What
about getting paid to shop or fill in surveys?
Taking surveys or acting as a 'mystery shopper' is a work at
home job opportunity which can ask for a registration or joining
fee. You'll see the headline figures showing the thousands that
can be made by people 'just like you' but you'll be lucky to make
the registration fee back in a year - if ever.
Some are free and do offer limited earning opportunities but
treat them with caution and don't hand over any money.
Companies can gather huge amounts of information on their products
and customers without paying the end user directly for it. They
will ask for it when you register your purchase for the warranty,
when you give your email address, when you subscribe to their
newsletter and in many other ways.
They may offer a prize draw to complete a survey, but they are
unlikely to offer any meaningful amount to complete one. Maybe
you'll earn a money-off or discount coupon but hey, you're trying
to earn money online not being encouraged to spend it!
Although you can earn to an extent in both 'paid to surf' and
'paid to take survey' jobs, the amounts involved can usually be
measured in pennies and it's difficult to make a living doing
this. They may be worth considering if you are stuck at home anyway
and can't think of anything better to do!
Running your
own website
If
you can surf the web, then you can design a website! Put together
a site on something that you think people might be interested
in - the list is endless - as is the potential for profit if you
hit the right market.
Can you turn your interest, hobby or specialist knowledge into
something that people will visit to be informed or entertained?
If you can, then you have the potential for earning online in
a huge number of ways including selling advertising space on the
site, selling e books or offering a specialised service such as
advice or information in your area of expertise or interest.
If you can create an interesting or useful site, you'll be surprised
how quickly the visitor numbers build up and how easy it is to
start earning money from them even it's simply by the placement
of adverts or banners.
There are loads of programs around which make it easy to set
up your own website. Some are available as shareware or freeware
or can be purchased for anything from a few pounds upwards. There
is also a huge range of web templates available which make setting
up much easier and quicker. You simply download the template and
drop your own text and pictures in with an editing program.
You'll also need a hosting service costing from a few pounds
a year - avoid the free hosting services if you want people to
take you seriously. You'll also need to buy a domain name - something
which should reflect the nature of the site and what it does.
A domain name costs hardly anything to purchase and many hosting
companies will offer a free one in conjunction with a hosting
package.
If you want to learn more, web design courses are run by many
local authorities at affordable prices but if you feel the need
for a more concentrated commercial course, expect to pay £200
plus per day. You can learn the basics on a one-day course and
then go self-taught or if you want to get fully up to spec fast,
go for a five day course. Bear in mind, if you are unemployed,
in receipt of benefits or living in certain development areas,
you may be eligible for a grant or loan for all or part of the
cost of a course.
If you want an easier way of getting online, you could try creating
a blog. Blog on something that's of interest and you'll find your
visitor numbers will start to grow. Favourites include blogging
on sports teams, stars, work, gossip and humour.
Designing
websites for other people
Despite twenty years or so of the world wide web, there are still
many thousands of businesses out there with no online presence.
Contact local businesses who don't have a web site and and design
one on the cheap. Start off by pricing low for a basic design
and charge more as you build a portfolio - can you add e-commerce,
an email ordering service or other unique selling point? There
are still endless opportunities for making money on the web whether
you design for other people or build sites for yourself.
Like any new business, you'll probably have to pitch cheap to
get started but once you have created a few websites that you
can show to potential customers, you'll find it gets easier and
more lucrative to find new business.
Could you specialise in designing sites for a particular type
of business or market sector? If you have knowledge on a particular
subject you can make a much better pitch and you can offer to
add value by writing content as well as just web designing. This
is certainly worth considering if say, you've been made redundant
and have the skills or experience to make a useful contribution
to the customer's online content.
Buying and Selling
A
combination of online and offline work that can make you a useful
income if you buy and sell at the right price.
eBay are the market leaders and offer a full range of facilities
to the buyer and seller as well as a secure payment option via
Paypal. There is also a great series of tutorials so that novice
users can get started quickly and easily set up their own auctions.
In July 2011, eBay UK reported a 25% increase in the number
of businesses on the site turning over more than a million pounds
a year, so your small business can turn into a not-so-small one
with a little luck and a lot of work.
Ideas for things to sell
If you aren't sure what you could sell, take a look at what's
already on sale on the various auction sites and work from there.
Is there a gap or niche in the market or do you have specialist
knowledge of a particular area? Could you buy and sell event or
sport tickets? Vintage clothes? Could you make things such as
craft items, paintings, pots or clothes and sell them?
Are you good at spotting a bargain in a car boot sale, charity
shop or jumble sale? Try eBay,
Craigslist,
and Freecycle
and also local classifieds and auctions.
Don't forget that there are also 'offline' auctions in the real
world where you can try and sniff out a bargain. These can also
be great fun, just don't get carried away with the bidding - remember,
you're not buying to keep. You're buying to sell on at a profit!
Many people find that they enjoy buying and selling so much that
they start to sell offline at car boot sales and markets or go
on to create online stores either via eBay or as stand-alone e-commerce
sites.
As always, the secret is to pick something
that you enjoy doing - if you do this, you are half-way to creating
a big-earning home business!
Find out about franchises
