6 Easy Ways to Make Money Online Without a Website

easy ways to make money online without a website

As a self-proclaimed internet entrepreneur extraordinaire (excuse the hyperbole), I believe that owning a blog is the best way to make a living online. I always say that if you’re serious about making money online, you need a website.

Well, today I’m breaking character and telling you that that’s not necessarily true.

Yes, you don’t always need a website to make money. There, I said it.

Actually, there are lots of ways to do it. They might not be as good as blogging, but they work. So let me show 6 easy ways to make money online without a website.

Surveys

Alright, let me start with the obvious. We’ve all seen the hype. Surveys can make you money, and easily too. I mean, you just answer questions about yourself.

You can earn a few dollars, or maybe even a gift card or two, so surveys were making this list no matter what.

There are tons of survey sites online, like Opinion Outpost and SwagBucks. Millions of people use them too. And hey, why not? Who wouldn’t want to spend a day filling out surveys? waste of time

If you’re new to the world on online income, you may think surveys are a dream come true. But let me tell you, they’re really not. As a matter of fact, I don’t think they’re worth it at all.

Truth is, nearly everyone starts out doing surveys, only to move on. They’re just too slow and unreliable to make a difference. At most you can make like $3 per survey, and an opportunity like that comes along once in a blue moon.

But the worst part is the time you spend. You can easily burn hours on surveys, for only a few bucks, if you even finished them at all.

Still, surveys are legit ways to make a buck or two, so feel free to try them out. Don’t expect more than about $10 a month, though!

Selling Photos/Art on Shutterstock

Do you love taking photos? Many of us probably do. We are in the Instagram/Snapchat era, after all.

This is a pretty uncommon shtick, but it works! You simply sign up to Shutterstock, and post your photos. Then, whenever someone uses the photo, you get a share of the revenue.

stock image snow

You can see how useful this is to photographers who want more eyes on their work. I’ve met quite a few amateurs who would love this idea.

If you’ve browsed SS before, you’d know that lots of photos really aren’t that impressive. Shutterstock, right? So if you have at least some skill…

You can also submit paintings and other artwork, if you’re into that.

Now, this isn’t that reliable. Come on, does anyone actually buy photos from Shutterstock? I never met anyone who’s done so. Plus, there’s a ton of photographers on the site already, so competition is high.

But that doesn’t mean it’s unheard of. There’s definitely a chance to make some money with this. If you have a knack for pictures, why not submit some?

Designing T-Shirts (And Other Stuff)

Are you a fan of Marvel, Dragon Ball, or Nintendo? Or maybe DC?… Spongebob? These are just some franchises that have a huge community of fanmade merchandise, most notably t-shirts.

teespring dragon ball z
There’s actually way more than just Dragon Ball shirts. You find a shirt in literally any category. Check them out!

If you have a design in mind, you can actually sign up with a company like Teespring and slap it on a shirt. Then, the company puts it on sale. When someone buys the shirt, you earn a percentage.

That’s it! You don’t need to worry about shipping, manufacturing, or any of that! And most importantly, no website needed!

Keep in mind that t-shirts are only one example. You can design phone cases, mugs, and much more.

Teespring is the most popular marketplace, but Zazzle and Redbubble are great alternatives. Between the three, you can design pretty much anything.

The most successful t-shirt sellers make a living doing this. If you’re creative, this can be a really easy way to make some money. If you have a following on social media, it’s even easier.

Posting Links

On marketplaces like ClickBank and JVZoo, there’s program after program promising big bucks just for posting links online. The misinformation is real, to the point that rookies consider it legit.

Some sales pages even say you can earn $10 per link!

Now, I will admit you can get paid for posting links around the internet. But the pay is nowhere near what the scams spew.

First, you’d be lucky to earn a nickel for a link. Pay is horrible and you’d be competing with people from India and China and the like, who’re willing to be paid less.

facebook movie link spam
Is it really worth it?

Next, there’s the fact that backlinks are no longer as useful as they once were. Google has made it so that link building kills your ranking. The companies paying people to post links are either stupid or ignorant to do so.

Even ignoring everything I just mentioned, link-posting still makes you a spammer. You post scammy links on social media, comment sections, and more. No one likes that. You really wanna be a Facebook “movie link” guy?

Don’t even try this. It puts surveys to shame in the ‘waste of time’ department. I pretty much put this on the list to warn you to keep away from it. Consider me your guardian blogger.

….sorry for any cringe that might have caused.

Amazon Mechanical Turk

We all know how to make money on Amazon. You can be an affiliate and promote their products, or sell directly on the site. Those aren’t exactly ‘easy’ ways, though.

But there is another way to work on Amazon, you know. Mechanical Turk is a program that lets you perform tasks that computers can’t do.amazon mechanical turk

You know, like describing the color of clothes, or transcribe a video/image. A.I isn’t perfect!

You might have guessed that these tasks pay very little. Still, I consider this to be better than the surveys. Some jobs pay more than $50. You would have to be a ‘Turk’ for quite a while to get to that level, though.

Freelancing

I consider this to be the best ‘easy’ way, since you just do what you’re good at.

Graphic design? Writing? Translating? As a freelancer, you sell your skills. On the internet, this is very easy. You can thank marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork for that.

Specifically, I find that Fiverr offers a good starting point. You’re pretty much guaranteed to find someone who wants a job. Plus, $5 is the standard, so you won’t have to start at zero (believe me, this is possible).

Freelancing isn’t perfect, however. When you start out, it could be a challenge to really break out. But it’s not really that hard to get started, and once you have experience, you can charge more.

