How to Make Money Online for Beginners: Top 15 Proven Methods

How to make money online for beginners… in my mind, that means you don’t need a ton of experience (or any at all) and that you can work entirely online.

The last part is key — work entirely online. Many articles mention delivery apps or rideshare driving. While those are great ways for beginners to make money, they’re not 100% remote.

All our favorite ideas take is a solid internet connection and a little hustle. You can make money from the comfort of your home with little to no experience.

Learning how to make money online for beginners is life-changing for a lot of people. Being able to make money in your free time from your own home can be pretty liberating.

You’re no longer tied to anyone else’s schedule, and you can make money to reach your financial goals. You can pay off debt, retire early, get out of a job you hate, invest, buy your dream house, go on more vacations, or achieve whatever your goals are.

That’s pretty incredible, right?

We’ve compiled some of the top ideas to make money online for beginners and the steps to take to get your online business off the ground.

Facebook marketing
Start a blog
Freelancing
Virtual assistant
Teach an online course
Create Etsy printables
Start proofreading
Sell your stuff online
Complete HITs
Make money online taking surveys
Start a YouTube channel
Establish a paid-membership community
Set up a print-on-demand business
Become a tutor
Create and manage a podcast

How to Make Money Online for Beginners

Here at Laptop Empires, we regularly see online income ideas. These include everything from new opportunities to tried-and-true strategies. This is our list of the top beginner-friendly methods for making money online.

Before getting started, there are a couple of points worth mentioning.

First, not all of these ideas will generate money quickly. While the idea could be highly lucrative, such as running a blog, it could take months (or even years) to see any income generated. We’ve tried to be realistic about the time frame for some of these ideas.

Secondly, some of these ideas will require an investment. You will need a computer and a reliable internet connection, but there may be additional costs involved. For example, if you start a podcast, you may need to purchase a microphone or other audio equipment.

Oh, and we’ve also included a few resources to help you dive right in.

1. Facebook Marketing

Back when I was trying to make extra money (because I foolishly quit my teaching job after making $3 from my website), I started running Facebook ads for some local businesses in my area.

My first client was the jeweler who sold me my wife’s engagement ring. This first client turned into another, then another. Pretty soon, I was earning more than I made as a high school band teacher while working a fraction of the hours.

But let’s back up a second…

Facebook marketing involves creating and managing ads for businesses that want to leverage Facebook’s robust advertising platform. Its platform has targeting capabilities that allow you to put ads in front of people who are likely to be interested in the products you’re marketing.

The ability to disseminate ads to the right kind of people is why it’s so good for small businesses. Instead of wasting their advertising dollars on people who aren’t interested, they can spend a fraction of their money putting ads in front of people who already care.

For small business owners, this is a much better use of their already small ad budget.

Once you learn how to run Facebook ads, you can make around $1,000-$2,000/month in just a few hours a week. You can get this up and running within a few weeks, especially after gaining a client or two.

Getting Started With Facebook Marketing

The hardest part of this job is learning how to use Facebook’s ad platform and finding clients. Luckily, you can learn how to do both of those things in the Facebook Side Hustle Course.

This comprehensive Facebook ads course teaches you how to master this side hustle, including:

Learning how to set up a Facebook ad system for a local business
How to find clients who want to pay for Facebook ad management
Exactly how to get potential clients to say “yes” to your services
Learn how to run Facebook ads

When getting started, you could offer your service for free or a heavily discounted price for a client (likely someone you already know) in exchange for a review or simply to let you get your feet wet.

Once you have experience and feel comfortable, then you can focus on growing your client base and business.

Learn more at How to Make $1,000+ a Month with Facebook Ads

2. Start a Blog

I started my blog, Millennial Money Man, five years ago. It’s hands down one of the best things I’ve ever done.

The $3 I mentioned earlier was my first ever blogging income from display ads. I was so convinced I was going to make blogging work that I quit my teaching job to run my site full-time. Please, please, please don’t follow in those footsteps.

Blogging is a slow business model overall. It takes serious dedication and hustle to make one successful, which is why I started running Facebook ads on the side. This might sound like a turn-off, but the reality is that blogging is the most lucrative idea on this list.

After earning $3 in display ads income, I learned even more about how to make money online blogging — affiliate marketing, coaching, sponsored posts, courses, etc. — and I threw myself into my blog.

