8 Tested Ways to Make Money on the Internet
The Internet has opened up a lot of opportunities for people to work from remote locations. In some cases, salaried jobs even allow folks to work online from their houses and houseboats. However, most online work-at-home jobs are freelance, contract, or businesses opportunities. Some folks have gotten cynical about the chance to make money online just because their have been so many work-at-home scams.
Red Flags for Work-At-Home Scams
However, some common sense will uncover the real ways to make money on the Internet. The big red flag to spotting scams is when somebody wants you to pay them to work. That’s not how it is supposed to work. Sure, some legitimate middle-men companies may take a percentage for your trouble. However, that’s only a commission that they get on what you are actually going to get paid.
Find Honest Work Online
Freelancing: Writers, website designers, and even folks with clerical skills can find plenty of freelance jobs online. Some people make a very good full-time or part-time living by freelancing online, and they never have to dress up or commute.The good news is that there are jobs for people at different skill levels. They give people a chance to gain experience, hone their skills, and in some cases build a career online.
These are some suggestions to help find freelancing jobs on the Internet:
- Job markets: These are sites that a variety of different freelance workers can use to promote their services. They function as marketplaces that bring job buyers and sellers together.
- Freelance work sites: The website owners and managers actually bring in clients and allow workers to compete for different assignments.
Selling with eCommerce: It’s no longer necessary to own a brick-and-mortar store to sell products to people. With that said, many people who do own a regular store use a website to supplement their sales and allow them to reach a wider audience. There are two main ways to start selling online:
- Set up an eCommerce website: Some business owners will want to start and brand their own eCommerce store with their own website. With many available scripts, this is easier than people think. They can display photos, hae item descriptions, and handle payments, customer service, and shipping from one online store.
- Use an existing sales platform: Sites like Amazon, EBay, and Etsy are giant online marketplaces that accommodate thousands and thousands of sellers. They will charge fees, but they provide some traffic, billing systems, and some credibility.
Should you sell from your own website or an existing platform? Many sellers use both an eCommerce website and existing markets to their advantage. It’s smart to test them both out to see which shopping platforms work out the best.
Marketing for others: Many companies use affiliate programs to build their own sales. Affiliates sign up for these programs and get their own unique code to use on their own website, blog, social media site, and in emails. They may pay by the sale, by the click, or even by the advertising impression. This can be one of the easiest ways to get started making money online because the affiliate only needs to work on building Internet traffic and not sourcing or creating products to sell.
Running your own website service: In the end, you may decide that you want to develop an online business by creating your own website that sells services. For example, software-as-a-service (SaaS) has become very popular. Service could also include acting as a broker for freelancers, helping to promote websites, and much more. Members may pay a fee for these services to enjoy the benefits of your service. In the right markets, these membership sites can be very profitable to run.
Find a remote job: There are plenty of companies that hire remote workers these days. This could be hourly, salaried, or freelance work. You can find these jobs on job boards, and you might try the work-at-home job board that’s published and updated at the Home Worker Forum.
Become an online trader: The World Wide Web and trading platforms have created opportunities for people to trade from almost anywhere, including a home office or another remote location. Some trading firms hire contract traders, who generally get paid a percentage of profits. If you have capital and skills, you might also consider trading on your own. Trading isn’t necessarily easy or without risks, but skilled traders may profit. As one solution, you might look into trading stock options, which generally don’t take as much capital to start with as trading stocks.
Which Online Work Opportunity is Best for You?
In any case, this article is meant to suggest one particular type of way to make money online over another. It is also not meant to suggest a particular broker or platform to help find jobs. It is meant to make suggestions for future research. Future articles here may drill down into this topic if you send us feedback about your interests. You can let us know what you think in the comments or on our social networks. Those real Internet jobs are out there. As with any other job or business, it’s a good idea to do some research and expect to work at it.
