If you want to learn how to make money online, you need to have good business ideas, but you also need a great marketing plan. The good news is that with a domain and hosting, along with some basic skills, your ideas can become a reality. Each of the internet business ideas below is competitive, so make sure you go in with all guns blazing!
1. Internet Business Ideas – Become an affiliate
Learning how to earn money online as an affiliate isn’t easy. But there are lots of people worldwide who make over $1,000,000 a year doing it. Most will not be successful unless they have some formal help and training. Affiliate stores are web stores where people purchase items on a site but through a third party.
Amazon is one of the most popular affiliate programs in the world, but it really shouldn’t be considering the commissions are so low! It’s not just Amazon that you can affiliate with; there are 1,000 affiliate programs to choose from. Although Amazon can be lucrative, there are some much better options out there, allowing affiliates to earn up to 75% commission in some cases! Work in your own time
- Build multiple sites
- Work in your own time
- Focus on product niches that you have an interest in!
Example: Affilorama is a great resource for anyone looking to start their journey in affiliate marketing. The email marketer’s best friend is their email list; you have to have an email list! I use Aweber to collect subscribers.
2. Internet Business Ideas Start an eCommerce store
At the forefront of the internet, a revolution has been eCommerce stores. Nowadays, you can get an easy-to-use, fully functional eCommerce store design for as little as £500; then you just need a domain and hosting. Of course, how much you profit depends on your methods and effectiveness in marketing, which might include:
- Print media
- PPC (pay-per-click)
- SEO (search engine optimization)
- Networking
- Event Sponsorship
- The list goes on!
Example: Zappos
You might not have even heard of Zappos, an online shoe store. Well, that goes to show how big the internet is and how big your online business could be. Maybe it might even come close to the acquisition of Zappos by Amazon for a reported $900,000,000.
3. Earn Cash From Blogging
Internet business ideas starting a blog isn’t as hard as you think. All you need is hosting and a domain. To make money online from a blog, you need to gain large amounts of traffic from a specific niche. See how I do it here. You can earn cash using:
- AdSense
- Selling banner advertisements
- Affiliating to sites such as Amazon & eBay (see #2)
- Offer premium services or member areas
Example: TechCrunch
TechCrunch is a popular Web 2.0 blog and makes a reported $200,000 per month. Originally started by Michael Arrington, it was eventually acquired by AOL for a reported $25,000,000. There is money to be made by blogging, and it’s one of the cheap and easy home-based businesses to get started with.
4. Internet Business Ideas – Sell on eBay
Selling on eBay successfully is not easy. You need to be able to able to target a niche where profit margins are high and competition is low. If you pick the right product (particularly unbranded products), you have a chance to import items and make huge profit margins.
Example: Linda’s Stuff
There are some extremely large sellers on eBay. Take “Linda’s Stuff” as an example, with around 150,000 items online and nearly 350,000 confirmed sales.
5. Train and mentor
Perhaps you have a specific skill set that you could teach. There are hundreds of skills that can be taught over the internet, especially because services like Skype are free.
You might have to offer a free service now and build a freemium model (offer free accounts with limited features, then charge for upgrades) in the future to make some large amounts of cash. It’s one of the best business ideas for those with extensive knowledge. You could:
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- Teach a language
- Offer marketing training
- Help improve writing skills
- And more!
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Example: Code Academy
Although it is only in the early stages, Code Academy is going to be one of those online training centers that stands out from the crowd. More than one investor has seen the potential that the Academy has, getting over $12.5 million in investment within the first 12 months, including investments from Richard Branson and Yuri Milner.
6. Become a drop-shipper
Dropshipping is fairly similar to running an affiliate store. You act as the mediator without ever touching the product. The difference between a drop-shipper and an affiliate is that the sale on drop-shipping websites is not completely managed. You might have to set up systems to automatically purchase with your drop-shipping company for it to be sent directly to the end consumer.
Example: iPhone store
There was a sale confirmed on Flippa a few years ago for iPhoneStore.com. It was producing nearly $30,000 in revenue every month and selling for $90,000.
7. Internet Business Ideas Paid blogging
With over 350,000,000 websites on the internet, there is a huge demand for content. If you have experience or skills relating to writing, offering a blog posting service could be for you. Lower-paid projects might start at around £1 per 100 words, with quality-focused projects being in the £2.50–10 per 100 words range. Sites like People Per Hour and Elance are great for picking up paid writing gigs without actually having a website.
8. Become a virtual assistant
A virtual assistant is one of the Internet business ideas to have if you want flexibility. You’ll be able to maintain multiple clients at once, which means you can easily fill gaps in your week or work overtime if you need to. A virtual assistant will generally charge £15–20, depending on the specifics of their job role. Expect to be assisting with tasks such as blogger outreach, product listings, research, and responding to emails.
9. Internet Business Ideas Offer web design
Nearly every company is now looking to build a website. Even those companies that have a website are looking to make sure that theirs looks bigger and better than the competition. You can learn how to earn money from home with practically no investment, and this is certainly one of the best business ideas for someone wanting huge amounts of flexibility.
You can learn the basics of coding on CodeAcademy and take specific online web design courses to build up your skillset. Sign up for freelance sites such as People Per Hour and start building up your portfolio! This portfolio might even lead you to a high-paying job!
