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Today, online business is something very real that even very old-fashioned and old-school people already understand. There is a quote from one successful businessman: “If your business is not represented online, you don’t have a business”. This is applicable to real life more than ever so when starting any business, even a super local one, you should think in advance how to represent it online.
If you already have an offline business you should definitely think of moving online even if you are currently happy with what you have. If you only make your first steps as an entrepreneur, make sure you immediately add online activities to your business plan. This is no longer an option but a must. At least think of using social media to reach your audience.
You can also choose to run a business completely online and be successful. In this post, we discuss three business ideas that are comparatively simple yet have a great potential for success pretty quickly. Also, you will be surprised how cost-effective these ideas are! Building a website or a social media account is definitely cheaper than building an offline facility of any kind. So, check the ideas out and see how you can take advantage of them!
Sell Other People’s Products and Services Via Affiliate Websites
Being an affiliate is a brilliant idea that works perfectly well for many. Affiliate programs are offered by many platforms that sell goods or offer services, both online and offline.
If you have a popular social media account or a popular website, you can join the affiliate program and help the platform sell more, by sending your readers to their website via affiliate link. As the platform sells, they pay you commissions, thus adding another revenue stream to your business scheme.
The list of niches that work with affiliates is huge; you can choose between sending your readers to the best $10 deposit casino sites or the best toothpaste shop, the choice is yours. The point is that you can build effective revenue streams based on someone else’s products; isn’t that great?
If your content is good enough, you will have no problem joining an affiliate program. All you have to do is find a relevant program for your niche, make sure you meet all the requirements, join the program, and place affiliate links in your content in a natural and relevant manner. Your main job will be providing engaging content, and motivating the readers to follow the links and purchase the products or services, but you personally don’t have to bother delivering them, let alone making them.
By the way, new rules in the majority of social media and also new terms by Google obliges affiliates to indicate that the links they place in their content are affiliate links. So make sure you add all the necessary disclaimers and be as transparent about your revenue model as possible so that your readers know exactly what is going on.
Membership Platforms
If you make awesome content and for some reason do not want to bother with your own website, let alone work with physical goods and services, there is another beautiful option for you. You can join membership platforms to monetize your content or service, and your readers/users will pay you on a regular basis, depending on the payment models the membership platform has.
There are two main options for selling memberships - you either invite people to join the community on the membership platform, or you use specialized software that allows them to join on your website or social media profile. In the first case, you get paid by the platform, in the second case, you can collect payments directly yourself and then pay a fee to the platform that provides software.
Inviting people to the platform is easier because the bigger chunk of the work has already been done. The platform has been established and marketed, you are offered all the tools and guidelines, and you don’t have to bother with technical issues or software. However, you are always limited by its rules and regulations and you cannot help it if the rules change.
Using membership software on your own website means more work but also more flexibility and control over what you can and cannot do. However, all the technical issues like glitches, payment gateways, moderation, etc., will also be your responsibility.
Offering SMM Services
If you need social media marketing skills to promote your business, it means other entrepreneurs need them, too. If you are good at it, you can offer your services to others in a variety of forms. From full-time SMM management to brainstorming sessions, you can make your knowledge and experience useful for others and turn it into a revenue stream.
Even if you are still a beginner or you have limited experience, be aware that some people still have zero experience. You can offer the most beginner-friendly assistance and be of actual help because you know exactly how it feels to know nothing and be helpless in this big scary world of digital marketing. Many people are so intimidated by it that they feel incredibly reluctant to start their blogs and social media accounts, even if they are actual experts in their niches.
Many successful entrepreneurs offer SMM and other digital marketing services and the demand for this only continues to grow.
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