If you have innovative business ideas, you can now launch it online, easily and with little investment. Use an eCommerce platform like Shopify and quickly set up your business.
Five Proven Business Ideas
Are you looking for some tested and proven ideas for your first online business? Here are a few proven business ideas many entrepreneurs have used successfully:
1. Dropshipping Business:
The dropshipping business model has helped launch the careers of many successful entrepreneurs. It’s easy to set up – you don’t need to stock products or worry about processing orders, packing, and delivery.
You just pick the products you want to deal in, find good, reliable suppliers, and offer their products for sale on your website. When the order is received, you pass it onto the supplier who takes care of processing the order, packaging the goods, and delivering it to the customer.
It’s easy to set up an online drop shipping business with Shopify. Use the Oberlo app to find products and suppliers, load your Shopify store with your selected products, and begin selling. Select the products you sell carefully, and build a brand image that provides a unique identity for your business.
2. Blogging:
Blogging is one of the oldest and most tried and tested ways of making money on the web. Create good interesting content on your blog, be regular with your posts. Allow your readers to provide feedback, develop relationships with them by replying to their comments, offering newsletters, inviting them to share your posts on social media and so on.
You can then monetize your blog by selling products through your affiliate links, offering your own products for sale, partnering with other vendors to sell their products, etc. Ensure that the products you sell are closely related to the topic of your blog. This increases the chances of a sale, as your readers are interested in the category you’re focusing on anyway.
3. Virtual Assistant:
Set yourself up as a virtual assistant. You can offer many different types of services.
More and more businesses are hiring virtual assistants. The advantage here is that there’s no need to spare office space, equipment, pay allowances and other expenses involved in hiring regular employees.
For you, the advantage is you don’t have to set up a separate office, you can work from the comfort of your home. You just need to have a good computer and a high-speed internet connection.
You can communicate with your clients and do the task assigned to you, from marketing to event management. You can offer SEO services, audio, and video editing services, or secretarial services. You can even provide personal services like regular ordering of groceries and household items, organizing parties, booking tickets for vacations, etc.
4. Podcasting:
Podcasting is the process of creating audio content about subjects that people are interested in. You can set up podcasts on different platforms and deliver them to different types of devices. So, podcasting is also called ‘netcasting’. If you have good communication and oratory skills, podcasting can be a great business proposition for you.
Focus on the field you have expert knowledge in and subjects you’re passionate about and can talk about. Create interesting useful content. Create a series of audio files on specific topics. Launch your podcast on a good platform.
5. Freelance Writing:
Have a passion for writing? There are many different opportunities for you. Not everyone can write well, and even those who can, may not have the time to do it.
You can contribute articles to online magazines, you can write web content. You can create good product descriptions for online stores. Create marketing content and write business plans. If you have good knowledge of specific fields, you can also try technical writing, medical writing, scientific writing, etc.
You can write and sell books, from simple how-to guides to novels. You can also offer ghostwriting services. You can write blog posts for executives and professionals who don’t have the time to write regularly for their own blogs.
Related read: 6 Best Writing Apps That Will Make You a Better Writer
Whichever of these business ideas appeals to you, you can use an eCommerce platform, like Shopify, to launch your business online.
How To Quickly Setup Your Shopify Store
Shopify is a popular eCommerce platform for many reasons. One of the top reasons is that it makes it so easy to set up your online store:
- Go to Shopify website, enter your email address and click Get Started.
- You are then asked to enter your password and a Store Name. The store name needs to be unique. You cannot use an existing name so this may need a few tries.
- Once you enter a unique store name, click Create Your Store.
- This may take a few minutes. The next screen asks you whether you want to create an online store or a brick and mortar store (Shopify POS). Choose the online store option.
- Next, you need to enter your personal info including name, address, and phone number. This is used to configure your currency, tax rates, etc.
- The next screen asks you if you are already selling, the revenue you expect, etc.
- You are then taken to the dashboard. Add your products and product details and prices.
- Choose a theme from the vast choices available. You can then customize text colors, background, add your logo, etc.
- Go back to Shopify dashboard, and set up your domain.
- You can purchase a new domain from Shopify or connect to an existing domain you own.
- You can then set up your payment processor. Shopify provides its own payment gateway and also lets you connect to numerous popular payment processors.
- You can also preview your site before publishing.
- You are now on a 14-day trial. You can now choose a suitable Shopify plan which will come into effect after the trial period.
You are now ready to sell your products or services online.