
Will 2021 be the year you will finally create a profitable online business?
You’ve thought about it every year. You’ve gone over countless online business ideas in your head and imagined what your life would be like if you could quit your job and generate money on the internet.
You could travel the world with ease, create a comfortable lifestyle for yourself and your family, and achieve financial freedom. You could finally escape the constraints of the 9-5 lifestyle and own your time completely.
But then, what happens? Usually, you spend some time considering the ideas but ultimately resort back to your comfort zone.
The steady income of your secure job, the ease of having somebody else tell you what to do every day (instead of trying to figure it out from scratch), and the consistent schedule.
You tell yourself, “You know what? This year is a little too crazy. I’ll start that online business next year!”
But “next year” never comes.
We’re here to tell you that 2021 is the year you should start your online business. There’s more opportunity than ever, and you should take advantage!
To help you get started, We’re going to layout 27 online business ideas. Read through them, see which you connect with, and start doing your research. Then get started with one, it’s that simple!
27 “Easy to Start” Online Business Ideas
Here is our list of 27 online business ideas for 2021:
1. Start a Blog and Monetize it
We talk a lot about how to start a blog on this website, and for good reason.
In 2021, it’s easier to start a blog than ever before, and your blog can also be a big potential source of income (if you know how to monetize it).
Keep in mind that you don’t just start a blog and expect the money to roll in. You need to create content consistently, and it also needs to be content that educates, informs, or entertains people. In other words, it needs to capture their interest in some way.
What’s more, you need to sell something through the blog. This can be ad space, products, digital products, sponsored posts, coaching, ebooks, etc.
But if you’re willing to put in the work and you’re in it for the long haul, blogging can be extremely profitable (some bloggers make $50k per month or more).
Here are some resources to help you get started with your first blog:
2. Get Started With Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is basically the process of earning a commission by promoting somebody else’s product.
There are two main ways most people do affiliate marketing:
- Information products. You promote products like ebooks, membership sites, video series, etc. This type of affiliate marketing can earn you up to 50% or more in commission, has relatively low barriers to entry, and it’s easy to find products to promote.
- Amazon partners. Many affiliate marketers have success with Amazon. There are literally millions of products to choose from, and it can be quite profitable. For more information, you can check out the Amazon Associates Program.
Quick side note: Before you start affiliate marketing, it helps to have at least a basic knowledge of SEO and copywriting (more on each of these later).
That being said, you can read a few copywriting books and look through the beginners guide to SEO from Moz to help you get started.
3. Set Up an E-Commerce Site
One of the best ways to earn online income is by setting up an e-commerce store.
Here’s the plus side: if you try to go the route of affiliate marketing, the best affiliate marketers are focused on 3 main niches; dating, weight loss, and making money online. You would have to compete with the best of the best, and it’s not easy.
With the e-commerce route, in many markets, you’ll be competing against old-school business people who may or may not have any internet marketing experience. Many of them have glitchy, out-of-date websites, which leaves you a lot of room for improvement, and you can capitalize on their shortcomings.
It’s still not easy by any means. It requires hard work, and you need to stand out amongst the hundreds of thousands of e-commerce websites and online stores. But by filling a unique niche and executing the right marketing techniques, you can make your e-commerce store a profitable success.
Here are some tips to help you get started with your e-commerce store:
- Find a profitable market. Brainstorm some ideas, do keyword research, and try to get as specific as possible. For example, there is probably a lot of competition for selling surfboards. But if you narrow it down to surfboard racks, you may have a better chance of standing out in the market.
- Ask yourself, “Is the product expensive?” There are costs associated with manufacturing, distribution, reselling, etc. If your product isn’t expensive (at least $50 or more), there may be no profit left by the time you sell the product.
- Ask yourself, “Is the product in a growth market?” If your market has already passed its peak (i.e., the VCR market) and is on the downslope, you probably don’t want to get involved. Instead, you want to get into an industry that’s on the upswing – that’s where you’ll have the most profit and growth potential.
- Consider building a Shopify store. Shopify is a system built for e-commerce. With some basic web knowledge, you can set up a good-looking store very quickly, with a low-cost investment and with no coding needed. Shopify has a 30-day free trial too, so you can get started without spending a dime.
Here are some additional resources for creating a successful online store:
- How to Start an Online Store
- How to Build an Online Store using WooCommerce
- Best eCommerce Platforms
4. Self-Publish a Book on Amazon
Have you ever thought of writing a book, but didn’t know where to get started? All the publishing nonsense, editing, and formatting, marketing, etc.?
