If you enjoy arts and crafts and want to make some extra money from home, you should know about Etsy.com. Etsy is a website where people can sell handmade goods to those who love and appreciate artistic crafts.

What is Etsy?

In 2009, Etsy sold over 1.3 million items for over $180 million dollars in sales. There are more than 400,000 people selling their products on Etsy, making it one of the most active artist communities on the internet.

The people selling on Etsy are real artists and craftspeople, not commercial mass producers. The buyers on Etsy are people who love buying limited edition and one-of-a-kind artistic pieces. Etsy brings them together where they can meet and benefit.

Getting Started

Are you already creating products? Perhaps you make handmade gifts for friends and family members, or maybe you have even had some experience selling your handcrafts at craft shows or other venues. Ideally you should have a whole line of products that go well with one another.

Choose products that you enjoy making. If you have a big success, you may be making a lot of them!

Make your products unique. If you are selling something customers can buy six other places, why should they buy from you?

Also think about pricing. Can you set a price that is competitive but allows you to be fairly compensated for the time and skill you put in to each item, as well as covering the cost of your materials?

Setting up a store on Etsy is easy. Just go to http://etsy.com and follow the instructions.

Tips to Attract Buyers

There are three important parts of each listing: The title, the photo and the description.

The title needs to be descriptive in order to get people to click on your item. Use a title that gives useful information, rather than just a name. “Amelia Earrings” doesn’t say as much as Sterling Silver Crystal Drop Earrings.” Think about what people might search for when they are looking for what you make, and be sure to include those terms in your title and description.

Great photos are a must! Photos not only need to be clear and well-lit, they should include an artistic element. Look at other photos to get ideas for backgrounds, lighting and other ways to feature your works in the most attractive way possible.

Give a lot of detail in the description. Describe the item, how it was made, its size, weight and any other characteristics. Is there an interesting story behind your choice of materials? Share it!

Lots of people are making money from home on Etsy. Why not you? Just create a great product, take good pictures and write interesting descriptions. In fact, all you need to do to start making money on Etsy can be done in a day or two.

In that spirit, I offer some additional ideas of ways you can earn money to supplement your income—or even quit your “real” job—in 2010.

Merchandising and demos. There are marketing activities closely related to mystery shopping. Many of the companies for which we shop also offer this type of work. Merchandising may involve stocking a display, reordering inventory, or other tasks related to retail sales. Working demos may mean demonstrating a product, handing out samples or coupons, or other in-store activities where you would interact with customers. For more information, see http://NARMS.com/.

Writing online. You can set up your own website or blog, but an easier way to get started making money writing online is to write for one of the sites that will pay you to write. Some pay a flat fee for an article, but that is usually not the best deal. Instead of getting $5, $10 or $20 to write a few hundred words, you can make many times that in residuals. That means you write something once, and get paid again and again. There are writers making $500, $1000 or more every month, even in months they don’t write a word. I have done this and been pleasantly surprised at the results. Learn how to make money writing online.

Direct sales. There is a lot of money to be made in sales, and many people find working with a direct sales plan easy, even if they do not consider themselves to be sales persons. Direct sales companies include Mary Kay, Avon and Pampered Chef, but there are direct sales companies involved in just about every kind of product and service, from electricity to vitamins to golf equipment to lingerie. The best company to work with may be one that you already know as a customer. To be successful, you should be passionate about the products or services you sell.

Online surveys. You won’t make a lot of money with this, but if you want to make a bit of extra cash sitting at your computer, online surveys can work for you. Do not pay to register with anyone, and make sure you understand at the beginning what the rewards are. Some register you in a drawing for prizes, some give you points that may be redeemed for gift cards or other awards, and some pay good old fashioned cash. Learn more about paid online surveys.

What is your favorite way to make money?

Here are a few companies I’ve worked with that are REAL and I’ve been PAID by them:

Opinion Outpost – Each qualified survey is worth points and 10 points equals $1.00. Once you have 50 points or $5.00 you can request a check. The checks take a few weeks. I’ve been paid several times from them and I’ve never had a problem. If you don’t qualify you’ll get to choose between a chance for an instant win of $50 or a sweepstakes entry. You won’t receive points for the surveys you don’t qualify for.

Survey Spot – Each survey is either worth cash or a sweepstakes entry. They send out several emails a day/week with survey opportunities. The email will always tell you what you will get for taking the survey. Myself along with others I know that have worked with Survey Spot find that when you join they will send you mostly sweepstakes entry surveys but after you take a bunch of them, you will begin to get paid surveys as well. Once your account reaches $5.00 you can request a check.

My Survey – Each survey is worth points and 100 points = $1.00. You will get 10 points for every screener you take and then if you qualify to go onto the survey they will tell you how many points you’ll receive for completing it. They also have monthly sweepstakes drawings for active members. Once you reach 1000 points ($10.00) you can cash out and receive a check or you can choose prizes. I always get the check and it usually takes a few weeks.

If you take a survey ONE day that pays $1.00, after a month you’d have an extra $30.00 in your pocket. That will fill up your gas tank and get you a soda! Not bad for about 20 minutes a day of time you’d probably be spending online anyway!

Karen lives in Rhode Island with her husband and two daughters. Besides being a frugal stay at home mom, she blogs at http://www.frugalrimama.com about weekly deals/sales/freebies and more. In her spare time she enjoys taking surveys and doing some mystery shopping. You can see a list of Karen’s survey earnings on her blog.

