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There are a lot of ways on how you can earn money online; some do require a bit of money, while some don’t but either way, you must pay something.
Earning money online isn’t as easy as most get rich quick sinister would have you believe.
As I always tell my kids, nothing in this world is truly free. Either you pay with money, or you pay with energy.
I believe that a person’s most valuable resource is his or her time. You see, you can get more money, but you can’t get more time.
On average, we all have around 28,000 days to live, and each day that passes gets deducted from whatever time we still have, and so it’s a must that we must spend our time wisely.
So, how can you earn money online without paying anything?
When you say, “without paying anything”, I would take it that you mean, without paying or investing money because you can’t really earn money without investing anything – you have to invest your time, at the least.
More importantly, you must have the skills, which also require time to acquire.
Reading this article is one way to improve your skills.
Skills that you can use to teach others, help them solve a problem, or you can use work for a company that hires remote employees online.
The best way to earn money online without paying anything is to offer a service. Based on my experience, offering services to help others solve problems is one of the best ways you can earn money online or offline, without having to invest any monetary capital.
Since you’re shooting for online money-making opportunities, however, let’s keep the conversation to “online” opportunities.
So, go ahead and grab a coffee or tea and let’s dive into this!
Table of Contents
How to Earn Money Online Without Paying Anything?
Below are four general ways on how you can earn money online with little to no capital.
- Offer Services Online
- Sell Stuff Online
- Rent Stuff Online
- Build Your Brand & Influence
Offer Services
If you want to earn money online without investing money, the best way to get started is by offering services.
There are generally two ways on how you can offer services, either you work as an employee or as a self-employed. Most of the services you can offer online, you have to offer as a freelancer but once you get the hang of it, your income will become more consistent through work quality and dedication.
If you’re not comfortable working for yourself just as yet, you can try to find companies that will actually take you in as an employee on a work-from-home basis.
Become a Freelancer
There are many ways on how you can earn money online by offering services. The most common way is to work as a freelancer.
A freelancer is someone who works as self-employed and offers his or her services to individuals or businesses on either a per hour or project-based contract. After a job is fulfilled, he or she moves on to another project for another client.
This may be an ongoing relationship but there’s no employee/employer relationship established, so the client’s responsibility only extends to paying for the work done and nothing else.
If you have skills to offer and it can be served on a virtual basis, then you can start earning money online without paying anything.
I have written an extensive article on how you can start a freelance business here.
Work As a Remote Employee
If you’re not too confident to go on your own and you still prefer the comforts of having a company to work for, you can work online as an employee.
There are local and international companies who are searching for talents on a work-from-home basis. Before the 2019 pandemic, work from home was a pipedream for many employees – today it’s a common thing.
Keep in mind, however that work from home isn’t for everyone. I say this because not all employees have the discipline to work unsupervised. If you belong to this group, you need to exert extra effort so you can perform your best even without close supervision.
As a side note, I have been self-employed for the last 9-years. The difference with working as a self-employed business owner or as a freelancer as opposed to being an employee is the fact that you can’t expect a fixed bi-weekly pay when you’re self-employed, but I believe, whether you’re working as an employee, you must work as if you’re self-employed to give the most value to your employer.
List of Services You Can Offer Online
There’s a humongous list of services that people from around the world are willing to pay for. If you have a skill, there’s someone who would be willing to pay for it.
I created a list of some services that I think are the easiest to start with if you want to earn money online without paying anything:
Web Development Services
One of the best ways to earn money online is by offering web development services. Web developers are always in high demand, which means there are plenty of opportunities out there for freelancers who want to make money from home.
Web development services are one the most in-demand services in the internet industry. With web development, you don’t need to buy expensive equipment, develop a website of your own or advertise them on search engines. You can get paid for your services by working with one specific company at a time.
Some of the most popular skills that people are looking for right now include coding languages like PHP, HTML/CSS, Javascript, Python, Ruby on Rails, and Magento. There are also some more niche skills that people are willing to pay a little more for, such as Parallax scrolling and WordPress.