With Amazon, you can self-publish a book fairly easily, and really make money from it. There are some simple and inexpensive guides to help you write your book AND have it generate consistent income.
Here’s the secret sauce: If you can launch your book and get a few hundred sales in the first week, Amazon will take over and start promoting it for you. This way you can make some real money from it. It’s actually easier than it sounds, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Here are a few tips for writing a book:
- Validate the book by giving a survey to friends, an email list, and/or survey sites like PickFu. By validating your idea before you write the book, you’ll improve the odds of people willing to buy your book (and you’re not wasting your time by writing it.)
- Create an outline and stick to it if possible.
- Set aside at least 30 minutes to an hour each day to write.
- Format the book according to Amazon’s standards.
Once the book is written and formatted, you can head over to KDP.amazon.com. Log in with your Amazon account, then under “Create a New Title”, select “Kindle eBook.”
Here’s a good strategy for your book’s launch week (to get 100+ sales):
- Set the price at 99 cents for the first week.
- Run a 99 cent promotion with sites like Buck Books and Robin Reads.
- Post a book excerpt on a relevant subreddit and link it to your book page at the end.
- Post 1-2 guest posts during the launch week that link back to your book page.
- Blast your email list multiple times.
- By the end of the week, hopefully, your book has eclipsed the top 5,000 or 10,000 overall paid ranking. From there, raise the price to $2.99, and continue raising the price $1 at a time every few days until it stops selling (then, lower it back by a dollar). This will tell you the optimal price for your book.
(Here’s a case study of a book that used this strategy to launch successfully and consistently bring in $3-$4K a month in profit.)
5. Create a Digital Product or Course
Creating a digital product or course is similar to writing an ebook. You’re monetizing your expertise by teaching it to the others.
That being said, you don’t have the benefit of Amazon promoting your course. You have to do the promoting yourself through your own website, your email lists, and possibly through affiliate partnerships. You also need to create a compelling sales page that will convince visitors to buy from you.
If you don’t already have an audience, it might be better to self-publish on Amazon first. That way, you can validate your course idea, grow your email list (just make sure to have an email opt-in at the front and back of the book), and more or less create a rough draft of the course (since it will probably be similar to the book).
Here are some additional resources to help you with an online course creation:
- TheRiseToTheTop.com – David Siteman Garland’s website that’s helped thousands of entrepreneurs launch profitable online courses.
- Monetize Your Expertise Podcast – Helpful episodes by online course expert Grant Weherley to help you start your fist online course.
6. Become a YouTuber
Videos are becoming more and more popular. From Instagram and Snapchat Stories to Facebook Live video, videos will only continue to grow. If you’ve always loved the thought of being behind the camera, now is the time you can take advantage.
Whether it be starting a vlog and getting ad revenue/selling products to your audience, or building a YouTube channel to drive more traffic to your website – 2021 is a great time to get started.
Not only will making YouTube videos help you tell better stories and provide more valuable content to your audience – it can also help you get profitable speaking opportunities.
The best part is, you don’t even need to go out and buy an expensive new camera – as long as you have a smartphone with a quality camera lens, you can start filming your first video right now!
7. Start App Development
Mobile apps are getting more and more popular by the year. If you have an idea for a cool, useful, and/or fun app for a phone or a tablet, this may be the way to go.
It helps to have some coding knowledge, but it’s not an absolute necessity. There are plenty of software developers looking to collaborate with people on app creation.
Word of caution: the app market is saturated right now, so make sure you validate your app and do your research before investing lots of money in your idea.
Here are some resources to help you in the app development process:
- How to Build Your First Mobile App by Entrepreneur
- How to Find and Hire the Best App Developers by Yalantis
8. Learn Facebook Advertising
Facebook continues to expand and grow. Therefore businesses are spending more on Facebook ads. But here’s the problem: a lot of old school businesses don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to Facebook ads. Even newer companies don’t have the time it takes to learn the ins and outs so that they get the most return on their Facebook ads investment.
Consequently, they’re looking for Facebook ad specialists to step in and do it for them. Luckily, this is something you can learn fairly quickly. Once you do, you can reach out to businesses and offer to help create profitable Facebook ads.
