23 Highest Earning Online Businesses

You’re in the midst of a storm. A torrent. It’s sweeping you away. Encircling you. Pinning you down. There’s no break in the winds. No chance you can escape. And how could you? Your entire family is relying on you. Right now, that storm is causing chaos in your life. After all, that’s what happens when you run out of money, right? It’s a constant struggle just to survive.

The truth? You’re at the end of your rope. You can’t just wait for the storm to pass any longer. If you don’t learn to dance in the rain your life will always remain the same. That’s why the job you have isn’t cutting it. There’s never enough money left at the end of the month. The goal? Start an online business and make real money. Not the kind of money you’re making now. I’m talking about unhinged money. An avalanche of cash. A tsunami of racks on racks—the kind of money that dreams are made of.

You’ve always wanted an online business. But where you do begin? How do you start an online business and exit survival mode? And what online businesses earn the most amount of money? Look, it won’t be easy. I won’t sit here and try to convince you otherwise. That’s because owning an online business brings another set of headaches. A different set of problems. But at this point, you would welcome those with open arms. Right?

While you can start many online businesses, some won’t make you much money while others will. The goal is to start the right business so that you can earn a substantial amount of money. Sometimes it’s not just about the type of business you start. It’s about the approach. The trick is to find a way to generate leads and make sales profitably. If you can do that, the world is your oyster.

What Is An Online Business?

An online business is your ticket. It’s your ticket to a better life. A ticket out of the storm. Freedom from all the chaos. Online businesses offer a pathway to your dreams because you no longer have to suffer through a 9-to-5 that you can’t stand. You no longer have to deal with all the headaches of working for a boss who doesn’t appreciate you even exist. And for what? For pennies? So you can just barely scrape by in life? Nope. There’s a better way to earn.

Starting an online business isn’t the easiest path to your dreams. But it does offer you the freedom to make money. Real money. Money you can make in your sleep or from your phone. Online businesses give you the freedom to earn money from your laptop while traveling to some remote destination. That’s because you’re the boss. You call the shots. That doesn’t mean an online business is easy. It’s not. But it is well worth it.

The question you have to ask yourself is this. What excites you? What are you passionate about? We’re not just talking about starting a boring business here. After all, you’re a budding entrepreneur. A future small-business owner. You don’t want a side hustle. You want a main hustle. And while you can start many online businesses, not all of them will help you make lots of money.

The trick is to pick an online business with high margins. This isn’t just about selling trinkets or low-cost items. This is about selling premium products and high-ticket services that will make you real money. So exactly what kind of business should it be? It could be any kind. The trick? Start an online business focused on solving real problems that real people are experiencing. If you can do that successfully and scale up, you’ll likely never have to worry about money again for a very long time.

1—Digital Products

Digital products make the best type of online business. Why? Because they require zero inventory. There’s no production or overhead involved. You can start making money with digital products right away. And all it takes is the knowledge inside of your head. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. But there is a simple process to creating and selling digital products by using marketing funnels. Create your digital products to solve a specific problem that a specific person is experiencing. That’s the underlying strategy to succeeding with a digital products business.

2—Sales Funnels

Every online business needs a sales funnel. Sales funnels are the secret to making real money online. Sales funnels can help you generate leads, increase sales and revenue, boost average order value and more. But you can also build sales funnels for others. And you can turn that into a business. You can design sales funnels and sell them in the funnel marketplace to generate passive income. And this requires no coding skills. You just use a drag-and-drop editor and premade templates to create the designs. Then, you offer them for sale in the funnel marketplace.

3—Digital Marketing

Digital marketing means many things. Today, all marketing is digital in one way or another. But the mediums differ. You could be a digital marketer who designs landing pages or does graphic design. Digital marketing could also mean someone who integrates systems using Zapier to help companies better track their marketing activities. It could also mean that you’re managing a Facebook group or doing other forms of organic marketing. The point is that companies need digital marketing to grow their businesses. And you can offer that service to others all day and night.

4—Copywriting

Copywriting is one of the highest-paying skills you could have. If you’re a writer, consider starting a copywriting service. These online businesses help others attract more leads and make more sales. And the best copywriters in the world know exactly what levers to pull to get people to take action. After all, people won’t always take action on their own. Sometimes, you have to give them a reason to act. Copywriters can help create ads, write sales letters, optimize landing pages, and so much more. This is by far one of the highest-earning businesses you could start.

5—Online Courses

Can you turn a course into an online business? Yes. You absolutely can. And some course creators take things to the next level. They build many online courses to help people solve many types of problems in their industry. Online courses can make you a lot of money. Especially if done the right way. And they’re not complicated to build. You can use an existing platform like Udemy or Teachable. You can also use an online course builder platform to build a more customized experience. There’s no coding involved and you’ll make much more money than using any of the traditional platforms. Either way, online courses are a great way to make money fast.

