How to Make Money Online without a Website

This question just in from a reader in India:

“I just want to ask if there is good online money making way without having a website?”

Answer:

Yes, you can earn some income online even if you don’t have a website. Whether you’re able to earn a “good income” or not depends on your skills, your persistence, and where you live. (Money goes a lot further in some places than others.)

Here’s how make money online without a website:

You provide a service.

That service should be based on a skill you already have or could attain.

Here’s a sampling of skills that are in-demand on the Internet:

Web design, graphic design, writing (both articles and sales copy), administrative work, pay-per-click account management.

If you have one of these skills, or you are working toward gaining one of these skills, the next thing you will need to do is find clients who will hire you.

There are a few different avenues you can try:

• Fiverr – This website began as a place where every service was $5. You can be a client by hiring people to perform specific tasks for $5… or you can be a service provider who will perform a specific task for $5. Just about anybody can be a service provider and start making money within a week or two.

• Upwork – Upwork (formerly Elance) is the original (or, at least, the most well-known) website for finding outsourced labor. Again, you can hire people on Upwork, or you can be a service provider and bid on open projects.

• oDesk – This is the other big player in the outsourced labor market. They are Upwork’s primary competitor (as far as I can tell). Offer your services by bidding on projects.

• 99designs – 99designs is similar to Upwork, but the model is a bit different. First, it is primarily for graphic design and web design projects. Clients post projects and designers then submit their designs in an effort to win the prize money. Twenty or more designers may participate in the contest, but only one designer will win the contest — and the full amount of the project.

• Squidoo – Have you heard of Squidoo before? Become a user (it’s free) and you can start creating pages (Squidoo calls them “lenses”) that provide an in-depth look at a particular topic. I built a page about the best copywriting books. You can monetize your pages with Amazon affiliate links, Adsense ads, and a few other things. The page I made has earned $14.07 so far. It’s not much, but you could increase your earnings by creating more pages.

• Zazzle – If you’re an artist, you can set up a free Zazzle store and license your designs and artwork to be printed on a variety of different products. You set your own royalty and get paid on every unit sold.

These are just some of the opportunities I happen to know about. I’m sure there are many more.

You don’t need a website to take advantage of these earning opportunities. All you need is a skill other people are looking for — combined with a bit of persistence.

-Ryan M. Healy