Previously, I hinted that I would talking about how to make money online as a teenager. And, indeed, I will be in this post. The offline and the online world are 2 very different places, but they both have a lot of opportunities for you to earn money. So let’s get started!
- Online Surveys: By far the easiest way to make money online as a teenager, since it requires no skills or experience. You’ve probably seen dozens of ads online, advertising anywhere between $25 to $75 for paid surveys. The thing you have to keep in mind is to give honest opinions, otherwise, the companies may not want to offer you any more surveys. You also have to remember that the really high paying surveys, like the $25 to $75 paid surveys, are usually focus groups that are held at a physical location. Online paid surveys are not as high paying as focus groups, but there’s more of them and so there’s a better chance you’ll get paid.
The best place to earn money by completing online surveys is a site called Cashcrate. Not only are there daily surveys for all members, there’s also higher paying offers that you can complete, that can earn you $1.oo and upwards, and all you have to do is fill in some information about yourself. You don’t even have to buy anything and you’ll still get credited. Cashcrate is open to international members as well and you must be at least 13 years old to join. Receive $1 for joining Cashcrate now!
- Upload videos onto Youtube: Did you know you can earn money by posting videos onto Youtube? To start earning from Youtube, you will have to meet some criteria first. To be a Youtube partner, you have to have the following:
Original videos suitable for online streaming (notice the word original)
You own or have permission to use and monetize the videos you upload
You regularly post videos that are viewed by 1000s of Youtube users or publish successful videos in other ways (like as DVDs)
Your videos also have to comply by the Youtube community guidelines and terms of service to be accepted into their partner program.
You can directly apply to their program at http://www.youtube.com/partners and you may have to wait for some time to get approved (you obviously need a Youtube channel and some uploaded videos to begin with). If you don’t get accepted the first time, you’ll need to wait 2 months before you can apply for the program again.
So how exactly do you earn money from Youtube? Well, have you ever noticed ads that pop up about 10 seconds into some videos? Or ads in the right hand side of the suggested videos list? Whenever someone clicks on those ads, you get paid a percentage of the advertiser’s bid on that ad. You can also earn money from Youtube by making your videos available for rental via streaming.
Regarding the ads, you aren’t allowed to click on them yourself, otherwise Youtube will ban you from their program and revoke all your earnings (no, don’t even think about clicking it even once!)
Otherwise, posting videos on Youtube is a great way to earn money online as a teenager. It’s costs very little to set up and if you make videos about something you love, or have a great passion for like sports, then you’ll be on your way to earning it big time.
(NB: I, myself, am a Youtube partner and I can tell you from experience that in order to make a significant amount of money from Youtube, you’ve got to have a MASSIVE number of views in order to earn big. To give you an idea of how many views you need to earn good money, the highest Youtube earner in 2010 was Shane Dawson who was making over $315,000 a year. But to earn this, his overall number of views from all of his channels was about 600 million. This comes down to about $1 for every 2000 views! So it’s not as easy as you think it is, but still a great way for teens to earn money online)
- Write content: This is another easy way on how to make money online as a teenager. The problem is finding the places online that are willing to pay for you to write for them. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered!
Helium – You get paid to write articles and also to bring visitors (or traffic) to the site. To earn those payments by rating articles, or in other words, comparing 2 articles and choosing which one is better. This can be quite tedious to do, and you only get $1 per article, plus traffic royalties. However, the real money is in the ‘Marketplace’ section where you can compete on client writing gigs for $5 all the way up to $100 (or more)!
Epinions – This is a site where you get paid to review products or services. From the last time I checked, you get paid $1 per review. It mightn’t seem a lot but there are always bonuses and contests going on that can help boost your income. Right now, there is a February Lean & Mean Review Challenge where if you post a review under 500 words, you could be in the running for $300 worth of eRoyalties (eRoyalties are redeemable in US dollars) and there’s also 19 other prizes, just in case you missed 1st place.
Shared reviews – This is also a site where you get paid to write reviews. It also seems like it was recently acquired by some other company, so it’s currently undergoing changes to its publishing platform. But it pays well, so don’t forget to check back on this site.
