How many of you have received emails where the sender claimed to have made thousands of dollars by working only for a couple of hours? Enticing, right? It is an old but very popular trick, nonetheless, to get people to open such spam emails and visit some bogus website. If and when you do that, it triggers a chain reaction where your entire contact list receives that very email with your accreditation.
More often than not, these bogus websites would not hesitate to use logos and names of big firms like Google, CNBC and CNN to trap people. Honestly, most scams are fuelled by people’s urge to make some quick bucks. There are legitimate ways to earn profit but people deliberately overlook them since hardly any of the legitimate ways come with a prospect of turning you into a millionaire overnight.
Following are some of the well known and legitimate ways to earn money online.
Blogging
A blog is one of the best ways to market your knowledge, skills and experience. You can run a blog about things that interest you. Initially, managing a blog may seem difficult to you but you can get the hang of it with the passage of time. Some of the bloggers are so adept at writing that they operate multiple blogs. Almost all websites now rely on blogs for building content and generating traffic.
Writing Freelance
Internet revolves around content and less than 40% of this content is original and/or offers valid information. Webmasters need content to boost their ranking on search engines which is why freelance writing has evolved to be a very popular means of earning. There are certain websites which you can use to find freelance writing assignments and earn money by simply sharing your expertise.
Dropshipping
Of all the above mentioned ways of online money making, dropshipping is the most lucrative and perhaps the easiest as well. Drop ship retailing does not necessarily require any skill or expertise. All you need is some knowhow of online trading. There are certain dropship companies and wholesale suppliers you can register with and sell their products for them and earn commission for each sale.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing, like dropshipping, is easy and generates good profits. Without any initial investment you just direct customers to someone else’s online store and earn a specific percentage for each visitor or product sold. There are dozens of companies and websites which offer such affiliate programs. If you really wish to earn money online, this could be your thing.
Auction website
There are dozens of auction sites out there where retailers sell virtually anything. EBay and Amazon are two of the most popular auction sites. In return for a small cost, you can open up a virtual store on any of these auction sites and start retailing. You can choose to sell used products or you can make use of several of the B2B networks to source products from. You can sell in volume as well but for that you will need to get in touch with the relevant suppliers or wholesalers so that you can get items at good discounted prices so that you can generate good profits.
Offer services online
Experts like web developers, SEOs, programmers and marketing analysts offer their services online and earn big bucks. Instead of working 9 to 5, a programmer can work freelance and generate good income through independent projects. Similarly legal advisors and certain other professionals can generate extra income by offering their services online. oDesk.com, Freelancer.com, PeoplePerHour.com are some of the sites you can browse to look for freelance projects.
Ad Posting
Ad posting is not a scam but the amount people ostensibly make in a day (as per the advertisements) can definitely be misleading. If you are internet savvy and do not have a problem with continuous “copy, paste and enter” then ad posting can help you make some money. The sum may be meagre but then again, the work itself is not that hard.
These are some of the legitimate, safe and well known ways of earning money online. You can research each one individually in depth to see which one of these methods would suit you best.