If you love the idea of earning a living at home in your PJs then these genuine ways to make money online in the UK are right up your street!
Making money online can boost your income and be a great side hustle, or it can become a full-time job.
Whether you are strapped for cash or wanting more flexible work, there are so many benefits to working for yourself from home.
This beginner’s guide to making money online from home will give you some brilliant ideas.
Some can be started for free and can make money right away, while others may require some money and time investment upfront (there are no MLM scheme ideas here, you should avoid those like the plague!).
Ways to make money online in the UK include:
- Carrying out surveys and tasks for websites and apps
- Creating your own digital products and selling them
- Starting a website and using it to sell your own products or build an audience you can monetise
- Freelance work you can do from home – graphic design, web design, freelance writing, tutoring, the list is endless!
I firmly believe that everyone – regardless of their skills or education background – can make money online from home.
It may be a case of trying a few different potential money making ideas before finding the thing that works best for you.
One of the most important habits of successful people that I love to remind myself of regularly is that they don’t give up, despite the failures. Most people who have built a successful side hustle or business had quite a few problems or wrong turns along the way.
We’re going to go into more detail about those ways to make money from home below!
Real ways to make money from home
Surveys
Signing up to survey apps and websites is a super easy way to make extra money online.
You don’t need any qualifications or experience in order to do this, companies just want to hear your opinions or more about your lifestyle.
In order to make money this way you will need to be comfortable with telling companies stuff about you – such as where you live (not the full address but a town), how many kids you have and your earnings.
If you can put the time in there’s potential to make hundreds of pounds a month through surveys.
My biggest criticism of this method of earning cash is it’s not the best paid work from home job on this list. Many surveys will earn you just pennies.
My favourite survey apps and sites are:
Read more about the best survey sites in the UK.
Potential earnings: £10 to £150 a month
Test websites
Companies like to seek out feedback from users about their websites for various reasons.
They may want to hear whether the layout works or whether the content is relevant and interesting, among other things.
Testing websites involves going through specific tasks and providing your opinion, so you’ll be expected to provide an articulate view on the site.
You can find website testing tasks through User Testing.
As tasks don’t necessarily come up regularly you will find it very difficult to make a significant income out of this, but it’s a reasonable side hustle.
Potential earnings: £20 to £100 a month
Online tutoring
This is a great side hustle for a teacher or university student to earn some extra money.
It can also transform to a full-time flexible job that you can do from home if you build up regular clients to earn consistent income.
Online tutors are needed for a wide variety of topics and ability levels, from Year Six SATs to music tuition.
There are companies that will connect you with students, such as My Tutor. https://www.mytutor.co.uk/view-tutors/
Alternatively you can set up your own tutoring company and market your specific skills from a website you create yourself.
You may also like these side hustles for teachers.
Potential earnings: £20+ per hour
Start a YouTube channel
There’s an audience for absolutely everything you can think of on YouTube.
You don’t even have to appear in the videos yourself – there are some channels that are super successful just showing hamsters running through mazes. Seriously, you should check those out, they are strangely addictive.
You can earn money through YouTube from the ads placed before, during and after your videos.
The bigger your channel becomes, the more money it can make. It’s best to pick a niche that you will stick with, as this gives subscribers a reason to keep coming back to your channel.
Some good YouTube niches include:
- Beauty and makeup tutorials
- Product reviews
- Workouts
- DIY
It will take some time to get to the point where you can monetise your YouTube channel with ads.
The YouTube monetisation requirements ask you to have 1,000 subscribers and either 4,000 public watch hours in the last year or 10m shorts views in the last 90 days.
However once you join the YouTube Partner Programme your videos can earn money every month!
My YouTube channel makes me between £120 and £300 a month with 6,000 subscribers.
Potential earnings: £100 to £10,000+ a month
Launch your own course
Do you have a skill that you could break down and teach other people? Whether it’s something creative such as painting or technical such as using a particular type of software, there’s a huge market for online courses.
There are various reasons why a customer may purchase a course. It could be they want to get started with a new hobby or to help them launch a new career.
Consider your own skills and what you could share and teacher others. It will take you time to create your course – whether you create written lessons or video lessons.
Most online courses are hosted by platforms such as Kajabi, which has a cost associated with it.
Many people market their courses through social media or an existing audience on a blog or through their mailing list.
I’ve purchased courses in search engine optimisation and how to use Pinterest to drive more traffic to my site.
Potential earnings: £1,000+ per month
Teach English
If you have a second language then this is a huge advantage to making money in this area.
