1. Freelance Writing
Content is the fuel of the internet. WordPress users’ alone publish 350+ new blog posts every minute (that’s 500k posts every day for those of you keeping count). All this content, of course, needs to be written.
This is where you, the freelance writer, step in.
Despite what the hoard of writers bidding on low-paying projects on Freelancer or oDesk may lead you to believe, there is actually a huge shortage of professional, high-quality writers online (emphasis on quality). While you certainly won’t laugh and giggle all the way to the bank, you can make decent enough change to fund your college education or make some extra cash on the side. The best way to start your freelancing career is through platforms like Scripted, Textbroker and WriterAccess.
How to Take it to the Next Level: Establish a website with your portfolio and solicit clients (including agencies) directly.
2. Bum Marketing
Simply put, people who sell products through their websites are called marketers. People who sell products through free websites are called bum marketers.
Bum marketing is when you shill products through free-to-use platforms such as Blogger, WordPress, Squidoo and HubPages. Bum marketing can be extremely lucrative when done right, but requires significant investment in terms of time and effort. You also have to play by the rules of these free-to-use platforms, which can be quite stringent about certain subjects (make money, lose weight, credit checks, etc. which attract spammers like flies to honey).
How to Take it to the Next Level: Buy a domain name, a hosting account, and start marketing on your own website.
3. Social Media Marketing
Unless you've just been unfrozen in time like the Encino Man, you already know how big social media is. A whopping 700k pieces of content are shared on Facebook alone every minute. As you can expect, dipping your hands in the stream of social media can be very lucrative.
Making money through social media is as easy as creating Facebook pages/Pinterest boards/Twitter accounts and sharing content things about a certain topic (say, weight loss). As traffic builds up, you can share commercial links to make money by selling products. Some services such as Adf.ly also pay out money for sending visitors through their links.
How to Take it to the Next Level: Start a blog and offer a free product for download in exchange for an email address. Direct social media traffic to this blog and build up an email list of probable customers.
4. Do Odd Jobs on Amazon Mechanical Turk
Unlike its 18th century chess-playing namesake, Amazon Mechanical Turk isn't a hoax or scam. This is a real crowd sourcing platform where people can do odd jobs like data entry, copy-pasting content, submitting articles, etc. for money. Working on Mechanical Turk is probably the easiest money you will ever make online. The pay isn't great and the tasks can become dull very quickly, but if you have time on your hands and an immunity from boredom, you can make enough to supplement your regular income.
How to Take it to the Next Level: Start your own data entry firm and outsource work to sub-contractors in India, Bangladesh, etc.
5. Publish eBooks
In August 2012, Amazon revealed that Ebooks were outselling printed books on its platform. No one was surprised; Kindle was by then a legitimate phenomenon and Ebook-only authors were even climbing on top of NYT Bestseller lists.
The huge volume of Ebooks being consumed today presents a tremendous opportunity for writers to make money. You can publish a book on the Amazon Kindle platform within minutes. With the right publicity (and the right quality), you might even find yourself in the shoes of Amanda Hocking, the 26 year old paranormal romance author who made a million dollars through her books.
How to Take it to the Next Level: Corner your niche (weight loss, romance novels, financial advice tend to do the best) by creating several books focusing on separate topics/themes. Start a blog to create an additional stream of traffic you can direct to your Kindle page.
6. Teach Online
The online education industry is at a tipping point. The high cost of college and the lack of real-world skills among graduates has sprouted a burgeoning industry dedicated to teaching students everything from programming to productivity skills. By one estimate, this market is valued at $56.2 and is expected to double by 2015.
There is no limit to what you can teach – programming, time management skills, leadership lessons, writing techniques, etc. Since courses often tend to be priced in the low three digits, a handful of students can translate into a nice chunk of change.
How to Take it to the Next Level: Create multiple courses to cover every facet of the skill. Start a website to generate additional traffic and sell your videos as well as additional Ebooks for even more cash.
