A lot of people would like to be able to make extra cash on the Internet in their spare time. Many people do, such as bloggers, e-retailers and freelancers.

I've recently found two great ways you can make money online when you create your own products like T-shirts, mugs and posters. And no, it doesn't involve manufacturing, packaging, shipping and handling of finances. All you have to do is get creative.

Zazzle

Zazzle.com is one of the best online services to create a line of your own products with zero cost and get a great share in the spoils when the sales start coming in. Basically, you can design a T-shirt, mug, poster or several other items and have them for sale on Zazzle.com. Then, when someone orders your product, Zazzle will produce and ship it without any hassle for you!

create your own product designs

The designing is really simple. Above, you can see how I simply added the MUO logo to a T-Shirt. You can change the item specifications (long sleeve, short sleeve or change it to something like a hat or bag), then add images and text. You can also change the base colour. An idea to spice up your creations is to add your cartoons, images or ideas specific to you or your brand.

One you set up a seller account by clicking "˜Sell' in the top left-hand corner, you can create a store and then begin designing endless amounts of products and gifts.The standard royalty rate for your products is 10%. However, you can increase the cost of each product thus increasing the amount of money your receive per sale.

Without the right kind of publicity, your products are unlikely to sell. However, if you have a popular blog or can get good publicity for your products by doing things like sending samples to big websites, then Zazzle could turn into a nice side-business for you.

Threadless

The good news about Threadless is that you don't necessarily have to publicise your products in order to make money.

The bad news, is that it's really tough to get your designs or ideas into production. Here's how it works:

create your own products

You have a funny idea for a T-shirt. It could be a cartoon, complex art or a funny photograph. It doesn't matter once it looks good on a T-shirt. You then have to get out a pencil and create your own product design masterpiece. Once you're finished, submit it to the Threadless team. If it's accepted you will be showered in cash. First off, you get $2000 and a $500 Threadless gift certificate. If your T-shirt is reprinted you'll get another $500 and if it's selected for a Bestee award you can get up to $22,500. Not bad for a few hours doodling funny cartoons, right?

create your own products

However, not all of us are gifted artistically. Well we're in luck. Threadless also allows you to submit quick messages and phrases which are voted upon by the community, as seen above. They're normally jokes or observations. Then, the best are judged by the Threadless team. If your T-shirt is selected to go into print you get $500.

So there you go, you don't have to "˜work' online to make money online. Just create funny T-shirts and mugs and you could earn yourself a lot of money.

What do you think? Do you have the stuff to design a T-shirt?

Image attribution: Peter Gerdes