50 Ideas For An Online Business That Will Get You Money

50 Ideas For An Online Business That Will Get You Money


The rise of the internet  along with social media has brought about a completely new level of entrepreneurship. Several entrepreneurs have made a name for themselves by starting up online businesses as they provide an incomparable chance to manage your business on a global scale using just internet connection and a laptop.

It is easier said than done, starting an online business and then understanding its risks and developing it is not an easy job. But it is definetly not impossible. Currently, more than 2 billion people globally use the internet, which makes a great opportunity to generate income, but if you think closely, this becomes a go-to business for many, meaning commpetition will also increase. More experts are coming up claiming to have the best tips when it comes to making lots of money from the comfort of your own home. This means your selection of where to get your knowledge from about starting an online business will be equally as hard as starting it.

Basics of starting a successful online business

Before jumping head first into it, you need to make sure your head is in the right space to ensure everything goes forward smoothly.

  • Focus to find out your target market or audience and get to know how you can provide them with value. You can do this by identifying where assistance is needed in the area closest to you first. The internet holds so much information and not to mention it is easily accessible at any time. Information overload is an actual problem for many entrepreneurs so just try to apply a fraction of what you already know and you might find it working just fine for your business.
  • Assembling an audience is crucial for ensuring your business makes money. This can be done by looking for exposure via large author sites by writing for them or doing interviews to build authority, boost your sales as well as your presence in the social media sphere. Write guest posts on blogs that get lots of traffic to direct some of it your way.
  • After embarking on getting exposure your next move should be to carry out a plan for income generation. Get a content strategy for your blog or website that coordinates with a schedule for promotion. Plan for the services and products you will provide your customers and make use of your content and exposure to set up your business and provide premium offerings.
  • After implementing your plan, get to know what does and doesn’t work for you by performing a simple testing. Carry out sales, bundle up several services and various products and try out different offers. If you get an offer that agrees with your audience taste, carry it out after every 30 days then perfect your process by improving on the sections of your plan that do not work.
  • Now, you will have established a foundation of at least 1000 authentic fans as well as a business that is ready for growth. At the end of each quarter or month, when you hit your promotions, launch with a bang. This indicates the presence of affiliate partners, launch bonuses, and joint partnerships via webinars. Your business should gain significant momentum and revenue with each launch. From here you will need to get ways of scaling your business and reinvesting.
  • Briefly, it takes concentration and time to start your online business and it will be hard but it provides a sense of freedom that you cannot put a price on.

Running a business online has been made easier with the evolution of today’s technology and it will cost you little. There is also less risk as compared to putting your money into an office-based business because basing your business online ensures that you can virtually work from any location and gain access to more potential clients. Are you having trouble coming up with a business idea for your online startup?

Here are 50 ideas to get you started and placed into several categories so you can see where you fit in best or where your services would be most helpful.

Administration and customer service

Capital required- $200- 700

Risk Level- Low

Profit Margins- High

 Mailbox management

There are companies whose email accounts are usually overloaded with plenty of undesired emails for advertising. These emails make it hard for such companies to keep up with other enquiries, which are more important or relevant to their businesses or services. By this logic, your work would be to assist them in deleting these SPAM messages and sorting their emails by creating folders for specific individuals or parties to aid in the smooth running of their operations.

Document creation

Most companies typically need help with the generation of various documents, which could include emergency contact forms, inventories, checklists, directories, or contact lists. Your role in creating these documents will be made a lot easier if you make use of software made for the creation of such documents. Examples of such software include Foxit Software, Ecrion, or Hotdocs.

Rewriting

This service is mostly used for the improvement of website content in which case your role would be to help in rewriting website articles with words that are overused or deemed inappropriate to give them a more breathtaking impression. Your assistance would also be required for websites where the content appears to be copied from another site, indicates little to no research, or has text that is too summarized or too long for specific media channels.

Developing ads or listings

There are lots of small businesses that require assistance in updating or creating listings on their own websites or on e-commerce websites. Most of these businesses also typically advertise their products on websites for classified advertisements and need help with the generation of entries. Several popular websites used by businesses for advertisement include Craigslist, So Sell It, or Gumtree.