Writing Services
Another way that you can earn money online without paying anything is to offer writing services, either as a freelance writer or as an employee. Content marketing is one of the most important marketing strategies for businesses that want to get customers from the internet, and a lot of companies are looking for people to create engaging content.
Social Media Services
You can also offer social media services to small and medium-sized businesses, and in exchange, they can pay you or credit your account with a number of followers. You can even offer social media consulting services to help businesses manage their social media accounts more effectively.
App Development Services
If you are interested in becoming an app developer, there are a few options. You can start to create your own app or you can work for a company that’s in the business of creating apps for other businesses.
This is another great way to make money online without paying anything as you’re offering a service that is beneficial to the company and that needs to be done anyway.
All you need is decent programming skills as your capital. If you’re not a programmer yet, there are a lot of online courses that can help you acquire such a skill.
Translation Services
If you are multilingual, consider working as a translator. There are many companies that need people to translate all kinds of materials (manuals, apps, videos, etc.). You can work either freelance or for the company directly; both ways, you get paid for your work.
The translation is an excellent way to earn extra money if you are bilingual who don’t want the hassle of finding a second job or attending classes at night.
Data Entry Services
One of the easiest tasks that you can deliver online is data entry, provided of course that you have relatively good typing skills and a computer. You can find this job almost anywhere on the internet and you don’t even need to pay anything for it. There are lots of companies that do data entry jobs, and most if not all simply require you to enter specific information into their database, which is very simple and easy to do. You can choose how much money you want to make per hour or even how much you want to make perform.
Graphic Design
Similar to data entry, if you have a talent for graphic design, then this is another way on how to earn money online without paying anything. Although this will require some knowledge of software, more specifically Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, these skills are within the reach of most people. You can design digital graphics, print media, or even video game graphics with these programs. Usually, if you do a good job for your client he’ll offer to hire you again, and thus you’ll already have money for doing another project without having to pay anything upfront.
Online Tutoring
You can also offer online tutoring services and do it for free. If you have years of education and working experience, this career path is one of the most suitable ones that can help you earn money online without paying anything. This is a flexible option for those who want to get more experience in different fields such as teaching mathematics, physics, languages, etc. while making money online at the same time. If you want to be a tutor, just put up your service on one of the best online tutoring websites like TutorVista, SmartThinking, or Preply.
Similar to data entry jobs, this is a perfect work-from-home job that you can do even if you’re not qualified or skilled enough. All you need to have is a computer and an internet connection so you can start searching for companies that are giving away free trials. The registration process does not take more than 5 minutes and there are no obligations on your part. The thing is, they will ask you to pay for the products or services after the trial period ends but since this is a completely free service, it’s totally up to you if you want to cancel your subscription.
As far as making money online goes, this one does require hard work and patience. If your goal is to earn money online and become a full-time blogger, this works like a charm. You can earn your first dollar within one week but it will take more than 2 months before you’ll be able to make thousands of dollars per month. Although blogging may sound easy, it is actually quite difficult since you need to spend hours in front of the computer, doing research on various topics and writing original pieces of content.
This is one of the most visited websites in the world with over 170 million people per month. You can join Fiverr even if you have no experience in services or product selling at all. To apply, all you need to do is to create a free account by providing your email address. You can choose to create a business account but this one will require you to pay $5.00 per month which negates the initial idea of doing things for free online.
I’m sure that most people would ignore the fact that they can actually earn money by listening to music; however, there are actually sites like this that give you the chance to earn money by listening to songs for 10 minutes. Not only does this let you discover new music but it also gives you the opportunity to earn money online without paying anything at all. Other than that, you can use this time to practice meditation or even do other things like knitting, working on a puzzle, etc.
Photo Editing Services
You can also image editing services online, where you can work for different online firms that are in need of image editors. There are many job opportunities available in this potential field.
Image editing includes professional photo editing, photo retouching, color correction, etc. If you have good skills in designing or graphic designing you can give your services to any company or organization which is looking to hire such professionals.
