Online Business Ideas that Pay Off Big Time

With the technology we have today, it is so easy to run a business or earn an income on the internet. Most tasks that were previously performed in corporate offices can now be done from remote locations.

Running a business online can save so much money on overhead and travel costs. You don’t have to commute to an office or buy clothes that you only wear to work. Business owners don’t have to pay to rent or own an office building. They also don’t have to pay for electricity, heat, air conditioning, cleaning crews, and all the other costs associated with running a brick-and-mortar business.

Working online also allows you to work for yourself and be flexible with your work hours, your location, and your time commitment. You decide which projects to work on, when to work and where.

These online business ideas can either be your sole income or they can be satisfying and lucrative side hustles. Because it is your business, you get to decide how much or how little of your time you invest.

If you want to earn an income online, here are 10 ideas to get you started.

1. Start a Blog

These days it seems there are a seemingly infinite number of blogs. That doesn’t mean that you can’t make a name for yourself as a blogger.

Earning a living as a blogger is a bit of a slow burn. In the beginning, you won’t make any money (unless you already have an audience to which you are just trying to provide another service).

The real money in blogging comes from advertising. The only way to get good advertisers is to have a significant audience. It’s a little like putting the cart before the horse. You have to work long and hard while hoping it turns into a paycheck.

The average blogger earns about $16 per hour, which is fine, but it isn’t great. If you can do it right, though, you could earn a much higher paycheck. Although these results are not common, some very successful blogs rake in six- or seven-figures. This, of course, is split among a team of people who write for, market, and manage the blog.

2. Be a Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants are becoming more common as more business is conducted through digital avenues. It’s easier than ever to handle administrative tasks from remote locations.

Being a virtual assistant can mean many different things. It all depends on the need of the business. It could be as simple as managing incoming emails and drafting replies. It could be as intensive as managing financial spreadsheets and scheduling day-to-day meetings.

The key to earning a good income as a virtual assistant is experience. Businesses want to hire people who already know what they’re doing. They don’t want to have to try and train you on every task from thousands of miles away. The more experience, certifications, or degrees you have to your name, the better.

The average hourly pay for a virtual assistant is $15.69. But, with more experience, you can expect closer to $20 per hour.

3. Offer an Online Course or Webinar

Creating online course materials or holding webinars can be a great way to put your knowledge and expertise to work. If you are a well-known name in your industry, you can use that clout to promote courses and webinars to help others in your industry succeed.

This can be a semi-passive form of income. Many hours of work go into creating a course or webinar. Beyond actually creating the content, you have to market it, get people to sign up, and probably answer many follow-up questions.

But, you only have to put in the time and effort to create the content once. Then, for months or even years to come, your audience will continue to purchase the content.

4. Write an eBook

An ebook is another great way to use your expertise to earn passive income. Ebooks can be marketed, sold, and disseminated online. It saves the cost of printing physical copies, and it saves time trying to find brick-and-mortar stores to sell it.

The cost to publish an ebook depends on your own decisions during production. It’s estimated to cost anywhere between $100-$1,500

Customers will be drawn in by an interesting topic or your knowledge of the industry. What you put into production outside of that is up to you. If you have the funds to hire the most experienced professionals, great! If not, you may be able to get away with hiring less experienced people who will still provide quality work.

Once you put in the time and money to produce the ebook, customers will continue to buy it and share it with other people for years

5. Be an Affiliate Marketer

Affiliate marketing is a great way to increase your income from your blog, website, or social media account. Being an affiliate means that you use your influence to bring new visitors to another business.

For instance, OnlineCasinoGems is a great resource for all things relating to online casinos. They can point you to the best games, keep you updated on the latest online gaming technology, and give you tips so that you can have the best online gaming experience possible.

Businesses typically pay affiliates for every click, sale, or new lead that they bring in. With enough partnerships, affiliate marketing can help you create a steady income.

6. Be a Freelance Writer

Many businesses create value for their customers by writing articles about industry news. These businesses all need someone to create interesting and engaging content. Some of them do not have the inhouse talent or resources to hire someone solely to write for their website.

As a freelance writer, you can help fill this skill gap for individuals and businesses all over the world. Some clients will offer steady work and some clients may only need an article here and there.

Depending on your level of expertise, the pay can be quite competitive. In Payoneer’s 2018 Freelancer Income Survey, freelance writers who write researched articles earn an hourly rate of $17. The average rate for the rest of the U.S. is $16.

7. Build an App

A majority of Americans today have a smartphone and make daily use of multiple apps. Take advantage of this trend by building your own app. Start by finding a niche market and think of problems you can solve for them.

If you don’t have experience with app development, consider hiring freelancers for a cost-effective way to fill that skill gap.

You can either have users pay to download the app, perform microtransactions, or pay for an upgraded version with exclusive features. Once your app is up and running, it’s a low-cost, low-maintenance product that will continually bring in revenue.

8. Manage Social Media Accounts

Social media is an essential route for businesses to reach customers. However, some businesses don’t have the resources or the know-how to properly cover the market. Between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Snapchat, you could spend the whole day crafting posts.

If you’re a social media guru, look up some small businesses in your area and see how they handle their social media accounts. If it seems like they are struggling, offer your services! You can charge by the hour, by post, or by platform.

9. Do Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is tedious work. If a small business doesn’t have the proper resources to create a position for someone to manage their finances, it can be a serious burden.

Many businesses don’t want to try to handle this on their own, so they hire a third party to help.

Bookkeeping does not require a CPA, but it does require a good amount of experience. With years of experience or certifications, bookkeepers earn an average of $21 per hour.

This workflow can be managed pretty easily from home, especially as more and more businesses take advantage of cloud services or other decentralized platforms. This allows people to access important documents from any location.

10. Manage Websites

Just as with social media accounts, pretty much every business has a website now. To ignore web traffic is to toss out a significant number of your potential sales. Some businesses just don’t have the resources or the talent to handle web design and management inhouse.

Managing a website can involve designing the website, creating a content strategy, keeping the website updated, backing up website information in the event of a crash, and much more.

Website management is no easy task. It can be a pretty lucrative business if you have the right skillset.

There are many ways you can start a business or earn an income online. It can be a small side hustle, an income for just yourself, or a strategy to start an entirely new business.

The level of commitment is entirely up to you. If you want to start earning big through an online business, think about your skill set and consider which of these ideas would best match those skills. With determination, you can start earning in no time.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.