What is the best online business to start in 2024? Are you looking for online business ideas to make extra income on the side or do you want to start an online business but don’t have a lot of money? Don’t worry; the internet is awash with opportunities to start a business.
There is no shortage of online business ideas to pursue, whether you are an expert or beginner when it comes to the online world.
And in this article, we are going to share with you 15 easy to start online business ideas to make money.
So if you are looking to make extra bucks on the side to supplement your income or you want to venture fully into online businesses, this list is yours.
The best part?
Most of the online business ideas can be started quickly right from the comfort of your home- as long as you have a working internet connection.
Let’s get inside.
Why Are More People Moving to Online Businesses?
While technology is said to have killed traditional businesses and jobs, it has also created plenty of jobs and business opportunities for people of all education levels.
These days, starting an online business isn’t difficult. Besides, you can work from anywhere at any time with your computer connected to the internet. You don’t need huge amounts of money to start an online business.
But here is the thing; many have been deceived that you can spend more money and take shortcuts to get rich quickly which has ended in frustrations for them.
Even though the online business ideas we have shared here are tried, tested, and proven to be legitimate and profitable, you’ll still have to put more effort and time to succeed.
With that in mind, here is our list of the easy to start online business ideas that you can start NOW.
1. Become a Freelance Writer
Businesses of all sizes are looking for experts to write content for their websites and blogs. You can become a content creator and offer your freelance writing services in exchange for money.
The good thing about freelance writing is that you can work at your own preferred time, charge clients the way you want, or take projects you are capable of handling. Writing is something you can do from home and make big money.
Note that when you are a beginner starting new online business ideas like freelance writing can be challenging.
For this reason, you will need to learn how it is done by enrolling in a freelance writing course. There are plenty of expert freelance writers who offer a range of courses at affordable prices out there. Get a trusted expert to train you to become a well-paid freelance writer.
If you need guidance, consulting firms Brisbane offer valuable services to help beginners navigate this path.
2. Start a Money Making Blog
You must have read tons of articles about how to start a blog out there and maybe you are wondering why people are stressing the importance of starting one.
First, creating a blog these days is easier than ever before.
Secondly, you can make money with your blog.
Note that while starting a blog can be a lucrative business, it takes time and a lot of hard work. Besides, you need to work on driving traffic to your blog before you monetize it. This involves creating content that’s informative, educative and entertaining consistently.
The content you publish must capture people’s attention and interests for them to take action.
Also, you need to choose the right monetization method- can be selling ad space, digital products, sponsored posts, eBooks, online coaching, etc. You just have endless opportunities when it comes to blog monetization but you must make sure you have good traffic coming in for you to make a kill with your blog.
3. Start Affiliate Marketing
As mentioned earlier, the internet offers plenty of online business ideas and one of them is affiliate marketing.
When you become an affiliate marketer, you recommend other people’s products or services and earn sale commissions.
You will also need a blog or website to start making money with affiliate marketing.
Before you start affiliate marketing you should learn some online marketing techniques such as SEO and content marketing to attract a following.
If you have a running blog, a YouTube channel or a social media profile with many followers, you can make big money with affiliate marketing.
4. Create Digital Products or Sell Online Courses
If you are an expert at something, you can teach others and money out of it.
Asking how?
It’s simple, you can start creating eBooks on a topic you are knowledgeable about and sell them to others.
You create eBooks and promote them on your blog, website or through your email lists.
Another great online business idea is to sell online courses.
These days, people aren’t interested in learning in physical classes. Besides, many are working while learning at the same time. You can create an online course that teaches people something they don’t know and make money from it.
Creating an online course is also easy.
Take advantage of the tons of online programs that allow users to create interactive courses quickly and hassle-free. The good thing about creating online courses is that you don’t need coding skills to get started.
5. Design an eCommerce Store
Selling online is much easier today than it was a few years ago. You can create your online store within minutes and start selling.
The good thing about having an eCommerce store is that you can sell both physical and digital products such as software programs, music, eBooks, and many others.
However, like any other online business ideas, you must do your research to identify a niche with high demand, find ways to make your business unique, and understand the costs of starting, running and maintaining your eCommerce store.
6. Drop Shipping
Drop shipping is also one of the lucrative online business ideas out there. This type of business combines eCommerce and affiliate marketing.
With this type of online business, you create your online store then sell other people’s products in exchange for commissions. The inventory and shipping task is taken care by the owners of the products in this case, but the running of the store is your task.
The good thing about starting a drop shipping business is that it doesn’t require a lot of capital and it’s easy to start.
