51 Online Business Options
1.
Affiliate marketing
As an affiliate marketer, you are earning
commission from selling someone else’s products. You might need to make an
initial investment and buy a basic portfolio and marketing materials that you
then resell. However, that does not always have to be the case as there are
companies which will provide you with products free of charge, and only take a
part of the profit.
One of the most popular sites for affiliate marketers nowadays is Click bank. Other well-known sites include Amway and Amazon Associates. Aside
from affiliate marketing you can check out a range of other hot new business trends.
2. Bazaar sites
The online flea marketplaces are growing in
popularity nowadays. They cover a wide range of products, have a user community
that you can look to for inspiration and some of them such as Preloved do not charge any “selling fees” which is a
significant advantage compared to traditional eCommerce sites.
3. Direct sales
This term means the “channel-free” approach to
selling, where you offer products to customers to purchase directly from your
website. Some companies will enable you to host your online store on their
website for free. In other cases, you will need to build your sales website
yourself.
One area of the market that has used direct
selling to great success is service providers, e.g., low-cost travel
companies offering customers an option to purchase tickets directly from the
website.
4. Group buying
This concept is similar to the ‘Daily deals’
sites. The difference is that daily-deal sites offer discounts on individual
purchases, whereas with group-buying there is a need for several buyers to
place an order to the deal. Once the deal goes live, the customers are sent
discount vouchers via email.
It’s also worth noting that group-buying is
usually aimed at a local market. The best-known sites in this sector are Groupon and Wowcher UK.
5. Drop shipping
Drop shipping a supply chain management
technique whereby you make money by taking care of product shipments on behalf
of a retailer. Also, you need to work with them to make sales which will then
lead to earning revenue from the delivery of the products. If you want to get
involved in drop shipping, you should do some detailed research beforehand and
look for a type of company that will put emphasis on assessment of potential
business partners, not just ask for a fee to join their program.
You can find a list of UK Drop shippers here.
Alternatively, you can also contact small business owners and ask if they’d be
interested in this type of cooperation. Examples of drop shipping companies
include Sellerbot.
6. Specialised online store
If you are the creative/artistic type, this
may be an attractive option for you. With sites such as Etsy or Not on the Highstreet,
selling of hand-made products has become considerably easier and more
accessible, even for absolute beginners. Other marketplaces worth considering
are Artfire, DaWanda or Yokaboo.
Another option is to create a page on a social media platform and drive sales
using various channels, e.g., a Facebook group;
7. Social shopping
marketplace
On this type of platform, consumers are not
exposed to individual products but rather to offers each of which consists of
multiple items sold by different independent sellers. The offers could be
compared to a shop window where items are arranged in a creative, visually
attractive way to maximise their appeal to customers.
It’s no surprise that this innovative way of
selling is popular with sellers of fashion and beauty products. Social shopping
marketplaces provide tools to connect buyers with sellers, encourage feedback
and at the same time function as an e-commerce facilitator for sellers and a shopping
search engine for buyers. Popular sites in this category include Storenvy, Polyvore or Shopcade.
8. Online auctioning
As an auctioneer you are engaged in selling
products by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item
to the highest bidder. The best known online auction website is eBay. As a seller, you will need to create a listing based on
the site requirements, which will stay up on the platform for a certain time
unless you decide to close it earlier. There can also be fees associated with
listing and selling items, which will depend on the type of seller account you
opt for.
9. Multi-level marketing
In multi-level marketing programs, the sales force is rewarded
not only for the sales they close but also for sales by people they’ve
recruited to the program, though always beware pyramid schemes that are
disguised as multi-level marketing programs. Generally speaking if recruitment
and initiation fees are better paid/rewarded than sales it’s likely a pyriamid scheme.
10. Social/stock market
trading
The stock market is the type of market in
which shares of companies are issued and traded between buyers and sellers. A
new trend in this area is ‘social trading’, which is a way of incorporating a
social element into investing. It could also be described an online trading social network for traders.
One site offering this type of trading is
EToro, which brings together a community of traders who copy each other’s
investment decisions to earn money. If you are looking for a more traditional
approach, then companies such as Options House may be an option for you. In
case you already have some experience in trading, you may be interested in such
types of trading as Forex.
11. Copywriting
Copywriters create different types of
marketing materials that serve different purposes, eg., promotion of products
or services, educating customers, giving expert insight about a certain complex
issue. Copywriters’ portfolios typically include sales brochures, web content,
sales scripts, sales emails, demonstration scripts, product data sheets and white
papers.
12. Ghostwriting
As a ghostwriter, you will be provided with
the basic outline of a piece which you will then author in someone else’s name.
