We have all been looking for work from home business or online business ideas. In the current digital landscape, running a digital business is not a very challenging task. It is mere understanding of individuals that stops them from building an online business
Basic understanding of the Internet
Think of the internet like a virtual mall, where any number of people can visit any number of times and stay as long as they want. They visit that mall for entertainment, managing chores (banking, travel booking) or researching things like “what to do if your house catches a fire”.
Websites or apps are like shops in the mall. Shops sell products, educate or entertain users on all things they need. A user can visit a shop if he remembers the domain name of the shop. Now obviously he can’t remember the names of all the shops, so he takes guidance from search engines like Google by asking keywords.
Search engines like Google have 1000s of shop recommendation results for any keyword. So it ranks shops based on a lot of factors. User selects any of the results of his choice and visits the shop. The shop then sells products, shows ads or takes commissions for recommending someone else. All these shops are a few examples of an online business ideas.
Now Let’s look at the size of this mall.
How big is Internet?
The Internet has 120 crore shops. Everyday more than 250,000 new shops are opened everyday. Approximately 70% of the world population use the internet everyday with almost 98% use google search to find out shops that serve them content or product of their choice.
Approximately 90% of online businesses ideas rely on google sending traffic to their website. In traditional business people buy shops in popular areas so they get noticed and attract customers. In digital business they attract customers if they get recommended by search engines like google.
Know more about differences in traditional and digital business
For both the businesses, attracting customers (even window shoppers) is a key toward success. Business uses many strategies to attract customers like Ads, partnerships.
Majority Digital business rely mainly on google traffic to attract customers. Optimizing your website so that it ranks better for any keyword in google search engine is called Search Engine Optimization.
With Search Engine Optimization techniques you can direct the majority of searches to your website hence increasing your website visibility and profits.
Digital businesses spend a lot of time building search rankings for particular keywords. Once they build a good ranking for keywords with a good number of searches, they create a sustainable traffic which can be translated into decent income.
What is digital Entrepreneurship?
Digital entrepreneurship is about creating and managing business ventures that operate primarily on the internet or utilize digital technologies as a significant part of their processes. This can include e-commerce stores, content-driven websites, digital product innovations, and services that operate via technology platforms.
Opportunities in digital Entrepreneurship: Popular online business ideas
There are many online business ideas, and they can be categorized into the following.
E-commerce: Ecommerce businesses sell products directly to customers. They sell products of themselves or 3rd parties and earn profits via commissions. Amazon, flipkart are known examples.
Subscription Models: They charge for offering continuous access to products or services on a recurring basis. Netflix is a popular example.
Freemium Models: Offering basic services for free while charging for advanced features. Spotify, ChatGPT is a popular example
Content Monetization: Generating revenue through advertising, sponsorships, and premium content offers. Techcrunch, Buzzfeed, New York Times (NYT), etc.
Out of all these online businesses ideas, content monetization or blogging is highly accessible and an effective gateway into the digital business world. Here are some reasons why starting a blog with digiHero is one of the best steps toward digital literacy and digital entrepreneurship.
Why Content Monetization is a great business to start online
Low Entry barrier: Blogging requires less skills and investment than all other businesses. digiHero makes investment even less by pooling resources. Anyone with basic writing skills and access to the internet can start a blog. Platforms like WordPress offer low cost options that make it easy to run and manage a content business.
Skill Development: Maintaining a blog helps in developing a wide range of skills like interacting with AI tools (prompt engineering) content creation, search engine optimization, basic graphic design etc. These skills are crucial for digital literacy and provide a solid foundation for expanding into other areas of digital entrepreneurship.
Building an online presence: A blog is a central hub for online presence helping you to establish your brand and expertise in a specific niche. This is important for networking, building credibility and attracting opportunities in the form of internships, freelance gigs, job offers or even partnerships.
Monetization opportunities: blogging offers multiple ways of generating income making it a versatile option for digital businesses. Monetization strategies include advertising, affiliate marketing, selling digital products (e.g., eBooks, courses), sponsored posts, and memberships. This variety allows bloggers to experiment and find what works best for their audience and niche.
Understanding Digital Market: Running a blog provides firsthand experience in understanding and navigating the digital market dynamics. Bloggers gain insights into audience analytics, consumer behavior, content trends, and digital marketing efficacy. This real-world data is invaluable for anyone looking to launch more complex digital projects or startups in the future.
Challenges Faced by bloggers
Blogging, while offering immense potential for generating income and building an online presence, is not without its challenges. Many bloggers embark on their blogging journey with high hopes but often encounter obstacles that can lead to failure. Here are some reasons why many bloggers fail
Initial and Ongoing Costs
Maintaining a blog is not just about creativity and content; it involves tangible costs that can be quite substantial. The minimum annual cost for maintaining a blog, including domain and quality hosting, is around ₹15,000. Additionally, as traffic grows, scaling the blog effectively and affordably becomes a challenge, adding to the financial burden. This financial strain can deter bloggers, especially if they don’t see immediate returns on their investment.
Time-Consuming Setup and Maintenance
Setting up a blog on platforms like WordPress might require at least 20 hours initially, with an ongoing commitment of about 20 hours monthly. For newcomers, this time investment can be daunting, particularly when balancing other personal and professional responsibilities. The substantial time required for regular updates and content creation can lead to burnout and frustration, especially if the blog doesn’t quickly show signs of success.
High Costs of SEO Tools and Expertise
Effective blogging heavily relies on good SEO practices, which often require investment in SEO tools like Ahrefs, which might cost around ₹30,000 monthly. This is a significant expense, especially for individual bloggers or small setups. The lack of affordable tools and the expertise needed to use these tools effectively can hinder a blog’s ability to compete and rank well on search engines.
Lack of Community Support
Blogging, unlike hobbies such as music or sports, often suffers from a lack of community support and recognition. While activities like sports or music are generally celebrated and supported by schools, family, friends, and societal structures, providing both moral and practical encouragement, blogging is frequently not taken as seriously. This absence of a supportive community can make it challenging for bloggers to stay motivated and committed, especially during the initial phase where the path to success can be lonely and daunting. Without external validation or encouragement, maintaining the drive needed for successful blogging can be significantly harder, leading many to abandon their blogging pursuits prematurely.
Blogging with digiHero
digiHero is a nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the gap in digital entrepreneurship and literacy. Our mission is to empower individuals by offering a participatory learning environment where each member starts and nurtures a blog. As a vibrant community, we share resources, strategies, and success stories, fostering a supportive network that encourages members to persist and thrive in their digital entrepreneurship journeys.
digiHero is supported by different social groups and offers a ready made customizable wordpress setup website on domain of choice with infinitely scalable cloud hosting plan along with community support at a fixed cost of INR 5000/year through a technology partner.
Organizations further extends this offer for students like
GLA University offering digiHero as a JoVac at 50% discount to students
If you are an individual and want to start with us, you can fill our registration form, a digiHero will help you with all the process till you get involved in a community driven learning.
Registration form for individual
If you are an organization, academic or social, you can submit your query. Our Team will help you in opening a digiHero Chapter.
Institutional Query form