Online Business Ideas
If you are on this page right now, chances are you are looking for a way to work at home online. Congradulations! There are millions of choices, some good and some bad. I'm not here to tell you which business is going to make you millions, but rather help outline some ideas and narrow down your choices a bit.Keep in mind a few things when starting a business online:
- All businesses have costs
Doesn't matter if it's educational materials, websites, products, advertising, or a combination of all of the above. You WILL have costs, and no business is free.
- Give yourself enough time to build your business
If you think the money will just start rolling in, get out of that mindset right now. Understand it will take time, and allow yourself that time to cover costs before you make any money at all.
- Know your business
Make sure you know all about spam laws, licences, and so on. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, and it only takes one small mishap to take out your entire business!
Now for some ideas of different businesses you can start:
Blogs
Yes, having a blog can be a business! Pick a topic you love, and let your creativity flow. Be sure to post every day, and while you are building a nice blog full of content, you can learn more about how to make money with it. Time sensivitve information is usually best for a blog.
Content Websites
Similar to the blog idea, but in website form. There's a little more control over this, and it's layed out differently too. For a website like this one (Idea Queen), it couldn't have been on anything but a website. There's far too much content that could have been lost, and there needed to be a way to easily navigate through the ideas without having to sift through posts. For ideas for content site ideas, please see our list of Website Topic Ideas
Direct Sales/Party Plan Businesses
There's more than just Tupperwear and Avon out there now. In fact, there's probably hundreds of direct sales companies available to the public, for just about any product you can think of. With many, you don't even have to hold home parties because of most of them going online.
Direct sales is an excellent choice for some that want to sell a specific product, but don't want to mess with shipping, creating catalogs, or building websites. Be sure to pick up your free guide to Direct Sales here: http://www.lulu.com/content/193472
Retail/Wholesale Business
Maybe you are a control freak just like me, and don't want to go through another company to sell items online, but don't have any real talents as far as making products. Not a problem! There's just as many companies that offer wholesale or dropshipping, so you have complete control over your business. Make sure you choose a "niche" market, meaning a very specific type of products. "Candles" is not a niche market, but "Soy candles" is. "Children's toys" is not a niche market, but "Electronic Educational Children's Toys" is. Super malls are NEVER a good idea, so keep that in mind.
If you still don't want to have an inventory, there is the option of dropshipping. Dropshipping is where you collect the orders, then submit the wholesale payment to the company and keep the profit from the sale. The company then ships the product for you.
*Side note: While there are litterally thousands, perhaps millions, of businesses that offer wholesale & dropshipping, I would not be true to my own business if I didn't mention Prairie Soy Candles. Wholesale and Dropshiped candles are available at:
http://www.soy-wax-candles.com/wholesale.html .
Making Your Own Products
If you have a real talent for something, you may concider making your own products. There is a very heavy profit margin in doing this, however there's three times as much work involved too. Your profit depends on how much you want to be involved in the selling process. For example, if you don't want to sell the products, you will have to offer a wholesale program and take a hit on the profit. Think of it as no fail advertising.
Some things to keep in mind when making your own products:
- There are huge start up costs involved for some businesses. Many supplies you have to purchase in bulk, and sometimes equipment is also required. Even a simple in home business can cost $1,000 or more to start.
- Avoid candles and jewelry (and I'm not just saying this to discourage competition for candles!). Every craft show we attend, we are in competition with at least 2 or 3 other candle vendors. The number of jewelry stands is usually even higher. Depending on the size of the show there's anywhere from 5-20 jewelry vendors. Pick something unique that noone else sells! Your customers will remember you!
Books & Ebooks
Are you knowledgeable in a certain area? Write a book! With the option of Ebooks online now, writing a full book doesn't have to be costly. Just like any business, there ARE costs involved, but not much. You can easily publish an ebook for well under $100. Make sure it's not a topic covered heavily elsewhere - it needs to be unique. I won't go into details on how to start or promote an ebook, but if there's a topic you know well that others may not, start writing now! You can do your marketing research as you write. Getting started is the hardest part of any great idea. See our page specifically on Ebook Ideas.
Affliate Marketing
This is a very broad topic, and actually something that should be used along with a content site. Being an affiliate for a company simply means you get a percentage of the profit for sending them orders. They handle the order process, shipping, and sometimes even give you marketing materials to use on your site. Similar to the content site, you need to have a niche market and unique content on your site to gain respect.
Be sure to do as much research as possible before you start, and know every detail about your business before investing too much money. I know an idea can be exciting when you first think of it, but if not planned out properly you could make several costly mistakes!
Idea Queen
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