Ever tried searching on Google with search terms like “how to make money online” or “make money online fast”? We bet all of us did at some point in our lives. Multiple income streams have always been a favourite topic among Singaporeans since it has been proven to make people extremely wealthy. But some online money-making ways are either very complicated or only feasible in certain countries. Well, here’s a list of what we have found and tested to be working fine in Singapore. Some of these methods can earn you lots of money, while the rest give you small trickles of income AKA beer money.
Disclaimer: Some affiliate links are present in this how to make money online guide. We make a little profit from these corporations to keep the server up and running. Then again, these methods are tried and tested. We genuinely want to spread awareness to some of these income streams but would greatly appreciate if you could give us a Facebook page like here.
1. Starting Your Very Own Blog/Website
Making your own website isn’t as hard as it sounds.
Well, it sure was way harder back in 2016, but less so now in 2020.
The idea of earning a passive income from a website can be broken down into 3 simple steps – Setting up, writing content, and monetisation.
How To Set Up A Website With A Tight Budget
We are guessing you want to build a website that doesn’t cost you much and still runs reliably.
To do this, we highly recommend Namecheap as a go-to service for your domain and hosting services.
Any .com name only costs around 10 USD/Yr on average while their basic Stellar Hosting Plan costs 17.28 USD/Yr. That’s an insanely low price of 1.44 USD per month!
Most hosts will also come with a 1-click install Softaculous feature, installing WordPress (content management system used by most websites) on your chosen domain name in just a matter of seconds.
From there on, you’re on your own.
Just kidding!
Note: The Stellar Hosting Plan by Namecheap is a shared hosting plan which usually fits the needs of a new website. Heck! We were using this plan for years before upgrading. That being said, we recommend choosing a more expensive alternative if you prefer your webpages to be more snappy.
Other Alternative Hosts (Discounts Applied): A2Hosting | HostGator | bluehost
Content Creation & Getting Your First Views
Next, content creation.
This forms an integral part of a site, even if you are not intending on generating income solely from ads plastered on content.
Creating content is easy. But finding a niche that isn’t saturated is like finding a needle in a haystack.
That doesn’t mean you should stop there. Use tools like UberSuggest and you should be able to look for untapped areas of the Internet with moderate to high search volumes, along with the paid and search difficulty index of each search term.
You don’t have to write a ton of articles every day to be relevant on the Internet, but being consistent is key to success.
Update your articles, maintaining a good internal linking structure and other good SEO practices, and you will be able to receive a few genuine views in weeks, or even months!
Monetisation – Making Your First Buck From A Website
In case you didn’t notice by now, it is easier now but making money from a website still takes a lot of effort and patience.
But you’re not born to be a quitter right?
There are a few ways you can monetise your content. They include, but not limited to, ads, affiliate programs, sponsored posts, eCommerce and eBooks.
And as recommended by most stay-home moms, influencers and travel bloggers, it’s affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing simply means paying the content creator a percentage of a conversion/sale he or she has helped a brand make. This is usually tracked via a referral link or promo code made exclusively for your website.
The most prominent portal that you can sign up for is ShareASale, where the interface boasts a seamless application process and, of course, high payouts for publishers. You can also choose to personally email to a certain brand for potential collaborations and they might just agree to work with you.
If your website is popular, you may be surprised to see the number of brands flocking over instead!
Receiving more than 10,000 web traffic a month? If so, drop Google Adsense now and try Ezoic and earn an extra hundred bucks from it (expected increase in ad revenue is around 50-250%)!
Ezoic – Upgraded Google Adsense
An absolute must if you are running ads on your website. Only for websites with traffic 10k and up.
Last, but not least, if you are more of a hands-on guy and is intending to build an eCommerce empire again, the Guidesify team definitely recommends checking out an eCommerce interface called Ecwid and an all in one worldwide shipping platform, Easyship.
Both platforms give you an edge over your competition in terms of low costs and flexibility as you scale your online businesses.