You can also make use of resume/portfolio sites such as VisualCV, Monster, and LinkedIn to promote your skills and find work opportunities. So now you can make money online by simply editing images without spending a single penny!
Virtual Assistance Services
If you’re good with administrative tasks, virtual assistance services are the best choice for you. All you need is a computer, an internet connection, and good writing skills, then you’re ready to get started.
Virtual assistant services can be thought of as freelance work. You will make an agreement with your employer on how much work they’ll give you per hour or per project. Although the pay varies, the average rate for a virtual assistant service is about US$10-$12 per hour.
Sometimes you can get paid upfront before you start working on a project. If this is the case, it may be wise to get something in writing so your payment will be protected from any disputes or hassles if things do not turn out as expected.
Accounting and Bookkeeping Services
Did you know that you can offer accounting and bookkeeping services without necessarily having a CPA license? Well, you can.
If you have decent computer skills and good attention to detail, you can offer bookkeeping services to small businesses and professionals who may not have the budget to hire a full-time accounting employee.
Preferably, you need to have an accounting background if this service-based business is something that you want to do. If on the other hand, you don’t have any bookkeeping training or experience whatsoever, you can always take a bookkeeping crash course and you’ll be serving clients in no time.
Programming and Coding Services
If you’re looking to earn money online by offering services, programming and coding is an easy choice since code and software are easily delivered online. You can offer support for websites, download applications, and offer coding services such as HTML and PHP.
These services don’t require a large amount of capital; all you need is your computer and an internet connection. Many people also use their spare time to earn money through programming and coding in order to increase income or simply to generate extra cash.
Teach Online
One of the easiest ways you can earn money online is by teaching stuff you already know.
You can offer English lessons or tutor kids online, heck you can even teach your local dialect online if English isn’t your first language.
They say that teachers don’t make a lot of money and are oftentimes struggling financially but if you take your teaching online, you can rake in the bucks.
You can make around $15 to $30 an hour depending on how many students are enrolled in your class and which country they’re located in.
Video Editing Services
More and more people are shooting videos to promote their existing businesses or to build their personal brand online and video editing is one of the most-hated tasks by video content producers, it takes time… yes, lots and lots of time, especially if you’re not really good at editing videos but if you’re on the lookout as to what services to offer online to make consistent income, video editing is a high-demand skill that is easy to learn for those who have the patience.
If you have some time to spare, you can watch video editing tutorials on YouTube, practice, and build your portfolio by editing your own cuts or someone else’s for free. In return, you can use those clips for your portfolio so you can easily get paying clients by displaying your video editing portfolio, along with your resume on freelance marketplaces.
Blog Install and Design
Not all people who would like to blog online have the skills to design a blog. If you think you don’t have any skill set in designing, and yet you still want to go on with it and start your own blog, simply contact someone who can do it for you. You can find one yourself through freelance websites or through personal recommendations. This way not only will you save time and effort but you will also gain the benefit of learning about blogging.
Write Product Reviews
There are many places online where people can submit their reviews on different products, business establishments, and services. Websites like Yelp, Angie’s List, Clutch all need product reviews for companies or individuals who want to be reviewed by them or get listed in their directory. In exchange for writing a review, you will receive either free or discounted services from the subject of your review.
Write Product Descriptions
If you do have a knack for writing, one of the easiest gigs that pay good money is writing product descriptions. Mind you, not all entrepreneurs and business owners know how to write good and compelling product descriptions; many would rather hire other writers who can do it for them, which means you as a writer will be paid good money as long as the description is short and to-the-point.
Many companies outsource their writing tasks because they want to save time and effort, which you can do too and get paid for these writing tasks.
Social Media Specialist/Marketing
Social media is one of the must-have tools for businesses today who would want to capture a bigger piece of the market share. If you have a good command of social networking sites, you can offer your social media services to different companies or individuals who are in need of it. You can find work through freelancing sites or simply go on individual accounts and offer them your service for free initially, just so you can build a good reputation as well as expanding your reach.
