How to find what are the best home based online business ideas and What is the best Online Business to Start Today. My list, whilst not the most exhaustive shows the opportunities that are consistent, These are
1. Affiliate Marketing
2. E-Commerce or Online Shop
3. Publish an Online E-Book
4. Youtube or Vimeo Channel Creation
5. Become Your Own Agency
So, based on that, read on for a more in depth analysis of each business and find which is the right online business for you.
Affiliate Marketing
Have you been to a restaurant and enjoyed a great meal, had fantastic service from the staff, and then you went on to recommend the establishment to your friends based on your experience? Did the restaurant thank you and give you a commission? I thought not.
In very basic terms, unlike the restaurant, Affiliate Marketing is where you can get paid, by companies for recommending and promoting their products.
Global companies are waking up to this method of product promotion. As such you will find everything from companies such as Nike looking to pay individuals who recommend their running shoes and trainers, through to Digital Online Course Businesses also paying commissions on promoted sales of their products.
The Internet currently has 5.3 BILLION users on it. By 2025 this is expected to rise to 6.54 BILLION and so on. Further, internet users spend an average of 6 hours 40 minutes online EVERY DAY. Source: DemandSage:
The online market place is huge and you can certainly tap in to a share of that with your own online venture as an Affiliate Marketer. Even the Global Powerhouse that is Amazon has its own affiliate program and I am sure you can find something on their platform to promote and earn a commission on.
Could you write short articles and post them on your own (simple is best) platform or webpage you create? Are you then able to drop a link into your content on a related product or service that compliments your article? It can be as straight forward as that.
Do you have a social media following on Facebook or X (formerly Twitter)? Perhaps a Tik Tok or Instagram audience? The same process applies. Post your material with a link on it and you are on way to earning commissions.
I would recommend getting an insight in to how affiliate marketing works and can work for you, and before spending any money in a program check the link below for details on how to start an affiliate marketing business for free that will give you an idea on how to get going.
E-Commerce or Online Shop
Opening an online store means that you don’t need the traditional ‘Bricks and Mortar’ investment of premises, rent, rates, staff etc.
Further as a relatively low-cost entry to this type of opportunity, many individuals use the ‘Dropship’ methodology of product fulfilment to a customer.
If you are not familiar with this type of operation then basically you find a product that you are interested in selling as an online business. You look for suppliers of your chosen product, that will sell you the items at a trade price and then most importantly will ship any orders you receive, direct to YOUR customer with out the need for you to hold stock, manage the inventory or send out the deliveries.
Imagine you wanted to sell bespoke furniture. Traditionally you would need to find large premises big enough to hold your stock, then buy and hold the stock, then hope that you sell the particular items you have stocked.
If you do not sell these goods, you are stuck with them, and all the cash you have tied up in the furniture, as per this example is now wasted.
Drop-shipping really does let you sell products that you are interested in and have a passion for, without the usual inventory hassles and stock holding requirements a conventional store may have.
Also, by automating the drop-shipping process, you concentrate on promoting and selling products online through your e-commerce store and not fretting about the designer settee gathering dust in the shop window.
If you decide to get involved with dropshipping getting started is straight forward but before any thing can happen you will need to set up your store. I personally use Shopify for my store and very often they run free offers so you can give it a try first.
Publish an Online E-Book
Do you have an aptitude for writing? If so why not self-publish an e-book. This is an area where you can literally bring your passion to life for the entertainment of others. Once you have written, edited and uploaded your composition You then quite literally are sitting back receiving a passive income from this venture.
This is no different to how Authors (and Musicians) selling hard copy books in bookstores earn royalty (passive) incomes. Now just imagine if your book were to become a best seller, the royalties you would earn, the film script offer…
But it doesn’t have to be a spy thriller type of publication. What skill sets do you currently have. You might want to explore writing content that is perhaps a ‘How – To …’ Guide.
