Top 7 Online Business Ideas you can Start Today

As an aspiring entrepreneur, there are a number of low cost online business ideas you can start today and earn a decent income without breaking the bank.

No I’m not kidding you. And it doesn’t matter if you’re in the university or you’re keeping a 9-5 job at the moment. These businesses can also work for a part time arrangements.

As someone who’s successfully combined running a successful online business with an extensive degree program for more than half a decade, I can assure you, with the right business idea and strategies, starting and building a successful digital business is very possible, no matter where you are.

Of course, there are a lot of young people running successful digital businesses around the world. From India to South Africa, to the UK, US, Pakistan and Nigeria.

We have names like Uche Pedro, Neil Patel, Gary Vaynerchuk and many others who’ve engaged in building successful digital businesses.

Although most successful entrepreneurs are engaged in these businesses on a full time basis, there are still a good number of others who started on a part time basis, until they were able to evolve a formidable business.

And the best part is that most of these entrepreneurs did not start these businesses with any major capital investment.

So, why are People embracing Online Businesses?

The reason people are embracing digital businesses is because unlike an offline business, online businesses are very flexible. They are easier to start and very cost effective to run, compared to most offline businesses.

You can also start an online business anywhere either from your home, hostel or from your office, thus reducing overhead cost, in some cases.

And like Facebook’s Zuckerberg for example, where you start your online business does not necessarily decide where the business is going.

Meaning that, with the right effort, resources and strategies, you can start your business from any location, and get it right to where you have always had in mind.

That said, the following are the top key business ideas you can start today..

Virtual Assistant Services

Virtual assistance services is one of the top online business ideas you can start today, regardless of your location or financial standing.

With platforms like Fiverr, Freelancer etc, it is increasingly becoming very easy to become a virtual assistant in Nigeria.

As a virtual assistant, you don’t necessarily need an office before getting started unless you can afford one. If you’re a student, you can start from a corner in your home, hostel or your favorite café spot.

To start a virtual assistant service, you’ll need to have some important digital skills. Your skill could be anything from web mastering skills where you’ll have to be managing websites for busy clients, to book keeping, email marketing assistant or setting up and managing databases or even virtual researches.

There are so many different virtual assistant services you can start as digital business in Nigeria. This post has a link of about 30 virtual assistant services you can start online , anywhere.

So at this point you can decide on the virtual assistant service you want to render then head over to fiverr.com, have a look on profiles of other people offering that skill as a service, set up your own profile and then get started marketing your business.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on building quality, useful or relevant and consistent content online, (could be social media, your blog, website etc.) to attract a well-defined audience that will drive a profitable customer action.

It is one of the most popular online business ideas you can start today, without breaking a bank.

As a content marketer, you provide content that help businesses promote their product and reach across to audiences with the purpose of getting new clients.

Your content marketing could come in the form of copywriting, producing video content for companies or evolving content strategies that would be useful to businesses.

Like most of the other business ideas listed here, starting a content marketing service as a digital business is not capital intensive. Also, content marketing is something you can easily learn online, while you prepare to get started.

Social Media Marketing

With over 2.96 billion people on Facebook as at 2023, the social media and Facebook in particular has come to stay as a platform to reckon with, for both individuals and businesses.

Whether we like it or not, a lot of businesses are going online. For most of these businesses, it won’t be easy to maintain a balance between running a business and still managing their social media handle the way they should.

Same thing goes for businesses with multiple social media handles. These social media platforms will need to be managed by people other than the business owners. This is where a social media management comes in as one of the top online business ideas you can start today.

As a matter of fact, there are a handful of social media managers out there so, to do this successfully, you need to distinguish yourself by creating a niche for yourself.

To create a niche for yourself, you can start by getting certified as a social media manager. There are a handful of platforms to get certified for several skills, free. There are also some sites where you’ll have pay for the certificates.

The good thing about social media management is that depending on your level of engagement, you can manage up to 3 or 5 social media accounts at a time and still get paid for each of these accounts.

