Making money online isn't difficult, finding awesome online business ideas that actually generate revenue is. It's extremely difficult for a beginner to know how to set up a business around a unique idea.
But, guess what? We’ve already got you covered.
This post will help you learn all the ways people are making money online, including some very unique methods that are truly hidden from the average person.
So, let’s get started.
Best Business Ideas To Start A Business Online (2019)
1. Selling Ebooks Online
Selling online e-books is a great way to make money online.
All you need to do is find a problem and create an ebook to solve it. You can create the e-course yourself or find someone to do it for you.
Some of the best platforms for finding a quality ebook writer include Problogger and Upwork. Once the ebook is created, you’ll need to design a cover.
But, you don’t necessarily need to hire another freelancer for this. Simply use a free platform like Canva, or a premium ebook designer like Sqribble, and you can create a wonderful e-book cover using pre-built templates.
You can start selling the finished e-course via marketplaces like Amazon, or collaborate with a niche-specific influencer for sponsored marketing. You can also use targeted blogs for paid advertisement.
This video explains everything!
2. Affiliate Marketing
Another popular way to generate online revenue is by becoming an affiliate marketer.
You can either make a video or post articles featuring affiliate links. Here are the three steps to making affiliate money:
- Find powerful keywords – You can use platforms like KWFinder or Google Planner to find profitable keywords with less competition.
- Get a platform for selling online – You can either set up your own website or use YouTube videos to bring in referral traffic.
- Find an affiliate program with good commissions – Promote services or products that both fit your niche and offer good commissions. One of the best platforms for affiliate marketing is Amazon.
One of our readers was able to make $184 in just the first two months of starting his affiliate-based website via the Amazon marketplace.
Related: How West Shepherd Made $230,000 Revenue Per Month With Shopify
3. Becoming An Online Tester
If you want to generate some quick money in your free time, try becoming a tester.
User experience is among the top ranking factors on Google, and companies are regularly in need of testers to help them improve website usability.
You can use platforms like Userfeel and perform a specific task like finding a product or watching a video. This will not take you more than 15-20 minutes and you can make $10-20 for your time.
This explains exactly how you can do it!
4. Reselling Domain Names
Every person who wants to get their business online first needs to get a domain name.
There are many domains available in the marketplace. You can just grab some really good names and list them on flippa.com.
The most effective method here is to look for the expired domains that have either a significant number of backlinks, or have the potential to be a big brand.
This video explains it in detail!
5. Start A Dropshipping Store
If you want to start an eCommerce store, but don’t have enough money to maintain an inventory, this one is definitely for you.
The dropshipping model allows the store owner to ship the products directly from a wholesaler to customers. This means you don’t need to make any investment until a customer places an order, nor do you need to create an inventory space.
As an additional bonus, a dropshipping business requires far less documentation on your end than maintaining inventory.
This video will help you understand more!
Related: 13 Best Ways To Make Money Online With Dropshipping & Stay Profitable
6. Social Media Influencer
Becoming a social media influencer is one of best untapped online business ideas.
Select a particular niche and build your audience around it. Once you gain enough followers, you will start getting emails for promoting products and services. You can use social advertisement and paid promotion to generate a great following in no time.
The best platform for doing this is Instagram, but you can also use Facebook and/or Twitter.
7. Social Media Management
If you spend enough time on social media, you probably know how things work.
Social media marketing is another great business idea for a beginner. Many companies hire people to manage their social media pages, post regular updates, generate conversation in social forums/pages/groups, and so forth.
Social media management is an important part of SEO. Social engagement improves Google ranking, which is why almost every big brand hires a social media manager.
8. Graphic Designer
You just need beginner-level design skill and you can start generating money right away. You can create Infographics and logos for new websites. There are many platforms with job postings for this work.
One platform is PeoplePerhour.
You can easily make $100-200 as a beginner as long as you know basic designing skills. Tools like Canva could help you get some inspiration.
9. Freelance Writing
If you are a native English speaker and have a good handle on written English, you can start writing online. Upwork is the best platform for making money online as a beginner.
You can take some writing tests to prove your skills, add your qualifications and a basic portfolio, and start bidding on projects. You can start getting projects within the first month. Earnings and feedback for every completed work will appear on your profile.
There are literally dozens of platforms out there where you can work as a content writer.
Feel free to bid at anything from sales copy to essays. However, do make sure that the posting is beginner level and that you meet the expected qualifications.
10. Designing T-shirts
Designing wonderful products requires creative ideas and a bit of designing skills. If that sounds like you, log in to Teespring. This platform allows the user to create their own t-shirts, mugs, and more.
After submitting the product, you can promote it if you like. Teespring offers a commission every time someone places an order for your product.