Of all the methods on this list, freelancing is the most lucrative. Many people make a living doing it. It’s active income, but it sure beats a 9-5!

An ‘Easy’ Conclusion

There you have it. Six easy ways to make money online without a website.

While some of these can provide you with good money and maybe a decent income, I still recommend starting a website. It’s basically necessary for any online business.

I know that websites are, like, the #1 fear of beginners, but I can tell you firsthand: it’s way easier than you think. I even show you how to start one here. It’s shockingly easy!

Having said that, some of these are worth a try if you’re up to it. Just stay away from those links, alright?

What do you think of the list? Do you have any easy ways of your own that you’d like to add? I hope so! If you have any questions, leave a comment below!

And if you liked the article, please share it on social media!

Your ally in easiness,

-Makki

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16 thoughts on “6 Easy Ways to Make Money Online Without a Website

  1. Well, after reading your article I think that freelancing is the most lucrative job, as you say.
    I don’t think I would have spend time on just loose change. It just wouldn’t be worth it. And there’s something else to consider. If I decided to join some of this program I wouldn’t earn any money in the beginning. It would be hard economically.
    Thanks for sharing.

    Tove

    1. You definitely have a point there Tove. If you’re gonna invest a lot of time in something, it should be profitable in the long run. That’s why owning a website is key. But, I feel some of these methods have potential, if they’re used correctly. Thanks for reading!

  2. Hi Makki,

    Great list! I haven’t heard of Mechanical Turk until now, so I’ll check it out.

    Have you considered developing your own “how to” training course and selling it on Udemy?

    Thanks for the information 🙂

    1. No problem! Mechanical Turk is kinda mundane, but it’s worth a look if you’re bored.

      I actually have! It’s still in the planning stages though, and with my procrastination skills it’s probably a long way out. Hopefully I can get to it soon!

  3. Makki – Thanks for the list, I have looked at some of the methods you outline above but have settled on blogging. I feel there is no real easy way of maknig money online. You get out what you put in.
    With blogging you aren’t selling, you recommend what you know well and think others will benefit from. The same as you state above.
    Do you agree that it is worth getting multiple streams of income rather than one as we are conditioned to get? If you were to recommend multiple methods what would they be?
    Many thanks in advance,
    Phil

    1. That’s a good choice you made Phil. Just like in the offline business world, real money online comes through work and patience. These tricks have their uses, but most of them don’t have much potential.

      It’s absolutely worth it to get multiple streams. I can’t recommend it more. You should never rely on one thing for most of your income. I personally recommend:

      -A blog (for affiliate marketing and ad revenue)
      -Publishing on Kindle
      -Shopify/eBay/Amazon store
      -Building a following on social media (to help your other efforts)

      That’s off the top of my head, but there are way more. I’m not saying to do all these at once though. Once you’ve firmly established one source, it’s a good idea to start another one. Hope this helps!

  4. Well I never knew…

    This just proves the point that you learn something awesome each day if you go out of your own way to look for it 😉

    I will look into the different ways to make money without a website.

    Obviously our main goal is to make a full-time income from our sites but these can be used as “on the side” incomes =)

    1. Hi Lawrence! You really can find some cool tricks if you look hard enough. But most of these are hard to miss, admittedly. And yes, these can supplement your income if you know how to use them. Thanks for reading!

  5. Some of these I have not heard of. I did not know that you could use TeeSpring to design your own t-shirts and they sell them for you. I was actually thinking of marketing my website with a design like this. I have also tried surveys and a lot if them I was not even qualified for so that was a waste of time. The survey site I tried was Inbox Dollars.
    I have read reviews of how links are not what they seem. I was considering that at one point but after researching, steered clear of it. I had seen advertisements of stay at home moms doing link posting but knew it was too good to be true.
    Selling photos online sounds like it would be a waste since people usually buy photos elsewhere. I have friends that are with Shutterstock but never mention anything about buying photos.
    This is a good read. It was informative for me as there were a lot of stuff I did not know about. Thanks!

    1. Hey Jana! T-shirts are an awesome idea for a promotion. Especially if your design is a good one. On the other hand, surveys are indeed almost useless. I tried out InboxDollars as well and I got nowhere with the extremely selective qualification.

      Those “stay at home” link-posting moms are a huge lie. You were right to avoid them. Links are by far the worst way to make money, if you even get paid in the first place.

      As I said in the article, selling photos can be hit or miss. I also don’t know of many people buying photos. But it’s worth a try at least. Glad to see you found the article useful!

      Cheers!

  6. An amazing post with some great practical AND easy suggestions for people to make money online without a website. Great stuff indeed. Obviously, the pay will not be as high but that should be expected. Awesome sauce.
    Thank you for the enlightening post
    Simon

    1. Yeah, none of this stuff is life-changing, but it is easy. Actually, freelancing is a legitimate thing, but if you’re the kind who refuses to get a website, you’d also be the kind to be unable to keep up with the demands of the freelancing world. Anyway, I’m glad you liked the post Simon. Thanks!

  7. Hey Makki!

    These are all great ideas and I appreciate your honesty toward them. Overall it seems like affiliate marketing is the way to go!

    Cheers,

    Dustin

  8. Great list and I agree with you some of them you have to do a lot of work to get any return. Surveys is the worst, I did that and by the time you fill out pages of answers to questions and get to the end they tell you that you are not the demographic you are looking for. They should tell you that in the first page not the last. Thanks for the tips.

    1. I hate that part so much. It’s what finally turned me off of the idea of “quick money.” Having to go through all that just to be told it was for nothing? No thanks. I’d rather invest that time into a good post. Thanks for commenting!

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