I’ve built a seven-figure blog in five years, and I get to spend my time helping people improve their financial lives. This is something I’m really passionate about.

Enough about me. Let’s talk about you.

How to Get Started With Blogging

You can start a blog for less than $3/month through Bluehost, which I highly recommend.

Bluehost is ideal for new bloggers who want a professional-looking site. It doesn’t cost a ton but is still set up for making money.

Here are some more resources to help you start blogging:

How to Start a Blog
Blog Niche Idea | Tips for Picking a Niche and How to Validate Your Idea
How to Make Money With a Blog | 9 Ideas to Help You Generate Income
The Best Way to Grow Your Blog Quickly
Launch That Blog — This is a free service we offer if you sign up for Bluehost through our exclusive link. We take care of the technical aspects of starting a blog, install 10 essential plugins, and send you four training resources.

Remember, be realistic about how quickly you can start making money with blogging. As lucrative as it is, it could take months to earn any income.

However, once you do turn the corner with profit, the virtual sky’s the limit.

3. Freelancing

Freelancing is when you’re self-employed and offer paid services for a variety of clients. Technology has enabled more and more freelancers to work online and find reputable clients.

The way many new freelancers get their start is by leveraging an existing skill, like:

Web development and design
Writing
Copywriting
Copyediting
Graphic design
Accounting
Video editing
Sound design
Mobile app development
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Marketing

There are dozens more freelance services, but the ones listed above are some of the most in-demand freelancing services and are good options for those who want to know how to make money online for beginners.

Look at skills you already have from past work experience, educational background, or even a hobby. For example, if you have experience with coding languages like Java or Python, freelance web design could be an option.

One of the best aspects of freelancing is how quickly you can earn money. Most clients do not pay until a project is complete, but many will pay within 30 days of completion or receipt of an invoice. This means you can start earning money within a month or so of getting started.

But how do you find freelance jobs online? That’s a good question!

How to Get Started as a Freelancer

There are a couple of different paths for getting started with freelance work.

One of the easiest ways for beginners is to look at online freelance platforms like Fiverr or Upwork. The jobs on these sites don’t pay extremely well, but you can gain some valuable experience that will appeal to higher-paying clients.

A few published low-paying jobs are all you need to add to your digital portfolio and start building clients.

From there, you can start a website, pitch clients, and even create a profile on freelance platforms catering to more high-value clients, like Guru or Toptal. These sites have job listings from larger companies that can afford to hire top freelance talent.

Many of the freelancers I know do it as a side hustle. They freelance in their spare time to bring in extra cash. Some go on to quit their day jobs and freelance full-time, but you’ll want to have enough saved up and a steady client base before you make the big leap.

4. Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants (or VAs) complete administrative-type tasks for their clients. Your clients might be online business owners, solopreneurs, freelancers, bloggers, or any kind of professional needing help.

Virtual assistants can be a massive help because they can handle some more tedious parts of working online, including:

Bookkeeping
Scheduling blog posts
Making phone calls
Email inbox management
Scheduling appointments
Social media management
Prepare reports
Some digital marketing tasks

These are a small sample of the things you can do to make money online as a virtual assistant.

We have a VA helping us manage this site. They pay freelancers, do keyword research, help manage our Facebook group, manage affiliate relationships, answer emails from students in our courses, and do numerous other tasks.

I’m honestly not sure how we would run this whole thing without her.

Being a VA is also a very flexible online job. You can work after the kids go to bed or answer emails for your client while waiting at the doctor’s office.

The reason this is a strong contender for learning how to make money online for beginners is because you probably have some previous experience that would transfer really well into this job.

For example, if you’ve ever held a job in customer service, administrative support or assistance, HR, project management, or run a business of your own, each of those skill sets will transfer well into virtual assistance.

Virtual assistants make anywhere from $15-$40/hour. The wide range depends on your experience going in and the kind of services you offer. VAs who work for online agencies, like Fancy Hands, tend to make less per hour than those who work independently.

How to Get Started as a Virtual Assistant

I highly recommend the 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success if you want to learn how to start your own VA business. This will help you get organized and create a plan from the beginning, so you can start making money quickly.

Another tip as a VA is to pick a niche. This will keep your jobs focused on your own skills.

For example, becoming a Pinterest virtual assistant is one way to niche down. Pinterest VA’s create and manage a pinning strategy for their clients that promotes and drives traffic to their business.

