The internet is wonderful, we all know that. Business-wise, it has enabled many to start and run an online business with just the click of a mouse. But the thing is, you don’t need to have any technical or artistic knowledge to do it.
These days it’s a lot easier to build an online business than it was in the past. With the abundance of tools at your disposal, you can do all the technical work without making any significant effort.
You can have your cake and eat it too with online businesses. You can live anywhere you like and create your own flexible schedule, depending on whether you need to focus on growing your business quickly or will be happy with what you’ve got after a month or two. No business experience is needed, either- it’s truly an accessible industry for all.
The best thing about running an internet business is the low startup capital needed. You can start a business from your bedroom with nothing but your laptop and iphone, because so many free services are available for small businesses.
The internet has many built-in tools that make it a bargain. For example, you can get a website set up with WordPress for free. Or, if you want to sell items without carrying inventory yourself, you can take advantage of sites like Amazon and eBay. You just need to give them a cut of your sales in return.
This is just the beginning of the many free e-commerce startup solutions for you. Let’s take a look at the top five ways you can start an online business and make money online, despite having little or no investment.
Read on: What Is Online Marketing? (Expectations vs. Reality)
#1. Online Video
Have you had a chance to watch some new YouTube videos lately? This website has thousands of videos of people from all over the world like your neighbor, grandpa, and mom. Some are even dogs who do funny things. It’s not all about that though.
You can make money online by leveraging the reach of YouTube. It isn’t about creating viral videos, it’s about getting lots of views in the long-term which will earn you money and help your business grow.
Instead of focusing on one video, you’ll develop a strategy for promoting your content to increase views. Create appealing content that is worth watching. And this strategy works in many different niches. It could be a video with instructions of how to assemble a toy or explain the history of your company to attract customers. The possibilities are endless!
You make money by showing ads against your content. Your first step is to create a YouTube account and upload videos. Once you have settings enabled that allows ads, each view of an ad is worth money. Essentially, this gives Google the green light to have their ads pop up on your videos. If people click on those ads, you get paid.
You can earn money from a YouTube channel in two different ways: advertising for products, or mentioning products and services as an affiliate or through using paid sponsorships. The great thing is, depending on the size of your following, you’ll be able to get some pretty big names as clients.
Some tips for people who want to create professional-looking videos without expensive pro equipment:
There are a few ways to use your smartphone or video camera. Make sure the light is good so that you can see everything in your video and it’s easy to understand.
Make sure that there’s no loud background noise when you record your audio. This can be a constant hum from an air conditioner, construction from nearby, or any other random thing.
Use simple video editing tools like Canva or iMovie to add titles at the beginning and clean up any mistakes.
Above all, remember that your videos don’t have to be slick and can be just a simple as you want them. Just provide useful content, which doesn’t need to be anything special, and being engaging and interesting will also greatly help. Funny videos will surely get a lot of attention from your followers too.
People love to watch videos, so it’s a good idea to have them on your Facebook business page, Twitter and other channels. Simply saying: “we’re in the video business now.” should suffice.
You can make money on YouTube in a variety of ways. In addition to ad revenue from videos, you can also use your channel to drive traffic to your website where visitors can read about your products, click on the ads on your site, or even get onto your email subscriber list.
Pros
You can use your existing phone or laptop
It has the ability to produce content for several different niches
Cons
Creating videos and posting can be time-consuming
It may take a while before you start to see revenue
#2. Blogging
If you’re an expert in an area or someone passionate about a topic, you can turn it into a blog with free services like Medium or Blogger. This will allow you to share your knowledge and make some money while doing so at the same time.
You can create your own blog site, which is typically the route I recommend. Free blogging sites often have restrictions on what you can say or do. For example, there are limits to how much money you can make or advertise in your articles.
You may think it’s all about the writing but that’s not just the limit to what you can do with a blog. Fun extras like posting photos and videos or links to other sites help create your own voice and establish your brand. In addition to written posts, reposting news and other articles is fun too!
Keep in mind that you want to post the newest, most helpful articles to your blog, and do it as often as possible. Don’t worry about having 5 posts a day – focus on quality content! That is the best way, according to Search Engines, and it will also attract more eyeballs on your content.
What kind of content should you post? Anything that people would find interesting. Topics like How-To’s, Top-10 Lists, commentary on trends in your niche, and tips and tricks. Basically, make sure it’s useful content that people would find helpful. I’m sure you can come up with a ton of blogging ideas!
You can make money by blogging in a variety of ways with an established blog, so don’t limit yourself just because of one stream of income.