Example: City College Brighton
Many of the students from City College Brighton have gone on to be successful freelance web designers, and you could do the same!
10. Deal with domains
You’ve heard of antique dealers and even car dealers, but what about dealing in domains? Domains are internet real estate, and like real estate, they could be considered an investment. Don’t just buy any domains; spread your risk with a portfolio and make sure you hold out for the highest price possible.
Learning how to connect with the end consumer, rather than other domain dealers, will enable you to get the highest price possible for your domains.
Example: Domaining.com
If you are not familiar with some of the prices that domains have been sold for, then the all-time list here is worth looking out for. Check out hotels.com, which went for $9,500,000! One of the highest domain sales back in 2012 was silver.com, which sold for $875,000.
11. Outsource
How about setting up a business that focuses on outsourcing? Most successful service providers on the internet find that they need external help at some point. They might have a blogging client that requires a logo design. They might have a guest posting service client that needs web design. Instead of providing the services personally, you could outsource and take a profit margin of your choice! Make sure you learn how to outsource first!
Example: Copify.com
Copify is an example of a company that uses outsourcing. They source writers and they source clients. They connect the dots to create an online business deal and take their profit margin.
12. Trade currencies
Every day, there is a huge fluctuation in FX markets. If you have a combination of technical and fundamental analytical skills and some cash flow, you can become an online currency trader. Places like www.forexfactory.com are great for learning the basics. Remember, this is leveraged cash, so if you make the right decisions, you have a chance to profit big! At the same time, the risks can be high if you don’t have a money management strategy in place.
Example: Bill Lipschutz
Bill Lipschutz is considered to be one of the best FX investors of all time.
13. Internet Business Ideas Build apps
Again, CodeAcademy will give you a good grounding in coding languages. Expect to train for 12 months before being able to build apps that are going to achieve lots of sales. There are a few options when it comes to building apps…
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- The bespoke basis for clients
- Sell based on a fixed fee (multiple licenses)
- Charge a monthly fee
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Example: Summly
Looking to hit the jackpot? Check out this recent acquisition by Yahoo! to buy Summly for $30,000,000 from a 17-year-old!
14. Offer to telemarket
Internet business ideas Telemarketing services are great for appointment setting as well as creating warm leads. More and more companies are looking to outsource their marketing efforts and this is where you should fit in. Telemarketers charge £15–30 per hour, depending on the size and type of operation.
Example: DM Concepts
DM Concepts is a telemarketing company that has managed to achieve some fantastic statistics. The higher the quality of the service you offer, the more you are going to be able to charge!
15. Internet Business Ideas Create videos
The UK spending on online video has seen 13.5% year-on-year growth and now exceeds the spend on TV advertising. (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) Hundreds of statistics like this have meant that businesses have to produce videos. Well, they don’t have to, but if they don’t, they are going to be missing out.
Video platforms are just another avenue to acquire potential consumers. You can offer video packages from £50-5,000 and beyond. Select your target market and market to them effectively.
Example: Old Spice
If you can combine video production with the ability to be creative, you can make videos go viral. If you can do that, your £500 video is going to be worth £5,000 or even £50,000 to a client. Check out the results from the Old Spice video campaign!
16. Internet Business Ideas Manage social media profiles
Social media is an important part of any online business and one of the best Internet business ideas. The problem? Time! Most business owners simply don’t have the time to be involved with Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other sites in a proactive way. That is where you can help.
If you can engage clients and build up attractive social media profiles, then you will be able to attract clients, which makes this a service with value. Again, these projects are posted on freelance sites such as People Per Hour and Elance regularly, so you can start building up clients right away! Check out these amazing statistics for LinkedIn!
Example: Clorox Bleach
If you can consistently provide companies with successful social media campaigns and improve their profiles, they will pay. Clorox Bleach had some huge success with one of their recent social media campaigns.
17. Internet Business Ideas Create valuable resources
The sites that hold the most value on the web hold the most valuable content. Facebook holds information about hundreds of millions of users. YouTube possesses millions of funny, educational, and controversial videos. If you can create a website that focuses on offering valuable resources, then you just might be a winner.
Remember, you can offer the freemium model mentioned previously if there is no scope to achieve high advertising revenue. You could even be teaching others how to make money online while doing the same thing for yourself!
Example: Shopify
Shopify is a great example of the freemium model. By offering some applications for free, they get exposure for their whole business. Since the company was founded in 2004, it has acquired 30,000 customers, including Pixar and the Foo Fighters. Their revolutionary “build-a-business” competitions in the past have produced over $70,000,000 in revenue for over 14,000 entrants.
18. Internet Business Ideas – Translate
There are over 300,000 translators in the world for a reason; they are needed. In a world where more and more companies are outsourcing, those who speak other languages are indispensable. Whether you are negotiating deals for an import-export agent or replying to company emails, there is work out there.
There are opportunities to work part-time with small companies by networking on freelance sites or to set up professional translation services using remote call centers and Skype.
Example: Cloudwords
Cloudwords is one of the many companies that is taking advantage of the $ 30 billion that is spent worldwide on translation-related products or services. This is one of the more complex work-from-home ideas out there, simply because from day 1, it’s likely clients will be small to medium-sized businesses trying to negotiate deals abroad. The market is there, now you just need to find your niche.
