The great equalizer is the internet. More especially, it has leveled the playing field in business. Anyone with a computer can launch a profitable internet business. The interesting part is that hardly any prior technical knowledge is required. The technical job of creating an online business is much simpler now than it ever was because to the abundance of tools available.
Depending on how quickly or large you want your business to grow, you may also live anywhere you like, create your own schedule, and work as little or as much as you like. Furthermore, no prior marketing or business expertise is required. It’s a really democratic platform for business.
The best part is that you don’t require a large initial investment, in contrast to a brick and mortar business. In fact, because there are so many free services available, you can launch a lot of internet enterprises for absolutely nothing. For instance, WordPress allows you to easily create a blog or website for free. Alternatively, you can sell products without paying for inventory by using a third-party website like Amazon or eBay. You are able to view what they are selling.
And these are just a few of the numerous no-money e-commerce business options that are out there. Let’s look at five of the best low-cost or free online company startup strategies that can help you establish and grow your online revenue.
1. Drop Shipping
The fundamental premise behind an online drop-shipping business is that it relieves small business owners of the burden of managing client deliveries and keeping a sizable inventory of products, if any at all. This removes the expense and risk of stockpiling merchandise in a warehouse and the headache of organizing nationwide or international shipping. As a matter of fact, you are not required to produce or stock any goods.
To discover clients and earn sales, all you need to concentrate on is marketing and promotion. Others handle the remaining tasks after the sale is completed. The only thing you have to pay for is marketing and promotion in order to
- You list products for sale on your website or a platform like Amazon, eBay, or Etsy.
- When one of your customers makes a purchase, you buy the product from a third-party company (the drop shipper, usually a manufacturer or wholesaler) for a lower price. This process is as simple as forwarding the order from your customer, a process that can actually be completely automated. (Remember you don’t have any risk here of buying inventory because the sale has already been made).
- Your drop shipper then sends the product to the customer.1
Easy enough, right? With drop shipping, you can offer a wide range of products, so the operating expenses for your business are super low.
Note
As you can see there is no inventory risk on your part because you don’t even purchase the product (at cost) until the actual sale is made.
What drawbacks does the drop shipping business model have? To deliver to your consumers, you need to choose a reliable drop shipper. Since your organization is the one representing the product and customer experience, you are held accountable if an order is delayed, doesn’t go out, or is of subpar quality.
The margins, or the gap between the wholesale price and the amount you can charge for a product, are also smaller in this highly competitive industry, therefore this will require a high volume firm in order to turn a profit. However, it remains a valuable low-cost or free beginning choice.2.
One way to stand out from the competition with a drop shipping business is to private label your products. This simply means you put your own label/brand on the products that the manufacturer is creating. That way you’re not selling the same product brand and just competing on price; rather you can use your own brand and face less competition—just make sure the drop shipper allows it.3 Think about when you’re looking at medicine at the pharmacy; the brand names sell for higher prices and people think they are different from the generic brands even though the ingredients are exactly the same. Consider these important factors when looking for a good drop-shipping product.
Anyone considering a drop-shipping business should seriously consider leveraging Amazon.com to grow their business because Amazon is an established marketplace that people already trust and has an existing customer base. Eventually, you should also consider having your own online store.
Pros
- Requires very little startup capital
- No need to maintain inventory
- You can leverage established marketplaces with existing customer bases
Cons
- You can be blamed for your drop shipper’s mistakes
- The market is very competitive
- You must sell a lot to generate a substantial income
2. Affiliate Marketing
Drop shipping and affiliate marketing are comparable, but there are some important distinctions. Once more, you are relieved of the burden of managing your own product inventory and customer shipping using this e-commerce strategy.