This type of writing service is used to produce a wide range of materials in
different fields.
For instance, in literature ghostwriters write
books, manuscripts, reports, white papers, etc. In journalism, they create
articles, blog posts or feature stories. The theatre and film industries use
ghostwriters to produce screenplays, scripts or even lyrics for songs.
13. Press release writing
Press releases are used to inform the public
about products, services or activities of an organisation in an appealing way.
They need to be newsworthy and give enough information to get people curious at
the same time.
The structure of the content in a press
release is usually based on the inverted pyramid metaphor – used widely in
media and journalism. At the very least, a press release should answer 5Ws and
1H: Who? Did What? Where? When? Why? How?
14. Legal writing
Legal writing is a kind of technical writing
used by lawyers,
legislators, judges and other legal professionals to formulate legal analysis,
legal rights and obligations. This type of text requires references or
citations from a legal authority, and must often follow a prescribed format and
include technical terms.
The most common types of legal documents are employment contracts, company bylaws, meeting minutes,
operating agreements, non-disclosure agreements, terms of use, contractor
forms, leases, claims and complaints.
15. Resumes and cover letters
Writing effective and grammatically correct
resumes and cover letters is a struggle for many professionals. These type of
writing services includes an analysis where clients are given guidance to
determine their objectives, and define the skill set needed to achieve them.
After that, the next step is selecting an appropriate
format and choosing vocabulary which will appeal to a potential employer,
without making the applicant sound arrogant and “too good to be true”. A good
resume or cover letter needs to highlight an individual’s skills, be relevant
to the position applied for and have a positive tone.
16. Transcription
To do audio-to-text transcription, you need
decent transcription software, a good headset and a word processing programme
(Word, OpenOffice, etc.difficult) The biggest challenge for transcribers is to
make out words that are difficult to interpret for various reasons, thick
accents, fast speech or background noise. Using software can make that process
much easier. Examples of transcription software programmes include Express Scribe and Transcriber Pro.
17. Translation
Many types of clients need translation
services. You can be asked to translate marketing materials for businesses, the
novel of an author who is looking to sell their work in another country or the
personal documents of an individual such as applications for jobs abroad.
Translation, therefore, requires some research
and close attention to detail. It’s also important that you know how to set the
tone correctly in the language that you are translating the text into.
Translators also utilise software tools,
eg., Babylon or Ginger.
18. Proofreading
This job involves scanning text for grammar or
syntax errors and correcting them. Proofreaders need to be able to identify
errors such as misspellings, run-on sentences, comma splice, pronoun errors,
mistakes in apostrophe usage, lack of subject/verb agreement, misplaced
modifiers, incorrect sentence structure, using a wrong word, etc. There are
also software programmes designed for proofreaders such as Grammarly or Ginger Software.
19. Editing
Editing is a process of modifying existing
texts. As an editor, you will perform tasks such as correction, condensation
and reorganisation of text. At the same time, you need to ensure that the
original idea is not lost but instead comes across in a more clear way once the
text is edited.
Editing, therefore, requires a lot of
collaboration with the original author or a document. Editing is mainly used in
fields such as literature, film, video but also in creative industries such as
public relations, marketing and advertising. Some useful editing tools
available online are StyleWriter, Intelligent Editing and Serenity Software.
20. Blogging
Blogging is a great path to choose especially
if you have a keen interest in a particular area and feel that you can share valuable
or entertaining information with others. Building a profitable blog requires
high-quality content that is regularly posted to keep audiences interested in
coming back to your website. A good way of trying out this particular writing
career is guest posting on other people’s blogs.
21. Internet strategy
In this field, your aim is to help clients
identify their goals, assess strengths and weaknesses of their business and create a structured plan where you outline how to achieve
the set goals. In practice, that means advising the client on selecting the
correct web-based applications to increase their competitiveness in the market
or improve communication among employees and with customers.
22. Sales
In this role you need to be a product expert
and will probably represent a company, explaining the benefits of their
products to potential clients. Also, you will need to find new
customers or market segments that
a company can sell to and convert those leads into sales. Usually, salaries and
rewards for sales consultants depend largely on how many sales they can close.
23. SEO
Here your task is to give recommendations on
how a client can get more traffic and leads for their website. SEO consultants need to know various methods of
optimising website content, including being able to do keyword research to
determine which words would be optimal to use in titles, headlines,
descriptions, articles or any other text that appears on your website.
24. Social Media
This role is about advising clients on how to
increase the number of users visiting their social media channels and how to
get them more engaged with the content. For example, the client might need help
in getting more attention for their social media campaigns or increase the
number of shares likes and comments on their posts.