You can teach people English 1:1 in online video chats from all over the world!
However you don’t have to have a second language in order to make money in this way.
The website Cambly will pay you to chat in English to people in order to help them hone their English skills. You do not need to have a second language!
Potential earnings: £10+ an hour
Dropshipping
This method of making money works well if you want to run an online shop but don’t want to fork out for a warehouse to keep the products you will sell.
Dropshipping involves selling products that you do not keep in stock, and instead you act as the third party in any sales between wholesaler or manufacturer and the customer.
What you sell is up to you. It could be that you want to niche down a particular thing, such as products aimed at parents of young children or gadgets.
Getting your business off the ground requires some investment from you to get your online store noticed. For example it’s like you will need to spend money on advertising, such as on Facebook.
Potential earnings: £500+ per month
Buy and resell stuff online
If you have an eye for treasure that other people are keen to discard then this is a great way to make some extra cash!
Buying and reselling stuff does require some knowledge – especially if you are going to specialise in particular items like antiques – and even skill if items need upscaling before you can make a profit.
But it’s a great venture to do from home and can be really good if you have a creative streak.
There are all sorts of things you can flip for cash, from textbooks to furniture.
You may be able to find items you could sell on free, as many people will happily give large items away in exchange for someone collecting it from their home.
Potential earnings: £500+ per month
Online transcription
This online job requires some skills as fast typing is a prerequisite for most companies that offer this work.
You may have to pass a typing test before you can get started with an online transcription agency.
It’s a great flexible option as you can choose what projects you take on and when you do the work, so long as you hit deadlines.
There are lots of tips for getting started with transcription here.
Potential earnings: £10 to £20 an hour
Enter competitions
You won’t make reliable cash from this little side hustle but you may have a bit of fun.
Entering competitions is an easy and low maintenance way to possibly make money and get free stuff.
Compers definitely need a separate email address, as any competition you enter is likely to result in your bombarded with messages!
Dedicated compers will be all over forums and Facebook groups sniffing out good competitions to enter.
The biggest issue with this is there’s no guarantee of making any money at all, although the more competitions you enter the greater your chances.
Publish your own eBook
An eBook could be fiction or non-fiction, fun or informative. Whatever interests you, I believe there is a book somewhere in all of us!
Publishing your own eBook is easy thanks to Amazon, although it will cost you money. Getting it seen and purchased by people is the tough part.
This is where marketing your book on platforms such as TikTok (to the BookTok community!) can help get your book seen.
You can also sell your book as a PDF to your existing audience if you have a social media following or you have a mailing list of subscribers.
Potential earnings: £100+
Carry out online odd jobs
Tasking websites ask you to check out websites, proofread, carry out research, categorise data and much more.
Some tasking sites may require you to venture out of your home – for example Roamler sets you tasks such as taking photos of displays at your local supermarket.
There’s also mystery shopping, which again may require you to leave the house but all of your feedback will be uploaded online.
You won’t make a fortune, but you can boost you income with just a few hours of work a month.
Try Clickworker for online tasks you can do from home.
Potential earnings: £8+ an hour
Become a freelancer
Are you a whizz at graphic design, or can you create a website from scratch? Maybe you have a head for numbers and could oversee someone’s bookkeeping for their business.
Whatever your specific set of skills (gosh that sounded very Liam Neeson of me just then!) there is going to be someone online who would love your help.
It’s possible the job you currently work in could become a freelance job, where you branch out on your own and set up as a sole trader.
Finding clients may feel daunting at first, but once you have started marketing yourself around and found your first couple of clients it can gain momentum.
You could start on the website Fiverr, which connects freelancers with people looking for workers with a particular skillset to help with one-off or ongoing jobs.
The great thing about becoming a freelancer is that you get to set your own working hours. Of course it tends to follow that the more you work, the more you earn.
However if you build up your portfolio and increase your rates you could earn a decent living working less hours than you would in a full-time job.
Potential earnings: £1,000 a month and beyond
Blogging
Starting your own website is not a fast way to earning money online. But it’s my favourite one on this list because it started as a side hustle for me and now brings in a full-time income.
I know of people pulling in five figures a month from their blog, and some of them are travelling the world while doing it or managing to spend more time with their families thanks to the flexibility.
When I talk about making money blogging I favour the niche website approach.
While some people may think a blog is like a kind of online diary, actually the way to approach a blog from a business perspective is to make it a really useful resource on the internet.
Successful niche sites provide helpful, informative content that attracts an audience (preferably from Google searches, but also from social media).
