Make money online without spending a dime
5. Surveys
As inglorious a means of making money online as you’re ever likely to find, completing market research surveys for cash is time-consuming, invasive and very, very dull. It also happens to be very effective. Opportunities in this field are virtually endless too, with literally thousands of research groups vying for your time and attention. Some of the most frequently recommended sites include YouGov, Survey Spot, American Consumer Opinion, and Lightspeed Consumer Panel. WikiAnswers also maintains a list of legitimate survey research companies along with some helpful pointers on how to go tell the losers from the winners.
6. Games
Believe it or not, it is possible to make money simply by playing computer games. Second Life, one of a range of so-called massively multi-player online games, allows users to both buy in-game currency called Linden dollars (a name derived from its creator, Linden Labs) and later exchange any amount amassed within the game back into real-world funds. Ailin Graef made the headlines in 2006 having claimed that her in-game avatar, Anshe Chung, had generated enough resources to allow her to be classified as a millionaire in reality. Other prospects include Moola, which claims to pay players over five million pounds for the straightforward task of winning thirty of its games in a row. Perhaps tellingly, the grand prize is yet to be claimed.
7. Freelancing
If you have a talent – be it for writing, graphic design or even programming – online freelancing will allow you to exploit it for a handsome profit. Services such as Elance and oDesk advertise outsourced remote working opportunities on behalf of thousands of companies and allow members to sign up to assignments according to their desired criteria. Naturally, there’s a catch – said services also take a cut of up to 15 per cent of your potential earnings. Depending on your skills and availability though, there is a lot of money to be made in this fashion, with the fastest-growing fields – like document translation – paying the best rates.