Copywrite Articles
Writing articles is a great way to earn money online. Websites like Squidoo and InfoBarrel will pay you for creating your own articles or blog posts about different subjects, such as technology, health, automobiles, etc. Although you won’t get paid quickly in this method of getting paid online, it is one of the best ways to build your portfolio and get good reviews from your previous clients.
Online Marketing Services
Two of the most important things businesses and professionals pay for are leads and brand exposure.
Companies still pay a humongous amount of money on traditional advertising. As an online marketing consultant, you can help small businesses and professionals locally or internationally get leads or build their brand online.
Ways to Promote Local Businesses Online:
- Search Engine Optimization
- Search Engine Advertising
- Social Media Advertising
- Organic Social Media Marketing
Ideally, you should already know at least 1 of these to offer online marketing services for local businesses but if you don’t you can always acquire these skills as long as you have the patience and persistence to learn.
Offer Audio/Video Transcription Services
As a transcriptionist, all you have to do is listen to audio or videos and type down what you hear into a document. Since the raw material that you work with comes from different sources and languages, you may also need to create a glossary of the words that were used so you know how to spell them correctly.
All sorts of businesses and entrepreneurs require audio or video transcription services.
Take YouTube content creators for example. It can take a lot of time to film and upload a video. Most Video content creators fail to build their own blogs due to the fact that they no longer have the time.
Offering video transcription services to turn their videos into written words can be a big help.
E-Book Writer for Local Businesses
Many business owners fail to utilize e-books as an effective marketing tool because they see the cost and effort that it will require them to create one. If you can offer writing services, you should create your own website and sell your services as an E-book writer and consultant. People are more likely to pay good money if they already have a track record of success.
Writing e-books for local businesses is similar to writing articles, except it’s longer and more in-depth because the audience expects proper flow, structure, and content from an E-book.
Freelance or Employed Article Writer
Similar to writers who work offline, those who produce content for websites and blogs are becoming more in demand by most companies because the internet is an excellent way of providing information related to their products and services.
More and more businesses are joining the content marketing bandwagon, this means that more and more companies are hiring writers to help them write and publish articles on their blogs and websites.
Offer Online Article / Book Editing Services
If you have the patience to read through articles and manuscripts, you can earn money online by offering editing services to publishers and authors. There’s no money involved with offering online editing services. You just need to have the skills and patience to perform this type of task.
Authors and publishers are always in need of editors to help them proofread and edit their work before publishing it.
As a content editor, you have to ensure that the work you’re turning over is free from any grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, or inconsistencies in style. You want to help writers improve their work before it’s sent to the publisher so they can get more book sales.
Freelance Photographer
Aside from taking photos of family gatherings, parties, or even pets being a freelance photographer is one way to earn money online without having to pay anything. You will need a DSLR camera and basic photography equipment to get started on this career path.
While you can’t offer online-only photography services, you can use the internet to promote your photography services and get local or even international clients depending on your skill level and how you promote your services.
Do Micro-tasks for Amazon Mechanical Turk
Another way to work online and earn money is to do what is known as micro-tasks. These tasks are usually very small so they will not require much time for you to finish doing them. They can range from data entry, testing websites, or even writing comments on products that need reviews.
Work at Home as a Proofreader
Proofreaders are usually hired to check whether what they read is free from spelling and grammatical errors so that the final copy is of the highest quality. You can actually find a lot of companies that need proofreaders online, but for this job, you will need to be particularly meticulous because it requires a keen eye for detail.
Work at Home as a Remote Customer Support Representative
Another way to work at home is to have a job that can help customers whenever they experience different kinds of issues with the product or services that they are using. This kind of task requires someone who has excellent communication skills because you will be dealing with people all day long.
Work at Home as an Online English Teacher
Teaching another language or English can be a very fulfilling profession, but it also requires you to have certain qualifications and skills that different institutions will look for. If you are not up for such then you can always try out online tutoring where students from other countries who may need help in English as a second language will actually pay someone like yourself to provide them with this valuable service.
