How to Make Money Online: 17 Real Ways to Earn Extra Money Working from Home

Are you looking for real ways to make money from home? Maybe you're now working from home full-time, and are looking to add to that income with side projects? If you are interested in legitimate ways to earn money online, then you have come to the right place.

Since 2012, I have worked from home (sometimes with a baby in my lap), making money online as a freelance writer. Over the years, I learned how to find ways to make extra money from home to supplement my freelance writing income.

Before you start to worry - you don't have to be a freelance writer to make money online. While some of the options listed are suitable for writers, there are plenty of other ways to earn money from home.

In this post, I'm going to share 17 real ways you can make money from home.

1. Find legit work-from-home jobs on Google

Are you looking for a legit work from home job? Chances are, you can find a work from home job on Google Jobs. You'll find remote job opportunities in customer service, computers, data entry, marketing, medical billing & coding, programming, sales, teaching, translation, and other fields.

2. Search "work from home" on ZipRecruiter

Another job site that allows you to search for work from home jobs is ZipRecruiter. Simply search for the job title you want along with remote or "work from home" in quotes. Change the location to Any Distance from you to get the most results.

3. The Penny Hoarder job board

The Penny Hoarder Job Board has strict guidelines for companies posting to their site. So if you see a work from home job listing you like, definitely apply!

4. Work from home with startups

Angel.co allows you to create a profile and search for remote jobs with startups throughout the world. Be sure to use the filters to specify salary and other job requirements.

5. Find Fortune 500 companies hiring remotely on PowertoFly

Want a remote or flexible job with companies like Google, Microsoft, Dell, Facebook, or American Express? Find some of the best work from home opportunities listed on PowertoFly.

6. Find flexible jobs with FlexJobs

FlexJobs offers work from home jobs, freelance jobs, part time jobs, full time jobs, and on-site jobs with flexible schedules. If you see a category that you have experience in that has work from home opportunities, search for them on FlexJobs.

Note that this is not a free service - they offer subscription options from $6.95 for a week to $49.95 for a year.

7. Sell almost any skill on Fiverr

Fiverr allows everyone to become a freelancer and sell services in any one of over 300 categories. Here are some of the services you could offer.

• Business services include business plan writing, career advice, data entry, HR consulting, market research, project management, and virtual assisting.

• Digital marketing services include content marketing, ecommerce marketing, email marketing, podcasting, search marketing, social media marketing, and web analytics.

• Graphics & design services include book design, building models, business card design, cartoons, illustration, logo design, storyboards, tattoo designs, and vector tracing.

• Lifestyle services include arts & crafts, astrology readings, celebrity impersonations, family & genealogy tracing, health advice, relationship advice, and spiritual advice.

• Music services include audiobook production, audio editing, jingles, mixes, online music lessons, and voiceovers.

• Programming & tech services including chatbots, cyber security, data analysis, desktop apps, file conversion, game development, mobile apps, website development, and WordPress consulting.

• Writing & translation services include articles, blog posts, book writing, creative writing, poetry, resume writing, and scriptwriting.

8. Find work in over 1,350+ categories on Freelancer

Freelancer.com currently has over 22,000 programming jobs, 6,700 writing jobs, 18,000 design jobs, 4,400 data entry jobs, 2,600 engineering jobs, 3,400 sales jobs, 1,200 business jobs, and 1,600 translation jobs available.

9. Get in front of 5M businesses with Upwork

Over 5 million businesses use Upwork to find freelancers in a variety of categories. The basics include accounting, admin support, consulting, customer service, data science & analytics, design, engineering, IT & networking, legal marketing, sales, translation, web/mobile/software development, and writing.

10. Join 2.3M remote workers on PeoplePerHour

4,701 out of 5,004 jobs currently listed at PeoplePerHour are remote. If you're looking for a work from home job in admin, business support, creative arts, design, marketing, mobile, search, social media, software development, translation, tutorials, video, web development, or writing, be sure to browse their job listings.

11. Be part of the top 3%

Are you an exceptional freelance software developer, designer, finance expert, product manager, or project manager? Toptal connects their clients with the top 3% of freelancers that apply to join their network. Freelancers are screened based on their English-speaking skills, personality, in-depth skill knowledge, live screening, and a test project.

