Online Business Models You Should Consider

With the ongoing growth of technology, many new and exciting ways to do business have emerged. There are so many tools that have been created that make it easier than ever to do your business online. If you’re a business owner and you’re not sure where to start, here’s a deeper look into some online business models that you should consider.

Affiliate Marketing

You can make money doing affiliate marketing on your website. With affiliate marketing, you can earn income by selling another brand’s products and earning a commission with each sale. You do the marketing for the other brand, then you get 5-10 percent (typically) of the profit. With affiliate marketing, it is important to use SEO techniques in order to benefit from organic search engine traffic and lower your costs.

This business model is good because it is easy to start and has great potential. On the negative side, however, your revenue is non-recurring, you don’t have any active ownership over the product you are selling, and your business does not count as an asset. You will need to find your niche and create great content and product reviews.

Membership Site

A membership site is like a resource center. Your customers pay for a subscription and get access to your content. Resources include content like videos, tutorials, articles, and more—whatever is useful for your audience.

 Membership sites produce recurring revenue and have good potential. There are many business ideas that can integrate with the membership site model. However, like the affiliate marketing model, with a membership site model, your business cannot be an asset and you do not have active ownership. If you choose to pursue a membership site model, be sure to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Software or Apps

Software or app business models are becoming more and more popular. You create a product—software or an app—that your audience needs or otherwise wants and will use, then charge them a subscription fee for it.

There are three different payment models within this business model: the freemium, free trial, and free software business models. Freemium customers get limited access to your product but have to upgrade to a paid subscription in order to unlock certain features. In a free trial, customers get full access to your product for free for a period of time, then have to pay in order to continue using it. With the free software business model, you make money from advertising and sponsors but give your product away for free.

This online business model has huge potential and recurring revenue and qualifies as a saleable asset. You do have to offer customer support, however, and you need to be able to build the software or hire someone else to do so.

Among the countless models for an online business, affiliate marketing, membership sites, and software/apps are three great options. Although each comes with their pros and cons, discovering the right one for your business can launch you to success.

Here’s another article you might like: How to Run a More Efficient Marketing Campaign