Passive Investing & Copy Trading Online/Apps
No, we are not referring to the good old broker platforms where gullible traders lose all their capital due to immense greed or a lack of emotional strength.
Trading can be a very mental activity and requires tons of fundamental/technical analysis for one to make the right call.
That’s why social trading platforms like eToro and Singapore’s very own invest-and-forget startup StashAway exist to help amateurs like you and me get a headstart into snowballing that capital.
2. eToro – CopyTrading With Lots Of Annoying Ads
Image Source: eToro
Disclaimer: eToro is not regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, but your deposits are still protected by sound international institutions such as FCA (UK), ASIC (Australia) or CySEC (Cyprus). This means the usual deposit insurance of $75,000 SGD is not in force when you trade with non-MAS regulated eToro.
The annoying ads you see on Facebook and YouTube do no justice to the unique selling point of eToro. Just to be clear, “No knowledge about investing and trading? It’s fine” is not fine at all.
Nonetheless, eToro has definitely made it simple for newbies who want to get a slice of the pie and learn the trades of trading (does this pun qualify?).
All you have to do is copy verified top traders in the market and your account will mimic the same trade performance as they have, as long as you copy with the right minimum amount. These traders also post regularly on their social feeds so that you can hear their thoughts, and maybe learn a thing or two.
3. StashAway – Customise Your Own Risk Profile!
Feeling conservative and not interested in the details? Find eToro too dangerous for you?
Well, StashAway may be the right investment tool for you!
Read our FULL review on StashAway if you are interested to know if it’s the right choice for you.
Image Source: StashAway
A homegrown startup in Singapore, StashAway is MAS-regulated and gives you the flexibility of managing your money on your own terms.
Exclusive Investing Offer for Guidesify Readers
Sign up with this personal invitation, and this Stashaway Promo Code will deduct 50% fees for the first SGD 70,000 invested for 6 months.
Offer will be automatically applied when you sign up using our link.
Be it saving up for a wedding or a brand new car, StashAway’s goal-based investing feature calculates for you the approximate amount of funds to deposit every month in order to reach that goal in the specified amount of time (which determines the risk level to undertake).
No specific goals in mind for your investment? There is also a general investment plan on the platform which is similar to the aforementioned feature. The only thing different is that users are able to configure the risk index aka portfolio proportions (Equities, Bonds, Commodities etc.).
StashAway’s projection tool also comes in handy for generating quick forecasts and projections of your investments!
If you are the type that will never invest in a million years because of the word risk, put your money into StashAway Simple™. It’s so simplified it kinda looks like a fixed deposit account. Without the “fixed”.
4. AutoWealth – Fully Automated Investing at 1/4 Fees
Need more transparency than just mere investment projections and risk index?
Try another Robo-advisor – Autowealth!
Image Source: AutoWealth
It is another Singaporean startup that excels in creating a newer, more economical way of investing. While trying the platform and comparing to other Robo-advisors, the Guidesify Team found that Autowealth sets itself apart from the rest and fully commits to their investors.
How so?
AutoWealth stays true to their cause of helping everyone to grow their wealth. Charges per annum sit around a low rate of 168 USD per annum (based on a portfolio value of 30,000 USD), which generates only a modest profit for the platform.
Read our FULL review on AutoWealth if you are interested to know if it’s the right choice for you.
Exclusive S$ 20 AutoWealth Promo Code 2023
Simply key in guideSG as the referral code while signing up & receive a 20 SGD top-up bonus upon an initial investment sum of S$3,000!
What’s more? You will enjoy VIP privileges that can’t be enjoyed by any other Robo-advisor in the market. A dedicated wealth manager will be assigned to you regardless of the size of your investment.
And they are available even at ungodly hours.
You will own a legally segregated Saxo custody account too.
This allows you to combine the best of both worlds – the precision and accuracy of a robot plus a financial expert to aid you in making the best out of your investment.