12. Lend your Voice

Do you consider your voice to be approachable, authentic, believable, conversational, and friendly? Do you think you would be a good announcer, businessman, instructor, narrator, or storyteller? If so, Voices.com can connect you to a business looking for your vocal skills.

13. Write for Vocal

Vocal creators receive $3.80 per 1,000 reads—or $6 per 1,000 reads if you're a Vocal+ member. In other words, you write some great stories, promote them successfully, and you'll be able to sit back and watch your earnings accrue over time.

Because Vocal creators are able to track the performance of their stories, it can help creators who want to get better at what they do hone their craft and see what audiences and readers respond to best. Plus, creators can collect tips from readers of anywhere between $1 and $20, adding to those extra earnings. It's a great option for storytellers who don't want to run and code their own blog, or any creator that just wants to earn some extra income on the side.

14. Make money online while you shop online

Most people don’t think about making money while spending money. But if you're not saving money when possible, you're not getting the most out of the money you're making.

The following apps will give you cash back via PayPal, Amazon gift cards, or gift cards to your other favorite online retailers when you shop online. Since we'll be doing a lot of online shopping, it only makes sense to save some while we do it.

Here are some of the top savings apps to sure when shopping with your favorite online retailers. Follow the directions on each app to ensure that you get credit for your online shopping experience to get your cash back.

• Ibotta (my referral link) offers cash back when you shop at dozens of online retailers including Advance Auto Parts, Amazon, Apple, AT&T, BarkBox, BestBuy, Cabela's, Capser, Coach, Dominos, DoorDash, Ebay, and many others.

• Drop (my referral link) offers points when you shop at online retailers including Disney+, Groupon, Safeway, Sephora, Uber Eats, Walmart, Warby Parker, and many others. Redeem points for gift cards to Apple, Amazon, and other popular online retailers.

• Dosh (my referral link) offers cash back when you shop at dozens of online retailers including Aeropostale, Apple Music, 1-800-Flowers, BarkBox, DoorDash, Instacart, Sams Club, Walmart Grocery, Walgreens, and many others.

15. Use your referral links to make money online

In a few places, you may have noticed I shared a link, and then remarked that it was a referral link. Referral links are links that companies give you as an incentive to get you to drive them more business. In return, they offer you a commission.

For example, if you're a new user of the Walmart Grocery app, you have a referral link inside your app. This will give you and the person you refer $10 off an order. It's a win-win situation.

If you join the above-mentioned services to get money back from online shopping - Ibotta, Drop, and Dosh - you'll have referral links for those too. By sharing the referral links, your friends will start saving money and you'll start making money!

Look inside other services you use too - food delivery services like GrubHub have referral links. Just look at your account settings for services like these and find the option to refer a friend. And start making a little extra money for those meal deliveries.

16. Step into affiliate marketing

The next step from using referral links to make a little extra money online is to move into the world of affiliate marketing. It's basically the same thing. But instead of sharing your favorite grocery or money saving apps, you're going to start sharing your favorite products, tools, and services.

Here's a perfect starter example. Amazon allows people to sign up to be affiliates and promote their products through their Amazon Associates program. Once you have signed up, you can start sharing links to your favorite products with your friends and family through texts, emails, or your website.

Amazon makes it simple by putting an Associates banner on your Amazon page so you can grab your custom referral links easily.

Walmart, Target, Best Buy, JOANNs, Petco, and Home Depot are just a few examples of major retailers that have affiliate programs. You can also search for the brand name of any product or service you use along with the terms affiliate program or referral program. That way, you can see if you can make money promoting something you already know and love.

17. Test websites and apps with UserTesting

Get paid by UserTesting.com for completing a set of user testing tasks for upcoming websites and apps. You'll help create an Internet full of better user experiences by simply watching videos, answering questions, and testing out features on websites and apps to see how they work.

Bonus: Make money online with surveys

I'll add this last one as a bonus because the amount of money you can make online with surveys depends on your demographics. Some people will get more surveys than others, meaning some will earn more from taking surveys than others.

With that said, do you want to try your hand at some surveys during your free time? When you've got some down time, you can try surveys from Google Opinion Rewards, Facebook Viewpoints, and SurveyMonkey Rewards.

Others that people have had luck with include InboxDollars (with a free $5 bonus), SurveyJunkie, and Swagbucks. Be sure to review the rules for each service. Some pay via PayPal, gift card, or other transfer service. You should set up your payment options prior to completing surveys to ensure timely payment.