Many people are looking to earn passive income online. When you’re living paycheck to paycheck, having an extra source of income can be really helpful. It can help you save for emergencies, live a more comfortable life, and save for retirement.
Now, creating passive income is easier said than done. You may require capital, time, and effort to get started. But in the long run, it’s worth it. With that in mind, below are 7 of the best ways to earn extra money online in 2023.
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1. Apps to Earn Passive Income Online
Passive income apps pay you to complete simple activities like surveys, downloading apps, and watching ads. You earn less than a dollar for each activity. But then again, each task takes only a couple of minutes.
You can download multiple passive income apps to maximize your passive income. But look for apps designed for different purposes. For example, Survey Junkie pays you to participate in online polls.
On the other hand, Honeygain helps you make money if you can share your extra Internet bandwidth. Rakuten gives you cashbacks for shopping online, whereas Savvy Connect pays you to monitor your Internet traffic.
Ideally, you want apps that involve nearly zero labor. Think of Honeygain—it runs in the background, so there are no tasks to complete. Yet, you can use the app to make an extra $20 to $50 per month.
2. Become a Freelancer
Freelancing is one of the fastest-growing online jobs these days. Basically, you sell your services online as an independent contractor. Let’s say you’re a journalist. You could work for an online magazine for pay.
If you’re a programmer, you could build apps for online businesses during your free time. Freelancing gives you the freedom to choose your working hours. You decide where to live and who to work for.
But does it pay well? For starters, it pays a lot more than most passive income apps. However, you need a well-paying skill to make money. And you need to work hard.
Freelancing is a competitive job. Many employers are willing to pay top dollar, but only if you can deliver quality results. That said, some of the best-paying skills for freelancers are content writing, SEO, marketing, coding, web design, data analysis, logo design, and app design.
You can find freelancing gigs on websites like Fiverr, Upwork, and Problogger or through pitching various websites.
3. Invest in Stocks and Crypto
2022 was a bloodbath for stocks and crypto. Bitcoin fell from an all-time high of $69,000 in 2021 to less than $15,000 towards the end of 2022. Likewise, many stocks from Fortune 500 companies were on a freefall throughout the year.
Now, we’re not giving you financial advice. But if you’ve ever wanted to invest in stocks or crypto, buy them while prices are low. Once the market recovers, you can sell your investment at a profit.
Word to the wise—pick your stocks, bonds, and crypto wisely. Take time to find the right picks. If you want to be cautious, invest in an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) like iShares Morning star mid-cap or Vanguard Value ETF.
ETFs track multiple stocks centered on a specific index such as NASDAQ, Dow Jones, or S&P 500. In doing so, they help you minimize risks in case a few stocks underperform.
4. Become an Affiliate Marketer
Ever recommended an online business to a friend? This is what affiliate marketing is all about. You recommend online businesses to your friends and family. In return, you get paid a commission for every referral.
Sounds easy enough? It is. However, it requires a lot of effort to turn affiliate marketing into a viable business. First, you need a website or social media influence.
Next, you need to settle on a niche. For example, you can market products on Amazon and eBay. Pick a small niche like electronics, furniture, or baby clothes. Then you need to create content that will bring people to your website.
If you have social media influence on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube, you will have an easier job. You already have an audience. All you need is to convince them to buy the products you’re marketing.
5. Start Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a type of business where you sell products that you don’t keep in stock. Yes, you need an online store featuring the items you sell. Yes, you need to market your store.
But you don’t need to buy stock. You wait until someone makes an order. Then you order that product from a wholesaler or manufacturer and direct them to ship it to your customer.
Drop shipping allows you to run an online store without spending money on stocks. In other words, it’s a cheaper way to run an online business. Make no mistake, though.
This job requires a lot of marketing. Also, you need to find products in great demand—products that can also get you a decent profit.
6. Sell Online Courses
Selling online courses is yet another trendy money-making opportunity. But you need to be an expert at something to get people’s attention. As such, determine what you’re good at.
Then package your knowledge into a course and sell it on a website like Udemy, Coursera, or LinkedIn Learning. If you think you have no valuable skills you can sell, learn an in-demand skill and turn it into a course.
Take programming as an example. People are always looking for free or cheap programming courses. You could learn a few popular coding languages—Python, C, C#, and Java. Then you can create a course to teach newbies these languages.
7. Become a Blogger
Blogging is one of the most popular online side hustles. There are two ways to become a blogger. Start your own blog from scratch. Or, buy an established blog.
Starting a blog is cheap. But the real challenge is to create content that will attract an audience. You need to find great keywords, optimize your website for SEO, and market it. Once you gain an audience, you can monetize it using blogs or affiliate linking.
Buying a blog saves you time because you get a website that’s already making money. But keep in mind the average blog costs 20x to 30x its average monthly income.