We believe that this platform contrasts sharply with regular robos, who only offer their digital expertise and generic customer support.
Of course, there is so much more to AutoWealth, but in order to keep this article short, we have provided a short comparison table to sum things up:
| AutoWealth | Other Robo-Advisors | |
|---|---|---|
| Fees | 0.5% + 18 USD | 0.70 - 1.50% (Assets below 50,000 SGD) |
| Strategy | Market-returns strategy referencing established benchmarks | Black Box strategy that may result in negative performance surprises |
| Human Touch | You're Never Alone - You will have a dedicated wealth manager just one WhatsApp message away! | Error 404 Not Found |
| Custodian Account | What's Yours is Yours - In your legal name for your legal beneficial ownership only (Saxo) | Co-mingled custodian account, Oops! |
| Transparency (Transactions, Dividends) | Comprehensive reports for your assets to be generated on demand | Transaction and investment holding data transparency varies from robo to robo |
More Life Hacks: Are you between 18-26 years old? Sign up for Standard Charted’s Jumpstart Account and receive 2% p.a for your first $20,000 SGD.
Just a heads up, investing always involves a hell lot of risk. There is always a chance of losing your capital if you’re not careful with it. It is always good to read up more on the basics of investing before committing to anything that you don’t understand.
(Archived) How to Make Money Online List 2017-2018
1. Toluna
A survey site which you can access on all platforms. There’s an app for it here (iPhone) or here (Android). Toluna is a mini community-based platform with the key function of phone devices being public polls and random surveys. You earn in the form of points every time you complete a survey and these points can be used to redeem attractive prizes, ranging from PayPal cash to Capitaland vouchers. Occasionally, polls also reward you with points too. The interesting thing about this platform is that you can create surveys yourself too, kind of like a free tool for social experiments where you can obtain a small pool of results on what people think about a particular topic or product. This produces fast instant survey results for your polls, without having to persuade people to do it through Whatsapp.
Recommended for: Teenagers who want to earn additional S$20+ a month or for adults whose primary objective is not to make money online but to gain opinions and perspective from other people in this community. Do note that Toluna takes up to 3-4 weeks to process your rewards once redeemed.
2. Travel Smart Rewards (TSR)
If you have not registered for this site, you have already lost potentially hundreds of dollars of travel expenses for the past few years (Us included, unfortunately). Travel Smart Rewards is currently closed for registration but fear not, it is coming back in April 2017. Do keep a lookout for them. TSR is sponsored by LTA and is also in partnership with Transit Link. It is a good movement initiative to promote and encourage Singaporeans to take more public transport specifically during decongesting periods by giving you free cash.
How does it work? All you have to do is to sign up with your EZ-link card. We are serious. Your TSR account automatically earns points for every kilometre of MRT travel, and there are several multipliers if you travel at decongesting periods such as 6.15-7.15 AM or 8.45-9.45 AM. TSR also offer additional multipliers to corporate companies who want to reward their employees for commuting during the decongesting periods. You may get your HR department to contact them to work out a scheme. Lastly, you can also earn points by playing their new game called The Ride One.
How to Redeem Points
Two ways: Either play safe (not recommended since 1000 points = S$1 only) and redeem points straight for cash or take a chance. We strongly recommend you to play the mini-game instead as the likelihood of winning big EZ-link cash is so much higher (S$1-200 each time). If you are lazy, you can even opt-in to let the AI play the game for you. All you have to do is to check your email. From there, you can check how much winnings you get on a regular basis. [Update 25/5/2017: This is now replaced by a Special Offers tab, do not play the game!]
To redeem your winnings, just head down to any Add Value Machine (AVM), place your card on top of the reader and hit TSR Rewards. Note: AVMs are the purple machines you see out there where people seldom go to, the usual ones we top up our cards with are called Ticketing Machines.