Here are some Facebook Ad resources you can learn from:
- How to Create the Perfect Facebook Ad in Minutes
- The Beginner’s Guide to Facebook Advertising by AdEspresso
9. Learn and Master SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) refers to getting a website to rank higher for certain “search terms” in search engines like Google. When a website ranks higher, it gets more relevant traffic and in turn, can make more revenue.
This is another highly valued skill in the internet marketing world. That being said, it can be a bit difficult because Google is always changing its algorithms. With it, some of the rules of search change. You always have to be on the leading edge, learning, and testing new strategies.
If you can master SEO, companies will always be willing to pay you for your help.
10. Become a Copywriter
Copywriting is the art and science of strategically delivering words (whether written or spoken) that get people to take some form of action. It can range from anything to sales pages, to email marketing, to even quality blog content.
If you have a natural inclination and passion for writing, copywriting may be your ticket to earning online income.
It’s a great way to achieve freedom in your life. Not only does copywriting allow you to work remotely, but it also allows you to control your schedule. Plus, learning the skill itself will help you in many areas of online business (i.e. building a blog, affiliate marketing, etc. – when you can write in a compelling way, all of these become much easier!)
11. Skype Coaching
Do you have an expertise that you’d like to help people with? Then Skype coaching may be a potential option for you. Basically, you hop on Skype and provide assistance to your coaching clients. This can come in the form of daily, weekly, or monthly calls.
There are Skype coaches for just about everything – life coaches, health coaches, dating coaches, etc.
Note: It’s much easier to market your coaching services when you also have a blog on your coaching topic.
12. Buy and Flip Domains
You’ve probably heard of people who buy and “flip” real estate, right? They buy a house for a relatively good price, fix it up a little bit, and then resell it for a nice profit.
It’s the same idea for buying and flipping domains. Whether it’s your own domain, or whether you’re looking to buy somebody else’s site and flip it, this can be a good source of online income.
You can use resources like Empire Flippers to both buy and sell your domains.
13. Start a Podcast
A podcast can be a great revenue generator.
As you grow your podcast, you can offer paid sponsorships and sell your own products and services. Through the podcast, you’ll be able to earn the trust of your listeners, which makes them that much more likely to buy what you have to offer.
14. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is when you create an online store to sell other people’s products (i.e you don’t do any of the manufacturing or shipping). Then, you get a commission for each sale.
The benefit here is that you don’t have to risk buying up stock in a product and losing money if it doesn’t sell. The entry barrier is lower and you don’t have to invest nearly as much to get started.
If you’d like to learn how to dropship, Drop Ship Lifestyle is one of the best resources to help you get started.
15. Freelance Pay Per Click Consulting
(These are PPC ads)
You ever saw those sponsored ads at the top of your Google search results? That’s Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising in action.
It’s a form of internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Put simply, it’s a way of buying visits on your site.
If you can master this skill, you can offer the service to other businesses.
16. Sell Products on eBay
Sure it’s a bit old school, but people are still making lots of money on eBay. To start selling, you can do something simple like head to a local clothing store and buy some clothing on sale.
Then, you can list it on eBay for a higher price, and if it sells, you can reinvest the profit in more clothing and continue making more profit.
It requires some strategy and planning but is surely a profitable way of online business.
17. Become a Web Developer
A web developer is someone who knows how to build a website from the bottom up. In order to do this, you need to learn coding, which will take time and hard work. But if you’re willing to put in the effort, it can pay quite well.
Here are some tips for learning to code and getting started with web development.
18. Invest Your Time in Graphic Design
Ever saw a beautiful sales page or a website design that really jumps out at you? That’s all due to a graphic designer.
Graphic designers are basically visual communicators. They design web pages, sales pages, logos, and really anything else that needs to look sharp.
To be a great graphic designer, you don’t need to be great at drawing, you don’t need a college degree, and you don’t need to buy a fancy expensive computer. But you do need to be a visual thinker, you do need to specialize in something, and you definitely need a portfolio.
19. Build Niche Sites
The idea behind a niche website is to target a specific niche (for example, a specific kind of photography), rank on Google for the keywords related to that niche, and then turn that traffic into earnings through affiliate offers or through selling your own products.
A lot of research goes into this – you should be ready for a bit of workload. If you create a good niche site, it can bring you an extra $500 a month or more.
For further reading, check out this post from Sean Ogle: How to Build a Niche Site that Brings in $500 a Month
20. Start a Consulting Business
Do you have tons of knowledge in a specific field? Then you may have what it takes to be a highly paid online consultant.
