Web-Based Business Ventures – The Only Real Free Business to Start
Truth be told, this only really applies if you have the skills you need to build an online business, like being able to code for instance or possessing a reasonable writing ability. Other than that an online business really is the only real business you can start and operate for free, which doesn’t mean it’s completely free however as there are some trade-offs you’ll have to effect in order to get something up and running.
One such trade-off is time — if you have the time to engage in some online money-generating activities you can accumulate enough money to purchase a domain name, buy a web hosting service for that domain name and then pay for the marketing and advertising of the online business you’re running. So next time you have the urge to use the free Wi-Fi you have access to on frivolous online activities like keeping up with the Facebookers, take a moment to rather think about what you could be doing with that time to generate some money online.
Raising Start-up Capital
Don’t get me wrong, this is some boring, repetitive and tedious work, but you can raise some start-up capital online through paid-action platforms which will pay you for completing tasks like visiting websites, downloading and testing apps, etc. Generally the income derived from these sorts of activities comes in very slowly and so you’d perhaps be better off investing some of your own money. I mean a domain name comes at less than $10 and make no mistake about it, you’ll definitely need your very own domain / website if you’re to make a success out of any online business.
This is like your little virtual real estate on which you can build a business for next to nothing.
What Online Business to Run
There are plenty of options as far as online businesses go and again, if you have the necessary skills to generate content or to build the website yourself, then starting the online business in this way is just about as “free” as starting a business can get. Otherwise there are some commercially available, ready-made online business solutions for sale, such as being able to buy a fully-functional e-commerce website. Some of these e-commerce websites “in a box” even run on platforms such as WordPress and other Content Management Systems, which essentially means that you don’t have to have any technical skills whatsoever to get it up and running and to maintain it.
That’s the direction I’d personally recommend by way of running an online business — running an e-commerce website. After all, it’s a virtual store which means you don’t have to stock any of your own inventory and you can even sell digital products or products belonging to other people, earning a commission from each sale made through your website.
Other types of online businesses are a bit more technical in their nature and require a little bit of a deeper understanding of internet industries and markets such as Search Engine Optimisation and I’ll perhaps explore some of these in a bit more detail in some later posts.