Get Paid for Being a User Tester
One way to get paid for being a user is by testing the different products of a company. This may be done through software or beta testing, which entails putting their products in real-life scenarios and seeing how they deal with them. You cannot just apply to become a test subject though since you will not always be approved right away so you should try to be persistent.
Get Paid for Taking Surveys
A lot of companies are always looking for people who would give them feedback about their product or service so that they know whether what they have done is useful, effective, and efficient in the marketplace. If you are one of these people then you can get paid for taking surveys and you can actually find a lot of paid survey websites online.
Work Online as a Forum Moderator
You can become a forum moderator by being active in various forums online about the kind of topic that you are knowledgeable about. You will have to make sure that you are responsible enough for this task since different companies who want their own section moderated may look for people with specific qualifications and experience.
Get Paid for Playing Games Online
If you are an avid gamer, then becoming a game tester may be the perfect job for you. Many companies would want people who can test out their games before releasing them to the public so that they can find out what needs to be fixed immediately. But since not all gamers are actually meticulous enough, this is another reason why different gaming companies look for gamers who can truly test their games and provide accurate reports about them.
Get Paid for Your Opinion
Different companies will pay their users to simply come up with different kinds of opinions about certain topics or products like movies, music, and even clothing. If you think that you have the right stuff to do this kind of task then you can definitely get paid for giving your opinions by signing up to a survey website.
Get Paid for Searching the Web
While you are actually using the Internet, searching different things online like news articles, images, social media posts, and the like, there are some companies who will pay you or reward you with points that you can use on their site to redeem different kinds of products.
Earn Money with Mobile Apps
Mobile apps are everywhere these days, on your smartphones or in computer software that can be downloaded for free or you have to pay in order to use them. These mobile apps usually give rewards to those who download their app and use it regularly so if you are the type of person who would love to use mobile apps then you can get paid for downloading, using, and even for referring other people to download the same app.
Offer Remote Technical Support Services
MS Support and other companies usually hire people to work as their technical support staff, but if you want to earn money online then you can actually work as a remote technical support provider. You will be required to go through different kinds of training before you will be considered for this job position.
Offer Copywriting Services
If you are good with words and writing, then you can actually make money by copywriting for different kinds of companies. Copywriting is the art of providing the right kind of words that your target customers need to know when they are looking for a certain product, service, or information online.
Earn Money as an Online Fitness Instructor
While you may not think that a personal trainer is one way of earning money online, it definitely is. You can offer fitness classes through the internet via Zoom, Skype, or even Facebook.
While you can’t find a job as an online fitness instructor, you can do this as a freelancer by posting on different service marketplaces or even on your social media account. The key here is in getting the word out and start helping people in their fitness journey without leaving the comforts of their homes.
Stream Video Games on Twitch and Facebook
You can actually earn money by streaming your video gaming sessions on Facebook and Twitch. Some people use this site to just play games for fun, but if you want to turn this into a business then you can start earning money online through it.
Earn Money Sharing your Knowledge Online
People like to learn something new and some even like to learn things for free. If you want to earn money online then you can actually get paid just to share your knowledge with other people through tutorials, videos, articles, and the like.
Start and Publish a Blog
Starting and publishing a blog is probably one of the slowest ways to build a profitable business. It does require a small amount of monetary capital for the domain name and blog design (theme) but is usually under $100 which you can easily spend on a weekend.
The bulk of capital required with building a successful blog is sweat equity.
Blogging is a service, and while you don’t get paid with it right away, you’re building a semi-passive income over time.
Blogging can be passive income if done correctly, but it does take a lot of effort to make it happen. The more content you publish, the better because Google likes fresh content and shares it to other social media platforms which helps your blog rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Create and Upload Videos
YouTube is the number one video-sharing site on the internet, which means that it currently has millions of users all over the world. You can actually upload your videos on YouTube and if they are good enough to get viral, then you might be able to earn money through advertisement revenue. Of course, this may not be an easy undertaking because you might need to create quality videos that are interesting enough for people not to get bored of them.
