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Could you play free online games to earn money...?
How about completing online surveys, to earn cash? Or starting a killer blog that brings income in while you sleep!?
Most people see this as unrealistic… They’re still catching up to the world in 2023, where your location doesn’t much matter. What matters is good data and strategy (we’ll help you with those).
We left out seedier money-making gigs that have become very lucrative such as SeekingArrangements and OnlyFans - leave a comment if you have a story to share!
Table of Contents:
Top 10 Ways to Earn Money Online UK 🇬🇧
Our team’s rounded up how to earn money online - the best ways, even from the comfort of your couch. We’ll teach you ways to earn cash online.
Get six-figures…? Or something small & quick?
Either way, let's get started 👇🏻:
#1 Online Surveys
What Skills Do You Need 🕮
Earn cash online free of charge: Your eligibility for surveys will depend on the survey type and your personal profile (best product testing UK jobs):
If you only do makeup on Halloween, it’s hard to qualify for certain cosmetics panels.
If you’re doing video interview surveys, you’ll need a webcam, stable Internet, and microphone. For surveys that test apps, a smartphone - and so on...
How Much Time Will It Take 
For a few minutes of form filling, you can make a couple of quid. Keep in mind: You’re likely to experience some hiccups.
Maybe your chosen survey site has website glitches, fails to pay you at the end. Perhaps you need a certain number of points before withdrawing money. Or certain panels give far fewer invites than expected. Overall, a dedicated work ethic will give a sure reward at the week’s/month’s end - a real way to earn extra money online.
Who Should Consider the Job (Part-Time/Full-Time)
You need some bread on the side.
You’re running around town doing after other things - or applying for job interviews and you wouldn’t mind a way of making cash in your spare time meanwhile.
Maybe you’re a parent of young kids and want to earn at home.
I know of a stay-at-home mum who made online survey-taking full-time income. Be very active, honour invitations. Show up on time if you’re given a survey that requires an “online video interview.”
You can even play free online games to earn money.
How Fast You Will Start Earning Money
Our suggestion is to sign up for a good number of the best online survey sites. Hopefully one of them shows up instantly or within a few days. Keep in mind that even some of the best panels may take a few months to give you an invite! This is a numbers game.
#2 Online Trading
What Skills Do You Need
We wrote an ultimate guide on how to start Online Trading As a Beginner. This way of earning money online is the opposite to online surveys. It takes time…
In the article, we listed the skills needed to become an online trader. Time will definitely be needed for research and education.
You need to have a comprehensive training plan. Keep a trading journal. You also need to stick to your trading plan: Not keeping to a specific strategy will lead to you losing a scary amount of money.
However, for those who are diligent, stock trading can be very lucrative. For those who want to trade non-seriously, there are apps that make smaller/long-term savings trades simpler (best online trading platforms).
How Much Time Will It Take
For real money we’re talking, minimum, six months of intensive study. Remember: Stock trading is not a common skill.
Once you have it, you’ll have many opportunities regular folk don’t. This includes knowing how to invest your money wisely, how to advise others on investing money, and how to make a penny from a penny in real time with nothing more than a strategy, Internet connection and app/computer.
Who Should Consider the Job (Part-Time/Full-Time)
- You want to get into finance as a career.
- You want to deeply learn how money works.
- You want to be an online trader as a full-time profession.
You want to get into finance as a career.We do NOT recommend online stock trading part-time! This work requires complete focus - it’s risky.
How Fast You Will Start Earning Money
Expect to take at least half a year learning the ins-and-outs of the stock market. There are all sorts of technical/financial-specific terms to get your head around.
Over time, this will become a second language and you’ll be able to figure out a specific route in. There are many different types of stocks to trade and many different trading paths.
#3 Blogging
What Skills Do You Need
People go to blogs in order to learn from people who are passionate and knowledgeable.
Bloggers may not always be the best writers but they always share something relatable (even if only to a very specific niche, such as PHP programmers!).
As a blogger, you should have knowledge/experience and real curiosity about the topic you’re blogging on. Be willing to research your audience’s interests.
Be committed to talking about the topic. Be self-disciplined. Be motivated to interact with commenters and other blog owners. And be prepared to invest time into your business.
Best hosts for WordPress blogging. A good website experience is critical, to retain and capture visitors.