Read more: The Importance of Blogging for (SEO) Search Engine Optimization
Affiliate marketing.
You’re probably aware of this. Whenever somebody buys one of the items you’ve linked to via your affiliate links, you’ll earn a commission. Blogs are also great for advertisers because they can be included as an integral part of your content. For instance, you could do a product review and mention the brand with a link to buy the product or services under an affiliate link.
Blog ad networks.
You can also work with other ad networks such as (Infolinks, BlogHer, Revenue Hits)and run banner ads on your blog.
It’s like Google Adsense, you only need to paste the code once on your page and visitors clicking on the ads will grant you income. You can also run video ads if you want more advertising space.
You might be better off with blog ads, but they only work for sites that are getting tens of thousands of visitors per month or more; contrasted against Google Ads where it doesn’t matter how many traffic you have.
Google AdSense.
Did you know? The vast majority of ads that are seen on websites are made possible via the Google advertising network. If a visitor to your site clicks one of these ads, you’ll make anywhere from a few cents to more per click. The best part is that you don’t have to do anything. Your blog makes money for you.
You don’t need to do a thing and let Google do it all for you. Just get a code from them and they’ll automatically place ads on your site, showing ads that are relevant to the blog content so your visitors will have a good experience without being annoyed by irrelevant ads. Google also makes sure that what they’re doing is maximizing the number of clicks on these ads.
Don’t worry about these blogging tips and things like “make sure people can find your blog” – we’ve got you covered. These are a few of the best blogging tips out there. Just make sure to keep coming back for more!
Be genuine.
Yes, blogs are supposed to make money. But it’s important not to cross the line and make marketing pitches all the time.
Quality content is key to capturing your audience’s attention and fostering a natural trust. They’re looking for authenticity, which means you have to demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about. That also means relying on high-quality images and videos, as well as giving plenty of space (via blog posts) to your subject matter and not inundating readers with ads.
If you take the time to do all of this, search engines like Google will notice and put your site at the top of the search results pages. This is what content marketing is all about.
You won’t make money right off the bat by starting a blog, but it doesn’t take long to start building an audience. Most of those people reading your site won’t buy anything from you initially.
Add content that educates readers or inspires them to act.
It’s hard to stand out in this world, so make sure your blog has something unique – or is at least interesting. Nobody will read it if they can find it elsewhere!
I recommend posting content on a regular basis.
People are always thirsty for new content, so make sure you’re providing it. Whether that means one post per day or 3 times a week, post consistently with the same schedule in order to be successful. Posting sporadically will result in losing readers along the way.
Tip: Do not neglect your online presence. One post, video, or other form of content will suffice every week.
Pros
You may work on your own time slots
Very low startup costs.
Cons
A lot of people don’t know this but creating and posting content can get really tiring!
Blogging may take some time to be profitable.
#3. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is a type of internet marketing in which an affiliate earns a commission by promoting another company’s product.
An affiliate can be anyone, such as a blogger, social media influencer, or even just someone who shares the company’s product on their personal social media account. The affiliate typically earns commissions for each sale they make or lead they generate for the company. This commission is usually measured as a percentage of the sale price.
Basically, you just need to find a profitable niche in which to start your online business, and then partner with an affiliate who sells products in that niche. There are many popular affiliate sites like Clickbank, Amazon, and CJ Affiliate by Conversant (formerly Commission Junction).
You’ll find affiliate programs for just about any digital information product or physical product you can imagine. Some big name companies and brands like Home Depot and Wal-Mart have their own as well.
Affiliate marketing can involve many different things and typically involves a blog or e-commerce site. You promote items for sale on your blog and each item will have an individual link that goes back to your affiliate account. The user who clicks on the link is instantly taken to your partner’s shopping basket where they can complete the purchase and you receive a commission.
Commission percentages vary with the affiliate partner, but are usually set between 5 % to 25 % or even 50% or more with digital information products in some cases.
So, what are you waiting for? There is virtually no risk and little to no time or money needed. This strategy works just as well with drop shipping. The only thing you’ll need to do is drive traffic and then make the sale!
Drop shipping is quite a bit different than this system. The business model is even more hands off and you’ll only need to provide your customer with a link – without doing anything else. The merchant handles everything, including billing, order fulfillment, and customer service too.
It’s not a lot of work. As long as you do your marketing, you’ll get your prospects to buy (via blogging, social media, email marketing or whatever method you choose). But after they click on your affiliate link, you’ve done all you can do. You don’t have to worry about customer service or shipping. You can literally work from home and make a living with this.