Recommended for: Anyone who has an EZ-link card and a brain. If you are interested in saving various amounts of travel expenses every month with minimal effort, this is the way.
Update on 22 June 2017: You can sign up here.
Making money, or rather, saving money on TSR isn’t that great anymore. It is unknown to Guidesify whether TSR will revert some of its old features to make its platform attractive again. Nevertheless, every cent counts and in this case, free money!
Website To Make Money Online (Outdated)
Feeling adventurous? This method is not for the weak-hearted and requires a lot of knowledge, skill and perseverance. With the success of sites like Goodyfeed, TheSmartLocal, SGAG, etc., people all over the world have thought of setting a blog/website themselves (just like us), making a name for themselves too. Breaking into this market to make money online is tougher than ever.
However, what is life without a little challenge? As long as you are able and willing to pick up these skills and write consistent quality content, it is almost guaranteed for you to achieve success in the long run. Do not focus so much on profits but readership and gaining social presence as a writer.
Take a look at our current Authors List
Want to know how to start earning money from your already established website? Here is Guidesify’s most preferred choice – Unruly.
Not Interested in Writing?
A website could be set up for other purposes to directly/indirectly generate revenue. Some people create websites to promote their own/other peoples’ local businesses and products/services. The possibilities of a site are endless.
Recommended for: Ambitious individual/small group who have a flair for writing or have an entrepreneur mentality. Must also be determined and creative with ideas to succeed. If not, picking it up as a hobby is fine too.
3. Carousell (Customer Support sucks though)
Probably the best platform created for anyone to declutter and sell items no longer needed for a quick buck. Moreover, this app is made in Singapore. Carousell, a platform created for both Android and Apple users, was founded by Lucas Ngoo, Quek Siu Rui and Marcus Tan back on May 1, 2012.
It was initially designed for Singaporeans to sell/trade second-handed or unused items to others so as to free up some home space. Carousell is extremely user-friendly and easy to use, which also led to some criticisms when gullible users (stop blaming others seriously, change your mindset and start learning from your mistakes) began to post photos and screenshots of themselves getting cheated by scammers. Several media sources also reported other cases like selling of prohibited items.
As of now, non-profit Carousell has raised hundreds of millions of funding because of its potential. It expanded into countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and the United States to compete with other marketplaces such as Gumtree, Letgo, etc. If you haven’t read our guide on how to sell on Carousell efficiently and effectively, you can read our 5-part complete series here:
• Your Compatibility with Carousell
• Utilising the New Bump Feature (Coming soon)
Recommended for: Anyone who has a phone and has the stuff to sell or get rid of at home. Do not try to be greedy or you won’t stand to gain much or make money online from this platform.
4. Write an eBook
eBooks are trending for years and have been the primary source of revenue for many bloggers from other countries. It is reported by several famous bloggers to have earned at least 10,000 USD in the initial sales of their eBook on popular platforms like Amazon. That being said, eBooks are a popular complementary product to your website if you have already established one as previously mentioned in point 3.
Do not worry if you do not have a website. Many authors begin writing their first eBook before going on to publishing a physical book. All you need is good content for it go viral through the miracles of Social Media and not forgetting word of mouth. You could also contact various blogs that are related to your niche topics to promote your book to their already established base of loyal fans. Targeted marketing at its lowest cost.
Of course, having your website makes it a tonne easier to promote your book. Nevertheless, writing an eBook takes virtually zero cost to write but you just need time. A lot of time.
Recommended for: Writers with a strong command of language and have loads of free time willing to spend on writing. Having some knowledge of social marketing, email marketing and other related skills would boost the likelihood of your eBook getting sold too.
5. YouTube
Make no mistake. Setting up a YouTube Channel as a source of revenue isn’t easy at all. It was a piece of cake back in 2005 but no, not in 2017. With thousands of established YouTube Channels which YouTubers come for videos, it is as hard as making a website or even tougher to break into the market. That being said, it is still a key answer and a good place to start for extroverted people in general who want to make money online.
