Good business ideas come from spotting a good sized market of customers who want to buy a product or service that you are selling. In today’s economy, there are plenty of viable business ideas on the internet. Not only are the start up costs considerably less than traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ businesses but the internet allows you to easily expand your business beyond the confines of your physical location. Here are a sample of online business ideas to get you started.

1. Create Your Own Digital Information Product.

People use the internet to find information and although there is plenty of free information online, a lot of the time it does not provide the detail that you need or, even worse, it is factually incorrect. People will pay for information that is valuable and beneficial to them and that they can get instantly. A digital information product, like an ebook, report or video tutorial can be downloaded immediately somebody buys it. The topic of your information product can be about something that you’re very knowledgeable or it can be something that you become knowledgeable about by research. You can even outsource somebody to write it for you.

2. Sell Other Peoples’ Products Online.

It’s easy for you to leverage the good business ideas of other people and sell them online as an affiliate. Product creators pay affiliates a commission for sales that they generate for their product. The affiliate does not have the work involved with product creation, payment systems, product delivery or customer service. The product creator gets their marketing done for them by their affiliates and pays nothing if the affiliate does not sell anything.

3. Online Freelance Services.

If you have a particular set of skills the internet offers the widest possible market for selling them. Anyone from graduate students to individuals with comprehensive professional careers can find assignments online where they can earn an income. Online freelance websites like Elance and oDesk have countless numbers of customers looking for copy writers, graphic artists, linguists, website designers, marketing and advertising staff, legal and financial professionals and more.

4. Create A Membership Website.

This is where you get paid to pass your knowledge onto others. It is no different to being a consultant in the traditional offline world, where you help and advise clients with your business knowledge. Due to the reach of the internet and modern communication technology, an online membership website allows you to have customers from all over the world. Membership websites make great internet based business ideas because they provide a recurring income every month for a long as your members remain within your program.