You just need to focus on free or paid online marketing options that will increase your online business.
Affiliate marketing is one of the most ‘hands-off’ types of online businesses you can start because it requires very little input once it’s set up.
Pros
Little risk involved: You don’t have to invest any initial capital.
Hands-off business model.
Cons
You need to drive traffic to the affiliate link because without traffic, you won’t make any money.
If you are not advertising and marketing your online business properly, you may need to spend more on those aspects.
#4. Information Products
If you’re in an internet business then it’s not always about selling physical products. Digital products are one of the easiest and quickest ways to make money online.
There are a lot of ways you can create your own information products, but the most popular are:
Video: a how-to guide, a pre-recorded webinar, an interview.
Audio: a pre-recorded interview, teleconference, course, or some other spoken-word product.
Text: an instruction booklet, an ebook, a travel guide.
In each of these categories, the possibilities are endless and you can create any type and format of content as long as it’s engaging and informative.
Regardless of the method, passive income results in money you earn for doing nothing by means of products you put up for sale on your website and customers can purchase and download instantaneously.
It’s all about the bottom line. Check your sales from time to time to see where things are trending so you can put more focus on that area.
Pros
It sure can be a quick way to make money online.
Passive income can be achieved once a product goes on the market.
Cons
You may need to spend more than the minimum just to get started.
Developing a product may require some time and effort up-front.
#5. Drop Shipping
What’s so great about an online drop shipping business is that you don’t have to hold any inventory, or bother with shipping. This frees up a lot of time and resources for your small business.
Drop shipping business eliminates the financial cost, storage needs, and the time spent on sourcing products with spreadsheets. You also avoid any manufacturing or shipping risk. You don’t have to manufacture and store anything because everything is drop shipped to your customers’ doorsteps!
You only need to focus on marketing and advertising. When a sale is made the rest is the responsibility of others. The only expense for you is the cost of marketing and advertising which you make back a minute later from the new customer.
Once you have arranged a company that specializes in drop shipping, your next step is to work with whoever they recommend. Here’s how it works:
You list products for sale on your ecommerce website or a platform like Etsy, Amazon or eBay.
Drop shipping lets you take advantage of the product knowledge and purchasing experience of other businesses. It means that when a customer orders an item from you, you buy it from a third-start company for a lower price. All you need to do is forward the order from the customer, which can be done by automated means. Remember that you don’t have any risk because the sale has already been made.
Your drop shipper should then send the product to the customer.
You can offer a wide variety of products with drop shipping and the operating costs are low. It is easy enough, right?
Note: As you can see, there is no need to put any money down! You don’t purchase anything until the sale is actually made.
Do you know what the downside to the drop shipping business model is?
Finding a reliable drop shipper that will ensure customer satisfaction can be a tough task. If an order is late, it’s your company that gets blamed even tho it was the shipper who caused the problem. You need to find an dropshipping supplier that you can rely on!
Additionally, due to a high level of competition, margins are comparatively lower than in other industries – this type of small business is best for those who are interested in volume. That being said, income can still be made and will be based on your own ambition. But their startup cost is still low, so it’s worth exploring.
One way to stand out from the competition with a drop shipping business is to privately label your products. This simply means you put your own label on the products that are manufactured for you. It’s not easy to compete with large companies when you are small and fighting on price alone, but if you use your own brand then there is less competition.
Keep in mind that when you’re looking at medicines at the drugstore, the big-brand names are much more expensive and not necessarily better than the generic brands. Consider these factors when looking for a good drop shipping product.
Anyone interested in the drop shipping business should seriously consider uploading their products on Amazon. As Amazon is a well-known marketplace that provides instant trust to potential customers, it’s a great way of establishing your company. Eventually, you should also consider creating your own online store too.
Pros
You can use existing marketplaces with built-in customer bases.
Startup capital requirements are low.
It doesn’t need to maintain inventory.
Cons
You must sell a lot to generate an adequate income.
You can be blamed for your drop-shipper’s mistake.
The market is very competitive.
Are you up to the task?
The thing to take into account, when starting any online business, is where you want your small business to be profitable. Some things to consider would be trends, bestseller lists on websites like Amazon and social media sites.
Important: One thing you should keep a couple of in mind is that you don’t have to be restricted to just one e-commerce opportunity because they’re all great.
The best way to start building a reliable, long-term income is to just get one running. Establish other sources of revenue as soon as possible, so you have something else to rely on in the event that one of your businesses starts going downhill.
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