There are lots of ways to make money online. And it doesn’t have to be a full time gig  – even an extra $1,000 a month can change your financial situation in a big way. 

From selling services full time to creating digital products as a side hustle, the internet is full of ways to bring in extra cash. So, regardless of what your goals may be, if you want some extra cash on the side or you’re looking to replace your 9-to-5 job, here are the best ways to make money online.

1. Running Facebook ads for businesses

A great way to make money online is by running Facebook ads for businesses in your area. You can help local companies like dental practices, bakeries, auto body shops, retailers and other businesses improve through Facebook ads.

How much can you make?

You can earn up to $1,000 to $2,000 per month/ per client running Facebook ads with the potential to make even more if you scale up this business! 

How to learn Facebook ads?

Facebook ads can be a lot easier to learn than you might think. Facebook does an excellent job of providing a ton of user-friendly marketing tools to run ads, measure performance and review the analytics.

If you’re new to Facebook ads or lacking confidence running ads for others, check out our Facebook ads training — Facebook Side Hustle. 

It will teach you how to run Facebook ads for clients, along with how to find and pitch clients and close the sale every time.

You’ll get everything you need to run a successful business managing Facebook ads for other companies.

How to get started?

If this sounds like a good fit for you, I recommend you check out the FB Side Hustle course to get started.

Do you need to be licensed to run Facebook ads?

Nope. You don’t need licensing or certification to run Facebook ads. Anybody can run ads on Facebook.

What startup costs are there?

Because this is a service-based business, your startup costs will be low. You’ll need a computer and internet access but other than that, no other startup costs are needed to get started with this job.

Can this be done part-time?

Yes, definitely. This flexible online job can be based around your schedule. You can take it part-time or full-time, your choice.

2. Virtual assistant

A virtual assistant is someone who acts as an online personal assistant for their client. You can work with busy households, attorneys, online coaches, business owners, etc.

Some of the tasks you’ll do might include:

• Email management
• Calendar management
• Event scheduling (i.e. appointments, meetings, etc.)
• Planning and organization
• Other miscellaneous admin activities

Your goal will be to lighten the load of your client, helping them plan and organize their business so it can run more efficiently.

There are many different kinds of virtual assistants and your work tasks will vary from client to client. 

There are even social media VA’s like Pinterest VA’s, Instagram VA’s, etc. The role of your job in this position is to help your client with social media related work like researching keywords, posting to social media, curating a content calendar, etc.

If working on Pinterest during the day as a Pinterest VA sounds interesting to you, read about how to get started as a Pinterest virtual assistant.

This online job as a virtual assistant is good for people who are well-organized and detail-oriented. If you like helping others and enjoy task-based work like data entry, answering emails and phone calls, and other related tasks then this job might be what you’re looking for.

How much do virtual assistants make?

VA’s can charge hourly, monthly, or by the project. This source estimates the salary of a VA to average just over $16.00 per hour.

What are the requirements to become a virtual assistant?

Virtual assistance is one of the easiest jobs to break into. 

There are no specialized skills, education, or requirements needed for this job. Many people already possess VA-related skills like admin, the ability to respond to emails and messages on social media, appointment making, etc. This job can be very lucrative too, with top VA’s making up to $100,000+ per year.

How do you find clients?

You can find client work in a number of places including:

• Freelance job banks like Upwork
• Job websites like Indeed
• Social media networks like LinkedIn
• VA sites hiring like Fancy Hands

How to get started?

If you have the tools to work this job (a computer and/or internet access) you can start applying to VA jobs right away. Check out some of the job resources shared above and start your job hunt!

If you want to learn how to become a VA, read about this step-by-step system to start your virtual assistant business from scratch. Within 6 months of starting her VA business, the instructor was already making over $4,000 as a VA! To learn more, Head to the training Fully Booked VA.

3. Blogging

Bloggers are online publishers and they make money writing helpful articles for their audience. You can blog about literally anything under the sun from vegan living, homeschooling your kids, traveling across the globe, living as an expat in early retirement, managing a busy household, etc.

Bloggers have become real role models to the masses, making money off their influence and taking over the role that celebrities once dominated.

Here are some ways you can make money blogging:

Ads: Place ads on your blog and make money when your website visitors land on your site and click the ads. 

Sponsorships: Work with brands who pay you to talk about them in your blog posts, social media, and email newsletter. Some sponsor networks to check out for finding companies to work with are Izea, Linqia, and Activate.

