After years of dealing with a variety of Internet scams, one common and reoccurring question we are often asked is this – how do I make money on the Internet without getting scammed?
The Internet is bustling with dubious get-rich-quick “opportunities”. From auto-pilot software to push-button systems, from proven methods to websites telling you to post links all over the place, apparently they will all rake in the money. However the reality is a little less appealing.
The truth is this – if a person or website is telling you there is an easy and quick way to get rich from the Internet, they’re almost certainly lying to you. The classic adage applies here – if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
With that said, you can indeed make money from the Internet. Most methods people use aren’t going to make you an overnight success, and many will only supplement an income, not replace it. Others could potentially result in great money, but require lots of work and learning.
However they’re all definitely worth looking in to.
So let’s take a look at some ways you can make some money online without getting yourself scammed in the process.
Ever wish you could get paid just for surfing the Internet and playing games? Most people do that sort of stuff anyway, and wouldn’t it be a dream if someone was willing to give you money for it?
Well, as it turns out, you can. Sites like Swagbucks are willing to pay out to people who sign up to their service and all you have to do is the sort of stuff you’d be doing online any way. It’s open to practically anyone, regardless of technical ability.
Oh, and it’s completely free to join.
From their About Us page –
Earn points when you shop at your favorite retailers, watch entertaining videos, search the web, answer surveys and find great deals.
Pretty cool, right? Now, don’t go thinking that you’ll be able to quit your day job and go into full time surfing the Internet any time soon – these types of rewards programs don’t pay out fortunes. It’s more like a good way of earning a few extra bucks here and there which you can redeem for gift cards every few months, but since you’re just surfing the Internet, a few bucks here and there is better than none, right?
For those frequent Internet surfers, we can’t recommend sites like Swagbucks enough. You can sign up through our link here and enter our special sign-up code “FreeGiftCards” for 50 free SwagBucks to get you started – you’re welcome!
Thanks to a whole host of spammy websites plaguing the Internet, survey taking online has gotten a bad rep. But there are still plenty of great sites where you can get paid to give your opinion.
So if you want to get paid for your thoughts on the latest marketing strategies for washing up liquid, what you think of Justin Timberlake’s new album or your take on Donald Trump, then getting filling in those surveys! Again, survey taking is relatively small money, but it all adds up and you can potentially earn a few hundred quid inside a year. So that’s the Christmas shopping sorted, right?
There are a number of great sites and one of the best paying is i-say.com which is an established survey reward community with a diverse range of surveys available to suit any taste!
Do you have a talent? Come on, think about it. What can you do better than most other people? Chances are that you can sell it on sites like Fiverr.com where people go to look to hire people that have your talent! It;s pretty simple, you just register on the site, tell people what you can do and wait for them to hire you. Sites like Fiverr have all sorts of tips on getting noticed and increasing your chances of getting hired.
For Fiverr you charge from $5 per job. However the site has evolved now and you can pretty much charge any amount of money for what you think your time is worth, meaning if you can get regular “gigs” (as they’re referred to on the site) you can actually make quite a bit of money. You can also upsell, meaning you can offer additional services for even more money.
This means the money you can make on sites like this can vary. Of course you actually have to have a talent to sell (so get thinking!) and it’s pretty competitive – if you’re charging more than people who do the same thing, you’re unlikely to get much work.
If you can make the jobs you charge for quick and people are willing to pay for, you can accomplish many jobs in a single day, meaning more money in your pocket! But remember, you can’t cut corners or return sub-par work, otherwise you’ll get a bad reputation and no one will hire you!
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Perfect for those who love writing, there are plenty of opportunities to make money blogging about whatever interests you.
There are a number of ways you can get started, and many people choose to write on a platform like HubPages where you don’t have to worry about a website or setting anything up – you just create an account and start writing, and you can make money from the adverts that HubPages automatically put onto your posts. Basically every time someone clicks an advert on your blog post, you make a little money.
The money you make on these types of sites will obviously depend on how many people you have visiting your articles, and to be successful on these types of sites it is worth looking in to what type of articles the search engines like Google love so they will rank highly and be found by more people.
We recommend writing about subjects that you love to write about. This way it won’t feel like work as you’ll enjoy doing it, and you’re readers will be able to tell! Most people will make a few dollars a week or month. However if you manage to get lots of engaged visitors, you can potentially make hundreds a month.
The good thing about sites like HubPages is that they also offer other ways of monetising your articles, like affiliate marketing. See below for more information on that.
Affiliate marketing is one of the popular ways to make money online, simply because there is no cap on how much money you can potentially earn. Some people make thousands a month, and many have retired from their day jobs to start extremely successful careers online with affiliate marketing.
However it is also the one that has the biggest learning curve. Unlike the other methods in this article, this isn’t a quick setup to earn some fast cash. It’s more of a long term goal which requires patience, lots of learning and plenty of determination. The upside is that the return can be much larger.
In a nutshell, affiliate marketing is selling products that belong to other people or companies, and getting a commission for each sale that you make. Basically, if you initiate a sale of a product for somebody else, they’ll reward you with money. Good deal, right?
It’s a huge industry and there are many ways to tackle it. For example blogging (the method above) is one popular way people make money via affiliate marketing, simply by creating a popular blog around a particular niche and advertising/recommending products relating to that niche and earning a commission for every sales you make. For example the blog Digital Photography School by popular blogger Darren Rowse centers around digital photography and makes money by recommending equipment relating to digital photography. It is one of the most popular privately owned affiliate sites on the Internet.
But for many affiliate marketers, blogging is only one aspect to this huge industry, meaning there is lots to learn, such as the various affiliate marketing services like Amazon Affiliates, how social media can help you reach more people and how to get traffic from search engines like Google.
However, if it is something you enjoy, learning this craft can be both exciting and rewarding, and not just in a monetary sense.
There is TONS of great information in various places across the web about almost every aspect of affiliate marketing. However there are also tons of great courses that provide all the information you need in one place, and we recommend the award-winning Chris Farrell Membership course which provides lots of excellent information, and has one of the best reputations when it comes to building a successful online affiliate marketing business.
Go to the site and check it out for yourself via the (affiliate) link below. It’s charged as a small monthly cost for access to the information but you can cancel at any time if it’s not for you.