Most of those “work from home” opportunities that you see on TV, in the newspaper, or online are scams or pay you so little for the time you’ve invested that it’s not worth your while. However, in my quest to figure out a way to ditch the 9 to 5 job so that I could work from the comfort of my own home, I have come across many different opportunities that have helped me to earn my living by working from home.

Starting your own website is one of the most popular ways to work from home. There are two kinds of websites – the ones that sell products and the ones that provide information. If you can think of a good idea for a webstore and invest enough time and energy into marketing it, you might do well. However, keep in mind that you will have to constantly keep at it, fill orders, and take care of accounting and inventory work. Moreover, building a successful website can be expensive if you don’t know how to create or operate your website or how to market it. You may very likely need to enlist the help of paid professionals.

Alternatively, creating a website that offers information, rather than products, is another way to earn money online. It could be anything from running a news blog to starting a site for dog owners. The key is to choose something that you love, which is important because it takes a lot of work to build up a successful website.

In my experience, I started a news website with my husband in 2006. We are both news junkies who love to write. Although we haven’t become rich off of it, it helps us pay the bills. Our daily traffic rivals and surpasses that of established news media outlets in our market, and we’ve brought on board some award-winning journalists in recent years. We’ve saved a lot of costs because I know how to build websites and have a background in graphic design and a bit of SEO know-how. If you don’t have these skills, it will end up costing you more.

Another way to make money online is by answering questions, doing surveys, and conducting searches. These tactics may not make you rich, but they can help you earn enough to pay for the little things you’d be buying anyways, or give you some extra spending money every once in a while.

There are plenty of opportunities to take surveys for money. However, it’s important to do your research and find legitimate ones; otherwise, you might just find yourself added to another spam distribution list. Additionally, if you’re good at searching for information online and have an interest in a wide variety of topics, becoming a ChaCha.com guide might be up your alley. People ask questions, and you find them the answers, and then you get paid. The more time you spend working, the more you will make.

If you use the internet, you probably use a search engine regularly. Well, what if all those searches you conducted could earn you money? With SwagBucks.com, you can earn money for your searches. It pays you to do what you’d already be doing on Google, Yahoo, Bing, or whatever your favorite search engine is. You won’t get rich by doing this, but you can build up enough points to score gift cards to Amazon.com and other places.

Finally, finding a work from home job is another possibility. They are out there, but they’re hard to find and pretty darn competitive. These jobs can range from a medical transcriptionist to a search engine optimization specialist, or perhaps you could find a position as a social media consultant. I’ve seen these from time to time posted on Craigslist, but I’ve never actually gotten one yet. My advice is to scour the job postings on not only your local city but also some big cities like New York. Often times there will be work from home jobs posted on only the NYC Craigslist because that’s where the company is based out of, that’s their local Craigslist, and they don’t want to go to the bother of posting it on all of the cities.

If you have a degree in a particular field, there are various websites that pay writers to create content in their area of expertise. Livestrong.com hires writers for their site through Demand Media Studios. DMS also hires writers and editors for every other topic under the sun to be published on eHow.com and their numerous other web properties. You can make about $15 or more per article, and a few dollars for each article that you edit. You can work as much or as little as you want – once you claim an assignment, of which there are tens of thousands, you have seven days to complete it. Additionally, Yahoo bought up Associated Content and amassed their own army of writers to create articles on numerous topics. They also utilize their writers to do local feature stories for Yahoo Local cities.

In conclusion, there are many opportunities available for those who wish to work from home. While it may not always be easy, with patience and persistence, you will eventually achieve your goal. Additionally, do your research and find legit opportunities that match your skill set and interests. Moreover, remember to choose something that you love, which is important because it takes a lot of work to build up a successful website or work from home job. Overall, it’s worth it to invest your time and energy into finding ways to work from home as the benefits can be significant in terms of flexibility, work-life balance, and financial independence.