8 Online Business Ideas You Can Start Today

So you have decided that you want to start an online business but are unsure of what type of your business you want to start.

Here is a list of 8 online business ideas to help you get started.

 

What is an online business?

 

An online business refers to any kind of business activity that occurs over the internet.

A business owner or entrepreneur who does all their activity on the internet is running an online business.

Running an online business can vary from buying and selling products online, and providing an online service.

There is a wide variety of online businesses operating across many different industries and niches.

Anyone has the ability to start an online business.

 

Advantages and Disadvantages Of Running An Online Business

 

There are many things to consider when deciding whether to start an online business.

 

Advantages of running an online business include:-

• Financial savings in regards to rent and cost of an operating a shop front
• Greater flexibility and freedom in regards to operating hours
• Customers can access you 24/7 – from all over the world.

 

Disadvantages of running an online business include:-

• Learning curve in regards to IT and website. (This may not be a disadvantage but rather an opportunity to learn something new).
• Expenses of software and hardware to run your online business
• Risk of online scams and frauds

 

8 Online Business Ideas

 

There are hundreds of different online business ideas out there on the internet.

 

Below is a list of just 8 online business ideas to help get you thinking.

 

Online Business Idea #1 – A Blog

A blog is an online journal or information website where blog writers can share their views and opinions on a variety of topics.

Turning a blog into a business is based on being able to make money from it.

In simple terms, it is about writing content, attracting people to read your content and then once you have built an engaged audience, start making money from your blog by developing a number of income streams.

Income streams that you can earn money from with a blog include affiliate marketing, advertising income or digital products.

A blog can be set up in about an hour, Check out my instructions for setting up a blog or website here.

 

Online Business Idea #2 – An Online Store

By far, running an online shop is one of the most popular online business ideas that people spend time setting up and running.

There are a number of options involved in choosing the type of online shop that you will run.

Will you sell physical products or digital products?

If you decide that you want to sell physical products, there are a number of factors that you need to consider.

These include:-

• Will you create your own products or will you sell someone else’s product?
• If you are creating your own products – what will your design, manufacturing and distribution processes be?
• Storage of products – where will they be stored?
• Attend to customer service, distribution and warranty issues.
• Cost of product versus profit margin – how much do you need to charge to make money.
• You could also set up an online business, selling second-hand stuff through sites such as FaceBook, eBay or Gumtree.

 
Digital products can range from photographs, graphic design, PDFs and checklists.

You can sell these on your own website or on marketplaces such as Etsy, Creative Market and 99 Designs.

Most people do a combination of both to increase the size and reach of their audience.

 

Online Business Idea #3 – Online Courses

Selling online courses is not necessarily what your business is about, rather it what your business sells as a product.

Online courses can generate a large amount of income for people who go through the right processes.

Do the maths – you create a course and charge $200 for people to enrol and participate.

Sell 100 courses and that is $20,000.

For those of you with years of experience in a particular niche or area – what are the problems that people in that area face?

How can you help them?

For example, with The Flexibility Factory, my focus is about teaching and helping Mums to build their own business.

Some of the problems that women may face in turning this dream into a reality include building confidence and how to start a business.

Therefore, I have written two online courses Investing In You! which focuses on providing women with skills to help build their confidence.

Business Basics is a course focused on helping women set up their business from scratch.

 

Online Business Idea #4 – Directory Website

A directory website is a website focused on a particular niche where businesses can pay to advertise their business, products and services.

Your role has the owner of a directory website is to determine your niche, create a website and drive traffic towards your website.

You will then try and attract businesses then pay to list their business on your website.

They will have the ability to list their business, advertise their products/services and have the benefits of SEO backlinks.

This is an online business that can become highly automated and once all your systems are in place, you can create an income without spending a lot of time on the business.

Think about this.

You have a directory website and charge a business $19.95 a month to list their business on there.

Sign up 300 businesses and then you will have an income of $5,985 per month. That is over $70,000 a year.

There are a number of platforms that can host your online courses including Teachable, Kajabi, Udemy and SkillShare.

 

Online Business Idea #5 – Membership Websites

Similar the directory websites, membership websites are based on people paying a fee to access content that you have created.

You will earn your income by creating a “gated” or protected area to your website, then charging people a monthly or yearly fee to access the content, specials offers or be part of a community.

Content refers to digital content such as workbooks, ecourses, webinars, PDFs, checklists and so on.

For example, just say that you have a website about renovations.

In your membership site, you may have webinars on how to perform specific tasks e.g. hang a door, or choosing colours for your house, and then also have special offers from suppliers available for members to take up.

With membership sites you will need to ensure that your content is fresh and that there is always something to keep your members coming back, otherwise you could lose them.

Back of the envelope, you charge people $33 a month to access your site. 100 members gives you $3300 a month and $39,600 a year.

250 members a month gives you $8250 a month and $99,000 a year.

 

Online Business Idea #6 – Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is about earning a commission or referral fee for promoting other people or company’s products.

Basically, you build your website, and generate traffic to your site through social media, blogging, paid or organic searches.

When someone clicks on an advertisement or link from your website, and then purchase the product that you have recommended or promoted, you earn a commission or referral fee.

Affiliate marketing has had a lot of noise surrounding it.

There is definitely an art to it, without coming across as spammy.

Commissions for affiliate marketing vary between companies and products and how much volume that you refer.

It is important that you have an affiliate disclosure when you are recommending a product where you may earn a commission or referral fee. In some countries, it is illegal if you do not do this.

 

Online Business Idea #7 – Freelancer

A freelancer is someone who offers specific services for a fee.

Usually, a freelancer is someone who is self-employed and works for different people however, some freelancers develop longer term relationships with clients and pick up ongoing work.

Freelancing comes with a number of benefits. These include:-

• Flexibility on hours and days worked.
• Control over the delivery of a product and timelines.
• Earn more income then a traditional employee.

There are a number of freelance sites that you can sign up to start your journey as a freelancer.

Check out sites such as Fiverr and Upwork that can help you begin your freelance journey.

 

Online Business Idea #8 – YouTube Channel

Setting up a YouTube Channel and making money from it, is another online business idea to earn money.

YouTube has over 1 billion users per day. 4 billion videos are watched on YouTube EVERY SINGLE DAY.

It only takes a couple of minutes to set up a YouTube Channel, and then by linking an AdWords account to it – you can enable monetization.

You can sign up for a YouTube Channel here.

There are many people making money from YouTube – anything from teaching soft skills, to videos on how to braid hair, and even videos of kids opening toys and playing with them.

The keys to success with a YouTube channels include:-

• Ensuring that your video achieves a desired outcome or entertains people
• Your videos are of high quality
• Combining the above two elements with other social media channels and SEO.

 

So what’s next?

We have explored 8 potential online business ideas that you can start building today.

Do any of them appeal to you?

Your business idea may include a combination of some of the above ideas.