Whether you already have a job and want a side hustle, are saving up for something or need to make a quick buck, here are 5 ways I’ve tested to earn money online.
1. Graphic Design Contests are a good way to earn money if you have creative flair
If you have a flair for the creative, graphic design contests on sites like 99 designs and designcontest.com can be a smart way to make bank. I found that if I got into a good creative flow, and followed the brief correctly, I was usually able to win contests regularly enough that it worked out to around $20 per hour (if I worked on designing for 2 hours per day, I’d usually win about one contest per week, and it got easier as my skills improved.)
Typical prizes for being the winning designer ranged from $100-around $500-600, though there were larger jobs. The easiest ones to win were the signage design contests that had less competitors than the logo designs, though these are enjoyable to do as a hobby.
I’d say it’s definitely better to be creative/risky with your ideas, to stand out from the crowd- and so many designs are copied from each other or plagiarized that contest holders really appreciate unique designs.
My Profitability Rating: 7/10
2. Fiverr Affiliates seems like it could be the way to go if you have an audience interested in entrepreneurship
Fiverr Affiliates is a new scheme I am just testing out- but the commissions seem quite solid.
Essentially the idea is you promote Fiverr services to people, who if they make an order, you will receive a healthy set commission, or ongoing percentage fee depending on what you choose. You can also promote affiliates to people who then themselves sign up to become affiliates- so if they make commission, then you will receive a percentage of their earnings.
Profitability rating: 9/10 with the right audience
3. Creating or buying content sites can be a great source of passive income
Creating content sites like this one is a great way to create passive revenue. Typically, you can monetise using Ezoic, Google ads or Amazon Affiliate links. You can even outsource your writing to websites like Fiverr to increase your publishing rate.
It’s also possible to buy content sites to expedite your progress- just make sure to do your due diliegence. Look for sites that have a good Semrush score, have decent content and aren’t too spammy. With my product review blog, I often get paid post and free gear offers from companies too.
Profitability rating: 8/10 with some effort
4. Building up a Stock Image Photography catalogue could be profitable for the dedicated hobbyist
This is a method I’ve tried that I think could work if you take a lot of high quality photos as a hobby. I’ve had some minor success with just a few photos but I think if you were able to scale it up, you would see some good results.
Typically you would receive around 10c to $2 in commission for each photo purchased on stock image sites, but you also have the option to sell rights to images to make larger amounts.
Some of the images that have sold the best have been quite random- such as a photo of the wooden stairs in my house, and a free trial logo I made. It seems the best chance is where there is untapped demand, or variety required.
Profitability rating: 4/10 (lots of effort to build up portfolio but would pay off)
5. Buying and selling domain names requires patience and skill but can pay off long term if you sell a big one
This is something I’ve been doing for a while- by being very strategic with the expired domain names I purchase from Godaddy, I have been able to generate some nice, relatively low risk sales. This strategy will require some research and some capital to pay for domain names and renewals.
Profitability rating: 6/10 (Passive style investment with some initial effort and capital required)