Make Money with an Amazon Affiliate Account
You have probably heard of Amazon which is actually one of the biggest online stores and marketplace for people to buy and sell products of different kinds. You can actually make money by having an Amazon affiliate account, which is a website that will direct your readers or customers to Amazon where they can shop and earn you a certain percentage of what they purchase.
You as the blog owner own all of this content as it reflects on you as a writer. You can use this article as you want for your own personal gain without having to give credit back to our blog.
Sell Stuff Online
A lot of people shy away from selling online because they don’t want to tie up their money with inventory, however, you can start selling stuff online by selling stuff that you no longer use. This is the best way to earn money online selling stuff without buying inventories.
Create and Sell WordPress Themes
If you know how to code, you can create and sell WordPress online and start earning money from themes without investing any money. There are theme marketplaces where you can upload your themes for free on a profit-share basis.
You don’t pay anything when you upload your theme, nor would they charge you for hosting and marketing your themes, instead, they charge a commission for each copy you sell through their platform.
Sell Other People’s Stuff Online
One of the biggest sources of stress in North America is having a lot of stuff. You can offer to alleviate people’s stress on having too much clutter by selling their stuff online.
You can sell these free inventories on eBay, Amazon, Craigslist, or even the Facebook Marketplace.
This is a legitimate service that allows you to earn money online without paying anything, all you need is a little elbow grease. You can set up some sort of affiliate relationship with the owners of these stuff. Your inventories are technically pictures of the actual stuff that others would love to get rid of and you’d be surprised because people would sometimes give these stuff away just so they no longer have to deal with them.
Obviously, if they didn’t give the stuff to you, you have to split the revenue with the owner, this is how you can build your reputation in this niche business.
Word of mouth will later spread, and your inventories will grow without any monetary investment. It’s like buying and selling without actually buying your inventories.
Create and Sell Stuff on Etsy
If you have a talent or skill that is directly related to art or making crafts, then you can use Etsy as a marketplace where you will be able to sell your items and earn a certain percentage of what is sold for them. You need to have quality products before being able to do this so that people who will see your items will be able to appreciate them.
Sell on eBay
Most people have probably heard of the website known as eBay because it has been around for a long time and it is one of the largest marketplaces where you can sell virtually anything, from used products to rare antiques. The thing with this website, however, is that you will need to pay a small fee for each item that you sell.
Sell Stock Photos Online
Just like with photography, stock photos are one way to earn money online without having to spend any money on your part. There are several
different websites where you can do this, but you have to remember that this is not actually being paid by these websites. You are just getting paid for whatever percentage of whatever sale they will get from your photos, which means that you might also need to pay a certain amount too if you want to earn more with what you do.
Create and Sell Courses Online
You can also create and sell courses online. Sites like Skillshare and Udemy give you a platform to create and sell your courses.
This is similar to teaching online but you’re not teaching a single or a group of students in real-time, instead, you film your lessons and publish them as courses on these sites. This might not sound like much but there are some people who earn more than $100,000 annually on one course alone.
If you know something that others are willing to pay for, you can build a course around it and list it on these websites.
Creating and selling courses on online course marketplaces doesn’t cost anything. Of course, if you don’t have basic equipment like computers and cameras yet, you may need to invest in these things but if you have the basics covered, you’re good to go.
Write and Publish Books, Audiobooks, and Ebooks
Creating ebooks is actually a lot of work, but if you are passionate enough about writing then it could be one way for you to earn money online. To find out how much an ebook is priced, you can use different calculators online that will help you determine the price of your own ebooks.
We now live in a permissionless society, gone are the days where you have to submit your work to publishers for approval. Now, you can be your own publisher!
Tools like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and Smashwords help you self-publish your work.
Selling ebooks online doesn’t cost a thing, but to sell books elsewhere you might have to pay a fee for each sale.
You can publish your books in printed form through print-on-demand technology or package them into audiobooks.