As a consultant, you simply must apply the knowledge, skills, and experience you have in a specific field to help clients solve a problem or issue they have in that field.
For further reading, check out this post from USA Today: How to Become a Highly Paid Consultant
21. Start a Paid Private Facebook Group
A paid private Facebook group provides you with the chance to create a highly engaged community.
It gives you a place to deliver your content, allows your community members to interact with each other, allows you to limit access to qualified members, and also allows you to moderate and control the group.
Note: If you already have a website and an email list, it’s easier to create a paid private Facebook group, but it’s not an absolute necessity.
22. Assist with Lead Generation
Businesses are always on the lookout for ways to create new leads. Leads, after all, are the lifeblood of businesses.
When you assist with lead generation, you basically play the matchmaker. You connect business with the leads for whom they can solve the problems.
23. Instagram Sponsorships
Do you love taking photos and dream of building up a great Instagram following? As you grow your following, more sponsorship opportunities will become available. For example, if your account is focused on fitness, you may be able to sponsor products like protein powder, supplements, etc.
24. Create SaaS (Software as a Service)
Google Apps, Dropbox, Leadpages – these are all SAAS.
SAAS is any kind of online software that you pay to get access to.
For this, you first must brainstorm/find an online service that people are willing to pay for on an ongoing basis. Once you create it, the challenge is to maintain it, which is not an easy task. That being said, it can be quite profitable if you can make it work.
25. Technical Writing
Ever wondered who wrote the instruction manual for that new TV? That’s the job of technical writers.
If you have a love for writing and like the technical side of things, then you may have what it takes to be a technical writer.
Here’s a resource that can help you get started: Starting a Technical Writing Business from Scratch
Here are some sites where you can find work:
- Freelanced.com
- Upwork.com
26. Resume/Cover Letter Writing
People will always be looking for jobs – they’ll need help with their resumes and cover letters.
That’s where you can come in and help them create a stellar resume to get them hired.
27. Tech Support
With online tech support, you basically offer your skills as a tech whiz. You can work with bigger companies or even one-on-one clients.
Tech support jobs can also regularly be found on Upwork.
Conclusion
It’s a new year and a new chance for you to start an online business and create an absolute financial and lifestyle freedom for yourself.
2021 is all about taking action. With this big list of online business ideas, you have plenty of options to get started with. Don’t wait any longer, and definitely, don’t put it off until next year!
Take a few ideas and run with them – by this time of the next year, you very well may have your own successful and profitable online business! Just be sure to report back here and let us know your results!
If you have other online business ideas you think are worth mentioning, be sure to drop them in the comments below!
Bill Bagwell
You likely already have this answer in the pages somewhere but I did not see. What are some best practices, approaches, tools to use, etc, in finding niches being under sold or noticed and also find ways that can help enhance another product or service and sell that piece. Is there any training in developing that kind of eye?
Nick Schäferhoff
That’s called market research and it’s an art in itself. However, thanks to the Internet you can find plenty of information of it online these days. Here’s a post I have written on that topic a few years ago: https://torquemag.io/2015/06/market-research-websites-blogs/
Nick Schäferhoff
I agree with you that things are difficult right now and that it can be hard to break into existing markets. However, throughout history there have always been ups and downs, markets collapsing and new markets opening up. Things will bounce back over time. If you work hard and keep at it, you can usually carve something out for yourself. Thanks for your detailed comment!
cat
Hi thanks for these ideas. Could you also tag a rough idea of the start-up amount to each of them? For instance, how much does it cost to start an amazon business? Thanks.
Nick Schäferhoff
That’s a great idea! I will note this down for a possible post update.
Nicole Hatfield
Again I’ve owned before and would love to dedicate time to get to follow some of the other ideas that I had successful did in the past.
Ildefonso
Dear Mr. Schaeferhoff (I hope you won’t be offended about my using “ae” instead of “a umlaut”),
thank you very much for your nice ideas.
Let me observe, however, that many of them are not so much of the type
of “making business online” but rather those of the type “getting additional
income online” by becoming yet another kind of paid workforce.
Well, your point 4. certainly belongs to the business category. But when
you start 9. or 17. you simply become a freelancing worker looking not
for clients but for employers.
I would also like to warn those who want to use Upwork or Guru:
(i) there is a lot of fraudsters there who exploit your work and suddenly
disappear; (ii) the competition there is terrible; (iii) the employers are
grimacing and stingy (and they can since they have 10-30 people trying to get each job).
If you manage to earn 1000 dollars per year there you may call yourself very
successful.
