How to make money online in the UK today – 20 genuine ideas

Whether you are looking to replace a full time job or start a side hustle to top up your income, this guide will show you genuine ways how to make money online in the UK.

Ways to make money online in the UK

There are plenty of decent ways to make money online from the comfort of your own home.

Brits earn around £5,000 a year from doing jobs away from their main income! But, you could even earn a full time income from online work.

We’ve been making money online in various ways for over 10 years, working from home or in a cafe and having a flexible life around family and business.

Making cash online not only gives us a huge amount of freedom on our terms, but it also led us to eventually build a passive income where we make money in our sleep.

More and more people are now earning money working from home, both for themselves and their regular employers.

With this in mind, there has never been a better time for you to start earning money online.

How to make money at home

Online surveys

A popular and super-easy way to make money online is by participating in online paid surveys.

I enjoy doing them as they can take anywhere from one minute to 10 minutes, and I can be sat on the sofa with something on Netflix at the same time.

It’s just a matter of filling in a few forms and giving your opinion, and then I get paid in cash. I regularly get paid £2.50 (and more) for doing each survey.

Start with Swagbucks as you get a FREE £10 welcome bonus!

Then these three survey panels are decent to get going: LifePoints, YouGov and Opinion Outpost.

Check out our full guide on the best paid online surveys for the best of the rest.

You could expect to earn up to £200 in extra money a month in your bank account or PayPal account if you sign up and take part in multiple survey sites.

Paid for searching the web

Search the web and get paid for it. Sounds simple, and it actually is. 

Right now, a number of legitimate companies, such as Qmee.com pay you for what you do already – search online. 

All you have to do is sign up to Qmee, install their spam-free browser extension, and you are all set. 

Now, when you search for something online – if relevant – Qmee will provide you with search results which you can click on for free money. 

A typical payment is between 4p – 15p, and you can cash out immediately as there are no minimum withdrawal limits.

Get paid for searching the web with these other companies and start boosting your bank balance today.

Start a blog

A blog is a great money making idea that can be a serious way to earn money in your spare time.

If you’re looking for success stories, take Skint Dad as just one example.

We set up a blog one evening from the kitchen table, and it’s now a full-blown online business, earning us thousands of pounds in passive income every month.

You can start a blog quickly with Bluehost, and it’s cheap to get going.

With your own website, you can make money through advertising, sponsorship, affiliate networks/marketing, or even create your own products to sell to your audience.

Flip items

The resale market is worth billions, so why not get in on the act?

All you need to do is buy low and sell high, which all sounds easy enough.

It’s an easy way to make extra money online as you can buy online, and then sell online.

But what do you choose to sell? We’ve looked into the best things to buy and sell for profit (UK).

Use your social media “influence”

You might think you’re not an “influencer”, but anyone with a friend online can be a micro-influencer and earn money.

Whether you have your own YouTube channel or have a few followers on Instagram, TikTok or Twitter, one easy way ways you can make money is with affiliate marketing.

You can make immediate money by promoting the services or products from another company, whether it be food, clothes or switching energy companies directly through your social media accounts.

Get started with the Amazon affiliate program and sign up with AWIN, which are a couple of the best platforms, then share affiliate links. There are more affiliate networks listed here.

When someone clicks on your link and buys something, you will earn a commission.

Sell crafts online

It’s super-easy to start a shop on Etsy and then sell your crafts to interested customers.

While you could start your own website, Etsy will take care of any listing and tech work for you, so you can concentrate on crafting jewellery, art, or any other handmade items.

They do take a small cut of your profits, so I always think it’s a good idea to sell yourself if you can too. Instagram is a great way to get free advertising, promotion, and your products in front of people as it’s such a visual platform.

Free money

Have you heard the famous saying: “nothing in life is free”? Well, that’s not entirely true. All over the internet, there are opportunities to get hold of free money. 

The free money is usually from companies who want you to sign up for their service/product in the hope you become a long-term user. And for this, they sometimes offer a cash incentive.

A few of my favourite free money offers include £16 free cashback from Quidco when you subscribe to our weekly newsletter and a £10 sign up bonus from Swagbucks.

Check out our guide to free money offers for everything you need to get cash in your pocket today.

Review websites and apps for cash

Ever hate how a website or app works but don’t think you can do anything about it?

Well, that can now change.

You’re not only able to share your thoughts (the good and bad) about websites and apps, but you can also get paid for your opinions.

Paid web testing sites

• usertesting.com – Earn $4 for every 5-minute test, $10 USD for every 20-minute test and between $30 USD to $120 USD for live interviews.
• userlytics.com – Earn between $5 and $90, depending on the project.
• intellizoom.com – Earn between $2 and $10 per study.
• usefeel.com – Earn $10 for each test.
• utest.com – Payout unknown.

Paid app testing sites

• betafamily.com – Earn between $5 and $20 per test.
• ferpection.com – Earn between $10 – $20 per test.

Get paid to play games

There are places where you can make money online and simply play games.

The sites earn money through adverts and pay some of their revenue back to you.

Start off with Swagbucks, Toluna and InboxPounds, which are some of my favourites.

The majority of these sites pay you via PayPal or virtual gift cards from various retailers.