How Much Time Will It Take
You could blog for an already established website. Just find one that you like and submit a sample article, with an offer that you’ll charge to write more in the future. To find sites overs who are are actively looking for writers, use a FREE hiring service see #8 in our article (freelance work).
If you already know how to write well, this could be something that you start doing right away.
Who Should Consider the Job (Part-Time/Full-Time)
- You have the motivation to share experiences on a specific topic(s). Or you like to research new topics.
- Writing does not faze you. You can write a thousand words each day.
- Perhaps you only want to blog that same amount per week.
You have the motivation to share experiences on a specific topic(s). Or you like to research new topics.Blogging is a flexible niche suitable for part-time or full-time work (it’s something I’ve learned to do over the years)… In order to get paid at the higher levels in this career, consider also learning how to do copywriting.
How Fast You Will Start Earning Money
You could start earning money today if you target successful site owners already looking for blog writers, or those who might be receptive to it. You can also start earning self-employment money by targeting a specific niche and combining different strategies to bring attention to your writing - such as YouTube, guest posting, and SEO.
#4 Web Design
What Skills Do You Need
It’s often assumed that you need natural born coding skills in order to deal with top web design software.
But, as we wrote about, there are many web design tool types. Plenty of excellent zero-coding options exist that give you 90% of the customizability of coding based options - for a fraction of the price needed if you paid a developer.
The most important thing is to not overestimate your skill level. In the article linked above, head to the “Non-Dev” section, which is in the second half of the guide. There, you will be able to compare drag-and-drop builders such as Weebly and Wix - or even the simpler templates in WordPress.
How Much Time Will It Take
We're in a helpful mood today, so here’s another guide: Front-End” Dev for Beginners. There we give you all of the best latest resources if you’re serious about earning a living as a web designer.
You’ll find that a good number of the courses have some kind of a guarantee of employment after you complete it.
With more and more business existing online, web design is - and will remain - a lucrative career for those who invest the time. For instance, the Codeworks course has a 100% hiring rate for all of its students. The curriculum takes place in 3 stages, with offices in London.
If you’re using one of the simpler website builders, it’s a harder sell to make an income from this. These tools are so simple that even a non-technical person can pick it up quite quickly. But it is a great way to set your own website up for blogging and content marketing.
Who Should Consider the Job (Part-Time/Full-Time)
- You envision yourself being a front-end designer or back-end programmer.
- You want to earn a very good salary, full-time, from designing websites.
- You’re willing to invest a lot of time and/or money in courses or self education.
- You have the stamina to pursue this for a couple of months at least.
Web design is a dynamic industry where it is up to the designer to stay updated with the latest innovations and changes. But for those who do, they can see a very stable and competitive salary.
How Fast You Will Start Earning Money
This really comes down to how much of a wizz you are and your enthusiasm level. Even if you’re not that technically minded, if you’re willing to work hard, all is possible. For those who can invest money upfront, you can learn from world experts via one of the various available courses.
Some of these courses are as short as 9 weeks, however those are very intensive. We probably recommend you study for a month or two before attending, so you go into it with a foundation already developed.
#5 Start Your Own Website
What Skills Do You Need
So we’ve already spoken about the different types of tools available for starting your website . If you’ve decided to learn programming or already have the experience, you have a great foundation with which to tailor-make a champion site.
But the average person will save a lot of time, money and be able to get started instantly with their own site by choosing a simple website builder.
How Much Time Will It Take to Earn Money Online in the UK
This completely depends on your level of participation: Whether you’re willing to hire somebody else, and whether a simple website builder can meet your demands.
Simple competitive website builders let you: Sell your own products/services online via e-commerce features (best ecommerce platform), make SEO content that ranks you high for a very specific niche, and do general content/blogging marketing.
Who Should Consider the Job (Part-Time/Full-Time)
- You want to get more clients into a pre-existing business by being more visible online.
- You want to incorporate another form of monetization recommended in this article like e.g. blogging
- You either have the time to jump into this full-steam-ahead or you’re the patient sort - with only minimal spare time - and don’t mind incrementally building up over a couple of months.
How Fast You Will Start Earning Money
This all depends on how much time you have available, how well you detected a potentially profitable niche, plus how consistently you work at targeting the right audience.
Check out the best web hosts for websites that want to compete online.
#6 Start a Podcast
What Skills Do You Need
Earn cash online free of charge through a show: Before you get your podcast running, you’ll need somewhere to host it: Best podcast hosting software (UK). We talk about equipment there too.
