Free high-value online courses: how to learn better

Learning online is a cheap and very effective way to get the skills you want. The number of online platforms has grown steadily. So an easy way to acquire new skills is by searching for what you want on the best free online platforms:

• Coursera is an academic platform. Many institutes, universities and think tanks share their experience in their courses. A majority are theoretical.
• Alison is a platform that is focused on developing countries. It is aimed at students willing to gain workplace skills and basic education.
• Khan Academy adds exercises to YouTube videos. 

However, many skill-based platforms offer mainly paid courses. A good example is Udemy. An interesting way to gain free access to many of those is by following social media groups providing coupons. Check the latest coupons on the most popular Facebook groups:

• Udemy Courses
• Free Udemy coupons
• Udemy Free Pass
• Udemy Free Courses

How to set up a green screen for better videos

Wondering how others produce so many professional videos with nice built-in backgrounds? Simple, they use a green screen behind them. It allows them to change the background in whichever way they like.

Here's the 3 essential parts of having a good green screen:

1. A good green cloth / screen
2. A plain background
3. Good lights

First, the green screen itself. Buy one on eBay or another reliable online store. Prices range from $5 to a few hundred dollars for professionals. You can also buy kits so you can hang the screen easily. If you're short on cash, you can also just use green paper.

Second, make sure you hang the screen on a plain background. If the background is one half black, one half white, it will show on your video. You can either hang the screen on a wall, or use a board to hang it on.

Third: good lighting. There are many lights on the market. Some are professional - check eBay again. You can also use the lights you already have at home to make your own set-up. However, natural sunlight is a very source of light. Professionals try not to use it - sunlight is unpredictable. 

The most important part of lighting is to try yourself. Some persons' faces react differently on the type of setup, so experiment as much as possible.

How to do a free online survey

Looking for a free online survey service? Many websites offer free surveys. Free Online Surveys is one of them, just like Survey Monkey.

Seems simple? Yes, it is. However, there's a few caveats:

(c) Surveys can cost a lot of money - or no money, if you're smart

1. Spam. You'll have to give some information about yourself, such as an email address. Ok, one can unsubscribe, but there's always the risk they'll never unsubscribe you.
2. Free accounts are limited. For example, some websites will only provide the results of your survey for a few days. 
3. Links. People taking the survey will see links to promote the website's services.

So is there a service that lets you keep your results and won't ask your email address? Yes. It's outlook. 

With outlook, you can create your own email address. By clicking on the icon left above, with the squares. Click on Onedrive, and when you're there, click on new -) Excel survey. From there on, you'll be able to put questions as you wish. 

The results will always be there and no spam will happen with this survey. 

How to publish a book - for free

Many ideas to write a book and scared it won't be published? Why don't you try to publish it via Amazon? It's a free service - and you'll get paid for your sales.

It requires a bit of work - of course. First step is to write your book. You can choose in which format you do it, but the last version should be in one of Amazon's formats: the most common is with Word, but if you have a programme that publishes ePubs, you're also fine.

(c) after writing, publish for free!

Make sure that the layout is Amazon-friendly, meaning your book has titles for its chapters (click here to find out how to do it). Additionally, the first pages should be: a title page, a copyright page and a table of contents. A cover page is also needed. Either you can ask a professional (e.g. via Fiverr) or have a try yourself. Amazon also offers a programme to make the cover yourself. One tip: keep it simple.

Second step is to create an account, to fill in the details and to upload your book. Make sure you have all the rights to the pictures and the text you're using. Best is to use your own text and pictures.

Amazon will take a look at your book, which doesn't last more than a few days. If they approve it, it will be published and you can start to earn money.

The process can be done again for paperback books, meaning real physical books. The cover page will be different, since it will be the back page of your book as well. Don't forget to write the links to websites in full. One can't click on links in a real book.

Two more tips: register as an affiliate to promote your book and books you like. You'll get extra money. Also don't forget to make an up-to-date author page on Amazon.

Check my books for some examples! It's a great passive income.

How to find free pictures online

Everyone working online needs pictures. For a blog, for video backgrounds, for creating Christmas cards for a client... When you are searching for pictures, you don't want to waste too much time.

Taking pictures yourself... the best way! (c)

A first tip: the best way to find royalty-free pictures is to take them yourself. You took them, so you can do anything you like with them. It is maybe obvious, but why search the internet for a picture of a table if you can take the picture yourself with your own smartphone?

A second tip: don't ever take pictures anywhere for any public purpose just like that. There are very big fines for doing so, even if you didn't earn any money with the picture. The person taking the picture needs to give you permission to use it. And that brings us to copyright.

A third tip: go for public domain pictures. The persons putting their pictures on line say that you can do anything with their pictures: change the colours and sell it, remix them in a video, putting them in a blogpost,... a good example is the picture in this post. You can't do much wrong - but don't claim you made the picture.

Where can you find pictures in the public domain?

1. Pixabay is one of the great sources with only pictures that are in the public domain. It's one of the easiest databases to use.
2. Flickr is a great website to find public domain pictures. Make sure to take the right option in the menu, because not all pictures can be used.
3. Everystockphoto searches different websites like Flickr and Wikipedia for pictures. Again, make sure to check the option 'public domain' in the advanced search. The search is not as good as for Pixabay and Flickr.

However, beware and use your common sense. If someone puts a picture of his car with the car's logo, you can't use it. Even if that person puts it in the public domain. The same goes for pictures of persons. Better someone that is posing for the picture than someone turning away from the camera. These websites can't check every single picture.

Another way is to search for a picture with a license. If you find one, make sure to read the license very well. Having a license doesn't allow you to do anything with it. Some allow for modifications, some are obliged to be shared with the same license, and others can't be used commercially. The best ones are CCBY, or the attribution license: you only need to give source, name and a link to the license.

Of course it's difficult to find just the right picture for your article - but remember you're not paying cash for them, only your time.