Formatting

This service is done to make documents look more visually appealing and professional to the intended recipient or reader. What you would essentially need to do is add bibliographic references if any, rewrite quotations in the proper manner, add headers and footers, numbering, bullet points, section text into paragraphs, select various colors for the font, writing subheadings and headings for paragraphs, and selecting appropriate font for any plain text,

Converting Files

File conversion can be done with the use of specialized software or manually. The usual requirement for this service is to convert any powerpoint, excel, or word files into PDF format. In cases where one needs you to convert an e-book or just a normal book into kindle or epub formats, you would use a text editor program to do this. Some good examples of software for file conversion include Zamzar or NCH.

Data Entry

This role requires one to manage or input information into several kinds of documents. Normal tasks you would perform in this role include deleting any records that are not current or no longer of use updating any current records, generating new data in the client’s databases, or entering new or existing data into sheets and much more. At times there will be a need to work with various customized software for data entry such as Entrypoint Data Entry and EpiData.

Bookkeeping

Your responsibility as a bookkeeper would be to keep track of a particular company’s expenditure to make sure that their financial business accounts are in accord. Essentially, this service includes the production of management accounts, assistance in the preparation of financial statements, identification of any expenses on the company’s bank statements, completion of VAT returns, and processing of payments, receipts and invoices. Some popular software programmes for bookkeeping include Quickbooks, Xero, or Sole Trader.

Collections Agent

Customer service also holds a difficult role which involves getting a hold of any clients who have outstanding payments such as unpaid loan installments, invoices, and bills just to name a few. A collection agent’s job would, therefore, be to make lists of debtors, which would then be organized depending on the severity of the matter. You would also need to contact said customers to come discuss how their debts would be collected, use credit bureau data to locate any unresponsive customers and to conduct background checks on them. Debt collection software you can use includes Collection Words, Collect, or Collect One.

Customer Support

Working in customer service requires that one has access to an environment that is noise free to enable one to listen clearly to their customers and respond appropriately. One of the basic requirements for this position includes possession of a landline phone as cell phones or voice over internet phone service is not typically used. There are companies that hire for this position on an independent contractual basis meaning responsibility for your taxes would be your own. LiveOps and Arise are god examples of businesses which offer customer support opportunities on a home basis.

Online Research

Capital required- $150- 600

Risk Level- Low

Profit Margins- Mid Level to High

These business ideas would require you to conduct intensive research on various areas of interest and providing the information or the data to the parties of interest.

Developing questionnaires and Surveys

Some companies require guidance when it comes to giving opinions and collecting them, which is why any research process needs to have a proper research design as a crucial component. This job description entails coming up with questions and texts for surveys which could be in the form of questions, images or files, a Likert scale, drop-down, Multiple choices, or textual. The surveys could also be assimilated with a mail marketing service provider like Mail Chimp, a database, or a website for convenience.

Targeted market research

This type of research requires you to gather all the data you can on a niche market. This information might be concerning a specific element of this niche market like the geographic location, or the type of customers to attract; information of interest for the client.

User testing

This is a technique that is utilized in the evaluation of a product by allowing users to test out its features free of charge and the process is recorded as it occurs. Such a usability exercise provides direct information about how actual users use the system and it indicates whether the features require some tweaking or if they are user-friendly. This kind of testing could be used for the assessment of features for various devices, apps, or websites. If the company allows it you could blog about your experience with said product or vlog about it on channels such as YouTube.

Web Research

This entails looking for data or information that would otherwise be time-consuming or difficult to find for the client. This information can include information or data confirming the legitimacy of important documents, personal data, statistical data, product lists, data for market research, lists of competitors in your target market, or contact details.

Statistical Analysis

This type of research is needed in almost any professional field. Various kinds of data analysis commonly used include Bayesian analysis, principal component analysis, factor analysis, experimental designs, panel data, time series, regression, etc. In order to get work as doing statistical research, you could try to create your own services and promote them. Some of the tools typically used to conduct statistical analysis are Eviews, MINITAB, or Stata.

Genealogical research

Research of this kind includes the finding out of information on someone’s family history or family tree. A project in such an area would concentrate on the specific research of a particular individual or researching an individual’s entire family tree. This kind of research would require the use of freelance websites such as Genealogy Freelancers, which would be a better alternative to creating your own platform online.