But all you really need is a microphone: Use your phone to begin with. And something to talk about… If you’re a chatterbox, always the centre of attention, why not just start with a few of your friends and have some fun?
Even better is to combine this with some niche that seems under-fulfilled, e.g. artificial intelligence and machine learning (which Lex Friedman is having a fried field-day with).
But, of course, the topic could be something completely nontechnical like how to introduce bangle kittens to a new home.
Look for something that people are curious about but where precious information is scarce. Or go with your instincts, if you have a vision for a podcast. Joe Rogan didn’t intend to be the king of podcasts when he started out. He was just having fun with the homies.
How Much Time Will It Take
This one’s all on you. Start by yourself - or ask a friend to jump on for a few episodes, instead of heading to the cinema to see that new action-comedy flick.
Who Should Consider the Job (Part-Time/Full-Time)
- You’re someone who loves to have fun.
- You’re funny. Smart. Or entertaining, and tend to grab attention when you talk.
- Or you have experience and knowledge on a topic that you think isn’t already saturated.
Or perhaps you can talk about a topic that’s popular - but in a new and enlightening way.
Combine entertainment with deep insight/problem-solving and you’re onto a winner. More important than entertainment, be sincere. Lex Friedman doesn’t crack constant jokes, but when he talks, you know he means what he says.
How Fast You Will Start Earning Money
This one is the luck of the draw. Get the right head-start and your podcast could get bumped up into the “Trending” section of iTunes
#7 Online Tutoring
What Skills Do You Need
At the entry level, it’s enough that you are a native speaker of some language. Which, of course, you are… You can help a Korean student to learn English, for instance.
Perhaps you play the guitar and read sheet music. You have some monetizable skill that’s earned you money in the past. You’re a maths or science whiz.
After the pandemic of 2020, a greater range of self-education has moved online.
How Much Time Will It Take
This one you can start right away. A few top online tutoring sites:
- TutorHunt
- Chegg
- MyTutor
- Club Z
- Tutorful
- eTutorWorld
- TeachAway
Do you want to fly to China or Korea or Germany, to teach English? Earn extra money online or full-time. This website offers that unique opportunity - a cool experience with competitive pay and, sometimes, accommodation fees also taken care of!
Who Should Consider the Job (Part-Time/Full-Time)
- You have a skill that you think is in demand.
- Or you speak your native language very well.
- You enjoy teaching people and are able to deeply listen more than you talk.
- You’re willing to learn better ways to teach.
- Perhaps you have a likeable personality. You also, of course, have a WebCam, great Internet connection and smartphone or laptop with a microphone.
How Fast You Will Start Earning Money
You start this right away. If you’re looking to teach your native language, consider doing a course like TEFL, which will give you deeper insight in how to teach, also opening up the horizon for increased pay.
#8 Freelance Work
What Skills Do You Need
It’s also certain that there is some service you can offer online as a freelancer to a paying employer.
Whether as a personal assistant, administrative assistant, musical producer, vocal artist, maths tutor, and much much more. We recommend you start out with Upwork, Fiverr and Bidvine.
How Much Time Will It Take
- Focus on delivering outstanding services to each and every client you work with.
- Only go with clients who have great feedback from previous employees.
- Try not to backpedal in terms of your hourly/fixed rates, as they increase.
- Diversify by building up a reputation on more than one platform.
- Over time, you will be able to attract bigger and bigger fish.
The key word: PROFESSIONALISM… This wins the day. Freelancing is one of the best ways to earn cash online.
Who Should Consider the Job (Part-Time/Full-Time)
- You want to work from home (although you can often find “brick and mortar” work on freelance websites).
- Whether you want to work part-time or full-time, freelance work is for people who are independently motivated .
How Fast You Will Start Earning Money
Okay… here’s a special little secret . It’s called the “crystal ball technique.” Check this out and you’ll be amazed.
#9 Content Writing
What Skills Do You Need
2 main strategies (you can combine these):
- Focusing on SEO marketing
- Focusing on entertaining and/or original content you believe people want and need
Go with your gut instinct:
Seth Godin believes SEO clutters websites and creates an artificial feeling. But many others do SEO very well. The main focus should be to create highly valuable, engaging material users will want to return to in the future, for more of the same.