Affiliate marketing: Refer products you support on your blog and make money when your referral results in a sale. Become an affiliate for products you stand behind and you can find affiliate programs to join on networks like Shareasale. Amazon has an affiliate program too!

Products and services: Create products and services to serve your audience and make money when you make a sale. Examples of products and services to sell include ebooks, digital courses, t-shirts, coaching, and consulting.

How much do bloggers make?

This survey of 1,500 Problogger bloggers found the following:

• 10% make zero
• 28% make under $10/month
• 25% make $10 to $99 per month
• 17% make $100 to $499 per month
• 7% make $500 to $999 per month
• 9% make $1,000 to $9,999 per month
• 4% make $10,000+ per month

The income you make from blogging is variable. 

It can be completely different from one blogger to the next, depending upon how old the blog is, how it’s monetized, the network behind the blog (social media presence, online presence, etc.), and other factors.

There are new bloggers that have exceeded $5,000 per month in their first year. Others take years before they reach their first $100.

This is a business and like any business, it can take time to turn to a profit.

To increase your chances of being profitable blogging:

• Treat your blog like a business
• Be consistent
• Be active on social media
• Interact with your readers and fans
• Monetize your blog in multiple ways

How to get started blogging?

Here are some resources to read about getting started blogging:

• How to start blogging for beginners
• How to get rich blogging

What can you blog about?

You can blog about any passion or interest you have. Here are some examples:

• Travel
• Education (like college life, homeschooling, etc.)
• Budgeting
• Sports (like golf, basketball, tennis, billiards, etc.)
• Parenting
• Lifestyle
• Shopping
• Tech

How do you start a blog?

To start a blog you’ll need a domain, a hosting service, and WordPress. We actually have a free service called Launch that Blog that gets you all set up and running if you need help.

4. Proofreading

Proofreaders make money proofreading documents. You’ll review written work for errors in spelling and grammar. This can include proofreading resumes, books, ebooks or other online documents.

This job is good for people who are diligent with excellent attention to detail. You should be a self starter and good at identifying mistakes in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

How much do proofreaders make?

According to Salary.com, proofreaders earn a median income just above $53,000 per year.

How to get started proofreading?

To get started, you may want to consider a course like Proofread Anwhere. That will help jump start your career. 

If you are ready to get started you can find clients in places such as:

• Upwork
• Indeed
• Zip Recruiter
• Flex Jobs
• Social media sites like LinkedIn or Instagram

Is licensing or certification required?

No, you don’t need to be certified or licensed to be a proofreader. Education, background, and specialized experience is not required to work as a proofreader.

5. Freelance Writing

Become a professional writer and create content for businesses, podcasters, marketers, and other clients.

Here are examples of work you can be paid to produce:

• Blog posts
• Resumes
• White papers
• Ebooks
• Product descriptions
• Press releases

You don’t need a degree or specialized background in writing in order to become a paid writer online.

This is a good online job for people who enjoy writing. You’ll be sitting at a computer for long periods of time, cranking out written work for your clients. It can be incredibly rewarding and self-fulfilling. This is also a job that you can build your personal brand off of, if you focus on bylined work over ghostwriting.

How much do freelance writers make?

Writers typically charge by the word and beginners can fetch up to $.05 to $.10 per word for their work. 

What are some websites where I can find writing work?

Here are some websites you can visit to get writing work:

• Upwork
• Problogger Jobs
• Media Bistro
• Freelance Writing Gigs

You can also get work by pitching potential clients via email, networking, and there is a big writing community on Twitter. 

Start with @FreelanceWritingJobs and then look at the recommendations from Twitter, steering you to related accounts to follow. Follow those recommendations and check out the jobs those Twitter accounts share daily.

Do I need a website to be a freelance writer?

A website is not required however, a website or online portfolio is a great thing to have. It can make you stand out from the competition and be a place where your content lives. With a website or portfolio you can easily share samples of your work by funneling prospective clients to your site.

6. Social media manager

Social media managers work with companies to create and maintain their brand presence on social media, execute social media marketing campaigns, engage with fans, keeping up with trends and news happening in the industry.

Your role will be to manage your client’s social media presence.

If you’re knowledgeable about social media and have a basic understanding of how to create social media posts, create engagement and interaction among the community, and represent brands then this could be just the online job you’re looking for!

