If you find yourself stuck at home a little bit more than usual, consider using your computer and free time for more than just surfing the internet and shopping. It’s possible to make extra money with your computer in your spare time with a little bit of effort.
Whether you just have more time on your hands or have unfortunately lost your blog and need some income fast, turn your skills and free time into a second income. In some cases, you may be able to create a full-time income.
Below you will find 9 ways to make money from home with your computer. Most of these ideas don’t require special skills or anything more than a working laptop and internet connection.
This post contains affiliate links. Please read my Disclosure for more information.
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Teach Online
If you are a native English speaker and have a degree, you can get work as an English teacher pretty easily.
This is one job that is in super high demand right now when many schools are closed and education is moving online.
You can learn more about the types of companies looking for online teachers now here >>>How To Teach English Online (Who’s hiring now!)
If teaching English isn’t your thing, why not start teaching with Outschool – you can literally teach anything you are passionate about and set your own schedule.
Microwork
You might be familiar with Mechanical Turk on Amazon.com, which is one example of a microwork platform.
Microworker perform microtasks which are small jobs that can be completed very quickly.
A typical task might be to complete a questionnaire or perform a quick online search to find a specific piece of information.
In the fall I did some microwork testing websites for User Testing and made about $1 a day for under 30 seconds work.
Many websites have similar tasks available for pay, such as answering questions.
You could be paid a fee or receive a portion of any revenue generation from traffic that reads your post.
Many micro jobs only pay a few cents, so it’s important to work quickly.
It’s possible to earn as much as $25/hour even with these small jobs.
Be sure to check the payment details. Some pay weekly while others pay monthly. In most cases, you must reach a payment threshold before you can collect your money.
Become a blogger
Blogging has been around almost since the beginning of the internet but making money as a blogger is relatively new.
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I started my first blog in 2017 and was able to quit my full-time job a year later to become a work from home blogger.
There is nearly unlimited potential, and it’s easy to get started, you can start your blog for under $5 and in just an hour or too will be up and running.
The only real challenge is bringing enough people to your blog.
Half the battle is writing well enough to keep people coming back. Covering an interesting topic helps, but you must also develop some writing skills.
The other half of the battle is marketing.
If 10% of the people that find your site love it, it’s just a matter of getting enough eyeballs to your website.
Unless you can write like Hemingway or have a life that rivals the excitement of James Bond’s escapades, writing exclusively about your own life is a challenging blog topic.
Find something that interests you that will also appeal to a wide audience.
Be a mock juror
There are websites that provide mock juries to attorneys. Attorneys can test their case and see what type of outcome and issues they can expect.
Instead of using a mere 12 jurors, these mock juries consist of 50+ people.
The attorneys receive a lot of valuable feedback, and you receive a paycheck.
A couple of these websites that are hiring mock trial jurers include eJury and Online Verdict.
In most cases, the pay varies from $5 to $60 for 20-60 minutes of work. Some websites pay more than others, so look around. A
few companies require you to attend in-person. It can take all day, but the pay increases to $150.
In most cases, the only requirements are the same as those for being a “real” juror. If you’re over 18 years of age and a US citizen, you’re probably eligible.
Some companies pay via check while others only use PayPal. Be sure that the payment method will work for you.
Monetize your hobby
Whether you collect baseball cards, create crafts, write romance novels, or like to fly kites, there’s likely a way you can turn your hobby into a second income.
Sell your products or related items.
If your hobby includes building or creating something, sell your own product.
If you love golf, you could sell golf clothing, golf balls, or golf calendars.
I know someone who created a special umbrella for golfers to use and made a killing.
If you have a lot of knowledge of a certain type of product, you might be able to make a good income scooping up used items and flipping them for a profit.
Sell services
You could act as a consultant and provide your advice and expertise to others.
You could also sell the services of others for a commission (as an affiliate).
Use local classifieds for free, take advantage of online marketplaces, or set up your own website.
It’s easy and free when you use the WordPress software from WordPress.org. All you need is hosting.
Become a peer-to-peer lender
It’s possible to lend your money on one of the peer-to-peer lending websites, like prosper.com, lendingclub.com, and many more.
The average return is quite good, and the risks can be small.Some websites distribute your loan to multiple borrowers.
If one person defaults, it has very little impact on your loan.
Other websites will allow you to choose a single person or company to loan your money to.
It’s riskier, but the returns can average over 20% versus the 8% in the previous example.
Affiliate marketing
If you don’t have your own product or service to sell, you can become an affiliate for someone else’s product and make a cut of every sale.
There are thousands and thousands of companies that will pay you a commission for selling their product.
JVZoo.com and ClickBank.com are two of the more popular platforms for finding electronic products to sell.
These sites provide sales pages with your own unique tracking ID. Just get people to the sales page and you’ll be credited with any sales from that traffic.
Some affiliate programs pay 100%. A more typical commission is 50-65%
Amazon.com has an affiliate program and will reward you for selling nearly anything from books to televisions.
Electronic products tend to have much higher commissions, though.
There are many affiliate programs available online. Take a look at the bottom of many websites and you’ll find an affiliate button.
All you need to do is sign up.
Flip websites
Flipping websites is one of those ways to make money from your computer that just seems weird.
You’ve probably heard of flipping houses where you do up an old place and sell it for a profit.
Flipping websites is the exact same idea. Many website owners are looking to sell their websites.
These websites can be purchased and ‘flipped’ to another buyer. Or you can build your own website to sell.
The most popular platform for this activity is Flippa.com.
As a general rule, websites sell for around 12 times their monthly income. Traffic is also important.
If you can show that you’re getting decent traffic, someone is likely to believe they can monetize that traffic.
There are many ways to earn money with your computer. These are just seven diverse examples.
There are many other opportunities, like freelancing, writing Kindle books, paid blog commenting, and installing Word Press themes.
Think about the things you can do better than the average person. This is usually a great starting point.
Even if you’re lacking in skills, there’s still work available.
Work that is easy to find will usually pay less. Be willing to spend the time to dig around. A little work upfront can greatly increase your pay rate.
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