How Much Time Will It Take
Head to #3 on this list, for blog writing. And #5, starting your own website. You can get set up very quickly but you should have a strategy of some kind before doing so. Make sure you know the niche you want to target.
Who Should Consider the Job (Part-Time/Full-Time)
- You either know a lot about a particular field or really enjoy writing.
- Perhaps you love to research new topics.
- You’re willing to investigate SEO, in order to target a very specific niche - and to test what works, updating your strategy when new data comes in.
How Fast You Will Start Earning Money
If you target high authority sites for guest posts and have a consistent/accurate campaign, you can get some good affiliate income or sell products in a few months. A realistic way to earn extra money online.
#10 Become a YouTuber
What Skills Do You Need
YouTube is such an influencer that celebrities have moved into the space.
Don’t mind that! When you see a video with 1 million views, understand this is a tiny splash in the ocean.
YouTube is so immense that a creator with a million subscribers - and similar views for each video - can be completely unknown to most other users.
YouTube is now in the business of creating celebrities.
How Much Time Will It Take
Our advice is to sit down and think about what you consume and some way to provide value to fans of the same niche in a new and entertaining way. You do this and there’s no telling how quickly you can make big waves.
The rule here: Look for the exciting twist on something familiar and follow your authenticity.
Who Should Consider the Job (Part-Time/Full-Time)
You don’t have to show your face. Really, YouTube is for those with value to offer: This could be beauty, charisma, humour, technical know-how, fame, and so on.
How Fast You Will Start Earning Money
Luck of the draw again! Smart content creators tie their channel into other strategies, such as having an email list linked in the description, product links to a written book on Amazon, affiliate links, links to blog posts to boost organic traffic, and so on.
What You Need to Know About Earning Money Online (Technical Section)
How to Get Paid
Earning money online UK, or wherever, is diverse.
For instance, if you’re completing online surveys to earn money online fast (Best Product Testing UK Jobs), you may be paid in free products (such as cosmetics), gift cards (e.g. Amazon) - or as cash wired to you (via PayPal/check/PayPal/Transferwise). In some cases, you need to reach a threshold of points before being paid.
The most reliable ways to earn money online give you a payment at least every month - and many pay weekly/fortnightly.
Risks and Scams
A quick talk about risks and scams to avoid when trying to earn money online.
So you’re looking up jobs on Craigslist, Indeed.com or Monster.com and you find a perfect advertisement: The company wants somebody with your exact experience and skill set, your location and is offering competitive pay.
There is only one issue: You have to pay for training materials before being eligible for the job.
Or perhaps there’s an external link that requires confidential information such as bank account or credit card numbers before you can send off your application.
Job scams will typically have signs like this. Some people prey on the most desperate, tricking them into giving away costly financial information or receiving money for a non-existent position.
You should be able to earn money online free of charge. Initially, you only pay with your time.
What Are Job Scams?
This is a way for people to access your personal information, cash or financial data. These criminals target job hunters.
Because jobseekers may be desperate to find a position, they might ignore their flags suggesting something isn’t right with the listing.
There are two main types of job scams:
- Phishing: Scammers snoop out your credit card numbers or bank account details.
- Cash payments: Others ask you for payment in order to get certificates or training materials for non-existent jobs. You may even be tricked into accepting fraudulent checks.
Red Flags of Job Scams
Most legitimate job companies won’t conduct interviews using messaging services such as Yahoo! Messenger, Facebook messenger, Skype and Google hangouts. Scam artists often do use the services however to target those looking to earn money online.
#1 Interviews via Messaging Services
You will get a job offer but the interview is only used in order to acquire personal information from you such as your bank account or national security number.
The interviewer will claim this is in order to set up a direct deposit, after offering you a “position.”
Do not accept interviews via messenger services. In the case that you do, never give out personal or financial data. This will be used to commit identity theft.
Legitimate companies who are conducting online interviews for candidates not in the country or state will often use their own in-house messaging platform.
#2 Public Email Accounts
This one’s a little tricky... Many legitimate companies do use Gmail in order to talk to their employees. But it is a warning sign if the company talks to you via Yahoo or Gmail, or something similar.
Earning money online is becoming more and more open ended. So use your instincts. If there are a lot of grammatical issues and misspellings, this could be a sign of an online scammer (unless the employer is a non-English speaker).
