As long as you have the inclination, a little bit of expertise and some free time, you can earn some money on the Internet from the comfort of your own home. ET highlights some popular ways to make that quick extra buck:
Self publish books
If you love writing and want to get a book published, Amazon offers a free service called Kindle Direct Publishing. The service allows anyone to self publish books on the Kindle (electronic) bookstore and earn royalties from sales. There are two plans you can choose from — the 35% royalty works across any book sold in any country) while the 70% royalty plans works if you sell in a few select countries. Indian authors can choose to set prices specifically for the Indian bookstore and receive royalty payments in Indian currency as well.
Make & sell your apps
With so many smartphones and tablets, app development can be a very lucrative business. You can learn about developing apps online — there are various tutorials available for free. That's the easy part — the hard part is coming up with an idea that 'clicks'. Once you make an app, submit it to the respective app store, set a price and choose whether you want to earn from inapp advertising. Your earnings, after deducting the appropriate fees, will be paid monthly.
Sell your photos Online
Numerous stock websites like www.shutterstock. com, www.shutterpoint.com and www. istockphoto.com host photographs submitted by members. Depending on the site's policy, you can earn between a 15 to 85% royalty on each sale. The better the quality of photos and the larger your online portfolio, the more you will sell. Usually, each photograph you want to upload will have to be 'selected' by them first — and they usually have strict requirements of what can or cannot go on sale.
Sell old stuff online
An easy way to earn some money on the Internet is by selling old stuff that you have around the house. Websites like www.olx.in, www.quickr.com & http://craigslist.co.in provide a free classifieds platform. You need to create an account, enter the product details, location, the expected price along with some photographs — listing usually go live within a couple of hours. Interested buyers can directly contact you and finalise the sale.
Start an online shop
With some creativity, you can learn to make handicrafts or if you know a wholesale dealer, purchase unique things at low prices. Once you have some stock ready, you can set up an online shop to sell these goods on sites like www.ebay.in or www.indiebazaar.com.
Both sites have a simple signup process. After you get verified as a seller, they provide you with a step-by-step wizard to set your online store (how to add photos & details of items you want to sell).
Work online for money
The internet is full of bogus companies that promise to pay you for work but never will. For instance, all places that offer money to fill surveys or those that require payment up front are scammers. Two popular & reliable places to find work are www. odesk.com and www.elance.com.
Both have a similar system: set up a profile and take tests to prove your proficiency in certain areas. Once done, you'll be listed as a contractor/freelancer and people can hire you for an hourly rate. You can get paid more by working hard, getting better at what you do and getting good feedback (ratings) from your clients.
E-Tutoring
If you are fluent in any subject and have some tutoring experience, you can sign up on websites like www.2tion.net or www.tutorvista.com as an online tutor. The sites require you to create a tutor profile with details such as the subjects in which you are fluent, what classes/courses you want to teach, your experience level, preferred timings for tutions and the remuneration expected.
After verification, the site lists your profile on their portal where interested students can connect with you for tuitions. You can opt for virtual workspaces with built in teaching aids like live chat and collaborative whiteboards. Once you get better at tutoring, you can increase your monthly earnings by teaching multiple students simultaneously.
Earn from Advertising
A reliable way to earn money is from Google AdSense on your blog/website or ads on your YouTube channel. To get started, create a Google AdSense account at www. google.com/adsense. You can use the same account with your blog, website or YouTube channel. To maximise earnings from your blog or website, your objective needs to be to get the maximum number of visitors possible.
Write about what you know and what you're passionate about. On YouTube, make sure that your videos are original and interesting. Promote your channel to get more views. Apart from views, your objective should also be to get more people to like/favourite your video and to subscribe to your channel. The build up will be slow and Google only makes payments once your balance crosses $100, so don't get disheartened. Persistent efforts pay off in the long run.
Rough estimates of how much a newcomer can expect to earn in a month
Self publish books upto Rs 15,000
Make and sell apps upto Rs 50,000
Sell photos online upto Rs 10,000
Sell old stuff online upto Rs 50,000
Start an online shop upto Rs 25,000
E-tutoring upto Rs 10,000
Earn from advertising upto Rs 5,000
Work online for money upto Rs 30,000