There are narration services like ACX, where you can hire someone to narrate your books and sell them as audiobooks.
Create and Sell Music Online
While not all people may have the Offer Copywriting Services for a living, many people do have the ability to record and produce music. If you really love making music, then you can use your talents to earn money online by becoming a sound engineer. You must have the right equipment for this though so if you don’t have the equipment yet, you can start building it. You can also make money by selling music online. Sites like Musician Tips offer tips to people who are interested in earning money online by making their own music.
Sites like Bandcamp and ReverbNation will allow other musicians to sell their work while they split the profit.
Sites like Around and Audio Network give you the opportunity to create, upload, edit and publish your own music. The best part is that you don’t have to pay anything to use these websites!
Rent Your Stuff Online
Yes, one of the best ways you can earn money online without paying anything is by making your stuff work for you!
You can rent out all sorts of items on websites like FatLlama, or even local classified ads (not recommended). And if you have a more specific need, there are also niche sites that cater to things like boats or wedding dresses, or high-end electronics.
It’s never been more convenient to make some extra money by renting out the things you already own without having to buy anything new. All it takes is a few minutes to list your item on one of these websites and then wait for someone else’s needs to come along before earning some cash in return!
If you own a car, you can rent out your car on websites like Turo.com, and of course, if you’re renting out a space, you can register with short-term rental sites like Airbnb, HomeAway, and VRBO.
Renting stuff you already have is one way of earning extra money online without paying anything.
It may not be able to replace your full-time income but it can provide you with part-time income, which otherwise you have to work for.
Build Your Influence / Personal Brand
Another way you can start to earn money online without much capital is by building your personal brand.
While you may have come here searching for ideas on how you can earn extra money through the internet, this is a much longer-term approach and will build a business that could potentially turn you or your online persona into an online money-making machine – a brand, celebrity, or a personality.
They say that money flows into those who have the attention, and the more attention you attract, the more money flows toward you.
Now, there are a couple of ways on how you can do it, and some may require you to put in a small amount of capital of less than $100, which still is nothing compared to when you try to start a traditional enterprise.
Start a Blog
Blogging remains one of the best ways you can build your influence and authority online as it allows anyone who’s passionate about their craft to write and builds a website around their passion and establishes their name and authority as a subject matter expert without the help of traditional media.
Once your blog is established, it can attract hundreds or maybe thousands of traffic each day of people who researching about your niche.
You can then monetize your blog or your influence by offering services, consulting, selling products, or referring them to other products that may help them solve their problems through affiliate relationships.
Building your own blog does require a bit of monetary investment. While there are a couple of ways on how you can build a blog for free, it doesn’t give you enough control over your content, domain name, and blog real estate.
For example, if you’re building a free blog, you’re going to have to piggyback on someone else’s domain name, and yours will only be a subdomain.
Companies like WordPress (.com) allows anyone to build a blog for free using a WordPress.com subdomain. So every time people need to visit your blog, they would have to type in a domain name that would look something similar to: https://www.yourblog.wordpress.com.
You can also start a blog for free with Google’s Blogger platform, and your blog domain will be something like: https://www.yourblog.blogger.com.
WordPress.com does offer you the option to have your own domain name, for a fee but I find it more expensive than when simply just buying your own domain name at the start in places like NameCheap. On average, a domain name will only cost you between $11 to $15 a year. A domain name is your very own professional address on the web.
If you’re trying to build your personal brand, choosing a domain name is a no-brainer, you can just put in your name as your blog’s domain name.
I personally had a hard time when I was on my domain name selection stage, I once registered a domain name under my name but then since I missed the renewal, someone hijacked and registered it. So again, if you’re after building your personal brand, reserve your name at Namecheap.com. You can thank me later!
Now that you have your domain name registered, the second obvious step in building a blog is selecting a blogging platform or a content management system. The most widely used blogging platform is WordPress open source project which you can find at www.wordpress.org.