Like freelancing, you may need to start out with lower-paying jobs to build up your portfolio, but then you can expand from there. Not only can you find jobs on job sites, but you can also use your LinkedIn or social media profiles to market your services to your network.

Learn more at How to Become a Pinterest Virtual Assistant.

5. Teach an Online Course

I know what you’re probably thinking right now… Teach an online course? I thought you were telling me how to make money online for beginners? I’m not qualified to teach anything!

The reality is that you’re probably more qualified than you think.

Do you have a marketable skill you can teach people? Or do people come to you for guidance or support for a specific thing?

Use this knowledge and expertise to create an online course.

How to Get Started Building an Online Course

Before you can protest, creating an online course has never been easier than it is right now. There’s a handful of easy-to-use course platforms to walk you through the process of uploading your course content, organizing it, marketing it, and accepting payments.

The hardest part of creating an online course is putting your knowledge into digestible chunks of information.

Here’s a simple outline of how to do it:

Step 1: Define the topic of your course.
Step 2: Make a list of five to eight things people need to know about the topic or skill. You’ll use this list to create the modules or sections in your course.
Step 3: Create five to ten-minute videos explaining each piece of knowledge. Each module will contain several of these short lessons. We really like Loom for recording high-quality screen share videos.
Step 4: Create any text-based resources to explain more about a lesson or module, or simply add content that helps your students fully grasp the content.

This is a simplified explanation, but take it piece by piece. You don’t have to put everything together in a week.

Here’s a more detailed explanation of how to build an online course.

The process takes time, but teaching online courses can be a really lucrative way to make money online as a beginner as long as you’re continuing to provide value to your students.

Update your course on a regular basis, add more resources when applicable, and be attentive to your student’s needs.

One thing I haven’t mentioned is that online courses can be a fairly passive source of online income. You package all of the learning materials together and sell them as a digital product. You’re not actively trading teaching time for money.

Learn More at How to Get Started Selling Online Courses

6. Create Etsy Printables

Speaking of digital products, e-printables or Etsy printables are another somewhat passive source of income. They are also a fun way for creative folks to make money online.

E-printables are for things like calendars, planner pages, party decor, invitations, thank you cards, stationery, and those kinds of things. Because e-printables are all digital files, they can be purchased and downloaded indefinitely with minimal effort once the file has been created.

Etsy — an online marketplace for all things handmade, vintage, and creative — is the perfect platform for selling these kinds of printables. People head to Etsy looking for unique items.

It’s free to start an Etsy shop, but there are small listing, transaction, and payment processing fees.

How to Start Selling Printables on Etsy

You do not need a graphic design or artsy background to get started.

Here are the general steps for creating an Etsy shop:

Decide on the type of printables you do want to sell.
Create the printables in a program such as Canva or Adobe Illustrator.
Set up your Etsy store and create your first listing.
Be sure to optimize your listing in Etsy so that more customers will find you. This means using tags, keywords, high-quality images, and descriptions to rank higher within the Etsy search engine.
Promote your printables through Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and anywhere else you like to drive traffic to your Etsy store.

Setting up the shop and building traffic does take time, which is why it may take several months to earn income from selling Etsy printables. However, once you get your sales going, it becomes a highly passive income stream.

7. Start Proofreading

If you can easily spot spelling errors in menus, correct your friend’s grammar, and make mental notes of all the misplaced commas in work emails, then you might be a proofreader.

Proofreaders get paid to spot discrepancies in written content. This is a highly detail-oriented job, but it’s extremely flexible and can be done online.

Proofreading is a valuable service for clients like bloggers, authors, lawyers, freelance writers, teachers, and more. You’ll find listings online where businesses like these will post ads looking for help. Proofreaders are generally paid per hour or project.

How to Get Started as a Proofreader

What surprises many people about proofreading is that it doesn’t require a specialized degree or advanced studies. This is stuff we all learned back in middle or high school — it just didn’t stick for most people!

To get started, you can sign up for the Fiverr network or look on Upwork for listings. FlexJobs is another site with proofreader job listings as well.

If you’re interested in learning more, check out the Proofread Anywhere Course, which explains how to start your online proofreading business.

8. Sell Your Stuff Online

This is honestly the fastest way to start making money online, and the added bonus is that you get a chance to clean out your house at the same time.

