Starting an online business can be one of the most exciting experiences of your life. But if you don't know exactly what kind of business you’d like to start, it can also be the most confusing experience.
There’s a popular saying that says, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” In this case, it means you need to make sure that your online income doesn’t all come from just one source, that's why you should launch several types of businesses.
One of the ways to diversify is to start selling info products. You can create an information product in as little as a day, depending on what the product is. One of the best info products to sell is your own eBook.
Of course, you need to write an eBook on a topic about which people are searching for information. It can be a topic that you’re very knowledgeable about or it can be one that research. You can also create online courses or workshops in which you share your expertise in a specific domain.
Another simple way is to promote products as an affiliate. This is an ideal situation, as you don't need to create said products. You just need to find a product that you believe is good and will sell well and you promote it for a commission. By promoting it, you make that product known and you drive traffic to the seller's site.
You can promote products without any cost to you, that's why many people find this type of an online business one of the easiest to break into. You can write articles about the product and submit them to article directories, you can blog about it, you can promote it on your own website or on any of the social sites, such as Twitter or Facebook.
Many entrepreneurs create membership sites. This means that you get paid to pass your knowledge onto others. For instance, if you’re an expert on a certain topic, you set up a site where people can log in and get access to find answers to their questions, to find out the latest news, to participate in a forum, etc.
And of course, once you’ve gotten the hang of how to set up and profit from your membership site, you can teach others how to do it, by writing a how-to eBook or a course!
Another common type of online business is offering freelance services. Freelance means that you are your own boss - you can take on the gigs you want and turn down the ones that you don’t and you set your own hours. The online services that you offer can be graphic design work, building websites, editing what other people wrote or even ghostwriting for other people.
In order to do this, you can set up your own website or you can sign up at sites which allow you to offer your services. One word of caution, though - if you don’t take a freelance job through an online service that matches jobs with those seeking them, make sure you define the work you’ll be doing in email or message board documentation so that there are no surprises down the road.
What’s great about all of these online businesses is that start-up costs are often cheaper than buying a meal out! To get started, you need to set up a website and you need a way to accept payment (PayPal is a great way to do that).