10 Best Low-Cost Business Ideas You Can Start Online

Inventory, utilities, advertising, rent, and R&D are just a few factors you need to consider while starting a traditional business. Naturally, most people are intimidated by such upfront investments and hesitate to take the first step even if they know their business idea’s profitability. However, digital advancements have enabled people to start small-budget businesses. People with the required skills, interests, and time are generating a ton of money with several low-cost business ideas. Therefore, this article will provide you with ten online business ideas requiring little to no investment.

1. Dropshipping

Dropshipping has become a popular online business avenue in the internet age. It does not require you to own or store any inventory. All you need to do is create an e-commerce account and pass the orders on to the suppliers. A third-party supplier takes care of the store and ships the products directly to the customers. This saves them time, the cost of distribution, and marketing and customer support.

Apart from being a low-investment business, it offers a wide range of products and flexibility on location. One can also use social media, mobile, and social engine marketing (SEM) to market their products.

2. Print-On-Demand

Another small-budget business that works on the dropshipping model is print-on-demand (POD). Under this, you can create your designs or hire a freelance designer to help you create customized products like T-shirts and mugs. Like dropshipping, a third-party supplier manages inventory and shipping. People can easily establish a unique brand by offering personalized designs with their names. If you wish to market your POD business, you can take the help of social media or e-mail marketing.

3. Blogging

Blogging is one of the earliest low-cost business ideas that has gained mileage since the late 1990s. You need to pick a niche before you can start blogging. From business to sports to entertainment, it can be anything. Then you can use paid advertising, SEO, and social media to increase traffic on your blog. You can also monetize your blog by advertising, sponsorships, affiliate marketing, donations, etc. While blogging is among the profitable business ideas, you must set aside some resources for buying a domain name and website hosting.

4. SEO/Content marketing consulting

Search engine optimization can help any website rank higher on Google searches. Besides being a crucial factor in driving their traffic, it can also boost their conversions. Hence, websites hire SEO consultants with expertise in keyword research, search engine spiders, link building, etc. While it is a zero-investment business, you will need an analytical mind to interpret the data and enough expertise in the industry before you can see any substantial profit.

5. Online Tutoring

You can easily offer online tutorials if you are an expert in any subject or area. You can create online courses to train people and self-host these courses on platforms like Teachable and Thinkific. Since you will control your courses, you must market and advertise them. On the other hand, if you put your courses on platforms like Udemy and Skillshare, they will take care of the marketing, but you will have to share some of your profits with them.

Online tutoring is one of those low-cost business ideas where you need to oversee everything, from recording your courses to editing and marketing. You can also offer live training sessions through online platforms or your blog or website.

6. Creating And Selling Digital Products

eBooks, apps, templates, memberships—these digital products can be repeatedly sold online. They can be in the form of downloadable files like videos, PDFs, or plugins. Selling such products has become one of the viable online business ideas in the 21st century. Such products offer low overhead costs, flexibility, and high-profit margins. One can easily sell these products through apps like Digital Downloads, Sendowl, and Sky Pilot.

7. Website Testing

Another low-investment business is becoming a website tester. All you need to do is analyze websites and offer feedback on their appeal and functionality. A custom website often incurs a lot of costs. Therefore, brands need to know whether they can engage and convert online visitors. You can easily become a website tester by enrolling on platforms like UserTesting, TryMyUI, and Enroll. You can also maximize your earnings by signing up for multiple sites. One can easily create a secondary source of income as you are paid up to $10 for a 20-minute test.

8. Website Flipping

You can buy and sell websites after tweaking them to increase their value. This is known as website flipping and is one of the most profitable business ideas today. All you need to do is buy an existing website, improve its aspects, increase traffic flow by optimizing it for SEO and sell it for a much higher price. Apart from buying websites from buyers or brokers, you can also visit online marketplaces like Flippa.com, Wesellyoursite.com, FEInternational.com, etc.

9. Freelancing

One of the most flexible and profitable low-cost business ideas is to become a freelancer. You only need a reliable internet connection and a laptop, and you can work from anywhere at your convenience. From photography to translation to business consulting, there are several skills that you can leverage and earn some serious money. Apart from attracting clients on LinkedIn and Dribbble, you can also enroll yourself on freelance marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork. As you gain experience, you can find several high-paying clients who can scale your freelance business.

10. Amazon FBA

Amazon FBA, or Fulfillment by Amazon, offers third-party sellers an option to automate fulfillment and shipping services. It takes care of refunds and returns, picking and packing, product warehousing, etc. One can easily leverage Amazon’s vast distribution network and customer service and start a low-investment business. Some of the benefits of FBA include low-cost shipping and logistics, easy return management, discounted rates, faster shipping, etc.

While there are many low-cost business ideas, you must pick one that suits your background, interests, and expertise. It does not matter if you are starting a zero-investment or low-investment business; you must put in your time and effort. While the internet has made it much easier to become an entrepreneur, you must be willing to do your part if you wish to grow your business.