After deciding on a lucrative topic for your web business, you look for an affiliate partner with products that fit into that niche. The most well-known affiliate websites are CJ Affiliate (previously Commission Junction), Amazon.com, and Clickbank.com. They provide almost any physical product or digital information product you might imagine, including ebooks, audio files, and video files. Numerous well-known businesses and brands, such as Home Depot and Walmart, have their own affiliate networks.45
You can sell the products on your blog or e-commerce website by using affiliate marketing. Every product has a special link that leads back to your affiliate partner’s account. A potential customer is directed to your partner’s shopping basket for checkout when they click the link. When they make a purchase, it is documented, and you get paid a commission.Six Although commission percentages differ based on the affiliate partner, they typically range from 5% to 25%, or 50% or more in the case of digital information items.7.
Keep an eye on backlinks. “The Ultimate Breakdown of Average Affiliate Commission Rates.”
As you can see, there is essentially no investment required and minimal risk on your behalf. Similar to drop shipping, the only expenses you’ll incur are those for marketing and promotion.
The key difference between this and drop shipping is that the business model is even more hands-off. You mainly have to provide a link for the customer to click on, and the merchant handles almost everything else: billing, order fulfillment, customer service, etc.
You also handle the marketing to get your prospects to buy (through social media, email marketing, blogging, or whatever method you choose). But after they click the affiliate link, it’s out of your hands. You don’t have to ship products or handle any customer service questions. And you certainly don’t have to maintain an inventory.
Affiliate marketing is among the most hand-off types of online businesses you can start.
Pros
- Low risk: No initial investment required
- Hands-off business model
Cons
- You’re responsible for driving web traffic to the affiliate link (no traffic means no money)
- May need to spend money on advertising and marketing
3. Blogging
If a topic interests, or you are passionate about it, think about starting a blog and earning money from it. Using a platform such as Blogger (www.blogger.com), you can launch your blog for free. But be aware that there are limitations on what you can say and do on a lot of free blogging platforms, including the inability to promote or make money.8 As an alternative, you can easily build your own website and affordably arrange your own hosting.
I know what you’re thinking—blogging is just writing. And if that’s what you want to accomplish, it can be. However, writing blog entries is only the beginning. Posting images, videos, and links to other websites is permitted. Even news stories and other material can be reposted. Really, everything goes as long as it fits into your specialty.
he key is you want to post original content that is useful to your target audience, and you should post regularly. That is the best way to rank well on search engines and get your audience to take action.
What sort of content should you provide? Anything that is engaging to your prospect. How-to topics, top-10 lists, commentary on trends in your niche, tips and tricks articles—basically, you need to provide useful content. There’s no shortage of ideas for your blog.
You make money in a variety of ways with an online business blog.
Google AdSense
Have you ever been to a website and seen an ad on it? Chances are it was an ad being run through the Google advertising network.
These pay-per-click ads appear on your blog. Every time somebody clicks on an ad (which is supposed to be about a subject related to your niche), you make a few cents or more. Small amounts each time, but it adds up. This is extremely hands-off. You just need to get a code from Google and place it on your website, and the ads will automatically appear on your blog. Google will only show ads that are relevant to your blog so it’s a good experience for your visitors and maximizes the number of clicks you get, meaning more income.9
Blog Ad Networks
You can also work with ad networks other than Google, like Blogads, and run banner ads on your blog. As with Google Adsense, you place the code once on your website, and when your visitors click on the ads, you get paid. In addition to banner ads, you can also run video ads on your site.
In many cases, you can make more money with blog ad networks, but they tend to only work with blogs that are getting tens of thousands of visitors a month or more. On the other hand, with Google Ads, you can start right away regardless of the amount of traffic you get.
Affiliate Marketing
You know this one already. You include links to products you are promoting as an affiliate and every time somebody buys the product, you get a commission. With a blog, you can integrate advertising with content to make it even more likely you’ll get the sale. For example, you could do a product review and then include a link to buy the product under an affiliate link.
Here are a few successful blogging tips to make sure people can find your blog—and will keep coming back. This is key to building a following and making your blog a profitable venture.
You need to provide useful content engagingly.
If your blog is boring or the information can be found everywhere else, nobody will read it. Don’t hesitate to put your personality into the blog.
You have to post content regularly.
