In my opinion, the best and easiest way to earn Bitcoins is to accept them as a means of payment. If you have a small business, the integration is done quickly and easily. No matter if you have a brick and mortar shop or an online business, no matter if you sell goods or services. You just have to complete the following three steps:
Get a free online Bitcoin wallet from Coinbase. If you're not sure what a Bitcoin wallet is, check out my What is Bitcoin section. There are also many other providers apart from Coinbase. When you sign up with LocalBitcoins you will also get a free bitcoin wallet with a broad range of functions. Find out which works best for you. And remember, no wallet is absolutely safe, so be careful with your money. Especially make sure you keep your Bitcoins stored safely in at least 2 or 3 different places.
bitcoin wallet image
Display a QR-code with your Bitcoin address next to your cash register. There are two options here.
When you have your wallet, go to a section that says 'Receive Money' or 'Add funds' or something similar. There will usually be a QR-code that has your Bitcoin address encoded in it. Print out the image with the QR-code and place it next to your cash register. Your customers will typically have a Bitcoin app installed on their smartphone where they can enter the value of the purchase in USD or EUR. Their app calculates the corresponding Bitcoin value. It automatically takes the current exchange rate to get the right amount. On your wallet account you can check the confirmation of your incoming payment.
Some wallets offer a 'Receive Money' functionality. When you earn Bitcoins by accepting them as a payment method on a more regular basis it comes in handy when you use a button called 'Create Payment Request'. Here you enter the Bitcoin amount the customer has to pay and it will show the corresponding QR-code automatically. This way the customer doesn't need to enter an amount which makes the payment for them more convenient. For this method you need to calculate the Bitcoin amount from your USD or EUR price before you can enter it for the QR-code to generate.
sample bitcoin address qr-code
Display the 'Bitcoin accepted here' logo at the entrance to your shop to show everybody your innovative payment integration. You will find a printable version of the logo plus a free guide under Downloads.