Top ways to make money online

On this page you'll find all the best ways to make money in your spare time whilst at university based on our own experience. We'll keep adding new ways to this page so go ahead and bookmark it. And please do share your own ideas in the comments!

Top ways to make money online and offline

1. No-risk matched betting

   Hands down the quickest way to make a lot of money (well, without breaking the law). Lots of students have genuinely made £100s from this technique. It's completely legal, risk free, tax free, and anyone can do it.
   It works by taking advantage of free bets regularly offered by betting sites through ‘matching' them at a betting exchange. Matched betting eliminates the risk (you are betting both for and against a certain outcome).
   This leaves you being able to squeeze out the free bet, which can be as much as £200! Multiply this by how many betting sites there are and you can quite easily come away with a profit of a few hundred pounds.
   Owen walks you through how to make your first £15 profit (using a real life example) in this gem of a guide to matched betting. If you know of any better way to make £30/hr sitting at home, please let us know!

2. Online surveys

   Credit: Julio Marquez – Flickr
   An increasingly popular way for students to make money is to fill out online surveys in their spare time. Research companies are always recruiting new members to answer surveys and test new products.
   For a few minutes of form filling, you can make a couple of quid which is paid as cash or rewards. You can bag up to £3 ($5) for some surveys!
   A few good ones to try are: Toluna, Vivatic, MySurvey, Valued Opinions, IPSOS, Global Test Market, The Opinion Panel, YouGov, Pinecone, OnePoll, SurveyBods, PopulusLive, Hiving, PanelBase, Branded Surveys, Opinion Outpost, Harris Poll, Mind Mover, New Vista, iPoll.
   Also sign up for Swagbucks which rewards you for surveys as well as simply surfing the web, watching videos and playing games.
   Update: See our new full guide to the best paid online surveys!

3. Paid for searching the web

   Interested in earning cash for doing what you already do online? This has to be one of the easiest methods of making money online without really any effort or change in your behavior.
   This innovative idea by Qmee.com rewards you for searching in Google, Bing or Yahoo. You just install a simple add-on to your browser and when you conduct a search there may be a few sponsored results alongside your normal search.
   Each Qmee result has a cash reward attached – if you are interested in it simply click on it and collect your reward.
   The best thing is there is no minimum to cashout – our first one was just 72p wired to our Paypal account. You also have the option to donate it to charity.
   Sign up now for free and start earning from your own searches! Click here to start.