How to Actually Start a Profitable Online Business in SA

Learning how to build an online business is a tremendously valuable skill. The internet is many people’s first destination whenever they need to buy products or services.

Starting an online business gives you the opportunity to acquire such a ready “purchase-intent” traffic with less effort and capital than when starting a traditional brick and mortar business.

This article discusses how to start an online business in South Africa with little or no capital.

How to Earn Money Online by Starting a Profitable Business in South Africa

STEP 1: FIND A PROFITABLE BUSINESS IDEA

Although the kind of business you start generally depends on the capital you have access to, there are tons of online businesses you can start with little or no money.

The great thing about the internet is that it enables anyone to turn almost any marketable skill they have into a service that people can pay for.

For example, if you’re an electrician, you can advertise your services online. Thereafter, customers can visit your website, social media pages, or an app to book you.

If you’re a good at cooking you can start your own cooking course and publish it on Udemy and Teachable. If you’re good at Photoshop you can start your own graphic design business and get clients on freelancing platforms like Upwork and Fiverr.

It’s not always just about selling physical products.

Below are some examples of profitable online business ideas you could start:

Top 10 Online Business Opportunities in South Africa

1. Online coaching

Depending on your experience, you can be a life coach, a fitness coach, career coach, dating coach, style coach, etc.

2. Create an online course

Creating a course based on something you’re good at is a great way to earn money online in South Africa. Teachable is a great platform to build your course on.

3. Rent out a room in your house on Airbnb

This is ideal if you own a home and have one or more spare rooms which you can rent out to guests.

4. Sell stock photos

This has the potential to earn you passive income for years to come. All you need to do is capture some good photos and publish them on stock photo platforms such as Shutterstock. You will then receive a commission whenever your photos are purchased.

5. Drop shipping

Drop shipping involves advertising and selling products online without keeping them in stock. Many drop shippers own a shopping store where they publish the goods.

Every time an order is placed, the drop shipper orders the product from a supplier who sends it directly to the buyer. You can use platforms like Shopify to build your drop shipping store.

6. Affiliate Marketing

This involves promoting another company’s products/services, earning a commission every time you refer people who end up purchasing the said product/service.

Hosting companies like Bluehost and Hostgator pay up to $100 per referral.

7. Freelancing

Freelancers offer their expertise to individuals and companies on short term agreements. They are self-employed and, if they’re good, can have many clients at time. There are several easy ways to get clients online as a freelancer.

8. Consultation

A consultant helps people solve issues they are facing. You can build your consultation service around an area that you’re skilled at, for example marketing, HR, or accounting, and then find clients on freelancing platforms like Upwork as well as via your own website.

9. Write an e-book

Much like selling stock photos, publishing an e-book can bring in profits for years and years. If you don’t have the time, expertise, or willingness to personally write the book, you could hire a ghostwriter to do it for you.

10. Sell niche products online

Niche products are products that appeal to small groups of people with specific interests. They may include camping equipment, workout supplements, scented candles, camera lenses, etc.

The advantage of selling niche products is that they typically don’t have steep competition, and you can easily sell them on social media, free classified sites, your own shopping store, etc.

STEP 2: RESEARCH AND PLANNING

Once you’ve found a realistic and practical business idea, the next step is to do some research.

There’s nothing worse than finding out that your business has no demand, after having spent so much time and money on it. Research helps paint a picture of the void that need to be filled.

It will help you create realistic plans by providing insight on the trends that are going on in the market, while highlighting the gaps.

Furthermore, it will help you determine the appropriate prices for your products or services, how to brand them, where to find cheap suppliers, how to differential yourself from competitors, etc.

This phase should make it clear whether your ideas are practical, profitable, and generally worth pursuing or not.

Once you’ve completed your research, then the next step is to plan how to execute your ideas. Failure to formulate a good business plan is a costly mistake that many entrepreneurs make.