Part of the drawbacks with this business is finding products to promote and the profit margin is smaller compared to the effort you put in marketing those products.
7. Start an Online Job Board
You can start a job board where employers post jobs for job seekers to work on. The internet is awash with thousands of online job boards though, so you need to find a particular niche that isn’t saturated for you to make good money.
With this online business idea, employers pay you a small fee when they list a job on your board. You can also charge job seekers a small fee to upload their resumes.
8. Become a Podcaster
You can also make money podcasting. You can make money with podcasts in several ways including advertisements, affiliate marketing, sponsorships, partnerships, etc.
The challenge with this business idea is that you will need to research an interesting and engaging topic to make unique podcasts.
9. Offer SEO Services
In a bid to outsmart the competition, many businesses have opted to create business blogs and websites to increase their visibility on the internet.
This is where SEO specialists come in to help.
Basically, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it involves all the processes done on a website or blog to make it rank better in search engines for people to find it when they search for relevant information.
You can master SEO and start helping business owners of all sizes in driving more visitors from search engines.
Note that you need to learn basic WordPress SEO techniques, understand how to work with keyword research and content marketing tools and stay up to date with the constant Google algorithm changes.
10. Become a YouTuber
People are more attracted to videos these days than ever. Think about the huge fan base of Facebook Live videos, Instagram and Snapchat Stories. Videos are constantly growing. If you can make interesting videos, why not make money with it.
Besides, YouTube is the largest video hosting platform with millions of content creators.
The best part with YouTube is that it allows users to upload videos, create channels and generate income through advertisements, sponsorships or deals.
Besides, you can make videos on almost any topic then upload them for free. You can also use your smartphone to shoot the videos so you don’t need to buy an expensive camera.
11. Self-Publish Books on Amazon
Publishing books these days is made easier especially with plenty of self-publishing platforms such as Amazon Kindle Publishing (KDP), Kobo Writing LifeDraft2Digital, iBooks Author, and many others out there that allow authors to self-publish their books with ease.
The good thing is that most of these platforms will take care of editing, formatting, editing, etc. Use this guide to know how to write your book and earn consistent income while you are asleep.
In fact, if your book generates a few hundred sales in the first week of launching, Amazon takes over and promotes it for you.
You just need to create a good book cover, the content, and an attractive title and because people use certain phrases to find information online, you need to target them with the terms by adding them to the title of you book, description, etc.
12. Buy and Sell Domains
Have you ever heard of flip domains?
Chances are that you are aware of flip real estate where people buy houses at lower prices, do some little renovations and fixing and then sell them at a nice price but flip domains may sound new to you.
The two business ideas follow the same principles.
Ideally, domains are essential when it comes to building websites and blogs and when you register a domain name, it’s yours for the time you will need it.
Many people are making good money by registering domain names and selling them at a higher price, the same way it happens with real estate businesses.
You can flip your own domain or buy someone’s site and flip it. Note that with this business idea, you must be patient. Besides, the competition for this business is also fierce. You may hold onto your domains for a long time before you get an offer.
13. Buy and Sell Niche Websites
These days making a website is easy. In fact, you can make a WordPress website in under 30 minutes.
You can start making websites and selling them to other users. Many people from all over the world have taken advantage of this online business idea and are making a kill by designing successful websites and selling them to others as you would sell your brick and mortar business.
Besides, with the availability of websites like Flippa, you can buy and sell running websites. Do your homework carefully though before venturing into any business. Flippa offers tons of resources to users who want to learn the basics before getting into the business.
Besides, there are millions of underutilized websites out there you can buy, optimize them, and then sell them at higher prices.
14. Develop Mobile Apps
Take a look at how many apps your mobile phone has at the moment…and you know what, many are still coming out as the demand continues to hit the ceiling.
If you are creative enough, you can create a cool, useful and fun app for mobile devices and sell them to users.
Even though coding knowledge is required, it’s not a necessity. After all, there are millions of software developers looking to partner with app creators. If you have an idea, you can collaborate with an app developer and make money with it.
15. Offer Web Development Services
If you’re knowledgeable about how to design websites from the start to finish, there are companies, businesses and individuals out there looking for your services.
You can start by learning how to code and even though it will take time before you get the hang of it, the rewards are worth the patience.
Take Action Now!
Take a look at our list of fifteen easy to start online business ideas, which one do you think you can start right now?
As you can see, you have plenty of business opportunities to get started making money online. Don’t wait until it’s too late, pick an idea and start doing.
The good thing is that these business ideas are tried, tested, and proven to be legitimate. You don’t need a lot of money to get started either.
Get started now.