> Sign up to Swagbucks here for a £10 welcome bonus!

Sell your photos to get extra cash

Ever wonder where images on websites, blogs or marketing material come from?

Someone takes the photo and will earn money when someone else buys it.

Anyone with a smartphone has a pretty decent camera in hand, so you can take some stunning photos or even boring ones – if they sell, does it matter what you’re taking photos of?

Sell images to stock photography websites like Shutterstock or iStockphoto.

When they sell your photos, you earn royalties, although it may only be a few pennies at a time.

To make good money, you will need a lot of photos uploaded, so get snapping!

Flip domain names

Good money can be made by buying and selling domain names.

You don’t need to have an actual website – you initially buy a .com, .co.uk or even a .net that hasn’t been registered but you think someone may really want and just hold onto them.

They are cheap to buy too and start from a few quid.

When the internet first got popular, getting hold of domain names was easier, but lots have been taken.

But, there are still endless possibilities of domains that have never been registered.

Get paid to watch videos

Instead of just completing surveys or tasks, there are places you can make money online when you watch videos online.

Join sites like WeAre8 app that pay you for watching videos. I’ve found that payments are relatively low, but you aren’t giving much of your free time, and they do start to add up.

You will get paid via PayPal.

Check out all the ways you can watch ads for money here.

Become a reseller

Buy low, sell high.

Seems easier enough to say, but where do you start, and what items sell?

What about if you could buy stuff mega cheap in the first place? This would give you more chance of selling for a decent profit.

There are plenty of wholesale sites where you can find products to sell.

However, why not look at a cheaper option of return pallets and reselling ex-catalogue and liquidated stock?

You can even legally buy stolen goods from police auctions to resell online. These are items that the Police haven’t been able to return to their rightful owners.

Get paid to make videos on YouTube

If you’re happy being on the other side of the camera, why not make money with YouTube?

You can get started for free with the camera on your phone.

You can earn cash online from people watching the content you create through advertising revenue.

Maybe you don’t want to be the star – you don’t need to do pranks – many YouTubers earn money doing simple reviews, streaming while they play games or show make-up tutorials.

If you’ve got a hobby or talent, share it on video with others.

As soon as you get 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours, you can start monetising on YouTube (oh, and subscribe to us, pretty please).

Some YouTubers with a huge following are making millions (find out how to make a million pound yourself!).

For a smaller channel, you will still look to earn around £1 for every 1,000 views on your channel.

As your channel grows and you have more content, the extra money you make will simply scale at the same time.

Looking for a new challenge and more pay? Here are the highest paying jobs without degree.

Publish an eBook

Whether you want to write a novel or maybe even share your knowledge on a particular subject, you don’t need to get a publishing deal to become an author.

You can make money online by self-publishing and selling a digital book via sites like Amazon.

As soon as your books start to sell from online sites you’ll make money immediately.

Amazon

There are so many different ways to make money on Amazon!

Sell things online with dropshipping

Running an online store might seem like it’s about holding stock and spending your life in the queue at the post office, but you could consider drop shipping as a way to make extra cash from home.

The idea is that a third party holds the stock, you promote the item via an online shop, and when it sells, the third party sends it to the end customers.

You never touch or handle any stock, so don’t need a spare room – you are just selling stuff.

What makes owning a drop shipping store good as a new business idea is that you don’t need to purchase any stock in advance so the set-up costs are a lot cheaper.

Start a clothing business

Take a look at the full details of how to start a clothing business for a different business model for you to sell clothes.

You could be creative and come up with your own designs, have a creative flair and make your own, or flip clothing.

There are loads more side hustle ideas here.

Online tutoring

Teaching people online is a great way of making money in your spare time.

Since more people are used to using their internet access for schooling and work now, they are keener and understand the benefits of online tutoring. Find out how to become a tutor and how much you could get paid!

It’s a good jobs for ex teachers as you can use the classroom skills you’ve already gained.

However, if you are a pro at another skill, there is no reason not to investigate tutoring as money making ideas.

You don’t always need to think about traditional classroom topics. Perhaps you are good at creating YouTube videos or editing them, or you are a great musician?

There are plenty of freelance jobs or a part time job there, but there is nothing stopping you from building up to full time hours.

As it’s all through earning money online, you are not fixed to just a UK audience – you have the whole world.

Also, check out teaching English online as another way to start making money online.

Become a comper

A comper is someone who enters competitions.

And there can be some serious money to be made – it’s not always down to luck but is also on volume.

Use competition databases like Loquax or Prize Finder and get entering.

The more you enter, the more chance you have of winning.

In the past, we’ve won over £20,000 worth of prizes from entering competitions, and it’s definitely a way to make more money online. You also don’t pay tax on any competition wins!

Some of our best wins are £10k in cash, family breaks, red carpet experiences (and lots of pencils – but everyone loves a pencil, right?!)

It’s a bit of a money saving tip, too, as it might stop you from buying as much stuff!

Check out: How I’ve won £20k entering free competitions (and how you can too)

Make money fast today

You can make money fast in the UK or anywhere in the world, really.

There are even ways to make money in one hour.

As long as you’ve got determination, a smartphone, laptop, and a stable internet connection, the ability to earn money online has never been easier.