Running an online business is a dream come true for many who want to be entrepreneurs, especially the youngsters. Today, with the rapid growth of the internet and technology, starting a business online is easier than ever. This is one of the quickest, simplest, and most cost-effective methods to take your first step into financial security and independence. In this blog, we have suggested a list of the easiest online business ideas that you can start with to gain the flexibility and freedom that comes with it.
Top Online Business Ideas
1. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is the method of earning a commission by advertising products for their owners. It allows affiliates to profit from product sales without having to create their own products.
Simply said, affiliate marketing entails recommending a product or service via a blog, social media platforms, or a website. When someone purchases something using the unique link linked with their referral, the affiliate receives a commission.
According to Statista, the affiliate marketing sector has a lot of potentials and is predicted to grow from $5.4 billion in 2017 to $8.2 billion in 2022. It’s also a low- to no-cost business endeavour from which you can make a lot of money.
Today we can see such activities everywhere on the internet under the two most common methods, including promoting products for brands or stores and cooperating with marketplaces like Amazon. The popular social platforms that people often choose to become affiliates are Instagram, Facebook, and Tiktok.
Suitable for
The business idea is suited for people who have a certain number of followers on social networks, such as an influencer or a KOL.
Nevertheless, it matches anyone as long as they are skilled at something, for example, makeup, fashion, etc.
Tips for your startup
- Decide your type of content and audience
When picking a niche, go for something in demand that you’re enthusiastic about and versed in. This not only makes you appear genuine and a reliable source of information but also helps to identify your potential audiences.
- Choose the right platform
You should determine the appropriate platform for your content and target audiences. Each platform has its strengths and weaknesses and you have to figure them out to find which one is best for your business.
- Ensure consistency
You cannot succeed in affiliate marketing if your content is not related to each other and, even worse, not associated with you in any way. If you are tech-savvy, go for tech gadgets and accessories. If you are a beauty blogger, go for cosmetics products. Choose one or two areas to focus on to make sure you can manage it and develop professionalism.
2. Becoming A TikToker
Video content is growing in popularity in the virtual world, from Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook Stories to Instagram Reels and Youtube Shorts. And maybe you have already known, TikTok has become a new phenomenon and has been growing by leaps and bounds in the last two years.
According to statistics, in Q2 2020, this social video platform had 837 million monthly active users. The number was predicted to increase to over 1 billion from more than 150 countries now.
As you can see, creating content on TikTok is currently can be considered a full-time job as many creative young people choose to make a name for themselves by sharing their stories, knowledge, or experiences via exciting videos.
In addition to doing affiliate marketing, now you can get paid per view for your videos by joining the Creator Fund. Just like Youtube, there is no limit for earning per creator on TikTok as long as you can meet their criteria. Due to TikTok’s algorithm and short content feature, your videos can easier go viral, in comparison with Youtube.
Suitable for
To become famous on TikTok, creativity is a must. Besides, if you’ve always fantasized about working behind the camera, this job is for you.
Tips for your startup
- Stay up to date
You will need to keep up with current trends to engage your audience. Look for trending hashtags and sounds that can help you reach the right audience, add value to your posts and make them more visible.
- Be consistent
Make sure that your videos are consistent in what they convey. Develop an individualistic style in your clips so that your specialization is recognized and appreciated by the viewers.
- Bring a freedom vibe
Sometimes, you can free yourself and let your true personality be exposed because young people who make up 41% of TikTok’s user base enjoy this vibe that only TikTok can give them.
- Obey the rules
It is critical to follow the community guidelines and terms of service. Stay away from trash content and content that might offend a particular group of people (sensitive topics such as religion, politics, discrimination, sexism, etc.).
3. Becoming An Online Fitness Trainer
Online fitness training is a real industry, particularly when people have to stay inside most of the time due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. The obesity rate is increasing during the pandemic due to the lack of physical activities, stress and harmful habits such as drinking, smoking, etc.
For this reason, more and more people who love the gym and who want to lose weight decide to sweat it out, right at their homes with the help of an online professional coach. Thus, this is the chance for you to start your online business.
Suitable for
If you have a passion for fitness and already have standard certifications, you can turn them into a profitable online career.
Tips for your startup
- Create an online training course
Building a complete series of training lessons may help you avoid unexpected issues of real-time coaching related to network connection, access, sound and display, and more. Besides, you will be able to manage your time better and have more freedom with your working hours.
- Make use of the technological advancement
You will run your business more effectively if you know how to utilize various tools available on the internet. Apart from management tools, you may need personal training software, marketing tools, and social media tools. Many famous names in online fitness have risen to prominence as a result of social media networking.
For example, the TikTok hashtag #chloetingchallenge of more than 600M views has made Chloe Ting stand out from other fitness trainers at that time to be favoured by millions of people all over the world.
4. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a business model that allows entrepreneurs to launch an online business and sell products to customers without ever having to stock the items physically. Customers pay the retail price you set, you pay the wholesale price determined by the suppliers, and the rest is profit.
However, you should note that because of the low overheads, the profit margin is usually not too high.
Suitable for
Dropshipping is suitable for everyone who has a low budget, no matter who you are, a student or a housewife.