Another warning (somewhat outside of the context of your list) :
do not even think of starting peer-to-peer lending “business”
if you are compassionate and/or not ready to go to a court.
Dishonest borrowers will ruin you.
Nick Schäferhoff
No worries, umlauts are not something I usually take offense over. As for your comments, in my opinion, being a freelancer also means having a business. You’re in business for yourself. Plus, the main focus of this post is to talk about ways to earn money online, independent of your location. That and taking control of your work, making your own hours, etc. Freelancing certainly falls under that category. A lot of people equate “online business” with “passive income” but that’s not necessarily true.
As for Upwork and Guru, you are right, it has gotten more competitive. However, there are also other platforms out there like Codeable or People per Hour that have a better reputation.
Thanks for the input!
Anjan Kumar Jha
How can I start Skype coaching?
Nick Schäferhoff
To start any type of coaching, you first need to have any type of skill or knowledge that others would be willing to pay you for. That’s the prerequisite. After that, you need a website to describe what you have to offer and a way for people to book sessions with you and pay for them. There are tools out there that let them do that and also pick a date and time from a calendar. Then, you have to show up for the Skype session and deliver a lot of value.
That’s basically it. However, the devil is in the details and the biggest challenge will be to market your services so that others actually book coaching sessions with you. I hope this answers your questions!
Richard Joseph
I’m sorry, but nothing new here! And I’m not picking on you – I haven’t seen a fresh idea since 2010! Has online commerce run its course?
Nick Schäferhoff
I think that there is just a finite way of making money. Offline commerce also hasn’t changed in a very long time. You basically either sell products or offer services. The rest is just about marketing and finding clients. Online commerce didn’t reinvent the wheel, it just moved all these activities on the Internet. While the marketing side has changed over time, the overall principles were always the same.
Eleni
Hi Nick am an Event Organizer and Travel agent, I am thinking about starting my own online business. I have been an Event Organizer for the past 4 Years specially on commercial and corporate events and I am also a travel agent. Do you have any suggestions on how to start these businesses and where I could start.
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Eleni, that really depends on what you want your business to look like. If you want to basically do your work as a consultant or via email or telephone, you really only need a simple website advertising your services. You can build that with the guide on our homepage: https://websitesetup.org/. However, if you are planning to sell things directly on your website, you will have to look into something with ecommerce capabilities. In that case, I can recommend these two posts:
https://websitesetup.org/best-ecommerce-platform/
https://websitesetup.org/woocommerce-online-store-tutorial/
Hope this helps!
Praise
I give people relationship advice,what online business is best for me and how do i go about it
Nick Schäferhoff
Sounds like a blog, consulting, and/or digital products would be good options for you.
Tony
Hi Nick, I’m a blogger if recent. Please I need to know the basics of SEO. How does it work, and how can I get more traffic? Thanks
Karim
Hi Nick thanks for the great ideas. I thought Amazon FBA will be among them. What do you think about it as a business?
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Karim, I don’t have any experience with that but it works well for some people. Just be careful, Amazon has been known to check what products are going well from other merchants and then just selling them themselves.
NOMSA MHANGA
Hello, I would like to inquire more on starting a consultant business. Is it limited to just online? Or can an entire physical business be based on it? What are the requirements in order for one to start up a consultant company?
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey, you can, of course, also be a consultant offline. In fact, many consultants just find their clients online but then do the actual work face to face. And the requirements are relatively low. You basically just need to have specialized knowledge that others will pay you to apply to their lives or businesses.
Richard
Hey Nick,
Where can i start to get more info on Lead generation?
Many Thanks
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Richard, this might be a good place to start: https://www.ippei.com/start-lead-gen-business/
Maria
Hi Nick! I was researching online successful businesses and came across your article. For the last couple months I have been thinking about starting my own online business that is geared towards online health/fitness coaching. Then I think maybe freelance writing or perhaps starting my own blog. Do you any suggestions on how to start these businesses? Where I could even begin? I have been a nurse since 2010, love fitness. However, starting a blog would be interesting as well.
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Maria, why not do both? Having a blog to attract traffic, improve your SEO, build trust, and demonstrate your expertise is a perfect companion for a freelancer site. You could offer your services and also make the blog a centerpiece of your web presence. In addition, you are honing your writing skills and can use those for guest posting on other health/fitness for increased exposure.