You can also start your own boutique store and sell t-shirts that way.
11. Sell Photos Online
Stock photography is still a great online business idea, especially for a beginner.
Take some really great photos and build a business around them. Many stock photo websites offer a commission when someone buys their license for that photo.
You can also build a photography portfolio in a particular niche and reach out to a related website. For instance, big food blogs like the kitchn regularly need food photography.
Related: The Ultimate Free Dropshipping Course
12. SEO Consultancy
Search engine optimization is an important aspect of every website. You can start an SEO consultancy firm, or provide SEO help on a freelance basis.
There are many great SEO tools like Semrush to help you with SEO analysis.
13. Translation Services
If you have good knowledge of more than one language, you can try your luck with translation.
Many business websites want multilingual access to their content. You can help those sites to translate their pages into another language. You can use an online platform like Acclaro, Upwork, or Problogger to help you get started with the translation field.
14. WordPress Maintenance
WordPress is a content management system to help you set up a free website. WP directory has thousands of plugins to improve its dynamic functionality.
You can help people optimize their WordPress website, fix HTML errors, and provide support for quick questions.
This is especially useful if you are a WordPress enthusiast. There are other CMS’s like drupal and Joomla that you could provide support for. However, those platforms require you to have a little bit more of a web development skillset than WordPress does.
15. WordPress Theme Designer
WordPress is used by over 53% of the top million websites, which means that if you have knowledge of visual hierarchy and good design skills, you can just start designing WP themes to earn money.
You can either design a theme on your own, or hire someone to do it for you. Once the theme is ready, you can sell it on the envato marketplace. You can start selling your theme for $50 and offer addons features for an additional price.
16. Start A Personal Blog
Starting a personal blog is one of the best online business ideas, especially if you are a beginner.
Get started by selecting a niche. Find what you love writing about and start publishing posts. It could be a food blog, a travel blog, a science blog, or any other topic.
Once you gain enough popularity, you will start receiving emails for sponsored posts and paid advertisements. This business idea is more of a long-term solution. It will take a few months to generate income, but it will be a lasting source.
To learn more about creating a blog watch my latest YouTube video here.
17. Cryptocurrency Business
Bitcoin is one of the leading cryptocurrencies in the marketplace right now. Before 2015, it cost less than $400 to get a bitcoin, but the same bitcoin now costs over $4,000.
This escalation has helped users to build businesses in cryptocurrency. You can do crypto-exchange, provide wallets for money storage, or perform mining to help you generate some good income.
18. Website Management
The internet has more beginners than you think. You can base your business on helping people who are new to making money online.
Most people need someone to manage their website. You would be managing website speed, SEO, quick errors, content, and so forth. This doesn’t require you to be a website expert, you just need some basic management skills.
19. Becoming A Mentor
Becoming an online mentor is not easy, but if you are good at something, you can share that skill online. Know what you are good at, it could be digital marketing or start-up management or small businesses.
This business idea requires a bit of experience and expertise (in order to be a powerful mentor).
20. English Tutor
English is spoken all around the globe. But online English tutors are not so easy to find.
This is a good business idea for beginner. There are many websites like Udemy where you can start teaching the English language to non-native speakers.
21. Web Development
Web development is a good business idea if you know the coding language and can fix code glitches in a few minutes. You can be an online web developer.
You can join a development support team, help people build plugins, write code for new themes, fix the wrong scripts, and so forth.
22. Video Editing
It’s no secret that visual content offers much more engagement than simply content-rich pages. Every business owner hires a video editor to improve the quality of their video files.
If you don’t have much experience in this field, try finding quick video edits that you could learn more easily, like color correction, sound mixing, and so forth.
23. Live Streaming
Another idea to make money online is streaming video. You can either use a livestreaming platform or get started with YouTube.
You can earn by running ads, accepting fan donations, or offering affiliate marketing or paid promotion. Livestreaming is currently one of the greatest online obsessions and definitely one of the best business ideas for beginners.
It’s less competitive than other fields, and you can make money in just a few months.
24. Become An Email Outreach Expert
Almost everyone needs someone to handle their emails.
These emails are set as a campaign to achieve specific goals. The email you write could be for generating more sales, for guest posting or simply for sharing with an audience.
You can easily become an email outreach expert, as long as you have a good internet connection and good written English skills.
25. Share Your Travel Experience
If you are not a professional writer but love traveling, try looking at this list. You can write about your travel experience and hire a budget-friendly editor from Upwork.
Submit the final draft to sites that accept travel stories and related articles. This is one of the best ways to make money online while traveling across the world.
But do know that you’ll need to have your own photos to share along with your stories.
