5 Online Businesses You Can Start With No Money

 The internet is the great equalizer. In business specifically, it has leveled the playing field. Anyone can start a money-making online business—anyone  with a computer, that is. But here’s the thing: no technical experience  is needed. You don’t have to know how to build websites—no programming  required at all. You can also live anywhere you want, set your own  schedule, and work as little or as much as you want, depending on how  fast or big you want your business to grow.         No business or marketing experience is needed either. It’s a truly democratic medium for entrepreneurship.Best  of all, unlike a brick-and-mortar business, you don’t need a lot of  startup capital. In fact, you can get many internet businesses up and  running with no money at all because so many free services facilitate  the possibility. For example, you can set up a website or blog for free using WordPress. Or you can leverage a third-party site like Amazon or eBay to sell goods. You use their selling platform in exchange for giving them a cut of your sales.And  this is just the start of the many available no-money e-commerce  startup solutions. Let's consider five of the top ways to make money  online with little or no cost at all.

1. Drop Shipping

The basic idea behind an online drop shipping business  is that, as a small business owner, you don’t have to maintain a large  inventory of products or handle any delivery to your customers.   That eliminates the financial cost and risk of  having a warehouse full of stuff you might not sell, and the hassle of  arranging to send orders all over the country or the world.Instead, you work with a company that specializes in drop shipping. Here’s how it works:

1. You list products for sale on your website or a platform like Amazon, eBay, or Etsy.

      

1. When one of your customers makes a purchase,  you purchase 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.
2. Your drop shipper then sends the product to the customer.

Easy  enough, right? With drop shipping, you can offer a wide range of  products, so the operating expenses for your business are super low.What are downsides to the drop shipping business model? You have to find a reputable drop shipper  you can count on to deliver to your customers. If an order is late or  doesn’t go out—or a product is poor quality—you get blamed.Also,  because this market is so competitive, the margins—that is, the  difference between the wholesale price and how much you can sell a  product for—are lower. But still, it is a worthwhile low or no-cost  startup option.One way to stand out from the competition with a  drop shipping business is to private label your products. 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.Anyone considering a drop shipping business should seriously consider leveraging Amazon.com to grow their business and learn more about becoming a profitable Amazon seller.        

2. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is somewhat  similar to drop shipping but with some key differences. With this  e-commerce model, you again don’t maintain an inventory of your own  products, and you don’t have to worry about shipping products to  customers.Basically, you pick a profitable niche for your online business,  and then you find an affiliate partner who has products available in  that niche. Some of the most popular affiliate sites are Clickbank.com,  Amazon.com, and CJ Affiliate by Conversant (formerly Commission  Junction). Between them, they offer just about any digital information product (like ebooks, audio files, video files) or physical product you can think of.You  offer the products for sale, for example, on your blog or e-commerce  website. Each product has a unique link that tracks back to your account  with your affiliate partner.  A prospect who clicks on the link is taken to  your partner’s shopping cart for checkout. Once they buy, that purchase  is recorded and you receive a commission. It varies depending on the  affiliate partner, but is generally 5 percent to 25 percent, or 50  percent or more with digital information products. As you can see,  there’s little risk on your part and virtually no investment needed  either.All you have to do is 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.All you have to do is focus on paid and free ways to market your online business.

3. Blogging

If you have expertise or a passion or interest for a subject, you're ready to start making money with a blog.  With a service like Blogger (www.blogger.com), you can start up your  blog totally free. You can also create your own site and secure your own  hosting for a low price.You may think blogging is all about  writing. And it can be if that's what you want to do. But written blog  posts are just the start. You can post photos,  videos, and links to other sites, repost news and other  articles…Anything is game, really, as long as it relates to your niche.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.

1. Google AdSense. 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. Small amounts each time, but it adds up.
2. Blog ad networks. You can also work with ad networks, like Blogads, and run banner ads on your blog.
3. 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 —  which is useful content — 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.

1. You need to provide useful content in an engaging way. If your blog is boring or the information can be found everywhere else, nobody will read it.
2. You have to post content on a regular basis. People  thirst for the new, so make sure you put up articles, videos, or  whatever consistently. It could one post per day or three times per  week. Whatever it is, maintain the same schedule. A scattershot posting  history means losing readers.
3. 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.

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. 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.

4. Online Video

Have  you watched a YouTube video lately? Of course you have! This is one of  the world’s most popular websites, with more than 1 billion users  watching hundreds of millions of hours of video each day. And it’s not  all cats doing funny things, by any means.You can leverage YouTube’s reach to make money online.  No, you’re not trying to create a viral video, so to speak, although if  it does go worldwide and is seen by millions, that’s a good thing.Instead,  you’ll be following a proven strategy for maximizing views of multiple  videos on a regular basis. You’ll be creating useful content…something  engaging that people want to watch. And it works in many, many different  niches. It could be a how-to video, a talking-head video on a topic of  interest to people interested in your niche...the sky is the limit.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. 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.Some tips to create professional-looking videos (no expensive pro equipment needed):

1. You can use your smartphone or a simple video camera. But make sure the lighting is good so that you and everything else in your video are clear and easy to see.
2. Make sure the audio is clear. You don't want an air conditioning hum, construction noise, or other distractions.
3. 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.And 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.

5. Information Products

When you have an internet business, it doesn’t have to be about selling physical products. In fact, digital information products  are one of the easiest and quickest ways to make money. Outside of  affiliate marketing, it's probably one of my favorite ways to make money  online.There's no shortage of ways to create information products, but the most popular formats include:

• Audio: a recorded teleconference, interview, course, or some other spoken-word product
• Video: a recorded webinar, a how-to, an interview
• Text: an ebook, an instruction booklet of some sort, a travel guide

In  each of these categories, you can really get creative and make any type  and format of content, as long as it’s engaging and useful.No  matter which way you do it, it’s 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. All you have to do is check the sales periodically to see  what topics or types of products are selling best so that you can make  more of those.

Putting It All Together

The trick with any online business is to make sure you’re in a profitable niche market.  So be sure to keep an eye on trends, check out bestseller lists on  sites like Amazon, and consider what people are discussing on social  media.One thing to keep in mind is that you don’t have to  restrict yourself to just one of these e-commerce opportunities. Start  out with one and get it going. Then add new revenue streams as you’re  able. That will grow your income and ensure that you have something to  fall back on should one business start going south.