Easy Way to Start an Online Business

by Nowshade Kabir

Published on this site: February 6th, 2006 - See more articles from this month

Financial independence, passion for a hobby, desire to create a different lifestyle – these are some of the reasons why people want to start new business. There are two different categories of wannabe entrepreneurs. The first category has more or less clear idea of what kind of business they are planning to start. The second category of people does not have any definite business idea but they are willing to take risk and start their own business. If you fall into the second category, the following Internet-based business ideas might be for you.

Internet has become a breeding ground of innovative business ideas! Every day hundreds of new businesses are opening their doors on the Internet. Some of these businesses are becoming instant success stories. In a very short period of time a few of them already managed to become household names. Companies like eBay and Google even helped create whole new business industries which were nonexistent a couple of years ago!

The great thing about the Internet is virtually anybody with enough desire can start a business! If you are dying to become a business owner but still looking for where should you start, try one of proven Internet business ideas mentioned below.

Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs are the easiest way to jump start making money on the Internet. It is an interesting concept that allows affiliates to develop a source of income and the program owners to sell their products more effectively.

Affiliate Program can be defined as Internet marketing system where a company allows and helps third party websites, called affiliates to post link and refer clients in return for a predetermined flat-fee or percentage-based commission. Thanks to the success of several affiliate programs in the early days of online business, most merchant websites, today, use some kind of affiliate programs to promote their sites and generate sales.

Considering the sheer numbers of affiliate programs available on the Internet, you may feel overwhelmed. However, if you set some basic criteria, it would be lot easier to find a good program that suits your need.

Why affiliate programs are so interesting?

No product or service to carry: As an affiliate your goal is to send qualified visitors to the page of the product or service you are promoting. For this, all you need is a simple website, nothing else. This could be even a one-page mini site.

No need to have a merchant account: If you have an eCommerce website, in order to process credit cards you will need a merchant account. Getting a merchant, when you don't have a business history is quite tricky. More so, if you are not located in the United States.

Possibility of residual income: Many programs pay you a commission from the sales made to the customers generated from affiliates, who have signed up as an affiliate following your link. This kind of affiliate system is called 2-tier system.

If you think that affiliate programs are small business, think again! Recently a site created by two British affiliate marketers just five years ago was valued at a whopping US$ 925 Million!

If you want to learn more about affiliate marketing read the Famous Affiliate Marketers Handbook (http://www.work-at-home-net-guides.com/af/?nakosy) by James Martell.

Travel Agency

According to Jupiter Research, a market research company, the online travel market is projected to grow to $91 billion in 2009, or 33% of all travel purchased. Considering the yearly growth of 25 percent, web-based travel business is indeed a hot field!

Apart from being a booming market, travel agency businesses are also highly rewarding and satisfactory to their owners. The nice thing about this business is your own network of acquaintances is also your potential customers.

The success of this business will depend on your target market and product that you are going to sell. Choose a very niche product and focus on a specific market segment.

Global travel has a very interesting concept that works for everybody if even you don't want to work as a Travel Agent. By registering as an independent travel agent with them you can save a fortune on your own hotels and trips! The address is http://www.globaltravel.com

eBay Store

eBay has grown into the largest online marketplace in the world. The 2005 results are in, and not surprisingly, eBay received more visits during the 2005 holiday season than any other online retail site. Entrepreneurs are taking advantage of this!

Opening a store on the eBay is fairly easy. However, the competition is stiff! According to Forrester Research, a major research company, this year, categories with products purchased by women will have the most growth in online retailing. Some categories are already getting more than ten percent of their overall sales through the Internet, which include: computer hardware and software, tickets, travel, books, consumer electronics, cosmetics and fragrances, toys and video games, and flowers, cards and gifts. While choosing items to sell on eBay, you should explore the features available on eBay and other places on the Internet that show items people search and items people actually buy.

eBay has a complete section called "Seller Central" dedicated to delivering utmost information to help you succeed in selling products through eBay.

If you don't have your own products or you don't want to physically handle a product, you can consider selling drop-ship items. The market research wizard developed by Worldwide Brand Inc. is a great tool, which shows in a probability scale whether it is worthy trying to sell your selected product online. You can find it over here. ( http://www.worldwidebrands.com/?8188 )

There are numerous other business opportunities available on the Internet. With a little effort, it won't be difficult for you to find something that you will love to do.

Nowshade Kabir is the CEO of Rusbiz.com, a global B2B Portal, which helps companies build web store, buy and sell products and services using eMarketplace, eCatalog and other features. Rusbiz also offers website development packages: http://www.rusbiz.com/design_package.html