25. Email Marketing
In this job, consultants help clients to
assess their email communication and marketing and improve it. They may also be
engaged in creating and setting up email campaigns. In practical terms, it can
mean advising the client on what words should be used to increase the response
rate, and words that should be avoided so that an email and email newsletters
are not perceived as spam.
You can also give advice on how to write an
effective subject line and structure the email in the correct way.
26. Advertising
This type of consultancy is about pitching new
ideas for advertising campaigns to potential or existing clients. It also
involves assisting with creating effective advertising campaigns. Other tasks
in this area may include providing recommendations for companies on how to deal
with various audiences.
For example, the best approach to get the
attention of innovative and curious buyers may be significantly different than
the approach you would use to get the attention of an average user.
27. Business consultant
The main aim of a business consultant is to
advise a client on how to make their business more profitable. They need to
evaluate their client’s business, the environment in which they operate the
business, their current position in the market and leading competitors, and
then find opportunities that could help the client earn more money.
28. Personal finance
This role focuses on helping people manage
their finances. In practical terms, personal finance consultants assist their
clients with sorting through and choosing the right investments, insurance and other financial options. They also do retirement
planning, college funding, estate planning and general investment analysis.
29. Project management
Project management consultants are responsible
for advising clients on how to ensure that the goals set for a project are
completed on time. They also advise on methods of measuring current progress,
planning further actions and help with problem-solving and keeping the project
moving in the right direction.
30. Human resources
In this role, consultants help the company
ensure they hire the right employees for the job and provide good
working conditions which will encourage them to stay. Their responsibilities
may also include the implementation of talent management programmes, legal
aspects of employment, promotion and giving ideas on how to create a diverse
and inclusive work environment.
31. Coaching and mentoring
If you are qualified in education or business
psychology studies and want to try an independent path in your profession,
these types of careers might be for you. However, additional qualifications
from professional coaching or mentoring institutes may also be required in some
cases. People often get confused about coaching and mentoring, therefore it’s
also useful to define each term.
Coaching focuses on helping an individual to
discover answers to their problems for themselves. A typical coaching session
has a form of a conversation between a coach and a coachee where the client is
given open questions that will encourage them to reflect on the area they want
to work on.
Mentoring is about passing on valuable skills, knowledge
and insight to a mentee with the purpose of helping them develop their abilities.
While coaching is used in a variety of fields, mentoring is usually employed in
organisations as a way of efficiently transferring valuable competencies from
one person to another. Therefore the mentor and mentee tend to have different
seniority levels.
To provide these services people usually set
up their own website or blog and conduct their sessions using Skype or video presentation software such as Emaze, Powtoon or Slidedog.
In general, coaching and mentoring
professionals usually focus on the following areas: Advice for small
businesses, Career, Executive, Soft Skills, Parenting, Marriage and
Relationships, Personal, Life, Spirituality, Fitness & Nutrition.
32. Opinion polls
Opinion polls are usually online
questionnaires which cover a variety of topics and sometimes include videos or
images to comment. There are numerous opinion poll websites which use
points-based systems.
Each survey is awarded a specific number of
points and users can claim financial or material rewards after collecting a
certain number of these points. Some survey companies with rewards programs are Toluna, Your Opinion Counts or Opinion Outpost.
33. Focus groups
In this qualitative type of
research, the aim is to find out people’s opinions, perceptions,
beliefs and attitudes regarding various topics eg., products, services,
concepts, trends, advertisements or ideas. To perform this kind of research,
focus groups often use software such as Focusgroup, Liveminds or iTracks. The results are reported in this focus group report.
34. Keyword research
Using various analytical tools the aim is to
find keywords that have the highest potential to push an article on the top
places in a list of search results. As 78% of users never scroll past Page 1 in
search results, it is crucial for website owners to have content with keywords
that rank well. Some of the tools that are used to perform keyword research are Google Ads Keyword
Planner, Keyword Tool and Keyword Suggestion Tool.
35. Topic research
This type of the investigation provides
suggestions about what can be of interest in a particular area. Clients are
also provided with references from which the information can be verified.
Based on the requirements the information is then provided in the form of
datasheets, documents or presentations.
36. Genealogical research
This type of research involves finding out
information about someone’s family history. A project in this area can focus on
researching an entire family tree or focusing on a particular individual. To do
this type of research you may want to try a freelancer website like Genealogy Freelancers as an alternative to setting up
your own online platform.
37. Statistical analysis
Almost every professional field requires this
kind of research. Common types of data analysis include the following:
regression, time series, panel data, experimental designs, factor analysis,
principal component analysis, Bayesian analysis, etc.
