
7 Profitable Online Business Ideas for Beginners
Are you looking for a way to increase your income a little with a side hustle? Or maybe you’re trying to find a way to quit the 9 to 5 grind you’ve been doing for too long? No matter what your reasoning, you’re probably searching everywhere for an idea, a way that you can make money without even having to leave your home. You’re in luck, because online business is the wave of the future, and there are several great ways that you can jump in and start profiting. You just have to find the online business ideas for beginners that fit your interests and your skills. You can choose from a range of different things too, like a blog, affiliate marketing, an e-commerce store, drop shipping, online tech support and more. You could even build niche sites or start a consulting business. The sky is the limit.
Top Online Business Ideas for Beginners
There are all kinds of online businesses out there, but you want to make sure you have the best one for you, right? You want one that’s going to appeal to your skills and your personality. So, we’ve taken a look at the top 7 online business ideas for beginners and we’ve explained what type of person each one is best for, and even how you’re going to do it and how you’re going to make money. All you need to do is pick out which one works best for you.
Build a Blog
Who Are You?
You have real, personal experience with a topic that is of interest to other people. It might be anything from budgeting and personal finance to paragliding and sailing. Whatever it is, you have knowledge that the average person doesn’t. It could be that you work in this field already or that it’s a hobby or a struggle that you’ve worked through. Either way, you have the knowledge and you’re interested in sharing that knowledge with other people to help them get to the same place you are. You don’t have to have a specific type of personality, you just need to be interested in sharing.
How It Works
Creating a blog is all about writing down your experiences and your thoughts and sharing them with others. Once you come up with a topic you get complete freedom because you can write anything and everything you want on your blog. Of course, if you’re going to monetize it you need a topic that other people are interested in, but there is an audience for just about any topic. You just need to find them. You do that by creating high quality posts about your topic that help your readers understand it better, learn new things, or simply experience your experiences along with you.
How It Makes Money
As you start building up your following you can upgrade your blog a little to start making you money. There are several different ways that you can do this. One is with affiliate marketing, which we’ll talk about in a minute. Another is by creating your own products and your own brand. You may create actual, physical items, like clothes and toys. You may create eBooks that share more of the information you’ve already shared. Some blogs sell things like planners and templates for different things, even plans for building something. There’s no end to what you can sell and no end to what you can write about, which is what makes a blog one of the best online business ideas for beginners.
Start Affiliate Marketing
Who Are You?
You’re looking to make some money and you’re willing to do some research and put in some effort in order to do it. You’re not picky about the types of things you write about for the most part but you prefer to write informational articles and posts rather than sharing your personal thoughts and experiences. You’d rather help someone find a new product that works for them than talk about that time you went skydiving. You never have a hard time describing something, even if you’ve never actually used it personally and that’s why affiliate marketing is for you.
How It Works
With affiliate marketing you’re actually monetizing your website by including links to websites where a reader can purchase something. There are different levels here, which will depend on just how involved in the process you want to get. The lowest level involves allowing Google (or a different service) to set up links on your pages and in your text that it thinks are relevant. The next up, is where most people in this niche are. They write informational articles and posts about specific products and link to them intentionally. If you really want to get into the more dedicated form of affiliate marketing you can also write about products and services you specifically use and then provide links.
How It Makes Money
With this type of marketing you make money when someone clicks on a link from your website and generally makes a purchase. Sometimes you may have a set-up where you get a certain amount of money based only on a click-through. Sometimes you may be able to set up a system where you get paid for both, a small amount based on clicks and a slightly larger amount or even a commission based on a purchase. The basic agreements, like pay-per-click, can be set up with Google (or another ad service) however more extensive agreements have to be made between you and the company themselves. That’s where you’ll be able to make more money.
Create an E-Commerce Store
Who Are You?
You are an entrepreneur and when it comes to online business ideas for beginners you want to make a splash. You have ideas for products or services that are really going to make a difference in someone’s life. It might be a product that will make things easier for them. Maybe it’s something that will make life more fun. Whatever it is, you’ve been working on your idea for years and you’re finally ready to launch it. Or, on the other side, maybe you’re a creative or an artist and you have a talent that you’d like to share. You know that other people will be interested in what you have and you want to reach out to them with your own e-commerce store.
How It Works
An e-commerce store is just that, a store. It’s a place online where you can sell whatever you have to other people. You have to set it up in a way that it’s easy for people to see the different options you have and you need to make sure you have plenty of products available. It could take a while to launch and really get the business you want. On the other hand, it could happen fast and you could find yourself struggling to keep up. This is where your website is going to be the most important.
How It Makes Money
This one is pretty obvious, right? You’re going to make money in an ecommerce store by selling your products or services to other people. In order to do that you need to have a product that people want, so it can take a little bit of trial and error before you actually start seeing an income. If you’re making something entirely on your own you have a unique product and as long as it’s something people like you may get business right away. On the other hand, if you’re trying to fill a need you have to convince others that they have that need before you’ll start making money.
Start Drop Shipping
Who Are You?
You are not afraid of hard work. You’re not afraid of pushing yourself or cold calling and you’re definitely not afraid of juggling multiple jobs at the same time. You’re focused on the end results at all times and you make sure that when you take on a job it’s going to be done right. Not only that but you’re ready to make contacts, research the best products and jump into business, whether as your own brand or as a go-between for a different brand. You may not be creating your own store in the same way as a standard e-commerce, but you’re definitely an entrepreneur with drop shipping.
