Here are the best online business ideas that you can start in 2024. You have more than 18 options to choose from and start your own lucrative business.

The online market is ripe with possibilities. There is still time to catch the digitalisation wave and carve a nice niche for your small business ideas.

1. Start a Clothing Line

Your final choice from all online business ideas will depend on your interests. If you do have a passion for fashion, why not turn it into a money-maker?

The main prerequisites for opening a clothing line are finding a trustworthy base material provider and having a good concept in mind.

Your amount of additional manufacture and contribution will depend on your abilities and scope. Surely, you may create the entire design, from conceptualisation to sewing and selling.

However, you can also start small, with t-shirt prints. You will find countless mock-up resources online.

Then, you only need a platform. You can go for simple solutions, like readymade templates or develop your website.

Resale Thrift Store Finds

Say you still want to break into the retail clothing market, but you have little to no design capabilities.

There still are online business ideas for you. Consider browsing through thrift stores and charity shops for cheap finds.

Then, clean them up, upload pictures, and sell them on your platform for a profit. Your success will depend on your marketing capabilities and the fashion niche you target when going down this road.

Surely, basing your model on thrift store finds may be riskier. Still, considering the minimal expenses, it may be worth looking into.

2. Dropshipping Store

This option is a popular choice among recent small business ideas.

Their concept is to resale goods procured from a manufacturer that sells them in batches.

You come in as an intermediator. You will generally require setting up a delivery infrastructure. Still, you may freely use standard delivery or postal services depending on the selling price.

In some cases, the retailer you are mediating for may even take care of the shipping and tracking of any parcel. Thus, your running costs are cut to a minimum.

3. Sell Art Online

This is one of the small business ideas that, once more, hinges on your passion and potential.

But, say that you are an art student just out of school.

The online environment allows you to cut intermediaries, like exhibition owners, publishers, or appraisers and provide your work directly to the consumer.

You will either take commissions or proceed with your art and see if it sells. While this option is among the more flexible online business ideas, you need to consider some aspects.

If your work on sale is material, you need to consider shipping expenses. A higher overall price may deter potential buyers.

The best situation is if you create digital art. With the advent of online art marketplaces, your expenses do not go beyond your work process.

Publish Your Book

Publishing a novel has never been easier. Surely, publishers still represent the big players in the industry, especially with physical copy sales.

But you do not need any connections to book retailers. Several online stores, including Amazon, provide self-publishing services.

Here, too, your success will depend on the quality of your work and the pre-existing customer demand.

However, book publishing is worth considering for online business ideas that allow you to expand on your passion.

Sell Handmade Goods

The digital era makes most products seem fake and impersonal. Handmade goods are anything but.

Create a quirky line of handmade goods, find a good platform to sell from, and you should find customers in no time.

4. Become a Freelance Creator

Among the more lucrative online small business ideas that fit talented creators while providing a steady income, freelance content creating hits all the marks.

Freelance content creators are independent contractors who provide their niche products to larger platforms. The choice will best suit you if you have in-depth expertise in certain industries.

Writer

Platforms are in constant need of new written content, a requirement of the Google algorithm.

While a business has its content writing team, it will also look to outsource some specific entries to freelancers due to time management.

The requirements for an optimal freelance writer are expertise, a reader-friendly style, and familiarisation with search engine optimisation practices.

In a sense, you should not have an excessively recognisable style, considering that your pieces will appear on various platforms.

Designer

A good freelance designer should be flexible regarding style and respond to contractor requests.

Here, more than anywhere, a solid catalogue will provide you with an upstart and make it more likely for businesses to ask for your services.

Developer

Developers have a slew of opportunities in today’s market environment. Extensive transition to digital means a heightened requirement for platforms and applications.

If you have experience in platform or digital solutions development, you can deal independently with various clients.

Freelance online business ideas are great for those that prefer varied activities and can perform well with customer requests.

5. Digital Marketing

Instead of selling your product, you can act as an advertiser for larger supply chains. There are various digital marketing approaches, but the most popular has to be affiliate marketing.