Topic Research

Such an investigation offers suggestions concerning a specific area of interest and the information it entails. You would give the client references from which they would be able to confirm the information you have provided them. Depending on the requirements, the information would then be given in the form of presentations, documents, or datasheets.

SEO Keyword Research

This work is done by making use of several analytical tools to with the aim of locating keywords with the potential of boosting an article’s ranking in a search engine results’ list. Given that 78% of online users rarely scroll past the first page in the search results, this makes it very important for owners of websites to have content containing keywords with a very good ranking. Examples of tools you can use to conduct research on keywords include Keyword Suggestion Tool and Keyword Tool.

Focus groups

This type of research is mostly qualitative and the goal of holding a focus group is to get different people’s attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and opinions on diverse topics such as ideas, advertisements, trends, concepts, services or products. Focus groups typically make use of software programmes such as iTracks, Liveminds or Focusgroup to conduct this type of research and the results are then posted in a focus group report.

Opinion Polls

These are questionnaires taken online which cover various topics and at times, they make use of images or videos to comment. There are quite a number of opinion poll websites that use systems, which are point based. There is a specific amount of points that are awarded to each survey enabling the users to get material rewards or financial rewards following the collection of a fraction of these points. Survey companies that offer these reward programs include Opinion OutPost, Your Opinion Counts, and Toluna.

Online writing

Capital required- $200- 450

Risk Level- Low

Profit Margins- Mid Level to High

A writing career may be tricky to pull off, but it has a lot of variation and it is interesting. Before embarking on a career as a freelance writer it is essential that you build your portfolio, educate yourself on writing proposals that are appealing, and effectively promote yourself and your services. Try out websites specifically for freelancers if you are new to this line of work. All you need to do is create your profile, and begin submitting proposals to would-be clients. Clickworker, Freelancer or Upwork are some popular websites for freelance writers. Here are some of the jobs you could do in this area of work.

Blogging

This is an excellent choice particularly if you feel you can share entertaining information of valuable information with others or if you have a specific area you are interested in. In order to build a profitable blog, you will need to write content that is high in quality and post regularly so that audiences will keep returning to your blog. You could guest write on other people’s blogs to establish a good reputation and to test out your skills. Common platforms include Hubpages, Tumblr, Blogger, and WordPress.

Editing

This job involves the conduction of tasks such as text reorganization, condensation and correction while making sure the original ideas are maintained but come out clearly after you are done. You will need to collaborate a lot with the original document or the author. Editing is mainly required in fields such as video, film and literature as well as advertising, marketing, and public relations, which require more creativity. Serenity Software, Intelligent Editing, and StyleWriter are editing tools you can use.

Proofreading

Your job would involve scanning through a text to find any syntax or grammatical errors to correct. You will need the ability to identify errors like usage of wrong words, incorrect sentence structure, misplaced modifiers, lack of agreement between verbs and subjects, apostrophe usage mistakes, pronoun errors, comma splicing, run-on sentences, and misspellings. You can use software programs like Ginger or Grammarly.

Translation

Translation is a much-needed service as there are clients who want the translation of marketing materials for their businesses, applications for jobs abroad and other personal documents, novels for authors who want to sell their work in different countries etc. It needs careful attention to details, and some research, which means you will need to know how to properly set the tone in the required language. Software tools you will need as a translator include Ginger and Babylon etc.

Transcription

Conducting transcription of audio into text needs the use of word processing programmes i.e. OpenOffice or Word, a good pair of headsets, and proper transcription software. Some of the challenges of transcription include background noise, fast speech, a thick accent, or difficulty making out words which are hard to decipher for different reasons. There are software programmes that can make the job easier for you such as Transcriber Pro and Express Scribe.

Cover Letters and Resume writing

Many professionals have a hard time writing cover letters and resumes that are grammatically correct and effective. Such writing services involve analysis where the client is guided in ascertaining their objectives and identifying which skill sets are required in achieving them. Next, the proper vocabulary and format are selected to appeal to potential employers while making the applicant seem genuine. A good cover letter or resume should give off a positive tone, be relevant and emphasize the individual’s skills.

