20 Low Cost Online Business Ideas With High Profit Potential
Trying to make the most of low cost online business? You are in the right place. Below we break it down in plain English, with practical tips you can actually use.
Key Takeaways
- 20 Low Cost Online Business Ideas With High Profit Potential Online businesses are a great way to earn extra income while working from the c...
- Here are 20 online business ideas to help the beginner entrepreneur get started.
- Written by Jeff Proctor Last Updated: May 24, 2024 Reviewed by Ben Huber Home Online Business Some of the links on DollarSprout point to pro...
Online businesses are a excellent way to earn extra income while working from the comfort of home. Here are 20 online business ideas to help the beginner entrepreneur get started.
Written by Jeff Proctor Last Updated: May 24, 2024 Reviewed by Ben HuberSome of the links on DollarSprout point to products or services from partners we trust. If you choose to make a purchase through one, we may earn a commission, which supports the ongoing maintenance and improvement of our site at no additional cost to you. Learn more.
If there is one good thing that our most recent pandemic side hustle study showed, it’s that it accelerated the mass adoption of remote work all over the world (for numerous industries). As someone whose been running an online business from home since well before the pandemic, I can tell you that the number of weird looks I get from people when I say “I work from home” has gone down exponentially. People just get it now.
And now I see two other trends starting to emerge:
- People whose jobs became remote in 2020 and 2021 have tasted freedom, but now they want to take it a step further and ditch having a boss. Location freedom is only part of the puzzle. Freedom over time is the other. Starting an online business is a way to have both.
- People with in-person jobs see how much happier their remote-working friends are now, and they want a piece of that. They are dying to find a way out of the get up, drive to work, work, drive home grind.
In either case, people are desperate for ideas. And now we as a society know that having a successful online business isn’t just a pipe dream anymore , millions of regular people are finding ways to make it happen.
Main Categories of Online Businesses
- Content business: The lifeblood of any content creator’s business is their audience. With an engaged audience that is big enough, there are numerous ways to capture value from the content you create for them.
- Service-based online business: This is all about working with clients one-on-one, completing projects, and using word-of-mouth as a main growth tool.
- E-commerce: Selling products online, typically via a virtual storefront.
- Software as a Service (SaaS) & other tech: Creating tools and products that people pay to use. Typically requires some background in tech development.
Content Business Ideas
1. Launch a blog
DollarSprout is a personal finance blog.Startup costs: Less than $100
Maybe you have a passion for cooking, fashion, or personal finance. Or maybe you just have tons of excellent ideas that you know will help others. Starting a blog allows you to share your passion with the world and make money in the process.
How blogs can make money:
- Display ads (also called banner ads)
- Affiliate marketing: selling someone else’s product for a commission
- Sponsorships
- Selling an online course or ebook
Examples:
- DollarSprout.com - Side hustles and entrepreneurship
- ApartmentTherapy.com - Interior Design
- ThoughtfulParent.com - Parenting
- Kotaku.com - Gaming
What you need to get started:
- Domain name and hosting (we recommend HostGator)
- A topic area you like and can devote yourself to
- Strong writing skills
It may sound daunting, but the learning curve isn’t as steep as you might imagine. Take it from these five millennials who started their blogs in the last 12 months and are all making over $1,000 per month. Their advice is pretty straightforward: do some pre-planning, be authentic, and don’t be afraid to fail.
It’s not rocket science, and with a little persistence, you could be less than a year away from a significant online income.
Related: How We Made $347,675 Blogging in 2 Months
2. Start a YouTube channel
Startup costs: $0
You don’t need to be the next Logan Paul in order to find success as a YouTuber. Nowadays, you can find a YouTube channel on just about any topic, no matter how obscure. If you like the idea of creating content for a specific audience but hate the thought of writing, starting your own YouTube channel could be the ticket.
Most popular ways YouTubers make money:
- Ads (before, during, and/or after video)
- Sponsorships
- Affiliate marketing
Examples:
- The Lawn Care Nut (462k subscribers)
- Oscar Ramos (Cryptocurrency, 15.5k subscribers)
- Boho Beautiful Yoga (2.26M subscribers)
What you need to get started:
- Your smartphone camera
3. Sell online knowledge courses
Between Google and YouTube, you can learn pretty much anything online. The firehose of information we all have at our fingertips is amazing but also overwhelming. That’s where course creators come in.
Instead of someone piecing together fragmented information from dozens of sources and trying to teach themselves a topic, it’s frequently easier (and smarter) to just purchase a single course from a trusted instructor. It cuts down on time wasted and makes learning much more efficient.
As a course creator, you have the opportunity to build a course once and sell it hundreds or even thousands of times. There is high profit potential and very low cost to getting started.
You can make a course on anything. Examples of popular courses:
- Get Your Ex Back ($57.99) by Lee Wilson
- Watercolor Painting ($197) by Nicki Traikos
- Pest Control Training for Professionals ($324) by Pest Posse
In order to sell your course, you’ll need an audience. Most popular methods:
- Grow an audience via free content on social media
- Grow an audience via search engine traffic
- Running ads on sites like Facebook, Instagram, Google, etc.
4. Become an influencer
Influencers sometimes get a bad rap, but there’s no denying that tens of thousands of people are earning a full-time income. Turning a social media following into a reliable source of income is easier said than done, but it’s a viable business model. Like most other online businesses, the more specialized and narrow your area of focus is, the better.
No matter how strange and obscure the topic is, there is almost certainly an influencer in that space that is crushing it.
- @ImagineItDone, cleaning and organization influencer on TikTok
- @ClubProGuy, golf satire account on Instagram
- Final Thoughts
The bottom line: a little research on low cost online business goes a long way. Compare your options, watch for seasonal offers, and never pay full price when a better deal is one click away.
Originally published at dollarsprout.com.
Jeff Proctor
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