Not only is it a powerful content management system that is used by most of the world’s biggest news blogs like CNN and CNBC, but it’s also free for everyone to use.
So far, you’ve only invested around $11 (or maybe $15) on a blog to build your influence.
The next thing that you will need is a web host, this is where all your blog’s files are stored; you can register for a Webhosting account with Bluehost here.
Most people shy away from building their own websites because they don’t have the necessary web design skills to bring a website to life.
When building a website that drives traffic, design is secondary, what makes you earn online is your website’s ability to drive traffic. In saying this, think of your website as a marketing engine to attract traffic of people who are interested in your products or services.
To do this, you must publish content for questions and problems that your target market is searching for solutions for. This is called content marketing but before this, you must give your blog a design first and there are a lot of WordPress themes that you can use to give your website your desired look and feel.
I use Astra and StudioTheme on my websites, and sometimes I shop themes on Elegant Themes or Themeforest as well.
You can pick one that best matches your brand or the brand that you would build.
Just download a theme and worry about the web design later.
More importantly, you should put most of your sweat equity into producing content for your blog. In saying this, you must write articles about topics that people are searching for.
Building your influence is a long-haul project, you may not earn anything at the start but just keep on chugging along.
Depending on the competitiveness of your niche, it may take years before you establish your influence or personal brand, get clients, or monetize your blog in many ways like selling products or recommending affiliate products but it’s one of the best ways you can build a business and earn money online without investing a lot of money. The bulk of your investment here is sweat equity!
Shoot and Publish Videos
Aside from writing and publishing written content, you can also shoot and publish videos to build your influence and personal brand.
I understand that we all have our own talents and skills. Some people are great with writing while some suck at it but are great with speaking in front of a camera.
If you’re this, you can start building your influence by sharing information in front of a camera. You can then upload these videos on YouTube, and Facebook (through a Facebook page) and have these social media platforms help you spread your message to your target audience.
You can earn money online without investing anything by uploading videos on these platforms. A lot of YouTuber’s make semi-passive income through YouTube ads alone but there are a lot more ways to monetize your brand and influence if you’re popular in these platforms.
Like blogging, you can link to affiliate products, get sponsorships, or even sell your own products online once you have an established audience.
Video publishing is also a long-haul project, much like blogging is. Both build your name and authority. If you’re starting with a bit of capital, you can hire transcription services to transcribe your videos into text which you can also use as articles on your blog.
When publishing videos on sites like YouTube, it’s also a good idea to invest in a blog to have your own platform because, while video publishing is one of the best ways you can build your influence, you don’t own the platform, this means that you can get kicked-out anytime, so it’s always wise to invest in your own platform, and the best way to do this is by investing in your own blog or website.
On your website, you can capture leads by collecting emails, slowly building up your email list. Building up your email list remains one of the best ways to keep in touch with your audience, and it’s one of the best ways to build your influence because we’re living in a time where people read the email more than they read blogs.
There are also plenty of other ways you can leverage videos to build your business like creating video courses or uploading slide presentations on sites like SlideShare (which I recommend as an affiliate marketer and an online entrepreneur).
To Conclude
There are a lot of ways on how you can earn money online; some do require a bit of monetary capital, while some don’t but either way, you must pay something. Whether it is by investing in sweat equity or purchasing traffic to your website, you must give something to be able to earn something.
Building your influence is a long-haul project and it doesn’t happen overnight (You can start by earning through blogging, or publishing videos but the bulk of your investment here is sweat equity! You must invest in yourself before anything).
Once you establish yourself as an authority, you can leverage this authority to include affiliate links, get sponsorships, sell your own products or services.
There is no secret formula on how you can earn money online without investing anything because it’s all about hard work and self-discipline in the long run so I hope this article has given you an idea of what you can do to start earning online if you don’t have capital.
If you feel that this article has been helpful, please don’t hesitate to spread the word by sharing it with your personal contacts or social media account. Alternatively, you can also chip in some ideas that can help others earn money online with little to no capital by writing your thoughts in the comment form below.