Big name companies want and need to know your opinions, and what better way to get them than to have consumers take surveys? When they have a new product they need someone to test it out or when they want to change a product, they need to find out what the best way is to change it. The consumers wants and needs are their main concern and what better way to get it, then directly from the consumers?

If you do a Google search for surveys you’ll come up with tons and tons of companies but the question is, are they really surveys? The answer to that question is NO they aren’t all real. You need to take a close look at each company before you sign up because some of them lead you on and make you think you’ll be taking surveys for BIG companies but you probably won’t be.

I’ve done a lot of research and I’ve found a bunch of companies that really do PAY for your opinion and some even send you free products to test and then report back. Every person’s success is different with taking surveys and it really depends on so many factors.

One important thing is your background. Not everyone is compatible to take every survey. It may depend on your job, your age, your gender, your ethic background and so many more reasons. It’s OK if you don’t qualify for every survey. Certain companies may work better for some people then others, again it depends on your background and what kind of companies they work with.

Before you get started signing up with any companies let me explain a few things.

NEVER pay to join a survey site. They should be paying YOU for your opinions, not you paying them to give your opinions. If they want you to pay then they aren’t a REAL Survey company and probably a scam to get your email address and SPAM you.

You WILL NOT get rich from taking surveys. It’s a GREAT way to earn some extra cash and maybe get some free products but the important thing is you’ll be a ‘voice’ to the companies. You can make as much money or as little as you want. You can try every single survey that comes to your inbox or pick and choose, it’s up to you.

I recommend you set up an email address just for taking surveys so your inbox doesn’t get full too fast. Some companies will send out several ‘screener’ surveys a day or a week and if you join a few different companies then you box could possibly fill up fast. Then when you have some time to take a survey or two, you can go to that email and see what’s there.

Anyone of any age can take surveys. They even have some sites that will let teens take surveys.

If the company is a GOOD company, you should NOT get any SPAM. They are very good about keeping your personal information private but always read their privacy statement just to be sure.

They will require your Social Security Number, not necessarily when you sign up but sometimes before you are paid. This is because if you earn more than $600 they have to report it to the IRS and you will have to pay taxes on it. And if you have concerns then read their privacy policy.

If they send you FREE stuff to sample it’s yours to keep. If they are going to request it back, they will tell you before you agree to do the in-home test. I’ve never had this happen, but I suppose it could happen. In that case, make sure they will pay for shipping back. Shipping to you is always free.

Some companies will pay you cash (either checks or PayPal) and others will offer you gift cards or prizes. Each one will have their own policy on shipping, so make sure you read about it before you request a prize. Again, I haven’t run into any problems with having to pay for shipping but you never know. Some companies will offer you chances to be entered into a sweepstakes for joining, for taking a screener survey or for taking a survey. They will sometimes also pay you on top of the sweepstakes entry. Before you take a survey they will tell you exactly what to expect in return.

You will not qualify for every survey. Before each survey begins they will ask you a series of questions to see if you qualify, if you don’t then you may be entered into a sweepstakes or given a small token of points. You will only be compensated for those surveys you complete in their entirety.

Karen lives in Rhode Island with her husband and two daughters. Besides being a frugal stay at home mom, she blogs at http://www.frugalrimama.com about weekly deals/sales/freebies and more. In her spare time she enjoys taking surveys and doing some mystery shopping. You can see a list of Karen’s survey earnings on her blog.

Watch for Part Two of this article next week, where Karen will share some of her favorite paid survey sites. Subscribe to this blog via email (See Email Updates in the right sidebar.) to be notified when new articles are added.

This may sound too good to be true, but it is not. It is not money for nothing. You have to write the articles, and you won’t make a lot of money at first. But the articles are easy to write (you may be able to complete one in 15 – 30 minutes) and over time the amount you earn will increase. And here is the best part: Your articles continue to make money for you every month, even in months when you do not write any new articles at all, because the articles you wrote in past months are still out there earning.

You do not have to have your own web site to profit from publishing articles online. There are several sites that will share advertising revenue with you when you publish your articles with them.

If you have tried to make money with a web site or blog, you may have become frustrated with the effort required to get people to come to your site and to actually make money. With many of the sites that pay for articles, all you need to do is write. Their sites are highly ranked in Google and receives a lot of traffic. You may find that an article you published just a few days ago is already on the front page of the Google search results. That means more people to read your article, more ad revenue, and more money for you.

Although you can write just about any kind of articles, your choice of subjects will influence how much money you make. (Hint: Advertisers pay more for ads in competitive niches, or when the products and services they sell are expensive.)

How much can you make? It depends on how many articles you write, and how valuable the topics are. There are many writers who earn hundreds of dollars or more each month. The most important thing to remember about earnings is that they do not stop just because you take some time off. Even if you are on vacation, or dealing with family issues, or working on something else, your articles are still out there earning for you.

So how do you find the sites where you can get paid to write? Connie Brentford has written an ebook that tells you what you need to know to start making money writing online. The Moonlighter’s Guide To Online Writing For Immediate Income is available for the Kindle ebook reader, but you do not need a Kindle to read it. You can use any of the free Kindle apps available for the PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, etc.

The sooner you get started, the sooner you can start earning passive income. What are you waiting for? Get Connie’s ebook for just $2.99 and get off to a great start today.