Popular Ideas for Making Money

Many of today's popular ways to make money involve online ventures that have low start-up costs. Because these ideas are popular, you will have to put in a significant amount of effort to stand out in the crowd. Start by creating a professional image and making the most of your skills. Be prepared to market your venture through ads, or by word of mouth, to gain additional exposure.

Sell Unwanted Items

Selling unwanted items online through sites such as eBay and Craigslist is still a popular way to make money, but the competition among sellers has significantly increased. For instance, when eBay was new, people could attract buyers with just about anything they put up for sale. But now sellers are competing with well-known brands, and big businesses, to attract buyers. You can still make money with such sites, but you will need to present a professional image by posting good pictures and accurate descriptions of the items you're selling. Buyers also can rate their shopping experience with you for others to see, so provide good customer service and quick shipping to get favorable ratings. Consider selling at Amazon.com or Half.com if you have used books, CDs or DVDs for sale. Pictures usually aren't needed to sell on those sites, because they have photos of thousands of book covers and other items preloaded for sellers to use.

Etsy, ArtFire and Jewelry Wonder are just a few of the sites where artists and crafts people are selling their wares online. A "Woman's Day" magazine article titled "Cash in: 12 Ways to Earn Extra Money Online" notes these opportunities. You can create your own online store on the Etsy site and pay 20 cents to list an item for four months. You will pay a 3.5 percent transaction fee to Etsy for anything you sell. ArtFire offers a seller account that costs $15.95 per month. Jewelry Wonder sellers need at least 30 items to stock a free online store, but Jewelry Wonder doesn't charge sellers any fees.

According to a 2010 Wall Street Journal article titled "Recessionomics 101: How to Make Extra Money," part-time tutoring is a popular and lucrative venture. You could tutor high school students in algebra, physics, French or some other subject in which you excel. You also could offer college-preparatory classes. The Journal article notes that pay for tutoring will vary based on where you live, but it ranges from $30 to more than $100 per hour. You can start by checking out Tutor.com, which is geared toward tutors who work as independent contractors.

You can earn as much as $20 per hour as a babysitter in large cities and make about half that rate in smaller cities, according to a 2009 Kiplinger article titled "11 Ways to Get Extra Cash." Be prepared to beef up your credentials to compete in this field. Consider taking a child-care course and a first-aid course at a community college to demonstrate you have some childcare training. Pet-sitting is another option where you can make similar wages looking after people's pets when they're out of town. You also could add a dog-walking service to this venture to increase your earnings. Check online and offline classified ads to see what other dog walkers are charging so you can price your service competitively.