Best ways to make money online and offline for Students

Best ways to make money online and offline for Students

No-risk matched betting

Hands down the quickest way to make a lot of money (well, without breaking the law). Lots of students have genuinely made £100s from this technique. It’s completely legal, risk free, tax free, and anyone can do it.
It works by taking advantage of free bets regularly offered by betting sites (such as PaddyPower.com) through ‘matching’ them at the betting exchange Betfair.com. Matched betting eliminates the risk (you are betting both for and against a certain outcome).
This leaves you being able to squeeze out the free bet, which can be as much as £200! Multiply this by how many betting sites there are and you can quite easily come away with a profit of a few hundred pounds.
Owen walks you through how to make your first £15 profit (using a real life example) in this gem of a guide to matched betting. If you know of any better way to make £30/hr sitting at home, please let us know!

Online surveys

An increasingly popular way for students to make money is to fill out online surveys in their spare time. Research companies are always recruiting new members to answer surveys and test new products.
For a few minutes of form filling, you can make a couple of quid which is paid as cash or in rewards. You can make up to £3 for some surveys!
A few good ones to try are: Toluna, Pinecone, Vivatic, The OpinionPanel, MySurvey, Valued Opinions, SurveyBods, Global Test Market, Hiving, PanelBase, Harris Poll, iPoll, YouGov, New Vista.
Also sign up for Swagbucks.com which rewards you for surveys as well as simply surfing the web, watching videos and playing games.

Paid for searching the web

Interested in earning cash for doing what you already do online? This has to be one of the easiest methods of making money online without really any effort or change in your behavior.
This innovative idea by Qmee.com rewards you for searching in Google, Bing or Yahoo. You just install a simple add-on to your browser and when you conduct a search there may be a few sponsored results alongside your normal search.
Each Qmee result has a cash reward attached – if you are interested in it simply click on it and collect your reward.
The best thing is there is no minimum to cashout – for instance we just wired 72p to our Paypal account. You also have the option to donate it to charity.

Social Investment Networks

The historically hard-to-break world of investing in stock markets and currencies has been cracked wide open. Today there is no need to be a fat cat or fund the yachts of Wolf of Wall Street style stock brokers. You can do it all yourself with the help of free online market trading platforms.
Having spent many hours researching this new opportunity, I’ve been experimenting with eToro.com which has over 300m users worldwide. It was recently featured in the BBC 2 documentary “Traders Millions by the Minute” and the Financial Times.
One of the best things on eToro is the CopyTrader feature. This lets you literally see, follow and copy the investments of other top performing traders. There’s also lots of training material and videos to help you out, and it’s free to create an account and use.
Start trading with a reasonable deposit and learn the ropes slowly. I think $200 is a good amount to get the most out of the learning curve by trying out a few different markets. If nothing else you’ll learn a great deal about various investments and industries.
So far I’m up 28% on my initial deposit of $200, but of course it can be volatile and you can lose money, so don’t throw your life savings into it!

Mobile phone recycling

See how much you can get for your old mobile phone using our in-house mobile phone price comparison tool! Maybe ask your parents if they have any lying around too.
You can get some good money and help the environment by recycling mobile phones with certain companies listed on the comparison tool. Most phones are shipped off to Asia to be dismantled and we know of at least one student who received a £120 cheque in return.

‘Get Paid To’ sites

Similar to making money from online surveys, GPT sites reward you in cash and vouchers for completing various offers or activities online.
The most popular sites today are Toluna, Swagbucks.com, Bank of Offers, InboxPounds and PaidOffers.
Exciting update! We’ll soon be launching our own GPT service for our readers. Invites will be limited and UK only, please join our mailing list if you’re interested in hearing once it’s live:

The ‘Disney Vault’ secret

To keep demand high across generations, Disney Studios carefully restrict the supply of some home release classics. They are locked away in the ‘vault’ for 8-10 years before being released for a short unspecified time.
Buy them in this window at normal retail price and you can turn a nice profit when they go off sale for another decade or so.
For example, in 2011 you could buy Beauty and the Beast on Blu-ray 3D for just £24.99. In just a couple of years it’s now on Amazon for a staggering £74.99!
Importantly, not all Disney releases are subject to the vault and only the true most popular classics will maintain such demand.
Right now there are just 2 titles out of the vault which I would recommend snapping up. They are Bambi Diamond Edition Blu-ray for just £13.50 and Cinderella Diamond Edition Blu-ray for £14.

