The computer age brings many benefits to the small business owner including increasing your financial capability. You’ll have to do some work, but with the right strategies and tactics, you can build a successful business on the internet.
In 2024 and beyond, e-commerce is one of the top three online business ideas, along with social media and content writing. These are some of the best ways to improve your finances remotely. Keep reading as Kate Richardson, in-house technology and business expert, shares the top ten ideas to start and grow your business online.
10 Ideas to Start and Grow Your Business Online
If you want to build a business in 2024, consider which of these areas best match your skills and interests:
Voiceover Services
Many social media platforms favor videos with voiceovers. This has created a demand for good speaking voices and the ability to speak well and coherently.
Voiceover artists contribute to video ads, animations, podcasts, and audiobooks. If you have gotten compliments about how you speak, you could consider offering your time for voiceovers.
Fun fact: the global voice-over industry is worth billions of dollars.
Digital Marketing Agency
64% of Gen-Zs discover products via social media. TikTok leads the pack at 37%, followed closely by Instagram at 29%.
This reflects the role of digital marketing when growing a business. Following the increasing popularity of social media platforms, many business owners know that when they post on social media, they can increase lead generation.
However, digital marketing is not a day’s job – it often requires a hands-on commitment. It’s far less expensive to delegate this task to a digital marketing agency, which creates another area of demand.
You can make money from digital marketing by mastering SEO, social media marketing, data analytics, and content creation. This business is remote and majorly focuses on reaching as many social media users as possible.
One effective way to enhance your online presence is by hiring a remote copywriter to create engaging content for your social media platforms.
Virtual Event Planner
A virtual event planner helps you organize online events that align with your business goals. Whether it’s planning webinars, product launches, or team-building sessions, they handle the hassle of the process while you focus on your business work.
Virtual event planning is not only about hosting events; it’s about improving your outreach and engagement with potential and existing customers. As a virtual event planner, you use an organic strategy to ensure your event offers value while promoting your products and services.
Remote Technical Support

Do you consider yourself a tech-savvy individual? In this digital age, there’s a growing demand for remote technical support gurus. You’d be responsible for helping online businesses solve their computer or software-related issues.
Many small businesses cannot afford to dedicate a department to IT services. That’s why a solo practitioner is a cost-effective way to solve the majority of their problems.
You can use social media to grow your business or reach out to family and friends who already have a business online.
Freelance Writer/Editor
Freelance writing is a popular way to make money online. As a freelancer, your job is to write about a product or service in a way that can help a business to grow.
You’ll be creating articles, blog posts, web content, and manuscripts either as a ghostwriter or credited author. To make money at all, you must be able to use your writing skills to help brands in building customer loyalty.
Copywriting is another form of freelance writing, but it’s commonly associated with e-commerce. As a copywriter, your posts are expected to lead to increased sales.
Course Creator
Do you thrive in your selected profession? Are you great at creating structures and teaching others what you know? Even if you aren’t, you can still become a course content creator. There are AI tools that can create a learning framework that you can market to others.
Find something you’re good at or at least enjoy and make a course that thoroughly educates a beginner. Ensure it addresses the common pain points of learners.
Then, you can use paid advertising and other marketing strategies to reach new customers. Based on your ability to attract new customers, becoming a course creator could be a lucrative opportunity.
Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistance is a type of business that requires time and impeccable organizational skills. A virtual assistant (VA) handles data entry, the business’s email list, data research, administrative tasks, and phone calls.
The more skills you have, the better your chances of success as a VA—platforms like Zirtual and TaskRabbit offer aspiring VAs an opportunity to break into the industry.
User-Generated Content Creator

Joel Anderson, the CEO of Walmart, noted, “You can’t just open a website and expect people to flood in. If you really want to succeed, you have to create traffic.”
92% won’t buy without reading reviews, and 76% need to see the unboxing video of certain products first. There’s no question that you need UGC marketing to grow your business.
As a user-generated content (UGC) creator, you use social media to build your brand via organic reach or paid advertising. You’ll create and post content that builds a connection with your audience.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a form of marketing that grants a commission-based income to participants. The good thing about this business idea is that you don’t need to show up on camera to make it work.
That doesn’t mean those who are camera-friendly can’t also be affiliate marketers. Rather, this business idea allows you to use any channel to build a customer base.
Whether you have a large social media following or a website, you can reach out to a company, get a quote, and start sharing the word.
MightyTips recently did a study on affiliate marketing and discovered that many bookmakers have cooperation agreements with affiliates. This strategy reduces marketing cost and increases lead generation, and everyone gets paid.
SEO Consulting
8.5 billion searches happen on Google daily, which can help a well-positioned business. In 2022, organic reach was responsible for 45% of desktop search engine clicks.
Search engine optimization, essential for business growth, is a technique of gearing your website towards organic search. Fortunately, more business owners know SEO can increase sales and ROI.
This creates a demand for skilled SEO consultants. If you choose this path, you’ll be teaching potential customers the importance of SEO and how it can improve the sale of their product or service.
What to Consider When Starting an Online Business

These are the factors to consider when starting an online business:
- Business idea: Ensure your idea solves a real problem.
- Market research: Know your audience and competition like the back of your palm.
- Business goals: Set clear objectives for what you want to achieve.
- Marketing strategy: Look into which strategies are working for businesses like yours.
As Jeff Bezos once said, “We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little better.” When you’re looking into tested and trusted ways to grow your business, keep his opinion in mind.
Conclusion
New businesses have the advantage of using affordable organic marketing strategies. Therefore, starting a business and keeping it afloat is easier than it’s ever been. Of course, there’ll always be competition, but passion for what you’re doing will keep you going even when it’s tough.