Peace and prosperity, adventurous reader! We’re here to help you start an online business by giving you some guidance and proper ideas.
Why, when and where to take your business online?
Modern times require modern solutions. It’s 2020, and by each passing day, more and more job positions are getting highly dependent on the internet. Whether it’s because of marketing possibilities, the targeted audience reaches or simply because of the comfort of working from home. So, the usefulness of the mighty internet should be one of your most essential tools, starting today!
The birth of something great
You might wonder – what’s the basic stuff you will require to jump-start your online business? We’ve prepared this short and concise list:
- Have a business plan – every empire started as an idea, and yours will not be any different. Think about it – in which line of work you always wanted to find yourself? What are the people’s demands around you which lack the corresponding service?
- A website – your first investment in your online business. If you are operating with a bare minimum of finances, spend it on a website. Most importantly, without a well-organized website, you won’t be able to grow and develop your business exponentially.
- Social media presence – you’ve probably noticed that social media websites are an essential platform for marketing. Your business should and will take advantage of this fact.
- Contacts – your business needs an audience that will become a customer database in time. And they will, in turn, generate that sweet revenue.
- Regular updates – always be present on your website and your social media outlets. Update them with useful information about your prices, discounts, user reviews, special offers, etc.
5 easy-to-start online business ideas
For example, here are 5 easy-to-start online business ideas you can start today:
- Hosting reselling
- Video streaming
- Music streaming
- Content platform
- Copywriting
Hosting reselling
This one is quite a lucrative idea which is getting more popular. If you want to jump into the hosting business without the high costs of the hosting infrastructure then this is undoubtedly a perfect opportunity for you!
In short, the idea is to use the resources of the parent hosting company to create your hosting service for your customers.
How do you start?
It’s important to contact your parent hosting company and do your research correctly. The facts that need checking are:
- Does your parent hosting company have a hosting reselling option?
- What’s the pricing contract? Would the parent hosting company charge you on a per-client basis?
- Would you have an option to brand your hosting service?
- What are the technical parameters (disc space, bandwidth, domain hosting)?
- How many customers would you have? Based on this information, which package of services would you require from your parent hosting company?
Don’t forget to check the hosting reviews for each potential reseller that you want to work with before you enter into any agreements. You don’t want to promote a low-quality host with no customer support.
Video streaming
Most of the people from the ’90s remember a time when they had to download a video and use their storage on the computer to save it just to watch it. Luckily for humanity, those painful days are gone as a result of the usage of video streaming websites. You no longer need television or movie showtimes to enjoy the video content you desire.
The idea is to create your own website, which would have different video content available to your customers. A server stores all the necessary video content. There are three types of video streaming websites:
- Video sharing platforms (think of YouTube or Vimeo)
- Movies, TV shows and series (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu)
- Live streaming websites (Twitch, Bambuser, Ustream)
Why the video streaming website?
To put it into perspective, Cisco predicts that by 2021, video content will make up to 82% of all internet traffic. And that’s where your opportunity lies!
The critical aspects of making video streaming websites are:
- An attractive homepage which would instantly capture the attention of your consumers
- Features catering to customers – some of the examples are the search bar, filters for video content, different means of payment, etc.
- Monetizing your website – which is how you will generate your revenue. There are 3 types of monetization:
- Ads (AVOD) – the easiest way to monetize your website, you can put them before, during or after the video playback.
- Subscriptions (SVOD) – an excellent way to secure a steady, monthly income. There are two options here, a) put everything behind a paywall or b) offer a free version and a premium version.
- Pay-per-views (TVOD) – the most flexible solution although with high competitiveness and for a beginner, it could be quite challenging to monetize this way. For instance, live streams are a perfect way to generate revenue by using the pay-per-view method.
Feel free to visit this article about creating a video streaming website prospected.com, where they go into full detail about this topic.
Music streaming
The difference between video and music streaming websites is – when making a music streaming website – you have fewer obstacles on your path, like copyrights and DMCA claims. That’s why we recommend picking an offshore host for your needs. A country that is less burdened by laws and regulations would be a perfect fit.
Monetization? Two ways: ads and subscriptions. Firstly, ads will allow you to offer your services to millions of potential customers, free of charge. Secondly, the subscription option will enable you to reach fewer customers but will generate steady revenue.
If you’d like to know more, this article on creating a music streaming service can help you start it all up.
Content platform
Consider content platforms as a modern solution for those dusty, dark libraries our ancestors used to delve in. A content platform requires:
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- A website – as always, a critical factor in every online business
- A clear message – for your customers to instantly see who you are and what do you do
- Opt-in giveaway – always try to expand your mailing list
- About page – it’s more important than you might think!
- Contact page – it’s crucial that your customers can easily find your contact information
Also, the content platform itself requires low content output but demands high marketing costs.
Why? Once you upload some content on it – it stays there and therefore it’s always available to wider audiences, but in turn, you need to advertise your platform to reach new customers continually.
Copywriting
Some might say that the content you put into your online business is the most crucial factor when it comes to succeeding. The demand for original content is getting higher by the day, and you could make a decent living as a copywriter.
That’s where the opportunity lies – other online businesses and websites require a high amount of new content daily, which somebody needs to create.
If you wish to find more useful tips & tricks about this promising idea, feel free to check out a reliable copywriting service.
In conclusion, we encourage you to start with one of these ideas today. You’ll never know what you’re capable of until you try! And most importantly – have patience.
Good luck and godspeed!