For an example, check out Jeff Cavaliere/Athlean X on YouTube. He is a fitness trainer who is heavily investing in video content to build his brand. The free content that he puts out allows him to sell more of his services as well as products. You could do similar things with your blog. Win win win. Good luck!
Luisa Camacho
Hi Nick. Your article is very helpful. I want to start creating blogs and vlogs on topics that I truly love – food. I would like to cook and show them. That of course sharing what I know and in turn could help me financially too. How do I start? Please help. Thank you.
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Luisa, I would first have a look around at what already exists in your industry and how you could differentiate yourself from it. For example, two of my favorite cooking channels on YouTube are Bon Appetit and Binging with Babish. Both of these live off of the personality of their presenters, together with a wide knowledge of food. See what new thing you could bring to the table and make decisions from there. Good luck!
Tammy
Hi Nick. With writing a book, dumb question, where do I start? Who can I go to for advice and help? I feel I have an amazing life story. Do i start at the beginning or the end? And then how I got there? Is this something that might sell? A biography of a nobody?
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Tammy, that’s really a question every writer has to answer for themselves. For me, the most important thing is consistency. I am better at writing long pieces if I do a little bit every day. Like, half an hour. If you have more time, you can do more, of course. But the important thing is to work continually. Aside from that, there are many blog posts and books on this topic. I suggest you start there.
As for who will read it, that’s a question of marketing and finding the right audience. It would probably help to create a rough outline and sketch out the topic of the book to understand who you would write it for.
Hope this helps!
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Jon, please see my reply to your other comment. I would make a market test first to find if your idea has legs. If you want to figure out your target audience, you should do some market research. Here is a useful article for that: https://torquemag.io/2015/06/market-research-websites-blogs/
Blue
1) I went to Manila starting in 2006. I was there to hire Filipino computer programmers.
I met about a dozen guys Blogging about Southeast Asia – Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia, etc.
One of them did pretty good for about 4 or 5 years. Then, most of them flamed out. It became saturated.
People now leave comments on AirBnB, Trip Advisor, Travelocity and Lonely Planet.
The Blogging metaphor is a tough row to hoe.
2) Here’s the dirty little secret about Affiliates.
In the early days, people were Hijacking cookies and substituting their Affiliate ID into the cookie.
They would wait about 2 weeks and then go back and put the Legitimate Affiliate ID back into the cookie.
In other words, they were Stealing.
They would pirate the ID, accumulate credit and then restore the ID.
Google eventually figured it out and closed the loophole.
But, a bunch of dudes made a lot of money this way. Those glory days are over.
3) The cat is out of the bag on being an Instagram or YouTube Influencer.
Actors and Models are flooding this zone.
4) There was a time that people had actual brick and mortar Ebay stores.
Other people would take their crap to the physical store and get it photographed and sold.
Now, LetGo and CraigsList are flea markets full of crap and scammers.
Plus, you eventually run out of crap to sell.
5) If you are going to try and write a book and sell it on Amazon, you better be a damn good writer.
If you’re a damn good writer, go get a gig with the NY Times, Washington Post or Vanity Fair.
6) Flipping Domains? If you got the money to Flip Domains, you might as well Day Trade stocks.
Or buy and sell Gold.
I know about five dues that lost big money doing this.
—————————-
1) Technical writing is in demand. If you can do this, you can get contracts and work at home.
2) Online Tech support is a viable option. Also, you can be a Reservation Agent for an Airline or Car Rental company.
Low cost airlines contract people to work at their house being reservation agents.
3) You can make money programming… if you’re a good programmer. Join Upwork, which was formerly Elance and oDesk.
Of the 27 things listed… about 20 of them have Jumped the Shark.
About 5 of them are legitimate ways to make money, but you need to perfect the Skill.
Two or three of them, done correctly, could lead to a decent windfall… for now.
Make no mistake, if any particular area starts to make money, thousands of other hyenas will show up and give you competition.
Nick Schäferhoff
Thanks for your detailed input! While I don’t agree with everything you say, I like that you took the time to give your perspective. I think with enough hustle, you can still make it even in more saturated fields. I’m not saying it will be easy but you see new people coming onto the scene every day.
Tristen Almeida
Hi
Please assist me in getting to know more about Digital Marketing and Web designing,
Thank you
Tristen
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Tristen, a good start would be to read the articles on our site. You can start here: https://websitesetup.org/website-building/. If you then have specific questions, feel free to get in touch: https://websitesetup.org/about-and-contact/
Lauren Johnson
Pleasantly surprised by all of the value-add info in this post. I like the inclusion of the ‘first steps’. Thanks!