Essentially, you strike deals with various platforms. You then use your platform to redirect customers to said platforms.

Pick On-the-Rise Industries: iGaming, eCommerce & Finances

Payment is either done per sent customer or by commission, depending on the industry you set your sights on.

You have countless well-performing affiliate marketing sites in iGaming, such as KingCasinoBonus.

The online casino industry is ripe with affiliate marketing possibilities. Still, the approach can apply in any industry that requires a steady influx of customers.

Any other eCommerce platform that uses coupons or bonus codes is also a candidate. Even financial services can be a niche for your business, with platforms like Nerdwallet or Ratehub being some examples.

Affiliate marketing is among the more complex online business ideas.

Not only do you need a platform to popularise, but you also require a good grasp of search engine optimisation practices and tools.

However, once you are past a steep learning curve, your business can flourish and bring in constant profit.

6. Teach Online Courses

Another choice among online small business ideas requiring some unexploited expertise, online teaching is becoming more and more popular.

Depending on your credentials, you can start selling online courses on various platforms, like Udemy or Coursera.

However, providing teaching content independently is still possible, but it requires a better advertising infrastructure.

You also need a comprehensive manner to convey your knowledge and skills. This process will include written and video content.

You may also want to perform live courses and implement interactive features.

However, once you set the groundwork and have a successful teaching session, the opinion of past students will constantly attract new ones.

Still, you will require to keep up to date with the online trends but teaching online could be the starting point of a great career.

7. Start a Blog

If you still consider sharing insights but do not wish to create a whole online course around them, you can start a blog. You are currently reading one successful example of just that.

Blogging also has the perks of freelance writing and affiliate marketing without placing you at clients’ whims while also allowing more freedom of expression.

You will still need to monetise these online business ideas. You would generally do that by featuring sponsored content, whether it be posts or longer articles.

You may also allow third-party ads, although this approach is passe. You may combine blogging with several other small business ideas that work online.

For instance, if you sell your products online, a popular blog means free advertising. Affiliate marketing platforms will necessarily feature a blog section, too.

8. Become Someone’s Virtual Assistant

VAs aim to help individuals, entrepreneurs, or executives organise their lives but do it entirely online.

You may need to administer your clients’ schedule, perform marketing management, and any other specific requirement.

However, if you have a nick for management and consider yourself an organised person, VA is the job for you nowadays.

Consider the occupation also to be a launchpad, as you may also network and create connections with key individuals in the industry.

9. Become an Influencer

Given the current environment, you may consider this option unfeasible and tongue in cheek. However, the advantage of the influencer culture is that there is no success recipe.

More so, you do not need to treat it like a full-time job initially. If you manage to take off, you can veer into influencing as occupation organically.

If you have a notable social media presence, you have already completed the first steps. Think of the subculture that you want to target and stick to it. Sponsorships will come in no time.

Or Be a Manager for Influencers

Imagine doing digital marketing, but for a person. Even if you do not wish to commit yourself to become the figurehead for the next social media personality, you are still able to run things from backstage.

Influencer management is one of those online business ideas that have only emerged and are potential entry points for the future.

10. Develop App and Website Ideas

This occupation resembles freelance dev small business ideas. However, it differs by the fact that you are independently creating platforms.

We do agree that the advice can be vague. However, you can develop any tool or service that serves the customer.

Be Concept-Centred

Think of the ideas that are easiest to market or monetise. Once you have a concept and framework that responds to customer demand, go into development.

If your app or website gains traction, you may expand upon it or possibly sell it to larger companies. Most successful online startup ideas began just like this.

When going into it this way, you may not see considerable revenue in the initial phases, especially if you do not have an investor backing you.

However, the payoff of a good idea is considerable.

11. Start Your Own Podcast

We know what you are thinking. The podcast scene is oversaturated already. Another way of seeing it is that podcasts find themselves in a deadlock.

If you have an innovative approach to podcasts, you can turn it into the most lucrative online business ideas.