Start your own website

If you’ve ever seen the film “The Social Network” then you’ve most likely had your brain spinning as to what website you can start-up to make you billions.
And of course there are lots of stories out there about successful students who have started a site while at university, or even bought a domain name and later sold it for 1000s.
In fact, Save the Student is one such example of a website started at university by Owen Burek in his first year, which has since grown into a full-time and successful enterprise.
Read Owen’s 4-step guide to setting up a website if you’re interested in finding out more. It’s really not that difficult to get started and there are plenty of opportunities to make money online.

Write and publish a Kindle eBook

If students are good at anything, it’s researching and writing. With the Amazon Kindle store, anyone can publish an eBook and make money.
And the Kindle app is now available on almost any device (laptops, iPads, smartphones and yes, Kindles) so your global market is huge!
List your book for £1.49 – £6.99 and you earn 70% of the sale. Considering Amazon is the ultimate selling machine (and remember people are looking to spend), that is a fantastic deal.
The key to success with eBooks is to create value, and write non-fiction. Simply bundling information you have researched and complied on a common problem (eg. ‘secrets’ to finding a job) and then presenting it in an easy to digest format (an eBook) justifies someone spending a few quid on it.
Another big tip is to have a great cover designed so it stands out, and once your book is live on the Kindle store (approval takes less than 48 hours) it’s really important to get some reviews so it shows up higher in results. Encourage readers to leave an honest review at the end of your book.
The best thing about this lucrative idea is that once you’ve invested the time (say 20 hours), you’ll earn a passive income for years to come! For a step-by-step guide to publishing and earning with eBooks, see “How to write a nonfiction eBook in 21 days“.

Affiliate marketing

If you’ve got a good presence on social media or perhaps you even have a blog or website, you can start bringing in money immediately by promoting all sorts of companies, products, services and offers online.

Sign up to an affiliate network such as Affiliate Window, check their offers blog or browse the merchant listings to find something you think your friends would be interested in, grab your affiliate link and share it. If someone buys (can be within up to 90 days) using your link you’ll make a nice commission.
To take it a step further, set up a website (read our guide) or a topical Facebook page and invite all your friends to join it and post your affiliate offers on there.

For you How to easy way make money from posting Ads Online

For you How to easy way make money from posting Ads Online

People even wonder how does simple task of posting Ads on the internet over free classified sites will get you money. Yes this is true and it is possible to earn money posting Ads either for you or for someone else.

The real opportunity comes from the fact that there are hundreds of Free Classified sites round the globe which can be used for this purpose. There are thousands of people who visit them just making more than billion hits a day. Those billion impressions are really helpful to make money online.

If you want to see what kind of Ads are sensations you need to do a bit of home work on these online free classified sites. You visit some of the largest online Ad sites to understand the trends.

You need to observe the Ads which nearly catch your attention and then study why these Ads are big hit on the internet. On studying you will understand there is a lot of home work and diligence which lies in the successful Ads underneath

The Important steps involved which are to be taken care in this type of business opportunity are

Choosing Classified Sites

You can either post your Ads on more online classified which receives less visitors or you can choose to post Ads on a few Classified sites which receives more traffic, out of which the second the is the better.

Do some research and come to a conclusion the best online classifies and collect them, get the free membership of them and start to post Ads on them at regular intervals.

Post Ads on the Classified Sites

If you already have a product, website or a service you can directly start promoting by posting the ads of your products.

If you don’t have you own product, you can start promoting the affiliate links in which you have membership in. It works both ways.

Working for Others

If you don’t want to post for your own ads or other affiliate ads you can look into the other options as well. I have seen some reliable sites which pay you 10 cents for every Ad you post on big Ad networks like Craigslist.