Once they are receiving enough traffic every month, they can then make money from the audience by joining an ad network such as Mediavine or through affiliate sales.
I share lots of tips for getting started with a money making blog in this article.
You can also make money blogging from brands paying to see their products showcased on your site, or for selling links from your articles. With the latter, companies will pay for a link from your site to theirs because it increases their standing in the eyes of Google.
Some bloggers make the vast majority of their money in this way. Check out the results of my survey of how much bloggers earn.
Potential earnings: £1,000 to £10,000+ a month
Flip websites
There are whole marketplaces dedicated to website domain names!
Many people who flip websites will buy one with potential and then sell it on after sprucing it up and improving its earning potential.
The route to making a big success of this type of online work ties in with what I wrote about blogging earlier in this list.
A website’s value will increase if it is receiving more traffic and been monetised with ads.
Some people get lucky with registering certain domain names and doing nothing with them apart from then selling them on.
Read more about website flipping here.
This money maker will require investment in the business upfront and a certain amount of knowledge to ensure you pick the right website to purchase, as well as the skills to improve its value.
Potential earnings: £1,000+ a month
Sell your photographs
There is a huge market online for stock photography and lots of marketplaces where you can sell them.
Some examples include Shutterstock and Creative Market.
Take a look around at what is selling well on those websites and consider whether your photography could service a particular niche.
There’s a demand for stock photos of all sorts of things, from places to food and people to objects.
Potential earnings: £500+ a month
Freelance writing
There are all sorts of different types of freelance writing, from opinion pieces for newspapers to technical articles for industry publications.
What type of freelance writing you do could be influenced by what your old or current day job is. Consider your qualifications and skills when it comes to deciding what your writing niche could be and then market yourself to relevant online and printed publications.
You can read more about becoming a freelance writer here.
Potential earnings: £1,000+ a month
Become a social media influencer
Of all the things on this list I personally think this is the hardest. You’re effectively trying to become famous.
Having said that, even online influencers with small followings of 10k on the social media platforms that are popular with brands – TikTok and Instagram – can make a few hundred pounds a month.
You’ll need to build up an audience by first deciding on exactly what your niche will be.
Whatever your content is about, it should be entertaining – either by evoking a reaction (humour, sentimentality etc) or by educating people.
Building up a following of even a few thousand on these platforms can take years, but if you understand the platforms and know how to tap into viral trends then it can happen much quicker.
Potential earnings: £100 to £1,000+ a month
Play games
Some apps and websites will pay you to play games, while you can also earn money from gaming by starting your own YouTube channel or compete in tournaments.
Apps that pay you to play games won’t make you a fortune, and many will also expect you to take surveys as well in order to earn your payouts.
Potential earnings: £20+ a month
Selling digital products on Etsy
There is a huge amount of demand for digital products on Etsy, from checklists to planners and social media templates.
What you sell on Etsy really depends on your area of expertise and what you’re interested in. For example if you are great with finances then budgeting spreadsheets could be a great digital product for you to design and sell.
Selling printable products on Etsy is one of my latest ventures. I’ve had just a few sales so far but I’m looking to expand it, and when you look at what other people have achieved the earning potential is amazing if you can get your shop visible.
Potential earnings: £500+ a month
Virtual assistant
A virtual assistant is like an executive office assistant who sits at home rather than in the office next door.
They help with a huge range of tasks depending on the type of business or individual enterprise they work for.
Some examples include:
- Replying to emails
- Scheduling appointments
- Creating social media content
- Scheduling social media content
- Writing emails
- Proofreading reports
- Organising travel
Being a virtual assistant could be a full-time job, but many people are looking for help that only takes up a few hours a week, making it a good flexible option.
Potential earnings: £500+ per month
Tips for making money online
Now you’ve seen a few ideas for making money on the internet, here are a few tips for making these ideas work for you.
Cashout ASAP
When it comes to using online surveys and tasking sites, or anything that holds your payments for the work you do, it’s important to take out your cash as soon as you can.
Many survey and tasking apps will have a threshold that you need to meet before you can withdraw your money, usually around the £5 mark.
Don’t forget to withdraw your earnings, as companies could go bust or your account could lapse if you don’t use it often.
Try out different things
Don’t be afraid to try out different side hustles and roles to find something that works.
It could be that you need to learn a new skill to do the online job of your dreams.
Research what it will take for you to get started with the role you want to do, and figure out a plan of action to get you there.
Create a fresh email address
It’s sensible to separate your personal emails from your working emails, just from a practical point or view and to help you cope with the volume of messages.