6—Coaching

Coaches help others achieve their dreams. For some people, this is their calling. They have a desire to help others. And coaching businesses can make a lot of money. Especially when you set this up the right way. Coaching requires a good lead-generation strategy. You need some way of bringing in qualified leads. That means you need a drool-worthy lead magnet. Plus, you’ll need some type of application funnel to allow prospects to apply to work with you. This helps put you in the driver’s seat. You can do group coaching or private coaching. It’s up to you. Build out a solid lead generation ecosystem so that you’re constantly getting in fresh names every single day.

7—Consulting Business

Consulting businesses generate a lot of income. Especially when the consultant understands how to solve complex business problems and has experience solving them. If you’re an expert in a field that can help businesses scale and make more money, then consider starting a consulting business. Consulting does not require your physical presence. But it does require you to understand the nuances of complex business problems. Things like lead generation, sales, conversions, traffic, growth, and more. You can make a lot of money as a consultant if you know what you’re doing.

8—Webinars

Most people don’t know what webinars are. But the concept is simple. At its core, a webinar is just a presentation. It’s designed to help sell premium products and high-ticket services to audiences. They’re used to break false beliefs prospects hold that stop them from buying what you’re selling. Webinars are typically 90 minutes and longer. However, some webinars are shorter. You can build an entire online business on the back of a webinar. After all, ClickFunnels used webinars to generate over $100 million in annual sales. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. But there is a simple process. You can learn more about how webinars work here.

9—Social Media

Another online business you can start is in social media. Social media management agencies make a lot of money by helping other companies increase visibility across social platforms. If you’re good at social media then consider doing this. You can also do other things on social media such as work to build a solid following in a specific niche. Then, you can use that following to sell them products and services, send them affiliate offers, and even get brand deals. Either way you approach this, you must have a hero funnel attached to your social media profiles. Hero funnels help you generate leads so that you can bring social media followers onto your email list.

10—Short-Form Video Editor

Short-form videos are taking over on the Internet. Companies are using this style of videos to attract new customers and clients. But not all companies have mastered the art of videos in short form. That’s where you come in. If you’re a skilled video editor (or are willing to learn) you can create short-form videos and turn this into an online business. You could create an all-you-can-eat service where you do unlimited short-form videos for a set fee. The best part? You can use many online tools to help streamline this process. That doesn’t mean you’re not doing the work yourself. It requires creativity and the proper inputs to create high-quality short-form videos. But it’s far easier today than it once was.

11—Search Engine Optimization

Many companies struggle with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). After all, SEO is hard. Everyone knows that, right? But SEO is also the single most powerful marketing activity that generates the most return on investment behind email marketing. That’s a bold statement. But think of it this way. Everyone knows that it’s incredibly hard to rank. And they also know that listings at the top of results are the most relevant. In fact, organic traffic drives the highest conversions of any type of traffic for a reason. That’s because it’s highly relevant and laser-focused. You could start an SEO business online and make a lot of money as long as you take the right approach and don’t look for shortcuts.

12—Real Estate

Real estate creates the most millionaires of any industry. By far, this is one of the best types of businesses you can start. That’s because you can make money in real estate in so many different ways. But the best way is to start with real estate wholesaling. Especially here in the United States. Wholesaling real estate just means that you’re finding properties at a big discount. You do this by looking for distressed sellers and distressed properties. These properties are not in great condition. And the sellers are highly motivated to offload their properties. You simply put these properties under contract, and then flip them to cash buyers for a profit. You could also do things like fix-and-flips, multi-family real estate, long-term rentals, vacation rentals, and more.

13—YouTube

YouTube is one of the most difficult ways you can make money online. That’s because it takes a long time to gain traction on YouTube. But it’s also one of the highest-earning marketing channels out there. Yes, it takes a long time to gain traction on YouTube. But once you do, the sky is the limit. You can use YouTube to sell products or services once you build a substantial audience. You can also use it for affiliate marketing and a million other things. YouTube allows you to build a global brand because YouTube is everywhere. You also don’t need to show your face. Plenty of faceless YouTube channels exist that are making millions of dollars per year.

14—Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing allows you to make money while helping other brands promote their products and services. It isn’t easy to make money as an affiliate. You need an established audience to succeed. You must have some form of an email list that you can market to. If you don’t have an email list, you should have a following somewhere. It could be on social media, YouTube, or elsewhere. As a last resort, you could use paid ads to make money in affiliate marketing. Either way, you’ll need a bridge page to collect the contact details of prospects before forwarding them to the affiliate offer. This way, you can market to them again and again in the future.

