Earning money has typically been associated with and restricted to traditional 'offline' route. With the Internet taking over a large part of our lives, more people are looking to ways to earn money online to increase their financial inflows, with secondary income streams.

You should be mindful of the platform that you choose for this purpose. While there are numerous ways to earn money online, some of these might be fake. Also, do not expect to earn a huge amount quickly when using online avenues to earn money.

Now with a situation involving more time at home and/or more free time in general, maybe fewer working hours for some, some of you might have some free time on hands. Here are a few online platforms, websites and tools that can help you earn mone ..

1. Freelancing
Freelancing has always been a popular way to earn money online and the Internet has several options. There are several websites offering freelance tasks for people with varying skills. All you need to do is to create an account, browse through the listings, and apply for the task that suits you. Some websites may even require you to create a personal listing with the details of your skillset, so that interested clients can contact you directly. Outfiverr.com,  ..

2. Starting your own website
There is enough material available online to help you put together a website. This includes choosing the domain, templates, layout and the overall design for your website. Once ready to service the visitors with the relevant content, sign up for Google Adsense, which when appear on your website and clicked on by visitors, help you make money. The more traffic you get on your website, the more will be the potential for higher earnings.


3. Affiliate marketing
Once your website is up and running, you could opt for affiliate marketing by allowing companies to insert web links on to your site. This is like a symbiotic partnership. When visitors to your site buy products or services by clicking on such links, you earn out from it.

4. Surveys, searches and reviews
There are several websites offering money to undergo online surveys, carry out online searches, and write reviews on pr ..

5. Virtual assistantship
Doing all the corporate stuff from one's home is what a virtual assistant (VA) does. VAs basically work remotely with their clients and manage the aspects of their business that they are too busy to handle themselves. When you work as a virtual assistant, you can choose to work as an employee or you can set up your own business.

VAs are skilled, home-based professionals that offer companies, businesses, and entrepreneurs administrative suppo ..

6. Language translating
Knowing a language other than English may even help you earn some extra money. There are several websites that offer translation projects that require translating a document from one language into another. This may include Spanish, French, Arab, German, or any other language to or from English.

For many, this can make the task rather time-consuming and therefore they hire translators available online from anywhere across the globe. Several w ..

7. Online tutoring
If you are an expert in a particular subject, you can earn by tutoring people online. Online tutoring provides a means to connect online with students of all ages, across the country to provide homework help and tutoring in the subjects for which you have demonstrated expertise.

One may sign up on websites like Vedantu.com, MyPrivateTutor.com, BharatTutors.com, tutorindia.net as an online tutor by creating a profile, and listing the subjects or cla ..

8. Social media management, strategy
In addition to interacting with friends and strangers, social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat can be used to make money. Companies and brands pay social media strategists to further boost the popularity of their products. With lots of competition around and the constantly shortening of attention time of online viewers, creativity is essential to create posts, videos etc that can go viral quickly and enh ..

9. Web designing
Not all business owners are tech savvy but the need of the hour is to have a website of their own. Those who have a knack for all- things- tech, especially related to websites, can help small businesses set up their own websites and earn from it. Coding and web designing are the essential ingredients in setting up websites. Further, websites need maintenance and may require frequent updates, which may add to one's revenue.


10. Content writing
Online platforms can be a good starting point. Depending on the quality of the articles, one gets paid. One may be asked to work upon articles with specific guidelines as well. Develop a niche in your area of expertise and build strength in that domain to increase the revenue stream.