Internet Business Ideas for Aspiring Entrepreneurs (2024)
This year is full of opportunities and everyone willing to hustle can reap the rewards and experience that comes with it.
Lots of millennials admire and value entrepreneurs yet only a few dare to start a venture. According to a study by Americas SBDC, 62% of Americans want to work for themselves and almost half of the millennials intend to do the same within the next three years.
EY/EIG survey states that 72% of millennials admire entrepreneurship and startups for jobs and innovation. Both studies pinpoint the reason why people hesitate to start working for themselves.
The most significant barriers to self-employment are the economic environment, debt and lack of funds. It makes sense. Making money and supporting yourself is not that easy.
I suggest to start small, pick up skills, knowledge and then scale. It'll be months of hard work but there are more online opportunities than ever.
Eventually, you'll be able to turn your skills into a productized service – packaging and selling your niche skill as a service and move from being a freelancer to starting a digital agency. This way you don't need to create an app or build software to become an entrepreneur. It's your skills and willingness to learn that counts.
It's not the end result but the journey to discover yourself what matters. The time couldn't be better to put it on your new year resolution list – run a profitable business in 2024.
Here are my top picks for best internet business ideas to try in 2024.
Writing
Writing is everywhere.
I believe it's the best way to build your career. While writing is not the most lucrative field when you look at the average salaries, such as authors that receive an average advance of $49,360 or news reporters and journalists earning $49,300/year.
However, writing has infinite leverage. Once written, your content can be distributed and accessed by millions without you having to do anything.
Follow this step-by-step guide to learn how to become a writer.
How do you make money?
There are many options, from creating a niche site to freelancing or finding a full-time position. Since 2020, I've been developing a job board for writers, an all-in-one platform connecting writers with businesses. Check it out to find freelance, remote and full-time writing jobs.
Custom Merchandise Store
Having a background in graphic design is recommended if you aspire to start a custom merchandise store. However, it is not mandatory as you can always find a professional designer and switch to a joint venture business model. You can then focus on promoting the business and improving customer service while your partner takes care of the designs.
Statista forecasts that the value of the global customized t-shirt printing market will reach around $3.1 billion in 2025, which is $2 billion more than in 2016. And these are numbers just for t-shirts. You can also consider selling all-over-print socks, hoodies, face masks, pillows, mugs, and other merchandise.
The popularity of custom merchandise is understandable. Brands use it as a tool for marketing or team-building, while individuals want to make a fashion statement by wearing something unique. Not to mention that custom merch can be a great gift.
Starting a print-on-demand merchandise business does not require upfront investments. You can choose the dropshipping method and slowly learn to grow the business.
Moreover, modern print providers offer their customers even more. One can utilize mockup generators with templates and detailed step-by-step guides to help manage different business aspects.
Accounting
A freelance accountant is an excellent opportunity for people with an accounting background. If you're any good at bookkeeping, accounting and preparing taxes, you can start helping out other businesses with their finances.
Being an accountant may not sound like the most exciting idea, but it's a competence which every business needs. It doesn't mean that old school calculator, paper and pen will be your loyal companions. Quite the opposite, you'll be managing finances in style, with sophisticated software and tools designed to streamline the accounting process. Try powerful invoicing services like ZipBooks and see it for yourself.
Services to offer and monetize your financial prowess can include writing financial reports, bookkeeping, creating balance sheets, providing income statements and many more. Start looking for gigs via LinkedIn, Upwork, Fiverr and network.
Web Design and Development
Being a web designer and developer remains one of the top 2024 business ideas simply because these skills are in great demand. As you might have noticed there is no shortage of poor looking websites. Every business that wants to be noticed needs a good looking website, which also serves as a center of its marketing operations. Mastering web development will grant plenty creative freedom to every pragmatic and imaginative person in the niche that promises a long and interesting future.
You can kickstart your career by creating themes on various content management platforms such as WordPress or Drupal. Another option is to acquire an extended license pre-developed UI kit like WrapKit to speed up your development process. Besides, the internet is full of learning resources that let you get up to speed on building websites just in a few months. Just check out courses at Codecademy, Udemy, Lynda and Treehouse.