15—Paid Ads

Paid ads offer another avenue for you to earn money with an online business. If you understand paid ads, then consider doing this. That’s because most companies struggle with paid ads. Since privacy is changing and it’s now harder to track users around the web, paid ads are becoming increasingly complex. It’s hard for businesses to navigate all of these complexities. If you’re skilled at paid ads, you could help businesses increase traffic, leads, and sales. In turn, you could make a lot of money doing it. Especially if you’re good at it.

16—Email Marketing

Email marketing is the Holy Grail of all marketing activities. That’s because it produces the highest return on investment. Once a prospect is on your email list, you can sell to them again and again. And the businesses that understand how to leverage the power of storytelling through emails win. Stories allow you to build a bond with the prospect. They create rapport. You could easily help other companies that are struggling with email marketing by charging them for this service. Especially if you’re a good writer. The best part? All you need are a few clients to make a considerable amount of recurring revenue in email marketing.

17—Blogging

Blogging is not an easy online business to start. To build a successful blog takes time. But if you’re passionate about writing, you could start blogging on different platforms. You don’t need to start with a custom domain WordPress installation. You could begin blogging on Medium. But to make real money blogging you should have a WordPress blog setup. Pick a niche and really go after that niche. Build lots of highly valuable content that is very useful for people. It takes time and a lot of effort. But in the end, it’s well worth it because once your blog has a lot of traffic, you can earn in many different ways. You can sell digital products, make money from ads, do affiliate marketing, and so on.

18—Web Development

Web development is still one of the best skills that you can have. Web developers can make a lot of money by helping other companies build sites and interactive systems. You can find clients on sites like Upwork, Freelancer, and Fiverr. While it takes time to build your profile, you can run this online business from just about anywhere in the world. You can use it to make money while traveling or from home anywhere you might be. Of course, you do need to be passionate about web development. That’s because it takes time to understand how to code the right way.

19—Print-on-Demand (POD)

Print-on-demand (POD) allows you to sell physical products without ever producing them. Most people use POD to sell merchandise like apparel. But you can use it to sell many things. For example, you can sell mugs, phone covers, pillowcases, and more with POD. You’ll need some sort of brand and imagery first. For that, you’ll need to hire a designer. The best part is this. Costs for running a POD business are very low. That’s because you don’t need any expensive machinery, warehousing, or employees to run your business. Just use one of the established POD platforms like Printful or Printify to launch your POD business. All you need to do is focus on getting people to buy what you’re selling.

20—Build Apps

You can create an entire online business around building apps. The best part? You don’t even need to know how to code or create apps. That’s because you can use many no-code app platforms to build the entire app. You’ll need to be savvy in understanding user interfaces. And you’ll also need to understand how to find clients. That’s about it. If you can do those things you can create a business around building apps for other companies. After all, apps are still a very important part of any company’s ecosystem. Think about it this way. Apps give companies access to billions of people around the world. If you can help a company build an app, you can certainly make money.

21—Theme Designers

Website themes are still a thing. Even if websites are dying, companies are still building them. That’s where you come in. You can create an entire online business around website themes. You can design and build themes, and sell them on platforms like Envato or Monster Templates. These can be website themes, WordPress themes, skins, and so on. If you’re a good designer, then consider starting a business around theme design. Plus, selling themes will give you passive income. That means you’re doing the work once and getting paid every time someone buys your theme.

22—Private Label Brand

Most of the products sold on Amazon are sold by third-party sellers under private label brands. Private Label just means that you’re branding a line of products to your company. You can create a private label brand around any type of product and sell it on Amazon. All you have to do is sign up as a seller at Amazon Seller Central. Then, find a product and a good supplier. Yes, there are a lot of steps in between this and actually making money selling on Amazon. But it is well worth it. After all, there’s massive buyer intention on Amazon. Meaning that everyone who visits Amazon is going there to buy something. It’s unlike typical search engines.

23—Handmade Products

If you love creating handmade products, then consider starting an online business selling handmade items. That doesn’t mean you need to sell low-cost items. You could sell high-end pieces of jewelry or other customized items. If you’re passionate about this, consider using one of the popular platforms like Etsy or Handmade to sell your items. You’ll need to run ads and consider photos, descriptions, and producing inventory. It’ll also take time to collect enough reviews to give you some momentum. But if you’re passionate about it, then this could be the ticket for you.

Is It Hard To Start An Online Business?

Starting an online business requires less resources than a physical business. But that doesn’t make it easier. An online business is still a business at the end of the day. And the fastest way to launch and scale a business online is by using sales funnels. Sales funnels help you generate leads and acquire customers faster than any other method out there. Learn how to build a sales funnel to help grow your business fast.

Where Do You Find Customers For Your Online Business?

It doesn’t matter what kind of business you start you need a way to generate leads. To do that you need to build a lead generation funnel with some kind of lead magnet at the front end. Lead magnets solve part of the problem a prospect is experiencing. And they gladly exchange their contact information for free access to the lead magnet. Your lead magnet should be so good that you feel strange giving it away for free.