You can also start your own service of posting Ads for small companies on a contract basis which really works. You need do a lot of research and need to get hold of good contacts.

Some Important Points Remember
1. Don’t post the same Ad again and again on the same classified site or you will get banned from that site. If you want to post the same Ad on different places on the same classified site you need to change or alter the Heading and the message in the body. You need to be very careful while posting the ads as sites like Craigslist has a limit of 3 Ads per day and should not post the same Ad.

2. The Classified sites will have many check points to see that you are not spamming their networks. If they find you are posting similar Ads in different categories they may flag your Ads as spam and may remove them.

3. Don’t forget to explore Craigslist which is one of the popular classified sites which attracts nearly half the traffic of the classified sites. Have a look at the successful Ads and how they are posted. Imply the same back while you post your own Ads. E-bay is also a good site to look at because when people see your product or service on E-bay they have the perception that the product is genuine

4. When you have multiple accounts for the same classified site you need to take care that you are not caught as the person who is spamming their network. You need to take some precautions like

A. Delete cookies and temp files and re-open your browser before you login with another account

B. Switch I.P address like switching off the internet connection and start again in case you don’t have a fixed I.P assigned to you.

Last but not the least I have seen about a dozen sites which will tell you that they provide the AD posting job which they pay you per Ad posted but you need to pay a Fess up front. Any Ad posting service asking you to pay money upfront is a scam and don’t be fooled by them.

When you have site like that Google that site or search in Yahoo to see for any scams, that way you will understand which site is a good one and which is a scam.

Tips for being a successful freelance writer

Maybe you love to write.  You have some wonderful ideas, know how to craft perfect sentences, and can come up with the most captivating and hooking introductions.  If you seem to have all your writing ducks in line, you may want to look into how to be a freelancer.
Today, more and more magazines, websites, and newspapers are relying on freelance writers to get their work done.  Take Elance, for example.  This popular freelance broker site experienced a consistent growth in past years, with freelance writers rising from around 200,000 in 2012 to 300,000 in 2013.  So how do you join in on the (profitable) fun?  We have the steps that will take you from writing as a hobby to becoming a freelance writer.

How to Be a Freelance Writer

Love to write:  This might seem like a given, but you need to remember that as a freelance writer, you will be writing every day of your life.  Make sure that writing is something that comes to you naturally with fluidity and ease.

• Be original with your writing
• Have good grammar skills
• Be able to express yourself with ease and clarity.

Be self-disciplined:  Because you are going to be in charge of your own time and work schedule, as a freelance writer you should have good self-discipline.  Writing should be something that you look forward to waking up and doing every day, so make sure that it is something you can do without dragging yourself through the motions.
Get a degree:  This is not absolutely necessary, but to market yourself as a freelance writer, it is helpful to have a college degree in English or journalism.  These majors will give you the skills and requirements that you will need to be familiar with as a writer.  Usually companies or contractors will want to take the time out to train a freelance writer, so it may be easier to get a job that you want in a field that you have a degree in.  If you do not have a degree, consider taking a few classes at a community college or online.
Pick a genre or category:  As a writer, you are going to have to decide if you want to freelance fiction or non-fiction.  Non-fiction tends to sell much easier than fiction, so keep this in mind as you are making your choice.
A hobby or job:  As a freelancer, you can be writing for fun, as a hobby, or to make a living.  Decide which of route you want to take and how much time and energy you want to devote towards freelancing.  These decisions will factor in how you treat freelancing.  For instance, if you choose to do it as a full-time job, it will require a lot more effort and time than it would, say, if you did it for fun.
Put yourself out there:  In freelancing, you are going to need to be thirsty for writing jobs, leads, and prospects on a daily basis.  You will have to learn how to market yourself as if you were running your own business.  Freelancing these days is largely done over the internet, which means that a lot of your communication will be done by email.  However, you will still need proper interaction and negotiation skills to connect with your contractors and your audience.
Write a Query letter:  A query letter will explain to your potential employer or contractor the ideas or concepts that you want to write about, as well as a short explanation about your experiences and qualifications as a writer.  Your query letter should be sent to editors, blog owners, or website operators that you want to produce content for.
Be active:  Just because you are writing from home does not mean that you have to become antisocial.  Networking and being active within the writing community is a great way for freelancers to pick up leads and land jobs.  For instance, it may be a good idea to join writing groups or freelance associations in your area to be able to meet other writers, get advice, and establish your credentials. Always be on the lookout for contacts that can help point you in the right direction or that you can look to for advice or mentor-ship down the road.
Money Management:  As a freelancer, you are going to have to have good money management and a proper financial system.  It is likely that you are not initially going to be making big bucks from freelancing.  Here are a few things that you can do to make sure that you keep your financial systems in line:

• Be organized with your writing space and your invoicing, taxes, and accounts.
• Have your deadlines laid out on a calendar so you never miss them.
• Make sure that you have enough work for the month to pay your bills.

Set goals:  If you still have a day job when you go into freelancing, make sure that you do not quit it until you are making enough money from freelancing alone to support your lifestyle.  Remember that as a freelancer, you are not going to be doing the typical 9 to 5 job.  You may have to work on weekends or late into the night to meet your financial needs or word count quota.  See how well you work under pressure during freelancing, because you will likely always have a deadline that you are trying to meet.
Build your portfolio:  Even if you already have a freelancing job, it is important to continue trying to build your portfolio with every chance you get.  Even if you are writing for small, lesser known publications, you are going to want to start a portfolio to be able to show clients or employers down the road that you can produce good work.  There are plenty of ways that you can go about trying to get your work published, even if you are not yet a freelancer.  You can submit articles to online websites, blogs, or even nonprofits.  You might not get any money at first, but you will get a byline.

The Hunt

Once you are in the know of what it takes to be a freelancer, you can begin to start looking for your first freelancing gig!  Here are some steps you can take:

1.    Start contacting people in the industry.  For instance, look for publishers or websites that you think you would like to write for, and read any guidelines that they have.  Make sure you do not send your articles to irrelevant publications.

2.    Know the market that you want to write for, and have content that will show them that you can write accordingly.

3.    Send out your query letters.  However, do not sit back and wait for a response.  Continue sending your work out to other publications until you get a few projects lined up.  Always be on the hunt!

Skills for a Freelancer

As a freelancer, here are some skills you should have:

• Self motivation and self discipline
• Be able to work under pressure and under deadlines
• Be able to wear many hats, such as a: researcher, job seeker, and business consultant.
• Be able to communicate ideas clearly and logically in writing.
• Be a master of the English language.

Begin Your Writing Conquest, Today!

As a freelancer myself, I know the wave of emotions (excitement, frustrations, and relief) that can come with freelancing writing in general.  Freelancing is a wonderful way to entertain and apply your talents as a writer, and there are plenty of opportunities available and content needs that you can look into.  Before you take a dip into the world of freelancing, be sure to brush up on any writing skills that you have with these courses, and get ready to take the writing world by storm!

Most Important tips and tricks to become a successful freelancer

Being a freelancer means a lot of freedom to plan your own days at work, but it also does require discipline and planning. Being your own boss, you need to be good at making the right rules to succeed. Most of these tips sound just like common sense, but actually remembering everything when it’s needed isn’t necessarily as easy as you would think.
Different rules work for different people. Having worked as a freelancer on and off for over ten years, I’ve created this list of my best tips on how to succeed. Maybe you already use several of these or versions of them, great! Hopefully you will also find a tip or three that can help you to succeed in what you do!

1. Make a marketing/business plan

This should be the first thing you do. Even though you have all the info needed in your head, putting it on paper will give many advances and definitely be worth the extra work. Not only will you that way be «forced» to think through important issues and possible challenges before they occur, but it can also be a lot easier for you to get the needed help from potential business partners or investors when you have a good business plan to show them.

2. Plan your days ahead

Allow yourself an hour or so at the beginning of each work week, or the last hour of the previous week to plan the upcoming week. Then it’ll be easier for you to plan how to spend your hours to reach the deadlines you have upcoming. The more ongoing projects you have, the more important this is.