Nick Schäferhoff
Yeah, we wouldn’t leave you high and dry with just ideas and no input on how to execute them. Glad you found the post useful. Thanks for the comment!
Jon Alvarado
Hey Nick,
Great article. I’m a former algebra and financial literacy teacher. Do you think there’s a market for teaching a financial literacy system to students online? Homeschool possibly? I could also do algebra or pre-algebra topics? Any thoughts of where to start? I have the content ready, just not sure which topic would be better and more profitable. I do get excited about teaching financial literacy more!
All the best!
Jon
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Jon, my general advice would be to go with what you are most excited/passionate about. It will help you stay motivated and it will also show in your work.
As for getting started, I would try to think of a way you can test your idea in a limited way. Think about what you want to offer and then try to find one paying client. If you can do that, your idea likely has legs and you can take it from there.
Let me know how it goes!
Bruce J.
Nick…thank you for the post.
Can you please provide links for more info or product supplies for option “2. Get Started With Affiliate Marketing – Information products”
I would appreciate it.
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Bruce, if you are interested in affiliate marketing, look into ShareASale, Clickbank, CJ Affiliate, and Amazon Associates. Depending on which industry you are in, you can also check if there are companies that sell products and offer affiliate programs for them.
JR
It’s pretty obvious that this article was not well researched. None of these ideas are particularly good. They’re all dated ideas, don’t generate much in the way of revenue unless your REALLY successful, and doing that is way harder then it appears.
“Monetizing” a site, blog, forum, or doing the same on Facebook or other so-called “social media” is actually a crappy thing to do. It generates tons of money for those platforms – and only a little for you, and only IF you’re very persistent and successful at it. But the worse thing about it is you’re having to “push” crap on people and virtually EVERYBODY is doing it, which means you also have a lot of competition. You wind up being yet another corporate-controlled slave shoving crap people’s way, hoping you can make a few pennies off the sale, or the advertisements. Mass marketing like this actually sucks and says a great deal about our culture.
I’ve done the blog (20 years), drop ship (24 years), tech support (20 years), web development (30 years) and can tell everyone – these are definitely NOT that lucrative anymore. It’s all been taken over by offshore development, social media and corporate conglomerates. The individual really cannot compete like they used to or gain enough revenue to call this a lifestyle (side-business at best, but you wind up working very, very cheaply).
Haven’t tried some of the other ideas, but they don’t look very good to me. People want everything to be free, so Skype coaching? Will they be willing to pay you? If you’re not actually generating real goods or offering a real essential service, I doubt very much that some of these ideas will actually be worthwhile. Most of them are really about how to become an advertising specialist for other people’s goods and services – not a very rewarding concept unless you like treading water and being used. Merchandising useless crap? No thanks.
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey JR, sorry to hear you don’t agree with the post above. Yes, starting an online business comes with the same challenges as beginning any other business venture: competition, hard work, and constant learning. The article stresses several times that, in order to be successful, you have to put in the work. That’s how it is in every area of life.
I’m sorry to hear your experience hasn’t been good. However, as somebody who is making a living on the web with work that is meaningful to me, I don’t think you can make blanket statements as you do above. It has been my experience that if you can offer something that adds value to other people’s lives and do a great job delivering it, they are happy to pay you for it. If you do it right, you can even choose who it is you work with.
From your comments above, especially the part where you put down ideas without even trying them, it seems to me that what is standing in your way might be less the environment you are in and more your approach and attitude. And that is definitely something you have control over.
Mitch
There are lots of great ideas here, but I didn’t see anything on freelance writing. What insight can you provide on this?
Thanks,
Mitch
Nick Schäferhoff
I’m all for it! Freelance writing is a great online business idea. It’s how I started my career. If you want to get into this industry, focus on a certain topic, get good at writing, build a portfolio, and start pitching article ideas to websites in your niche. That’s how I would do it.
Actual Designer
Super offensive that you’re telling people anyone can be a designer. I’m sorry but you do need a college education. Ever seen designers trying to freelance before college and after college? Yeah it’s not mindless “making it pretty”. There’s actual psychology, research, and marketing training involved. Right from color choices to placement of elements so your eye is directed to a specific goal. But design is an oversaturated market and once you hit 35 you’re considered old and it’s a much bigger struggle to stay in it.