You may also base your series on niche expertise or a pre-existing social media following. The advantage is that you can try it out and make podcasts with minimal expenses and see if it catches on.

You eventually may veer into other small business ideas, such as selling merchandise.

12. Start a Subscription Box Service

Take several online business ideas, such as Bokksu, KiwiCo, or Book of the Month, which have seen considerable success.

Subscription boxes seem to be a match made in marketing heaven. The subscription model guarantees a steady monthly income and a dedicated customer base.

While the random nature of the shipped products allows you purchase flexibility.

Keywords: Innovation & Originality

However, you will need to target a subculture or a specific need. Otherwise, you are butting heads with already established businesses. Take Hello Fresh, for instance.

The service entered a saturated area of the subscription box market: food products. However, most other options provided sweets, snacks, and culinary curiosities.

In contrast, Hello Fresh opted to ship the ingredients and instructions for preparing a healthy and balanced meal. It required a bit of advertising elbow grease, but the business became a success.

Try thinking the same way. What requirements or desires does the current subscription box market does not address. The rest comes naturally.

13. Go Into Consulting

You have in-depth preparation in a topic, such as business, marketing, HR, or social media communication. Still, you do not necessarily want to turn them into an online implementation.

You could then opt for consulting. The basis is that you reach out to other services that may not have a dedicated agent or department in your area.

Then, you act like a third-party advisor. And you will complete your work entirely online.

You can freely start as a singular agent and later expand your business by hiring several agents. It would be a shame for your expertise to remain unexploited.

14. Perform Online Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is more dedicated than consulting and more specialised than being a virtual agent.

Basically, it represents the process of recording a company’s financial transactions into a series of organised, regularly updated accounts.

Smaller businesses may not have an accounting department and thus are willing to outsource this area.

Bookkeeping online business ideas are perfect for individuals with experience in accounting that want to remain independent and flexible.

15. Set Up a Courier Service

You may think that the success of Uber, Deliveroo, or DPD, DHL and so on would make your entry into the short or long-distance courier services impossible.

However, the relatively decentralised nature of the market allows for newer online business ideas and entries.

Firstly, remember that you cannot do it all. Each delivery system chooses to exclusively deal with parcels, food, or short-distance deliveries.

Once you choose your market strategy, you need to create an attractive app or platform for your business.

Finding and employing couriers and striking deals with other businesses and producers can be more difficult. However, beyond these aspects, your work will remain remote and minimal.

16. Transcription and Translation Services

Even if you do not create your content, there is still a place for you in the chain of online writing.

Translation has always been a viable option for polyglots. It also is easy to get into.

Depending on the nature of your future business, you may need to receive accreditation for your translation aptitudes.

However, if you are not dealing with sensitive or specialised documents, you may be able to start without it.

Transcription is even simpler. Essentially, you write analogue data into digital content. This process can either represent paper written or dictated data. Medical services especially need transcribers.

Naturally, the advent of speech recognition software may cause concern. However, in truth, such software still has poorer accuracy when compared to human input.

The same can be said for AI translation systems. Sure, they’re getting better but still lack the quality you provide.

17. Become a Professional Organiser

Virtual assistance may seem too far removed from your concerns, albeit being an organised person.

In such cases, you can still provide your services to individuals. The (post-)modern environment can be overwhelming and consuming for private persons and small businesses alike.

As a potential professional organiser, you would come in and provide viable solutions for downsizing and restructuring.

You will deal with spatial optimisation and minimisation, creating functional routines and office practices, and anything that implies the removal of cluttering.

18. Crypto Business Opportunities

Where should we even start? You can also implement most of the online business ideas we provided with the help of cryptocurrencies.

You may additionally look into day trading, trade consulting, or even providing online security services using blockchain technologies.

NFTs are also on the rise. It may prove to be a fad by the end of it, but creators and traders alike are taking it quite seriously.

Crypto online business ideas would require a list of their own. However, take their advent seriously and think about how you can ride their wave, if possible.