3. Use free software

Starting up as a freelancer can be challenging economically, and by choosing from all available and good free software you can save a lot of costs without necessarily having to give up a lot of functionality. Free doesn’t have to mean it’s not good software, there are more and more options available every day so make sure you check out what can be used related to your business. When you buy a computer, camera, tablet or printer make sure to check out the software that comes with it as well. You may be in for a positive surprise.

4. Create an eye-catching logo

To look professional and catch those potential clients in a tight market requires hard work when it comes to branding yourself. Creating an eye-catching logo (or getting someone to do that for you if you lack the skills yourself) can make you seem more professional and easier to see. The power of a good logo and actually using it on business cards, websites and such will give you that professional look which could be the extra inch needed to catch the attention of a new client.

5. Learn to say NO!

If you don’t have the time for another client at the moment, it’s important to be able to realize it and say no. It is the fairest thing to yourself, your existing client and the new ones that knock on your door. Worst case scenario is saying yes to too many and it having consequences for existing clients. You always want to make sure you have enough time to give your current clients the best service you can. A client too many could be the thing that lowers the quality of  all your work.

6. Make a blog/website

In this Internet age that we are, having a website of your own can mean a whole lot. Not only does it make you look more professional but it is also a gateway to new clients. Many do surf the net to find people for their next projects and if they can’t find you online they won’t know you’re there.

7. Update your website regularly

Do you already have a website or blog? – Great! But to maximize its value to you it’s very important to update it regularly. If new clients visit your site and see that you haven’t updated the content for a very long time that might just be the reason for them to choose someone else instead. Updating regularly will require an hour of your time every now and then but can pay back multiple times rewarding you with new clients.

8. Give your online visitors something free

Giving something extra to the visitors on your website always is a good thing. If you work as a designer you can for example consider putting up some free textures or buttons. This will give your site more visitors and potentially more clients for you. Or how about offering every visitor a percentage off on their first order with you? Again, this could be the extra thing needed to stand out to new clients.

9. Use social media

Social media is where many relationships are made these days. No matter which country you live in, using social media can connect you to potential clients and partners all over the world. Twitter is a must, and you should consider Facebook and also forums related to your business. If you are a designer consider having a look at deviantArt and YouTube aswell. In several of these media you can advertise for your own business as long as you make sure to not spam it too much.

10. Get allies

Having allies can mean everything. Connecting with people through social media or even spreading the word of your business through friends and family can get you just that word out there that you need. Also making relations with people who can do things for the clients that you can’t can help, you give the clients a more complete package of what they need. One day you are the one sending a client to an ally that can offer a more suitable service in that case, the next day you could be the one having clients sent your way.

11. Save for rainy days

Even though your business may go really well, there can and probably will come a bad month or two every now and then. Being a freelancer is being vulnerable to changes in the market. My advice would be to save up a little bit of your income each month, save it in an own savings account so that you have it as a safety buffer for when times get rough. You sure won’t regret doing that. It would be a shame if a couple of small bills would ruin everything for you in a bad month.

12. be creative

There are many ways to be creative, to get new clients or to make better use of equipment and office space. Some examples can be to upgrade an existing computer if you can’t afford a new one, redecorate a spare room if you can’t afford the rent for an office outside of your home. Add a new product or service to your current list or ask friends or family if they know anyone that may be in need of your services. The options are many, all you need is to try think a bit out of the box.

13. Reward loyal customers

If the market is tight you need to do what you can to have your customers back a second and third time. Being friendly and service minded is always a must, but what about giving them a discount the second time? Or sending them special offers of various kinds.Use your fantasy and implement these things into your business plan. Make customers want to come back and you will have the best possible chance to survive

14. Treat every client as if he is the only one

Giving existing customers good offers as mentioned in the previous tip is important. But remember to be service minded. If a customer feels important that will make him more loyal as well. Use positive language when you talk or write to him. Don’t be afraid to say that you will go out of your way to make sure he is satisfied with the product/service he is getting. And remember to let him know that feedback is appreciated. That way you can keep making your services more and more attractive and get happier clients. Don’t forget that existing clients can be the best advertising you ever get!

