligibility is gained. However, there are opportunities to immediately monetize your blog. For instance, merchandise sales or paid subscriptions for premium content. For those with the creativity to monetize, the passion and dedication to work at it for the duration, success can be achieved. Many bloggers are known to earn a substantial income from their sites.

Creating a blog is a no-brainer and can be done, with ease, on sites like Blogger, Tumbler, Squarespace and countless more. The work is in creating a site that is going to continually capture the attention of readers. Which takes dedication and effort of a kind most underestimated, but completely possible.

Writing articles online is a way to share passions, knowledge, and experience with readers and anyone can try their hand at it. Like blogging, writing articles can earn residual income for years into the future.

Articles earn in much the same way a blog does, with views and advertising. Many articles take time to mature before they earn a payout. Writers that produce informative, well researched, well written and relevant articles, have increased earning potential. Many writers have earned a significant income from a few high-quality articles. Although, that is not the norm. It's typical among writers to spend years creating a body of work, focusing their writing to a dedicated niche and promoting their work once it's published. As well, it is common for writers to create their own websites and blogs to further capitalize on their written work and increase their potential income.

Getting started is simple. I recommend HubPages, but a quick internet search will produce a laundry list of sites where writers can publish their work and get paid. Some sites allow writers to simply sign-up and start writing. Other sites, require writers to apply and then choose who can publish on their site. Either way, It's important to find a platform that is a good fit.

Do you have questions about starting an online career? Do you have experience earning an income online? Have you utilized one of the resources we discussed? If so, please ask or share in the comments below.