26. Participating In Story Writing
Write fiction and non-fiction stories for magazines and publications. You can write short or long stories and get paid every time your story is accepted by a publication. First, select the genres you want to write in.
Next, find publications that have a good audience base and are willing to pay for a unique short story. You can do this by searching “Get paid for story writing” on Google.
27. Become A Virtual Assistant
Everyone, from individuals to companies, hires VAs to help them manage digital work. Virtual assistants help keep workflow systematic and make overall management easier.
You think you can knock some random tasks off in your extra hours? Go ahead with this business idea.
28. Becoming A Podcaster
Have you done work offline that you can share online? Then start podcasting. You can start a podcasting series and create powerful content that engages users.
Once you get enough of an audience base, you can start accepting sponsorships, paid promotions, and service recommendations.
29. Create An App
One unique yet effective idea in our list of online business ideas is creating an app.
Think about a problem that you regularly see around you and an app that could help solve that problem. Find an idea that is unique, fresh, and helpful. Hire an app developer to get your online software created.
Smartphones are everywhere, so all you need to do is build a creative app.
30. Create Landing pages For WordPress Websites
A product conversion requires your reader to go through three steps. Land on your site, know the usefulness of your products, and click the buy button.
The landing page is what controls these steps. Marketers know the importance of landing pages. You don’t need to be a professional designer in order to create a landing page.
You can design unique landing pages for different products on WordPress. There are plugins to effortlessly build each page. Some of the most popular plugins include Gutenberg, Thrive Architect, and Divi builder.
31. Make Money Proofreading
Every piece of content needs some final touches and that’s where you could be a fit. Proofread content for sentence structure, grammatical errors, and so forth.
You can make good money editing ebooks, in-depth guides, essays, and other types of long form content. Proofreading can also be done on a large scale. Set up your website and start selling your services.
Don’t forget to add a portfolio page to help your clients know about your work.
32. Outsourcing Content
Outsourcing is still one of the best ways to make money online with less effort. Start by reaching out to different websites. Hire a good writer from platforms like Freelancer and Upwork. Outsource the content and make money.
Your profit will be limited for a while, but after creating an online profile to showcase your work, you can increase your rates.
33. Become Chat Support
Another creative way to make money is by becoming a chatbot. When you land on some websites, they offer a ping message in the right corner of screen.
Companies regularly need chatbots to help them provide pre-sales support. You would be answering sales-related questions on an everyday basis.
34. Amazon Seller
Ecommerce business is a profitable marketplace for every individual. The online shopping world is growing rapidly.
You can use a pre-setup eCommerce market to sell your products. Amazon allows sellers to market almost any type of item. You need to find products that are profitable and popular.
Next, create SEO-friendly product descriptions for your products. Upload clean images and start selling. You can also find unique products from the Alibaba store and sell them on Amazon.
Related: What Is Amazon Dropshipping?
35. Make money reviewing products
There are literally hundreds of companies that will pay you to write an honest review about their product. You will not only get to keep the product, but if the review is really helpful the company will pay you a review fee.
Various websites offer cash for writing reviews about products on their platform. Here are a few places to help you get started.
36. Create Animated Videos And GIFs
Companies want to promote their products using visually appealing content. Animated video is still the top priority for promotion, but many startups use GIFs in between articles.
This actually improves engagement. Cartoons used in GIFs help companies build a personal relation with their audience. GIFSs are mostly used by marketing companies and design studios. Pitch your GIFs to these sites.
Animated video, on the other hand, is usually one to two minutes long and is targeted to generate sales. This includes things like introductory videos describing the benefits of various products.
37. Guest Posting
The best online business idea would have to be dropshipping. But, guest posting is cool!
Guest posting is one of the most important aspects of SEO and will probably never end. Companies pay writers to mention their brands on sites like Forbes, Huffingtonpost, Lifehacker, CNN, and other big publications.
Select a niche that you have experience in and that you can write about. Then guest post on websites that accept articles easily.
After getting some good exposure, start reaching out to bigger brands. It is a bit difficult to get published on these sites, but it’s can be done.
Just make sure that the quality of the content you write is extremely good. Also, read the specific guest-posting guidelines before submitting your ideas.
Final Verdict
Making money online is not as difficult as you think. You just need to make sure that you have at least one skill. If you are good at writing you can start writing or editing content for different publications.
Amazon is a great place for selling products. You can also use Amazon affiliate commission to generate revenue online. Most of the online business ideas for beginners are easy. You just need to find one that you could easily do.
If you have passion in photography you can submit stock photos or just click niche specific images for magazines. Found a unique online business idea that you'd live to share? Let us know in the comment section.