You can publish your material on Amazon Kindle or use Google, in their Books Partner Centre. Here, Google will have your book visible to buy for potentially 3 billion plus people, in 75 Countries
Publishers list their books at any thing from $0.99 to $24.99. Even a fraction of the market as a sale can be quite lucrative.
You Tube/Vimeo etc Video Creation
Create your own You Tube or Vimeo Channel as an income stream. Now the common mis conception is that these types of videos are all dancing dogs and people falling off chairs and into swimming pools. It’s not.
Just type into You Tube a subject you are interested in, anything, from Wild Camping to Knitwear Pattern tutorials and you will see what I mean.
This method is very similar to publishing material online.
Basically, share a short video on something you are interested in and are passionate about. Once you have done that repeat the process. And repeat again. Consistency is key here, and be informative and original with your content. Perhaps find a new angle on the subject matter.
Don’t worry if you do not want to be seen on camera. You don’t have to. A very successful Gardening You Tube Channel just shows a persons’ hands and feet when they are digging a hole for planting shrubs, or their hands as they put seeds into little trays, with narrative recorded on what they are doing.
I have also seen another popular channel where again, you only see someone’s hands turning the pages of a book, as they narrate and explain English pronunciation of a word, handwritten in marker pen, on an A4 ruled notepad! It can’t be simpler than that surely?
As the’ likes’ grow and the viewing hours increase, the opportunity presents itself with You Tube to monetise your channel with advertisers. Very similar to Affiliate marketing above, you earn commissions on recommendations shown on your videos and channel.
Just like those who earn passive income with eBooks, your videos can be viewed pretty much 24/7 and globally. You can be earning a passive income whilst you sleep, from all corners of the world.
Become Your Own Agency
One of the best opportunities that you will find, revolves around yourself. By this I mean look at what skill sets you have and can they be transposed and built into an Online business. There are two routes to take with this, although they are linked.
Firstly, do you have experience in Graphic design, or Web site building. Are you able to put together content and perhaps marketing material. If so, there are various platforms where creatives log their details, with a bio, that explains the services they can carry out for other people and businesses, plus the fee for doing so.
For example, if you have an E-Commerce store as in section 2, you might want someone who can put together short videos on your products to load as a campaign to You Tube, or Tik Tok. Or in reverse, maybe you can build an online store for someone who lacks the skill or knowledge to do so.
Secondly, you can create your own agency, detailing to local businesses the above type of services you can carry out for them. This market, particularly by keeping it local (to start with at first) can be lucrative and profitable.
A lot of local businesses or trades are often sole or joint proprietorship. Often the owners lack the know how to promote their business and services online. This is where you come in. Can you build a simple website for a local business that can be promoted locally?
This type of agency truly can grow. There are individuals making very large incomes in this way, with their agencies recruiting staff, and working with clients all over the world. But they all start local.
The first option involves you listing and waiting for people to come to you, the second option is more pro active in you approaching local business. You could email the business owners, drop by, and see them, call them whatever works for both parties.
Next Steps
I hope the above has given you some insight and pointers on home based online business ideas. Except for number 5, the first 4 also come into the category where you can build something that can provide a passive income. Yes, you will work hard in the early stages to get the concepts moving, but once you have, then your affiliate links, your product store, your e-book, and your videos are out there 24/7 and 365 days. Working for you.
Comment in the box below as to what business you think interests you the most. For the next steps check out my article on the 7 tips to finding and starting an online business
And here is the detail on the Affiliate Marketing business that you can check out
Here Are Some more Articles to help You
7 Tips For Finding and Starting an Online Business: Tells you what to look for, what research to carry out and what to avoid. Check the post here
How Do I Set Up An Internet Business From Home: Runs You through the basics of getting started in your online business, and setting yourself up to succeed. Read Here
Why Consider Starting a Blog: Gives you an insight into how you can turn a relatively straight forward and simple activity into an Income generating Business. Head Here for the Details
Good Luck and Best Regards
Del
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