For those who enjoy social media but lack the confidence to take on a job like this, don’t worry, there are tons of amazing tools and resources online that can help:

• Hubspot courses (social media, digital advertising, and related topics)
• What is Social? course by Northwestern University
• The Business of Social course by Northwestern University

Take some courses, get online training, raise your confidence and then start booking clients for your social media management business!

How much do social media managers make?

Social media managers make an average salary of $51,593, according to Payscale. This will be your business so your salary is in your hands. You can charge hourly, on retainer, or by the project.

What are some tips to become an excellent social media manager?

Stay abreast of the changing social media climate, get good at using industry tools, look for social media opportunities everywhere, be comfortable working independently with little direction, stay learning and have fun!

Where are some places to find social media work?

Many of the websites shared above like freelance job banks, job websites and social media are good places to start looking for jobs in social media management.

How can you get started?

Check out our step-by-step guide on how to start a social media company.

7. Publish digital products

Digital products are products you buy and consume online like ebooks, digital courses, printables, e-guides, workbooks, online journals or organizers, e-cookbooks, etc.

If you have an audience, this can be a very lucrative career path you can take and it’s an excellent source of side income, too.

Start by thinking about your knowledge base. What do you know about? Are you an expert in any field? What are your hobbies, passions, and interests?

This is a lot simpler than you might think like, if have figured out a way to teach your child how to read at a young age, you’ve trained your cat to use the toilet, you’ve created a delicious no-bake chocolate chip cookie recipe that’ll make anybody go crazy, or any other amazing thing you do, teach others about it in a digital product!

Make a course or write a book sharing what you know.

Here are some courses that have gotten incredible results around some smart ideas that their audience appreciates:

• Natural facelift method
• How to apply false eyelashes
• How to recover from a breakup
• Digital photo organization
• How to create children’s photo books
• Refinishing furniture
• Calligraphy
• Online salary negotiation

The list continues and in fact, if you can find an untapped or narrow niche with a moderate sized audience, you can do very well in the digital products space.

How do you create a digital product?

It depends on what you’re creating.

An ebook can be written in Microsoft Word or another word processing software. You can design the cover and graphics with free or paid tools like Adobe Photoshop or Canva. And then sell in places like Amazon, Etsy, your website and social media pages.

A digital course can be created using an online course platform like Teachable.

What are the startup costs?

The costs can be pretty minimal depending on what kind of digital products you’ll be creating. There are tons of free and low cost tools you can use to make your products. Just keep in mind that the entire project may not be completely free but still far lower costs compared to starting a brick and mortar business.

For example, if you wanted to create a digital course, your startup costs might look like this:

• Online course platform: $39/month (starting price at Teachable)
• Graphics creation software: $12.95/month (Canva Pro and there’s a free option as well)
• Screencast software: $48/year (Screencastomatic)

Other costs might apply depending on what you’re teaching, if you need additional supplies, professional photography or videography equipment, etc. Then, there’s the cost of marketing if you decide to pursue paid marketing like Facebook ads, for example.

How do you market the product?

There are plenty of free and paid routes you can take to market your product:

• Blogging
• Paid ads
• Content marketing
• Email marketing
• Social media marketing

To get started with online course creation, read our 9 steps to creating an online course.

To learn about making money with a profitable printable business, Gold City Ventures can teach you everything you need to begin selling printables online from day 1! One of their students Kevin has made over $18,000 selling printables since working with them! Click here to read more about the Gold City Ventures course.

What is the most profitable way to make money online?

You can make the most profit online if you are running your own business. This means you’ll be working as an independent contractor or working for yourself in a small business.

Your income is even less limited if you are selling a digital product that you create once and sell over and over again. Doing that is much more scalable than selling your time. 

What is the best way to make money online for free?

The best way to make money online for free is with service-based businesses. This is because you don’t usually have overhead and product costs that a product-based business would, like warehousing, shipping, supplies and materials, and equipment.

You would just have yourself and you’d be performing the service so as long as you have the tools to do your work, like a computer and internet access, you’re good to go!

All the online jobs above are service-based except blogging, which can have elements of services and products and digital products which is a product-based business.

Final word on the best way to make money online

Making money online is an opportunity to earn some extra cash and possibly quit the 9-to-5 rat race. You’re afforded so many benefits like peace of mind, financial security, and getting one step closer to financial freedom. 

Working online can happen and I hope these 7 job opportunities inspire you to take action. Which online job will you try out?