Here are some of the best apps and websites for selling your stuff:

Decluttr: This app buys used cell phones, computers, tablets, cameras, video game consoles, video games, etc. They refurbish them if needed and resell them on their website. Decluttr even buys used Lego sets.
Facebook: Between Marketplace and local buy/sell groups, Facebook is a solid place to sell your stuff. Plus, almost everyone has Facebook now, so it’s one less app or website to sign up for.
Poshmark: Sell gently used on-trend clothing, shoes, and accessories.
Depop: This is a trendy online thrifting marketplace for clothes, shoes, and accessories.
Chairish: An online consignment shop for furniture and decor.
eBay: This is one of the OG online seller’s marketplace, but it’s still the place where you can list and sell just about anything. Some of the most profitable household items to sell on eBay right now are Legos (by the pound), smartphones, sporting gear, Disney movies on VHS, remote controls, car parts, and prescription glasses.

The key to successfully selling stuff online is to take good-quality photos, be honest about any flaws, and price items competitively.

Not only is it super easy to get started, but you can earn money pretty quickly. You will need to gather your items, take quality photos, work on detailed descriptions, and set up your listings.

Once these steps are complete, your potential to make money begins.

9. Complete HITs

HITs stand for human intelligence tasks, and these are small tasks that can only be done by a human.

Here’s an idea of what these tasks might look like:

Annotating images or videos
Speech evaluation
Reviewing and rating online search results
Answering surveys about short texts
Transcribing short audio files

This is easy work, but easy work means low pay. You’re paid per task you complete, and this can equal anywhere from $4-$10/hour from well-known sites like Clickworker or Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (or M Turk for short).

To get started with HITs, the best approach is to start with either of these platforms and register your profile. From there, you will be presented with opportunities, which you can say yes or no to.

Once you’ve completed the task, you’ll get paid according to the company’s payment terms. Be sure to review before agreeing to perform any service.

10. Make Money Online Taking Surveys

Similar to the last idea for making money online, taking surveys does not pay very well. Regardless, it was too mindless to leave off this list.

When you take online surveys, you’re getting paid for market research to help companies market their products and services.

Surveys sites ask you to answer questions about your demographic data — age, income, family size, education, etc. — and then you’re matched with surveys.

Most survey sites pay you in points, which then convert to cash or online gift cards.

You can make $2-$5 an hour taking surveys. Yes, I told you the pay was low. But think about taking surveys in place of scrolling through Instagram or playing Candy Crush — it’s seriously this mindless.

Here are some of the best (legitimate and not scammy) surveys sites to check out:

These sites are all 100% free to sign up for. Always remember that paying for access to surveys is a major red flag.

Getting started is very straightforward with each of these sites. Signing up for more than one site gives you extra opportunities to make money online with surveys.

However, I recommend creating a separate email account for survey sites so that your inbox is not bombarded with new survey updates.

11. Start a YouTube Channel

It seems like everyone has a YouTube channel these days, but there’s a good reason for this — they are insanely popular and can provide a great source of income.

It’s a similar concept to blogging, but you’ll be making video content versus written content. Like blogging, the ones who perform the best and experience the most growth are usually authentic and consistently post videos.

There are several avenues for making revenue with a channel, including allowing display ads, participating in affiliate programs, and selling video sponsorships. While it may take a while to see any profits, like other online endeavors, once you get the ball rolling, it can really take off.

How to Start a YouTube Channel

If you’re interested in monetizing a channel, you’ll need a computer, internet connection, video camera, and digital editing software.

After you set up your account on YouTube, the key is to start posting as consistently as possible and build your audience. You won’t be able to sell display ads for your channel until you hit a certain number of subscribers, so gaining subscribers is one of the key metrics in the beginning.

12. Establish a Paid-Membership Community

Do you have a unique perspective to offer or love the thought of running a forum-like community where members can feed off one another and generate ideas? If so, a paid membership community may be something you like.

If you are passionate about sharing resources and providing people with content they can use to better themselves, then consider starting a paid membership community. There are several platforms offering this type of service, such as Kajabi or the MemberPress plugin.

The benefit of something like this is the recurring revenue you earn from the one-time, monthly, or quarterly subscription dues (or however you choose to charge). But to be successful, you must make the community meaningful by offering members value and reasons to keep paying.

