5 Easy Ways To Make Money Online

The reason people want to make money online nowadays is because it's often fast and easy, or so they think. Too many people want get rich quick schemes and frankly, I don't know of any. But I do know a thing or two about putting in a hard day's work and making a payout. Working online is just like having a job. It's not always fun and you don't always want to do it, but the good thing is: you don't have to. Making money online means setting your own hours. And honestly, you only get out of it what you put in. So if you don't mind spending some time working for your green, here's a few ways I've found to make money via the internet. They're easy, virtually painless and can shape to whatever schedule you have.

Anyone can be a photographer if you have a camera and know how to take a picture. Not every photo you capture will sell though, so do some research and see what people are looking for. Half the articles I read online and enjoy are filled with beautiful images. Whether they got those off of free stock sites or paid for them, it doesn't matter. Images draw people in. They can make even a boring article appear more lively if the right ones are chosen. However, the images have to be high quality and you have to appeal to a certain audience. After all, the people buying your photos are doing so because they want them for their blog or website. They don't want to turn their audience away with crap photography, so don't submit anything to stock sites without knowing if you're going to make anything off of it or not. For those interested in getting into this type of work, here are some sites that come highly recommended.

• Shutterstock - There are three ways to make money on Shutterstock: regular referrals, referring stock buyers and submitting your own photos. You'll earn a percentage from the first two and about $0.25 off your own photos per download. Once you reach your first $500 it'll increase though.
• Dreamstime - The site usually pays about 50% royalty fees per photo sold. The better your images, the bigger your percentage. Exclusive photos will sell for more, so find out what they consider an exclusive photo to be and see if you can't capitalize in that market.
• Bigstockphoto - The best part about this site is that they will tell you what people are looking for, which helps your sales because then you'll know people actually want what you have. The down side is that they can pay as low as $0.30 per photo. However, if you have a really popular photo that could add up over time.
• 123royaltyfree - This site is a lot like Shutterstock, in where you make money from referring customers and earn a percentage of their purchase. You can also refer photographers and you'll get a cut from whatever they make during their time on the site. That's all on top of selling your own photos, from which you'll receive 50% of the profits.
• Clustershot - My favorite part about this site is that you don't have to get your images approved, which is true for some of the other mentioned stock sites. You also get to set your own price instead of accepting whatever the site deems your photo is worthy of. There's a cash out limit of $100, but if you don't mind a small charge, they'll let you cash out before then.

This is probably one of the more popular ways to make money online because it's free and easy to do. Please note that if a site requires you to pay to join and take their surveys, it's most likely a scam and you shouldn't do it. Moving on. Most of these sites pay you for your feedback because they actually need it. Whether it's for products or what your likes or dislikes are, these surveys are being seen by people who honestly want to know your opinion. So don't try to rush through them just for the money, because honestly, this is not a get rich quick scheme. Like most jobs it takes work and time and you'll have to put both in. You won't make $15 a survey. That's not to say you won't make good money, just that you won't be clearing a hundred dollars a day in your first week. Here's a list of some of the best survey sites out there, the legitimate ones.

• Survey Spot - One of the more reputable sites, Survey Spot tries to send out daily surveys. You can make anywhere between a few cents to several dollars for each survey. Not all of them are short and easy to do though, so make sure you have the time if it happens to require a forty five minute chuck of your life.
• Survey Savvy - I like Survey Savvy because they deal with checks instead of PayPal. You can also make a lot from referrals if you know a few people desperate to make money online. Referrals and completing surveys also come with incentives, so keep that in mind when you're sending out an email to every person you know inviting them to join.
• Data Intelligence - Their surveys usually take about ten to fifteen minutes, but they also pay, on average, about $4 per survey. However, you have to wait for an email invitation to each survey and/or study.
• Vindale Research - On Vindale you're pretty much reviewing products. You get paid $5 - $75 per each survey review and you get to keep the product as well, so there's a plus if it's something you happen to really want.
• Mobile Xpression - This site is best if and only if you don't mind giving out your phone number to a site. The surveys are done over the phone, which is more ideal for some than others.