Conversion Rate Optimization
We live at the times where marketers are getting over their heads to capture more traffic due to popular myth and gut feeling tells everyone that more traffic always leads to higher revenue. While this is generally true, there is a way to earn more income without investing in additional campaigns and that's where conversion rate optimization (CRO) specialists step in. Even the most captivating websites need CRO to make money. That's why CRO specialists are widely acknowledged and appreciated.
Even if you're not an expert yet, it's just the right time to begin. Every master was once a beginner. The rapidly changing web is full of helpful learning tools. Start by visiting the holy grail of research-driven conversation optimization, the ConversionXL blog. Once you're familiar with the basics, there are a handful of tools that can instantly lift your conversion optimization game to a next level. See Omniconvert, a Swiss knife for any CRO specialist and finetune your web forms with 123FormBuilder for sure-fire results.
Lead Generation
If your business does not generate leads, it will stagnate due to a lack of customers. Every lost lead is potentially a lost customer to the competition.
Generating and closing leads is not that easy. Many companies use bad outreach tactics during their lead generation campaign because they lack a lead qualification process, neglect creating buyer personas, or fail to identify the proper channels.
Reaching out to as many people or companies in hopes of them taking the bait is old-fashioned. Despite some positive responses, it's more important to target the right people.
A company should have at least one full-time employee working exclusively on lead generation. You're looking for someone who can find leads, pitch sales via cold calls or emails, and close deals.
As you learn and improve your lead generation skills, use tools such as Typeform or SharpSpring.
Track your results and make the necessary adjustments, especially when it comes to outreach email copy.
Stay on top of industry trends by taking courses online or learning from industry experts.
Social Media Management and Marketing
Despite the fact that social media management and marketing aren't new things anymore, they are still an ever-changing frontier. The industry with more than 3 billion and growing number of active users it isn't going anywhere and companies, personal brands and groups all need social media savvy people to take over and manage their accounts and campaigns.
Besides, social media marketing isn't just scheduling a few posts and making content plans anymore. Smart audience targeting, trust building, influencer marketing, social engagement and eventually, social selling is what today's social media marketing is all about. That doesn't mean you can't outsource or automate some of your tasks, as there are social media tools for every occasion.
For instance, TRIBE is a place where brands can discover and connect with micro influencers. For a larger scale operation, seek for influencer marketing engines like TapInfluence or Influential. If done right, influencer marketing works like a charm and although this is a slightly different idea, you can try to become an influencer yourself. For that, check out Combin for targeted and organic Instagram growth.
With the right resources in your hands, social media is easy to crack and an even inexperienced person can deliver substantial value to the small and medium business.
Content Marketing
While traditional marketing means are becoming less effective with every passing minute, brands and companies still need someone to carry their water for them. Content marketing is a proven way to acquire new customers, establish trust and authority and facilitate sales without traditional hard selling tactics. If you are good at creating compelling, useful and entertaining content, you can enjoy massive demand and fat checks for your services.
As of today, content marketing comes in many forms: articles, videos, podcasts, streaming, pictures, ebooks and other media texts. There are many options. With augmented and virtual realities knocking on your doors, it's just a matter of time when it'll get there, too.
Video and Audio Editing
HubSpot reports that YouTube and Facebook videos are marketers priority. Thus, we're likely to see another year where video content surges. As a result, there is a growing need for audiovisual content editors.
The times when you needed an expensive video camera and high-end editing software to make an eye-pleasing video are over. Today, you can make one with your iPhone, tripod and a video editing app like Magistro and Filmora.
Movavi Video Editor helps both professional and novice users create compelling content on Windows and macOS. Its intuitive interface and great features let you achieve great results in minutes.
Of course, you'll still need to upgrade your software if you want to take your work to the next level.
A combination of Adobe Audition, Premiere and After Effects will enable you to offer professional vlog, music video, voice-over and advertising editor services. If you need that extra push, check out learning courses at Lynda or other learning platforms to polish your skills.
Over to You
This year is full of opportunities and everyone willing to hustle can reap the rewards and experience that comes with it.
Start slowly by tapping into your existing network to find people who might need your services. There's definitely someone who could use your help right now.