15. Work when you are at work

If you have decided to work from lets say 8am to 4pm every day, then do so. If you have errands to run, private mail accounts to check, private phone calls to make and so on, these will quickly eat of your much-needed work time. Make a promise to yourself to only do this when you are not supposed to work, as in before or after work or during your lunch break. It may not seem that much to you, but I’ve seen several great freelancers getting their days completely messed up because they were not good enough at managing their time properly.

16. Know when to start and stop

Just as important as actually working when you are at work, is starting when you should and stopping when you should. You may have to prepare yourself for working extra hours every now and then to keep your business alive, but it is very important that you have free time too. You need to recover and get your mind filled with other things or you will get burned out and ruin things for yourself. The more hours you work at once, the less productive you get. So remember to follow your own rules on when to start and stop the day at work.

17. Keep your finances tidy

Keeping your finances tidy probably sounds eassy, and it can be – as long as you keep an eye on them regularly. No matter how small a business you are running you will run into trouble if you only spend time on billing and accounting once or twice a year. Set up dates for when you pay your bills, when you send out invoices to clients and to make monthly budgets. Not only will this make it easier for you throughout the whole year but you will be able to fix errors quicker, do adjustments if needed and so on.

18. Remember to breathe

Breathe you say? Yes ;) And by breathing I mean that you need to take care of yourself. You may be freelancing using a computer or two, a camera or other tools, – but the most important tool will always be yourself. And just like any other tool you will be in need of some defragging and polishing yourself. Remember to continue to spend time on your hobbies, friends and family even if you have a busy work schedule.

19. Get out of the house occasionally (especially if you work from home)

If you have a home based office it’s important to get some fresh air. Book some of your meetings somewhere else, meet business partners for lunch, or spend an hour or two working from a library or coffee shop with your laptop if you can. The change of scenery may boost your energy level/creativity and give you a lot back.

20. Make an inspirational string

Rough days come and rough days go. Simple as it may sound, having something around you to remind you of why you are working this hard can be what you need to get some extra energy on that one difficult day. Make your own inspirational string! Take a piece of string or use a cork board/whiteboard, whichever you have available. Add a picture of your kids, of the vacation spot you are saving to go to, or maybe a car you hope to be able to buy. Add some of your favorite inspirational quotes or pictures, whatever inspires you really. And there you go, your own inspirational string! Taking a look at it when you are close to giving up or when a day is extra stressful can work wonders for you. You should give it a try.

21. be humble

No one is born an expert or world champion. If things go well or you feel on top of things it can be easy to get a little bit too confident, which can be bad for your reputation and bad for the quality of your work. You should always aim to be humble, listen to your clients on what they want. Give them your professional opinion when needed but in the end it is the client that generates your paycheck. Also remember to willingly take advice from colleagues or others who have been in the market for a while.

22. Look professional, in every way possible

You have the logo, the website and so on and things are starting to look pretty good. Remember to also meet clients with respect, look presentable and be polite. Being your own boss doesn’t mean you can talk or act in any way and still keep your clients. Remember that.

23. Ask for feedback

Not only should you have comments enabled on your website but you should also ask your friends/family/allies for feedback on your work. And most important of all, after you have finished your project – asks the client what he thinks. Not only do you get a great chance to improve but the client also feels important. Getting someone else’s opinion is always good and this will help you to become even more successful.

24. Always carry a notebook around with you

It being a normal notebook, your iPhone or any other digital form of “notebook” you should carry it with you and remember to take notes. This is for many reasons. Not only can you unexpectedly run into a potential client or an existing one, but you may come up with valuable ideas when you are on the bus, on the plane or basically anywhere else. Several times have I had amazing ideas, not had a notebook, forgotten the ideas and seen them used somewhere else a year later.

25. Take the time you need!

This is so important, it can’t be mentioned enough.Same as with the tip about learning to say no. Once you have said yes to a project you need to make sure that you take the time needed to do the best you can do. Handing over a project that is half done will not only give you a client who won’t come back, but it can give you a bad reputation. Your clients are your best references to show in the future and no one want a freelancer who leaves the work half-finished.