Learn More at Structuring Your Membership Community Content

13. Set Up a Print-On-Demand Business

Print-on-demand has seen increased popularity in recent years, thanks of course to the internet. Basically, you create designs for products such as t-shirts, stickers, labels, and other printed goodies, and then have a third party do the actual printing and shipping for you.

While you create the designs, you never physically house any of the products. The beauty of this business model is that you don’t even have to pay for the product itself until it ships.

Once an item is created, your income becomes mostly passive. Aside from updating designs and managing customer inquiries, you can sell products literally while you sleep.

How to Get Started With Print-On-Demand

There are several steps involved in getting started.

At a high level, this is what you can expect:

Decide what you want to sell. Think of items that benefit from unique designs, such as t-shirts.
Pick a niche.
Make your designs. They need to be yours alone, so this is the time to be creative!
Pick an online store for listings. Popular options include Shopify and Etsy, and you can choose more than one platform.
Choose a print-on-demand service to partner with, and make sure it integrates with whatever platform you’ve chosen (like Etsy or Shopify).
Upload the products.
Market your products via your social channels, website, blog, podcast, or YouTube videos.

Getting a print-on-demand business set up can be tedious, but those who are successful at it claim it creates a passive income with little effort once set up.

14. Become a Tutor

Tutoring is a fantastic way to earn extra money, especially if you enjoy working one-on-one with people and providing a pivotal service. Now, thanks to videoconferencing, tutoring online is easier than ever.

You can tutor just about any age and almost anyone who speaks the same language as you. Don’t feel limited by geography since there are people all around the world who are trying to improve in various areas.

Online tutoring wages can vary, but you could earn around $50 an hour. The amount you charge depends on the level of complexity for your subject, so be sure to research the going rates once you decide on your niche.

How to Get Started as an Online Tutor

First and foremost, you need to choose a platform you’re comfortable with using since this will be the bread and butter of your service.

Tutoring means you’ll need access to some sort of digital whiteboard. You also need something that allows for interactivity, video, and file sharing, and is generally easy to use.

Next, start searching for online jobs and let your network know you’re available for tutoring jobs. Marketing yourself will be key. Check out sites like Skooli to register your availability and find tutoring gigs.

Lastly, make sure you design lessons that are easy to follow and work well for both you and the student. You’ll want to prepare as much in advance as possible, but this will get easier the more you tutor someone.

15. Create and Manage a Podcast

Podcasting is similar to blogging and creating YouTube videos. It’s a labor of love for the first several months, which is a good thing since you likely will not see any money from your hard work until later.

Hosting a podcast is a great way to share information with an audience. It can be super-niche or cover a variety of topics. The goal is to be interesting enough to have people want to come back for more.

Podcasting is so popular because it’s easy for people to digest. If someone is on a road trip, gardening, commuting for work, or out running errands, they can take the podcast with them.

Another benefit as a podcaster is the numerous ways to monetize it.

You can make money with a podcast by incorporating:

Affiliate marketing
Sponsorship or advertising spots
Promotions that sell your online course
Advertising your services, like freelancing, coaching, or consulting
Charging for premium content subscriptions

How to Start a Podcast

Podcasting does require upfront work. Fortunately, it does not require a huge investment in equipment. There are items that are nice to have, but you can start a podcast with nothing more than an iPhone if necessary.

There are multiple steps involved in the creation process, plus you’ll need to continue to add content on a regular basis.

Steps include:

Choose your topic and niche
Write a title and show description
Create the show artwork
Come up with an intro and outro
Record a podcast episode
Choose a podcast hosting service
Edit the episode
Publish your first podcast
Promote it via marketing and social channels

Podcasting gives you the opportunity to interview and interact with lots of different personalities while sharing helpful information. Even though you might not make money in the very beginning, it can be a fun and lucrative experience.

Learn more at How to Start a Podcast: Tips for a Successful Launch

The Final Word on How to Make Money Online for Beginners

Making money online isn’t reserved for people who are in the know — even complete beginners with no experience can find ways to get started.

Running Facebook ads for local businesses is my top pick because it’s something you can easily learn, the pay is good, and you can scale it into a full-time income.

In fact, several of our students have made it to the 5K and 10K clubs. Yep, that’s scaling their Facebook marketing agencies to the $5,000 or $10,000/month income point.

Keep that in mind as you look through this list and decide what’s the best option for you.