This type of technical writing is utilized by legal professionals such as judges, legislators, and lawyers etc to formulate obligations, legal rights, and legal analysis. Such text requires citations or references from legal authorities and often they should follow a recommended format, which includes technical terms. Complaints, claims, leases, contractor forms, terms of use, non-disclosure agreements, operating agreements, meeting minutes, company by-laws, and employment contracts are legal documents that are most common.

Press Release writing

A press release informs the public about a specific organization’s activities, particular services, or products in a way that is appealing to them. It should be newsworthy in a way that provides people with just enough information to make them want to find out more about the subject of interest. The content should be structured on the basis of the inverted pyramid metaphor which is used mostly in journalism and media. The press release must answer the 1H and the 5Ws: How? Why? When? Where? What? and Who?

Ghostwriting

Ghostwriters are usually given a basic outline for the piece they will write under someone else’s name. Ghostwriting provides a wide variety of materials in diverse areas. As a ghostwriter, you would be employed to write song lyrics, scripts, or screenplays in film and theatre. You would write feature stories, blog posts, or articles in the field of journalism. In literature, a ghostwriter writes white papers, reports, manuscripts, or books.

Copywriting

A job in copywriting includes the creation of various marketing materials to serve varied purposes like the provision of your expert judgment on specific complex issues, educating customers, or promoting services or products. Your portfolio would include white papers, product data sheets, demonstration scripts, sales emails, sales scripts, web content and sales brochures.

Consulting

Capital required-$800- 2000

Risk Level- Low-Mid level

Profit Margins- High

Social Media consultant

Social media has seen tremendous evolution with the coming up of apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, and Whatsapp, which have made it easier to conduct business online and reach out to consumers. A role as a social media consultant would entail providing clients with advice on ways to increase their followers or users to their social media pages, accounts, or channels. You would also tell them how to garner attention from said audience for their campaigns on social media to get more comment, likes and shares on their posts, which in turn would get them more exposure for their businesses.

Mentoring and Coaching

If you are a qualified professional in psychology, business or education, and you would like to venture into independent employment; this would be a great option for you. It helps if you have qualifications in mentoring and coaching on a professional level from certified institutes. As a coach, you would help clients get solutions to problems by having conversations with them and giving them open-ended questions to encourage reflection on the area they are interested in working on. Mentoring involves passing valued insight, knowledge, and skills to the client/mentee to aid them in the development of their abilities. You would provide your services by setting up your own blog or website and your sessions would be conducted via video presentation software, i.e. Slidedog, Powtoon, or Emaze or the more popular, Skype.

Email marketing

Consultants in this job aid their clients in the assessment and improvement of their email communication. They can also develop and establish email campaigns, which essentially means giving the client advice on words to use to boost response rate and those to avoid to prevent their email newsletters or emails from being deemed as spam. They also offer advice on the effective and proper structuring of emails and their subject lines.

Travel Consultant

If you find yourself spending more time packing luggage and traveling to new and exotic locations, you might be able to get more out of it than you think. In this day and age, traveling has become one of the biggest crazes. Put your money where your luggage is and become a travel consultant by giving adventure-seekers new ideas for places to go and things to do while they are there. You can do this through writing in a blog or taking video blogs and posting them on YouTube.

Online Retail

Capital required- $160- 500

Risk Level- High

Profit Margins- High

3-D printing

This is a new breakthrough in technology that has brought about new strategies in e-commerce and you could milk this cow for all it is worth. Sell 3-D printed products such as tech accessories, bike parts, home accessories, and jewelry which you could then customize and get more money for your craft. Open a website where you could sell your products and take advantage of having the accessibility of the internet at your fingertips.

Women Sportswear

This is one popular online business idea that has gained popularity over the past few years given the current obsession with fitness that is going around. It is also quite lucrative considering that athletic wear is making its way onto the runways and street wear in the name of athleisure; it is also a niche in e-commerce that is least explored currently.

Organic and Natural beauty shops

More online shoppers are becoming thoughtful about their purchases, particularly for beauty products. This is why establishing a beauty shop whose values and ethics strongly resonate with animal lovers and nature enthusiasts is an excellent business idea. The more natural your products are, the better you can experiment with various ingredients. If you are making the products yourself to give more variety.

Mystery Objects Retail

Many people would pay good money for an authentically rare mystery object. You can venture into this business if you have a good eye for peculiar objects and are willing to go the extra mile in collecting them. Sell these items, get some good money, and quench your thirst for curiosity at the same time.