#3 Foggy Job Description
Any business looking to make money will try to make their job advertisement as specific as possible. Legitimate job ads will have a clear outline of what your responsibilities are if you fit the job and key performance indicators. You may also be given an indication of the salary and other benefits - a clear guide on how to earn money online.
So be suspicious of vague listings that give you little detail on what the job actually is. Scammers often rush and don’t take the time to make the advertisement seem realistic. The more sketchy an online ad is, literally, the more sketchy it may be.
#4 Personal Data Requested During/Before an Interview
Keep to this rule: never give any personal or financial data to accompany during the interview process. Legitimate companies won’t request bank account details or your national security number during an interview.
This won’t happen until you’ve accepted the job and met HR to sign your contract. They’ll dangle the need for direct deposits of your head as an excuse.
Top Tip
If you’re working online as a freelancer: We advise that you use a trusted and accredited third-party service such as Upwork.com or Fiverr. If you build up a good relationship, over time you could transition from those platforms and work directly with your employer.
#5 Upfront Payment Request, Consulting Services or a Different Job
Scammers target job seekers because they know a certain percentage will be desperate. Some exploit this in order to get you to hand money over: They’ll ask you to pay for “training materials” or “certifications.” Legitimate companies never ask you to pay for applying for a job. Never send money - even if you hope you can, in return, earn money online.
Also, many advertisers create listings that they mention the opportunity for a “career consultation”. Scammers will trick you into answering ads for jobs that don’t exist and it’s just a way for them to sell job-hunting services. Not how to earn money online.
Finally, if you go to the interview and find you being offered a different job to the one you applied for, this is a scammer hoping to get you to work for an undesirable job. They trick you by advertising for one that seems better.
FAQs
Which App Gives Real Money?
One of my personal favourites is CrowdVille.
This rather new and innovative company lets you earn money from your smartphone. You don’t even need an online connection - if you choose products that can be tested without it. You will be given apps to try out, which you can use in your spare time.
Use whenever you want, however much you want. Learn new skills or enjoy premium entertainment services while getting paid.
SwagBucks is another very well-known money-making app. You even get paid through PayPal. There are tons of surveys to take which can earn you money: Shopping online, weekly contests, playing games, and much more.
Which Is the Best Site for Online Earning Money?
This really depends on how you want to make money:
#1 Use Your Skills
Perhaps you could make a phenomenal personal assistant. Or maybe you know how to play the guitar and can do online tutoring. The two best websites for getting this kind of freelance work are Upwork.com and Fiverr.com.
Overall, this is a very steady and reliable means of earning income. You could go from earning nothing to earning £5000 a month, as long as you are willing to be diligent and build up your profile.
#2 Sell Artistic Works
Are you the crafty type? If you have an artistic streak and can make custom jewellery or refrigerator magnets, Etsy.com lets you sell your products on its marketplace.
This is especially designed for the crafty entrepreneurs amongst us.
#3 Get Physical
No, we’re not talking about SeekingArrangements or OnlyFans… TaskRabbit is our last way to earn money online. It lets you carry out physical labour that needs to be done in the city. For instance, somebody needs their garbage cleared out or weeding done in the garden.
People post various tasks and errands that need to be done. There’s no limit on how many tasks you do so this could be a part-time or full-time gig.
How Can I Earn Money From Home?
How to earn money online? That’s what this whole article is about! Jump up to the top of our list. Also see the top recommended websites be rated in the section just above this one. The top contenders are Upwork.com, Fiverr.com, Etsy.com and TaskRabbit.com.
Conclusion
Whether you want to play free online games to earn money or work as a highly-trained web developer, when earning money online, you need to think about: How much time you have available, your skills, and compensation you need in return.
Online Surveys are one of the fastest ways to earn money online, particularly if you want a very minimal signing-up process.
Online Trading is the exact opposite, requiring many months of intense research.
Starting a Site (blogging/content writing) can be a lucrative career if you find the right niche and are able to serve it well, plus link it to other media like podcasts/YouTube.
Our sage advice?
Take time to choose the opportunity that will serve you best in the long run. For instance, freelance work may require you to set up a bank account and to build up a reputation. But you could earn 100 times more than online surveys!
- Best ways to earn money fast and conveniently : Using online surveys to earn money
- Most lucrative ways to earn money : Online trading, blogging, starting your website, YouTube, podcasts.
- Most reliable way to earn money : Freelance work, web design.