A plan is the blueprint which guides your actions, keeping you in line with your goals. Develop the habit of putting all your plans to paper no matter how small they may seem. It is very difficult to build a successful business by only relying on memory. A good plan may be what sets you aside from your competitors.

STEP 3: BUILD YOUR PLATFORM

Your platform is where prospective customers can find you or learn more about your business. This could be a website, an e-commerce shopping store, etc.

There are various online tools you can use to build such platforms with ease. Wix, for instance, has simplified the process of building a website to where you can literally drag and drop elements such as images and text and images into position.

Shopify on the other hand is great for creating an e-commerce shopping store where customers can buy your products and pay using PayPal, credit card, etc.

Below are examples of various online platforms that suit different types of businesses:

TYPES OF ONLINE PLATFORMS

For selling physical products:

E-commerce store
Social media pages

For selling services:

A website
Social media pages to promote the services

For selling an online course:

A Teachable account to create and sell your course

For affiliate marketing:

A blog
Social media pages
A YouTube channel

For selling e-books:

An Amazon Kindle Store account to publish on

Remember, other people are doing these things as well and you need to stand out in order to capture the attention of potential customers.

Not only does your platform need to be well designed, but it also needs to be secure, easy to navigate, and has fast loading times.

Many potential customers will not hesitate to leave your site if it seems a bit shady, insecure, or takes just a little too long to load. If you decide to build your site on WordPress, you can host it on Bluehost, one of the fastest web hosts. Here’s an article that compares Bluehost vs GoDaddy.

Take the time and effort to design an outstanding platform right from the beginning. You can outsource the work to a cheap developer on Fiverr if you’re not comfortable doing it yourself.

STEP 4: MARKETING

Once your online platform is ready, you can then move on to the next step which is marketing. But first, you’ll need to get a logo.

A logo gives your business a recognizable mark while increasing its sense of credibility. You could design one yourself, or get one done for you on Fiverr.

During the marketing phase, you can exercise your imagination to find creative ways to grow your business to make more sales. You can either use paid ads or take advantage of free platforms to advertise.

Paid Ads

Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, and LinkedIn Ads are some of the most popular platforms for paid online advertising.

These platforms use the pay-per-click (PPC) model, in which the ads are shown to people but you only get charged for the ones that people click.

One of the benefits if this model is that in enables individuals and businesses with small budgets to reach thousands or even millions of people. With just $5 per day, you can launch an effective Facebook advertising campaign.

Another advantage of the PPC model is that it gives you the ability to precisely target the people you believe are likely to purchase your products. For example, a business that deals with fitness gear can specifically target fitness enthusiasts who are active on fitness related pages.

Most PPC platforms enables you to target people based on their location, age group, gender, interests, etc.

Free Ads

Free ads are also a great way to advertise your business if you are operating on a tight budget.

Over 3.6 billion people use social media worldwide, which makes it the number one destination for reaching prospective customers as they browse the internet. The only caveat is that you won’t get the advanced targeting options you would get on PPC ads.

Once you have created pages on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc., you will need to grow those pages. You can do this by inviting people, posting regularly, and generally providing value to your visitors and followers.

As your business grows, you can consider using a paid ad campaign to grow your following even more.

Classified websites are also great places to advertise your business for free. Some examples of classified sites are Gumtree, Olx, and Ads Africa.

STEP 5: BECOMING A BIG BUSINESS

The first year of business is not going to be easy, so be prepared for a battle. You will need to be disciplined and quickly develop thick skin to help you stay on course even when faced with adversities.

Whenever things get difficult, remind yourself the reason why you’re doing it in the first place. A successful online business will give you the life of your dreams, so don’t get up so easily.

Have an open mind and be willing to try out different things. If one approach doesn’t work, don’t give up altogether, just try another. Be flexible enough to make adjustments, or even go back to the drawing board if need be. It takes many tries to find the winning set of strategies.

Once your business starts generating income, reinvest at least part of it back into the business. Start spending on ads. Hire more people if need be so that you can remain laser focused on the long term vision, while the daily tasks are taken care of.