How It Works
With drop shipping you are actually acting as a go-between for someone who wants a product and someone who has that product. That may sound a little strange or confusing but picture it this way, Amazon is similar to a drop shipping empire. When you shop on Amazon you buy a product and it gets sent to you. Amazon didn’t make that product, but they’re the ones you purchased from. Amazon makes money on each of those purchases. Now, if this is an online business ideas for beginners that appeals most to you then you could be the go-between for a company and the consumer, except, in your case, you can choose a product where the actually company isn’t known. Many will actually allow you to put your own brand on a product and sell it like you created it.
How It Makes Money
You’re going to make money by selling the products you have, but not exactly in your possession. You’re not responsible for actually packaging up the product or even handling it at all because you actually only handle the sales. That means your total costs are practically nothing. You don’t have to purchase products from the supplier in advance. Instead, as sales come in you pay for a product from that supplier. You take your share, they get the agreed-upon share and they take care of shipping it out to the customer. So you make money by being the face of the operation when it comes to drop shipping.
Build Niche Sites
Who Are You?
You are interested in making money but you’re also interested in narrowing down the focus of your website. You want to share information about a topic that you’re interested in or you want to stay in a topic that’s highly profitable rather than having a more varied business in general affiliate marketing. You’re willing to put in some work and do some research and you’re definitely willing to write content that appeals to potential readers and draws people to make a purchase that’s when you want to build niche sites.
How It Works
If you build niche sites it’s actually similar to affiliate marketing in many ways. When you build niche sites you have to focus on one specific topic or ‘niche,’ like gardening or hunting. The niche doesn’t have to be too narrow though (you don’t need to focus on vegetable gardening or deer hunting). It just needs to cover one area. Then, you write posts about that topic, using some of the best keywords you can find through an analytics software. You’re also going to write about specific products in each of your posts, and then you’re going to include links to those products directly in each of your articles.
How It Makes Money
You make money by leading other people to buy products. Just like with affiliate marketing, you can earn money by people clicking on your links or by them making a purchase through that link. You generally don’t make much per click, but every little bit is going to help. Not only that, but you’re going to build yourself up as an expert in that niche and that’s going to make more people interested in the products that you recommend. The more they trust you, the more they click through the links you provide and the more money you can make!
Start a Consulting Business
Who Are You?
You are a smart and savvy person with extensive knowledge when it comes to finance and business. You are likely already a professional in the business world, either in HR, strategy, technology or maybe you’ve been in the C-suite of a high level company. You have a proven track record of improving the performance of businesses and you can provide the advice that helped take you to the top to other businesses. You’re ready and willing to turn small or struggling businesses into some of the top performing companies around. For you, it’s going to be easy to start a consulting business.
How It Works
When you start a consulting business you’re going to have to reach out to businesses, but they don’t all have to be anywhere near you. Instead, reach out to businesses that are up and coming or even ones that seem to be already doing well but you know could help them do better. You share your wisdom and experience with them through conference calls, meetings, or even specific training videos to help them continue building their business up, in whatever area you have expertise in.
How It Makes Money
You’re going to make money off of this by selling your knowledge. You’re not just starting up with any old online business ideas for beginners. You already have a foundation. You’ll need to prove your skills in whatever area you want to consult on before you’re going to get hired, but once you show that you can actually deliver improvements for a business, which improves their bottom line, more of them are going to be willing to pay you. After all, every business wants to make money and if you’ve been able to do it they want to know how. You’ll need to keep finding new businesses all the time to consult with, but you can make more and more money as you prove yourself and your results time and again.
Be the Online Tech Support
Who Are You?
You’re a techno-whiz and you know everything there is to know about at least one area of technology. But then again, you don’t need to know everything there is to know about coding, networking, building electronics or anything like that. Even if you just know the basics of technology you can get started in this field. You like to help people and you have no problem explaining things to people, whether they have zero knowledge of technology or they’re moderate to advance. You have an easy demeanor and you don’t get riled up easily, even when other people get frustrated or even rude, which is what makes you great for online tech support.
How It Works
With online tech support you could be working for a specific company or even several companies. Someone messages in to that company with a question or a concern and you’re responsible for helping them out. You walk them through the process of diagnosing the problem with whatever product, service or system they’re using and then you help them through the process of fixing it. In some instances you might take over their computer remotely and fix it for them. You’ll need at least general knowledge of the area you’re working in, and the more the better.
How It Makes Money
You make money because you’re answering questions and fixing problems. Online tech support is a standard job that you don’t actually have to create for yourself. You can create a business all your own or you can work for someone else that already has a technology related product. That means you can make money based on the number of questions you answer or you can make money at an hourly wage. If you start your own business in this field you’re going to charge for your services. Answer questions for someone will generally be a lower price and actually fixing something would be higher priced. You make more money based on what you’re able to do.
Getting Your Business Off the Ground
Okay, so now you have an idea of which one you’re going to start with, right? You know what type of online business you’re going to create. But how are you going to get started? The one thing all of these businesses need (besides you of course) is a website. And of course, not just any website. You need something that’s going to make sure any customer or viewer who checks it out is going to stay to read or to make a purchase. That’s where you need a web designer.
Launching a true business isn’t the same as just throwing something together for fun. You want to make money and money only happens when you get people coming to your website and buying things. That only happens when they think you have something worthwhile and (since all of this is a chain), that only happens when you have a great looking website that lures them in. Trying to create a website on your own, when you’re just getting started with your online business is definitely not going to be fun and is not necessary. Especially since there are professional web designers and consultants out there who have already done the hard stuff, the research.
Hiring a pro will get you the inside track on what buyers and readers are looking for. It will allow you to get your business off the ground properly!
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