To find work as a statistical researcher, you may try the mentioned freelancer
websites or simply set up your own and promote your services. Examples of the
tools used to perform statistical analysis are Excel, Stata, MINITAB or Eviews.
38. Web research
In short, this means looking up information
that’s hard to find and time-consuming. For instance, it could be contact
details, lists of companies (like competitors in a target market), market
research data, product lists, statistical data, personal data or data
confirming documents legitimacy.
39. User testing
Usability testing is a technique used to
evaluate a product by letting users try its features for free and record the
process while doing it. This usability exercise gives direct information on how
real users use a system and shows if its features are user-friendly or perhaps
need some work. This type of testing can be used to assess features of
websites, apps or various devices.
40. Targeted market research
In this kind of research, you look up information
about a niche market. For example, it could simply be data on a particular
aspect of that niche market like the type of customers or geographic location
which are of interest for a client.
41. Creating surveys and
questionnaires
As well as giving opinions it’s important to
guide companies on how to collect them. Research designs are, therefore, a
critical component of any research process. It includes the formulation of
survey texts and questions (e.g., textual, multiple choice, drop-down, Likert
scale, ranking, file/image, questions, etc.). The surveys sometimes also
need to be integrated with a website, database or mail marketing service
provider (e.g., Mail Chimp).
42. Customer support
To work in customer service,
it is important that you have a noise-free environment so that you can listen
to customers and respond in the appropriate way. One basic requirement for this
type of position is a landline phone – not VOIPs (voice over Internet phone
service) or cell phones. Some companies listed will hire you as an independent
contractor, so you will be responsible for your own taxes. Businesses that
provide home-based customer support opportunities include Arise and LiveOps.
43. Collections agent
One of the more challenging jobs in customer
service this involves reaching out to clients who have unpaid bills, invoices,
loan instalments or any other outstanding payments.
Collections agents are responsible for
creating lists of debtors and organising them based on how severe the matter
is, getting in touch with customers and discussing how the debts may be
collected, locate unresponsive customers using credit bureau information,
perform background checks, etc. Software used for debt collection include Collect One, Collect, or Collection Words.
44. Bookkeeping
As a bookkeeper, you are responsible for
keeping track of the company’s spending to ensure that business’ financial
accounts are in good order. In practice this means processing invoices,
receipts and payments, completing VAT returns, identifying expenses on bank statements,
repairing cash flow statements, helping to prepare financial statements and
producing management accounts. Some of the most popular accounting software programmes
are Sole Trader, Xero or Quickbooks.
45. Data entry
In this role, you input/manage information
into/in various types of documents. Typical tasks include entering data into
existing sheets, creating new data in databases, updating existing records and
deleting the records that are no longer of use or no longer current, etc.
Sometimes you may be required to work with various data entry software such as EpiData or Entrypoint Data Entry.
46. File conversion
Converting files can be done manually or using
file conversion software. Usually, you need to convert word, excel or
powerpoint files to a PDF format. In the case of books, files are typically
converted with a text editor program to an epub or kindle format – used for
e-books. Some examples of file conversion software are NCH FIle Conversion Software and Zamzar.
47. Formatting
Formatting is used to make documents appear
more professional and visually appealing for a reader. This task involves
selecting an appropriate font for plain text (headings, subheadings paragraphs,
etc.), choosing the colour of the font, dividing texts into paragraphs, bullet
points or numbering, headers and footers, writing quotations in the right way
and, if need be, adding bibliographic references.
48. Creating listings or ads
Many small businesses need help with creating
and updating their listing on eCommerce websites or their own site. They also
often promote their products on classified advertisement websites and seek
assistance with the creation of entries. Some of the most popular websites that
businesses use to advertise are Gumtree, So Sell It or Craigslist.
49. Rewriting
Usually, this service is used to improve
website content. You would assist in cases where website articles include
inappropriate or overused words that give them a sensationalistic feel, where
the website shows very little research and has been copy-pasted from another
website or where the text is too long/short for a particular media channel.
50. Document creation
Companies often require help with creating
various documents. These may be contact lists, directories, checklists,
inventories, emergency contact forms. To make work easier, you may want to opt
for some kind of document creation software such as Hotdocs, Ecrion or Foxit Software.
51.
Mailbox management
Companies’ email accounts are often overloaded
with a lot of unwanted advertising emails which make it hard to keep track of
other relevant enquiries. Therefore helping them to delete the SPAM and
creating folders to sort emails from specific people helps their operation run
much more smoothly.