Very horrible advice to give people looking to have a side hustle. Speaking of that, they won’t be providing a product at the quality or price that should be industry standard so it continues to drag down the entire industry, salary range, freelance pricing, etc. and it continues to give a bad name to what real designers do.
Designers get treated like crap at most companies because the incorrect perception that they push a magic button and get it done in a second and “anyone can do it without training”.
You want to get rich quick? Go to community college for 18 months and get an associate in a healthcare job. Not oversaturated, much higher pay, and most of you don’t get aged out before 40.
But by all means if you want to continue making it crappier for people that paid more than their salary will ever be to get a degree – start at less then a school teacher, work 10+ years to get above 45k. Go right on ahead.
There’s a reason must people quit the field the industry within the first 5-8 years.
Lauren Johnson
I liked the graphic design idea. I dont think he meant to imply anyone can do it. I dont have any graphic design experience but find myself critiquing others work and how it could be better. But unfortunately back when I was in college I didnt realize my interest/potential in this area. I’m certainly not going back to college but I found this post as encouraging – like maybe I really could take some courses to see if I do have any talent in the area. .. Many professional jobs, including my own, shouldn’t require a “college” education. Innate talent and a few courses would’ve been sufficient.
The point I take away from this is that if you have a passion for something, maybe it isn’t unrealistic to pursue.
Think you’d do well to check your ego and just concentrate on improving your own craft.
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey, sorry, we didn’t mean to offend you or the design community at large. We are fully aware that there is more to design than “making things pretty”, just like there is more to marketing than “sharing things on Facebook”. While it is possible to teach yourself design (especially web design, which is a lot more structured than, for example, logos), of course, you need a lot of practice to become a top-notch designer.
Yet, just like other areas, there are more and more people who break into the field without formal education. The same is true for web design and development where, thanks to tools like WordPress, you have more and more people building websites for money that are not formally qualified to do so.
Of course, there can often be a huge difference in quality of the work performed. At the same time, people with different skill sets also most often cater to very different markets. Those who need top-quality work will often be willing to pay more, while those with lower demands might go with the cheapest offer.
Basically, we were trying to point out that design is a good online business idea because you can pretty much do it from anywhere.
But you are right that the passage maybe makes it sound a little too easy and could use some polishing. In either case, thanks for the comment!
Mbuusi Robert
Thanks a lot, I’m in the field of events organizer, like weddings, corporate parties, etc. How can I sell my service online?
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Robert, in your case, I think you just need a website to advertise your services and which lets people get in touch with you.
Paul
Could you expand on the “Find a developer” part. You mention there are loads that are looking to partner up with people but from my experience most want paid a lot of money to consider developing your idea.
It is near impossible to find one that is willing to go into an equal partnership, even when you have a fantastic business idea that is begging to be created.
It is a shame really because having found a huge gap in the market that nobody is filling, it is hard to find someone with the relevant coding knowledge to build it.
WebsiteSetup Editorial
Hi Paul,
The best way would be mention the idea to your friends and share on social media that you’re looking for a developer/partner, if you can find a friend of a friend or someone you can meet face to face with and give them your pitch then that already increases your odds of finding someone interested in an equal partnership.
Boat
First of all I have a website and i want to develop an affiliate marketing program but I don’t know how to get companies to advertise for them.
Secondly, with pay per clicks, how do I set up that feature on my site.
Thanks
WebsiteSetup Editorial
Hey Boat,
I recommend you reading this article instead: https://websitesetup.org/33-ways-to-monetize-website/
Hope this helps 🙂
Hyacinth
This was very helpful. 2 of my most recent ideas are in the top 3. I ‘ve let fear and just being overwhelmed keep me stagnant and now I am just at a point where I am ready to take action. I know I will be successful!
WebsiteSetup Editorial
Whatever you decide, good luck with your new business 😉
Kat
Could you expand on becoming a copywriter please? Maybe with a few examples of sites. I’d really appreciate it. Great article! I ♡ to write! I put it on the back burner and now I’m ready to use it to make money! $
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Kat, the process of starting any freelance career is always the same:
1. Get good at your craft, in this case, writing – You can do this via books, courses, and reading online.
2. Build a portfolio – Find some work, even for free, that allows you to build proof of your abilities. You can also already get paid at this stage.
3. Use the portfolio to pitch paying clients – Once you have some results to point to, you can use it to approach clients for more paid work.
This is the basic process. Of course, the devil is in the details but that’s what I would recommend you to focus on.