Start a Home Based Internet Business

New Business Ideas

The Internet started as an information resource and now has grown into a place where people can participate in social networking (ie., MySpace) or provide user-driven content to create useful resources (ie., Wikipedia). The Internet can also provide individuals with a way to generate an income.

New Business Ideas #1 - User Generated Sites:
Blogs and wikis as well as discussion forums are all types of user-generated content sites. MySpace and Craigslist are also websites that are completely self-service and depend on millions of people posting content on their site. These types of websites have become mainstream in the last few years. As the website owner, you don't have to worry about hiring writers or buying content because you have a loyal and committed base of users who are more than willing to create content for you. Your website will grow quickly with hardly any advertising because your users will to the marketing for you and also refer their friends to join. Think of areas or niches that you think people could become involved with or even become passionate about. Build your site around your users, and make them an integral part of your community. Review sites are a great example of user-generated content sites.

New Business Ideas #2 - Think Casual:
More and more people are using the Internet to do even the most casual activities such as chatting, connecting with friends or sharing photos and videos because broadband is becoming increasingly available. Entrepreneurs are realizing this also. For example, Flickr, a photo-swapping Canadian business, has 2.5 million members (and still growing) uploading and sharing their photos. Games are another area that is starting to grow. Currently, there are some games that are sold exclusively on the Internet and are not found in any video game store. These types of business opportunities can become big sellers on a small budget.

New Business Ideas #3 - Google Adsense:
Contextual advertising is hot right now with Google Adsense at the forefront. Adsense provides web publishers a great opportunity to monetize their content. Advertising is alive and well again for small online entrepreneurs. Adsense has been around since 2003. Go beyond the approach of buying lists of expensive keywords and building a site around these keywords. Instead, find established markets that are traditionally fee-based and offer free service supported with Adsense. Or even better, think of a website whose content will be generated by users (see New Business Ideas #1 - User Generated Sites) and earn money from the site with Adsense.

New Business Ideas #4 - Search Engine Marketing:
Search engine marketing is a critical component in increasing awareness of a website and getting customers to buy products or services on the Internet. According to a report by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), search engine marketing spending in North America will reach $11 billion in 2010. This dollar total includes expenditures in paid placement, paid inclusion, organic search engine optimization and search engine marketing technology platforms. Search engine marketing is definitely one segment of the Internet where many smaller online entrepreneurs can actively participate and make money.

New Business Ideas #5 - Online Classifieds:
U.S. online classifieds is forecast to grow from $2.6 billion in 2005 to over $4 billion in 2010. Currently Craigslist holds the number one position in this market. Online classifieds is such a huge potential market that even some of the major players, such as Google, Yahoo, eBay, are starting to jump on board. Even newspapers, who have clung to their business revenue model of paid classifieds, are starting to realize the wisdom of free listings and are now rethinking their revenue models.

The Internet provides an amazing amount of information and opportunity. Take one or combination of a couple of the ideas mentioned in this article and start a home based Internet business.