Also, with proper scheduling of posts which can be done with scheduling softwares like Coschedule, Feedly etc, you can schedule your posts and still find time to do other things.

And being that the learning curve is not very steep, starting social media management as an online business is very suitable for part time business especially if you’re a university student or you’re working full time.

Graphics Design

With the the continuous growth in new digital businesses and brands, Graphics Design Business is gradually becoming one of the top online business ideas to start today.

Graphics design business is also very unique business in the sense that the entry process is not too difficult. You can learn graphics design today and start getting clients in a short while.

Also, you can even start with your graphics design business with your smart phones or a low budget computer and then scale up and get better equipment and gadgets as your business grows.

With platforms like Canva.com and others, you can get pre-made templates where you can use to start up your graphics design as a service.

As you progress with the business and skills, you can invest on and design with other top notch design soft wares and program like Adobe, Corel Draw etc. And then work on getting certifications and getting established as a brand.

Another good thing about the Graphics design business is that there’s a large ,market for the business as your services will be needed by both online and offline based businesses, including other businesses on social media and across different niches.

Blogging & Content Writing

Blogging is another one of the top online business ideas you can start today.

Although blogging is getting crowded lately, and becoming a bit difficult to break even, a lot of bloggers are still nailing it. So, you can also start a successful blogging business if you’re ready to put in the work and grow your blog.

To get started as a blogger, you can decide to focus on creating text content or video content or even audio (AKA podcasting) and then monetize your blog as the traffic grows.

To start blogging and eventually build a successful blog, you must start with identifying your niche, producing great and value loaded content, engaging with established influencers and working hard to push your blog.

With the right strategies in place, your blog could become your major source of income through advertising and other monetizing strategies.

Also, if you have any marketable digital skill, you can decide to build a blog around this skill. Develop the blog and skill and in a short while, people will see your expertise. With time you can start offering services that people can pay to get.

The good thing about blogging is that it doesn’t cost you a lot to get started. You can start with little upfront investment in good gadgets like a smartphone, tablet and or PC. Learn how to get started blogging here.

Online Trainings & Tutorials

A lot of people get scared whenever online coaching and training is mentioned but then, you don’t have to be a big name professional to coach or train other people.

In fact, online training is one of the top online business ideas you can start today because as an individual, there’s probably something you know that no one else does.

Talk about cooking for example. Or singing? Or is it playing the piano professionally?

Today with the widespread use of the internet, we have singing coaches, cooking coaches and others who have become well known celebrities in their niches simply because they started something with their professional skills.

Good enough, some of these guys actually started out as hobbyists. These are also some skills you can start if you have them. And work on teaching others for a fee as you grow your brand.

With a good branding, packaging of the skills, and marketing, you can become a thought leader in your chosen field, within a short time.

And some of these skills are things you can start right with your social media platform. So you may not necessarily need a platform of your own until you start getting traction.

Write a Book

Do you have any special knowledge, skill or professional experience you can impart on people in any niche or industry? If yes, then writing books and selling them can be just the right passive income business for you.

Besides running a one on one coaching program, writing a book and publishing online is also one of the lucrative online business ideas you can start today.

With a platform like Amazon’s Kindle Digital Publishing you can now write books, publish online and make money with your books from the comfort of your home.

The best thing about engaging in publishing eBooks as an online business is that this is one of the best ways to make passive income online.

Unlike other online business ideas I listed here, publishing ebooks online is a business that will not demand so much of your time after you’re done writing, setting up the book and the initial marketing of the book.

This makes it a very good business idea to consider, especially if you’re a always busy with other engagements.

Final Words

So there you have the most popular business ideas you can start right now. The good thing about these ideas is that it is not limited to Nigeria or any geographic location. You can start this business anywhere you are.

And it also doesn’t need a lot of capital (if any) to get started. Most of these ideas are businesses you can start completely free, without any initial investment of funds.

So, do you need help to get started with your online business idea or building a website for your business? Let’s help you.

Now, it’s over to you. Which of these ideas would you like to start with? Let’s hear from you.