I tried this a while back and because I had no experience and people had pesky things like deadlines, I didn't do so well at it. However, people speak highly of being a freelancer. Many of the people here on HubPages freelanced before they became members, started while being a hubber and even left the site to become freelancers. It's not impossible to do and it's rather easy once you get into it. I've spent more time compiling legitimate freelance websites than actually freelancing, mostly because I didn't want to get suckered into something that wasn't legitimate. So here are some of the best places to find freelancing jobs, but believe me, this isn't all. If you plan to scour the internet for other sites, make sure they have a level of professionality and legitimacy to them before you join.

• Freelance Writing Jobs - I found this site to be particularly helpful in finding freelancing jobs. Their submissions, for the most part, come from Craigslist. However, you shouldn't write them off for that. They're good at letting you know if a job wants you to telecommute or if you can write something for a New York magazine when you're from Ohio. They post updates almost daily with new jobs, grammar guides, business tips and other resource infromation you might need.
• Writer's Digest - This site is really good about giving out tips and helpful guides for newbies to freelancing. You can do writing exercises, learn how to beat writer's block, find out about self-publishing and much more. If you're just getting into the freelancing line of work, I highly recommend this website.
• Jobs For Bloggers - They post updates usually at least once a week and all of their gigs are for bloggers. If the only writing experience you have is your own personal blog, then this is probably great for you. They're looking for a variety of bloggers: food bloggers, social resource bloggers, health and nutrition bloggers, and various others. They'll tell you what they want and where to send an application and/or preview of your work. I definitely recommend this for people who are new to freelancing. Even seasoned vets could find work here, especially since they have experience.
• PoeWar - This happens to be someone's blog, but a very useful one. It has everything you could imagine about writing: being published, freelancing, tips and tricks and so on and so forth. There's advice, job openings, and more than sixty pages of information if you have the time and patience to go through them all.

If you happen to have knowledge on any particular subject, whether it's one or ten, answering questions about it might be one thing you want to look into. People want advice and in this day and age, it's as easy as signing up for an account on a website and hooking others up with the information they need. It's free and easy and if you are one of those people with endless knowledge about various topics, it could be incredibly profitable. My favorite sites are as follows.

• JustAnswer - Questions vary between $5 and $25. You answer them and if a customer chooses your answer, they pay the price for what you've submitted and it'll be deposited to your account. You can cash out via PayPal every $20. You can work whenever you want and however much you want. It's one of the bigger sites, so you might have to worry about competition.
• Ether - This is more of a phone service site than one where you just submit answers and hope someone chooses you. Instead they set you up with a number and you charge whatever you like per hour, minute or call. You have to set time aside for this one though, an hour for each session, and then you wait to receive calls. Some people have been known to create business cards with their Ether numbers, so it's entirely possible to make money from more than just people on the internet looking for help.
• WebAnswers - Here it's more about having the best answer. It's more competitive, yes, but has a potential for higher payout. If you are awarded best answer, then you make a percentage from the Google AdSense ads that show up on the page where your answer is shown. If you answer questions that have higher payout rate ads, you could make some serious money just from that one answer.

If there's anyone that knows about making money writing online, it's these people from HubPages. It's entirely possible to make enough to quit your day time job, however, you can't expect it to happen all at once. Any online writing gig you get is bound to take some time. You have to build up content for people to view, possibly get a Google AdSense account and learn what the meaning of "traffic" is. But as someone new and mastering in the way it works, it's honestly not that hard. Just put in a couple days researching on the site you choose and you're golden. Here's the top three writing articles for money sites that I've heard of.

• HubPages - Yes, the site you're on right now is paying me for you to read this. I definitely recommend this one for the simple reason that it works and I know that it works. It's not complicated to get started and while you'll only make pennies in the beginning, look up a few articles on how to bring in traffic and you'll start racking up the big bucks.
• eHow - Considering I haven't joined the site myself, I don't know all the details. But here's someone who has some insight and has made several thousand dollars writing for the eHow. They'll help you figure out how to maximize your earnings and choose the right topics. Since they've made more on eHow than I could even dream of making writing articles, I'd take their advice seriously if I were you.
• Squidoo - HubPages and Squidoo are a lot alike. It's writing articles, bringing in traffic and making money from your hardwork. You have to advertise though, which is true for any of these sites. You just have to learn a little about keywords, SEO and not mind a little socializing along the way.