Professional photographs

There are several blogs and websites which operate online and want the consistent provision of beautiful photographs that are high in quality to help them convert and attract a bigger audience. You would need to put up a photo library stock of such photographs and would be able to get practically any kind of industry regardless of size. Examples of platforms you can look at are iStockPhoto, Photoshelter and SmugMug.

Fresh Produce

Another current craze you can tap into is retail and delivery of fresh, organic food. Freshly made goods, local farm boxes, and delivery of vegetables and fruits all from local sources could be the start of a healthier lifestyle and a successful business venture on your part.

Handmade goods

If you are crafty and into DIYs, you could set up a storefront where you would display your products and work. Platforms like Etsy and Amazon are great for helping you connect with customers, which makes this business venture a great option as an online business idea.

Online t-shirt business

Shopify and Spreadshirt are platforms that have made starting such a business very easy if you have a good eye for design and are highly imaginative. The thing with selling t-shirts online is that you have lots of inspiration to draw from for designs and the choice is up to you to create variety.

Baked Goods

For the ones with good hand at baking, this is the perfect business venture for you. All you need to do is get to baking and use sites such as Wix or Squarespace to establish your online bakery and before you know it, you are on your way to the top.

Miscellaneous Services

Capital required-$200- 500

Risk Level- Low to Mid-level

Profit Margins- High

If you are good at a particular job or specialize in providing various services, the internet will still come to your rescue. You can establish a website to sell your services; they could be tangible or done from behind a computer screen.

Video Production

The upcoming popularity of video as a major communication medium for all sizes and types of businesses worldwide is no surprise given that one of the largest sites globally is YouTube. This means that if you have any knowledge in video editing or filming, establishing your clientele will not be a difficult task. You can provide services for DIY tutorials, soundtrack libraries, and video production as well and someone in the business world is bound to reach out to you for assistance. Video production also holds a lot of challenges and creativity.

Personal training

You can build your very own fitness empire right from home if you are an expert in all things fitness. Write fitness books, create a fitness app, or write personal training tips. Build on this by promoting your services on sites like Instagram and Facebook, creating a website on which you can share personal tips or offer tester video lessons free of charge.

Makeup artistry

YouTube has created a platform for lots of makeup artists to excel in. This job will require you to have a website with a professional look and a strong portfolio to get started. Provide a few makeup sessions for free to build a reputation and spread the word online using content marketing. Once you have momentum, you can sell personalized makeup tips, makeup products, and makeup tutorials on your website.

Private Chef services

There are so many opportunities to start a business if you love to cook. Join platforms that inspire cooking enthusiasts to turn their passion into money e.g. MenuNextDoor, experiment with local food markets and pop-up food stalls, or set up a catering website. You can also sell online classes on cooking special dishes through video.

Events planning

This job requires an eye for detail and excellent project management skills as you would sell personalized gifts for events, game packages, decorations, and consulting services to those who need it. Make sure you have good testimonials and an equally impressive work portfolio so that you have a great head start.

Nutritionist

More people are eating healthy but the internet can be a source of contradictory advice when it comes to nutrition. This is why more people are looking to professional nutritionists for guidance on their journeys and special tips. If this sounds like your kind of gig, you can educate yourself on the profession via online classes and create and sell customized nutrition plans on a website.

Relationship and dating coach

If you feel like you have been lucky in your love life and have been involved in healthy relationships and you feel like you know your way around them you might be good for this job. This is not enough though, you might have to invest in books, and workshops that are relevant to this field and get learning then become certified before embarking on coaching. Given that mobile and online dating are also gaining popularity, some people are still unsuccessful in their searches. Your job would be to organize for and help clients prepare for an ideal date, to hone flirting skills and give advice on what to do and what not to do in their dating life.

There you have it! The internet is a vast pool of resources that are all easily accessible oppurtunities waiting for you to tap into it. The good thing about it is that anyone can start up a business online and it can be about anything you want it to be so long as you follow the right steps tailored to your specific idea. Another benefit is that you can still run your online business even if you have another job. You can borrow from any of the above ideas and you might find yourself on the fast track to becoming one of the biggest online entrepreneurs.

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