People thirst for the new, so make sure you put up articles, videos, or updates consistently. It could be one post per day or three times per week. Whatever it is, maintain the same schedule. A scattershot posting history means losing readers.10
Note
At a minimum try to aim for one new post, video, or other forms of content a week.
Be genuine.
Yes, your blog is supposed to make money. But you can’t make marketing pitches all the time. Focus on useful content so that your readers come to know, like, and trust you. Then they will naturally click on your advertising or buy the products you recommend. In this era of the internet and social media, people are looking for authenticity.
Do all of this, and you’ll attract the notice of search engines like Google, which are always looking to put sites with useful, relevant content on top of the search results.11 This is what content marketing is all about.
You could start a blog in less than an hour. But it takes time to make money as you build readership, and only a small percentage of those folks end up buying your products.
Pros
- Very low start-up costs
- You may work on your own schedule
Cons
- May take a long time to begin making money
- Creating and posting content can be time-consuming
4. Online Video
Recently, have you seen any YouTube videos? You have, of course. With more than 2 billion users viewing more than 1 billion hours of video every day, it is among the most popular websites in the world.12 By the way, it’s not just cats that act funny.
YouTube’s audience can be used to generate income online. No, you’re not attempting to make a video go viral, though it would be beneficial if it did go over the globe and receive millions of views.
Instead, you’ll be adhering to a tried-and-true method for consistently increasing the number of views on several films. You’ll be producing interesting, engaging material that viewers will want to watch. Additionally, it fills a plethora of niches. It might be a talking-head video or a how-to video on
You make money with ad revenue. Your first step is to create a YouTube account and start uploading videos. Then you enable monetization on your YouTube settings.13 Basically, this gives Google the go-ahead to include short AdSense ads with your videos, which you’ve seen if you’ve watched a YouTube video. When viewers click on those ads, you get paid.
Another opportunity to make money with a YouTube channel is through paid sponsorships. Build a large enough following and companies will be more than happy to pay you to promote or mention their products and services in your videos.
Some tips to create professional-looking videos (no expensive pro equipment needed):
- You can use your smartphone or a simple video camera. But make sure the lighting is good so everything in your video is clear and easy to see.
- Make sure the audio is clear. You don’t want an air conditioning hum, construction noise, or other distractions.
- Use simple editing software like iMovie to put titles at the beginning of the video and to edit out any flubs.
Above all, remember that your videos can be simple and don’t have to be slick. Just provide useful content and be engaging and interesting. Funny helps, too.
To extend the reach of your videos, be sure to post them on your Facebook business page, Twitter, your blog, and other channels. Let people know you’re in the video business now.
In addition to ad revenue from YouTube videos, you can also use your YouTube channel to drive traffic back to your website, where visitors can read your product reviews, click on the ads on your website, or even get onto your email subscriber list—where you can make multiple sales with your email list.
Pros
- You can use your existing smartphone or computer
- It works across several different niches
Cons
- Creating and posting videos can be time-consuming
- It may take a while to begin making revenue
5. Information Products
You can run an online business without having to focus on selling tangible goods. Digital information goods are actually among the simplest and fastest ways to generate income.
Although there are many ways to produce information products, the following formats are the most widely used:
Audio: a teleconference, interview, lecture, or other spoken word output that has been recorded
Videos include how-tos, webinar recordings, and interviews.
Text: an ebook, a tour guide, or some kind of instruction manual
You may truly let your creativity run wild and create any kind of material in any of these areas as long as it’s interesting and helpful.
In each of these categories, you can really get creative and make any type of content, as long as it’s engaging and useful.
No matter which way you do it, it can become passive income—money you earn while you sleep because you put these products up for sale on your website, and a customer can buy and download them any time of day or night, automatically. You can then check the sales periodically to see what topics or types of products are selling best so you can make more of those.
Pros
- Can bring in passive income once you put the product on the market
- Can be a quick way to make money
Cons
- Creating a product takes some upfront work and time
- You may need to invest some money initially
Remember
It’s important to remember that you’re not limited to using just one of these e-commerce options.i