To first capture subscribers, you must own excellent recording equipment, video editing software and more. A video of poor quality apparently tends to get a much higher bounce rate. You would also have to create a visually captivating thumbnail, a straightforward and easy-to-remember username and optimised video titles (Aka Clickbait).
Recommended for: Sociable and outgoing individuals/group who are good at speaking or acting. Should be creative or well opinionated, depending on what type of audience you intend to cater to. Established YouTubers can earn 5-digit income from video views alone (excluding sponsors, products, services, etc.) There are a few Singaporean YouTube Channels you can take a reference to if you want to give it a shot. They include MiniMoochi, JianHao Tan, Night Owl Cinematics etc.
6. Upwork
Upwork is a 3rd party platform that forms an interface between companies and freelancers. Anything you can do on a computer from data entry to SEO projects could be outsourced from these companies. Freelancers tend to earn much more with Upwork as one of their sources of work since the platform is designed to find and search for projects that are related to your job scope and the level of your skills.
Why do companies want to outsource projects to freelancers that they don’t even know? This is because the company’s productivity is always almost guaranteed to have a drastic improvement using them. Freelancers are more likely to perform better than full-time workers. Since freelancers on Upwork get reviewed and paid for their work after each project, they tend to work better at completing tasks as compared to the employees at work who occasionally check their phones, go for long toilet breaks, get a coffee from the pantry, etc. Freelancers are preferred over full-time employees in some scenarios.
Note: Upwork takes a 5-20% commission from each project. They also like to showcase people with talents. That being said, being professional and consistent in your projects is critical. Remember to form positive relations with companies and keep yourself filled with positive reviews to establish your place in Upwork.
Recommended for: Freelancers who most likely already know this platform. People who have lots of free time and don’t mind spending their own time working even more. This platform is better if you have IT-related skills such as SEO, Web Designing, Web Developing etc. Freelancing platforms is the answer on how to make money online.
7. Grab
We all know Grab is more of an online platform for you to be a taxi driver offline. But we are putting Grab here as most drivers in Singapore seems to promote and prefer Grab to other similar services, namely Uber. Many drivers shared with the Guidesify’s team that Grab shares more revenue with their drivers, as compared to Uber. There is more flexibility in being a Grab driver. Grab drivers are also able to choose their customers. Other benefits include:
- $38+/hr during peak hours, and with GrabShare, you are bound to earn even more
- Devise your strategies to drive smart to maximise revenue
- Improve your networking which may help you with your day job
- Grab weekly incentives program
- Exclusive Grab deals
Recommended for: We strongly discourage anyone who’s young to take up Grab as a full-time job as it is a waste of your future, you are still new to driving, and you are competing with drivers who have a family to feed. This is why Grab always promotes Singaporeans to drive smart. Please do give some serious thought about your future career path. If not, Grab is an awesome way to make a side income along with various benefits without even compromising on your day job.
Grab was formerly known as GrabTaxi.
8. AirFrov
Before you travel next time, head over to their website or download the app, available for both iOS and Android.
AirFrov is an app where users request items they require overseas. You can help them to get the things they want if you are in the area offshore. You can offer to buy at a price listed or negotiate if you think you want a better deal. This is a good way to earn back some money from your holidays. Food items, clothing and local products are commonly sought items. No worries as most buyers will give instructions on where to get the item they need.
We hope you find this article. Do remember to like us on Facebook to keep us going!
How to Make Money Online Bonus: 9. Google Opinion Rewards
A new addition to our make money online guide. Google Opinion Rewards rewards users submitting their “opinions” in the form of surveys. This method earns you credits on the Google Play Store in which you can redeem for paid apps and in-app purchases. Opinion Rewards is not a money-making machine, but it saves you a tonne of cash on your Clash of Clans account and what not. Read the full guide for more information here: Google Opinion Rewards – Get Free Android Games/In-App Purchases Fast.
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