Tips for your startup
When it comes to launching a dropshipping business, you will need to invest a significant amount of either time or money to be successful. If you have a good financial condition, you can pour money into advertising services.
In the other case, you will have to spend most of the time promoting your products by yourself. In either way, putting all of your efforts into marketing is very important in the early stages when momentum is everything.
Although dropshipping seems like easy money, building a successful dropshipping business is not as quickly as you’d hoped. So, be patient!
5. Tutoring
In the past year, the tutoring sector has been seeing extraordinary growth globally due to the pandemic. Schools and education centres are closed, leading to increasing demand for virtual education.
Requiring a low upfront cost and having a lot of opportunities, online tutoring is undoubtedly one of the easiest business ideas to start with that you can think of now.
Suitable for
You are an undergraduate looking for a part-time job? A teacher trying to improve your income? A person who has expertise in some areas? Or are you just into teaching?
Let’s consider turning your enthusiasm and knowledge into a business. You can help students accomplish their academic goals and help adults improve essential skills for work.
Tips for your startup
- Focus on personal branding
Choosing online tutoring means that you have just entered a fierce competition. The internet is a place full of online teachers, instructors, and tutors like you all vying for the students’ attention. Moreover, countless open-source courses are reachable with just a few clicks away.
Therefore, do pay attention to personal branding strategies to market yourself. Let your target customers know who you are, what you believe in, the values you hold, and how you show them – all the things that make you different and deserve their choice.
- Prepare carefully for tutoring challenges
Starting a tutoring business can be very lucrative, however, there are some downsides that you should be aware of and ready for. By way of an illustration, you may struggle with time zone issues, lack of patience or even deal with students’ parents in several situations.
6. Freelance writing
Freelance writing, whether as a side hustle or a full-time job, is a flexible and potentially successful way to generate money online. As an independent writer, you will have complete control over your professional development, including scheduling who you work with, what projects you take on, where you work, and so on.
Additionally, there are numerous types of freelance writing jobs for you to choose from, offering a variety of expertise and project prospects at any given time. You can become a freelance content writer, copywriter, CV/resume writer or even a ghostwriter. The limit is your ability.
Suitable for
You can become a freelance writer so long as you are skilled at words. Depending on your areas of interest, you may need additional criteria to create writing that sells. For instance, if you want to be a content writer, you will need a basic knowledge of SEO.
Tips for your startup
- Try online marketplace
We are sure that you have heard about sites like Upwork and Fiverr. Here you can easily package your expertise into a well-defined digital product. Further, you can target more customers from both domestic and overseas using their system that acts as a search engine to find suitable projects. This saves a lot of time and effort.
- Join online communities
There are many potentials for writing gigs on Facebook groups, discussion forums, and other online communities. So you should have no trouble getting consistent work if you know which groups to join. From this, you could also broaden your network and build relationships with target customers.
7. Translation
For the time being, although English may remain the global business lingua franca, globalization has created a great demand for language skills all around the world. Fortunately, translation is not rocket science.
Suitable for
Talking about how to start an online business, becoming a translator is among the easiest ideas for those who are fluent in multiple languages. It is ideal for students majoring in foreign languages, bilinguals, and multilingual people.
Tips for your startup
- Select the proper language pair
Translators work in language pairs, so choose the two languages in which you are most fluent to get started. Choosing the right language pair also brings you more income. But well, being bilingual is sometimes hard enough. If you, fortunately, have the ability to use more than two, remember this tip.
- Pitch yourself on a job board
Sign up for job boards on sites such as LinkedIn and you will be surprised with the outcome. This is free and may bring a lot of opportunities out of your expectation.
FAQs
Is an online business profitable?
Yes. ECommerce is emerging these days and will be the future of the world economy.
Is starting an online business competitive?
Yes. Because building an online business is much easier compared to a physical one these days thanks to technology, many entrepreneurs choose to go online. However, there is always a niche for you as long as you target the right customers and markets.
Do I have to have specialized knowledge or experience?
It depends. In many business models, you need to build customer trust by showing them why you are qualified to sell certain products or services by certifications, degrees, etc.
Do I need to have a website to start my online business?
No. However, if you want your business to operate more effectively and aim for long-term development, YES, an eCommerce website is highly recommended.
Don’t worry! You do not have to do everything from scratch since there is a wide range of solutions for website development. All you need to do is pick up a reliable service provider for your brainchild.
Tigren
Tigren is a Vietnam-based eCommerce website design and development company that has nearly ten years in the field. Currently, they are providing eCommerce website development packages that can meet your requirements from basic to advanced. Therefore, overall, we can say that Tigren deserves your choice when you start your online business.
In A Nutshell
We believe these are easy online business ideas to start with when you are a rookie in this eCommerce world. Even so, this is quite an adventure since you still have to face several challenges, however worthy it is.
Running a startup can provide a level of independence, experience and freedom that most individuals do not have. You have all the control over your working hours, goals, and income, resulting in a more responsible person of yourself.
In the end, you will see that there are always chances for you to open a new door in your life. As long as you want it, you can do it!
Read more:
Online Business For Students: 11 Promising Ideas In 2023
