Top 15 Online Business Ideas To Start in Nigeria

The internet makes it easy to start a business in Nigeria, but what should you start?

Believe me, you would discover the right business for you to start with our list of the best top 15 online business ideas to start in Nigeria.

Starting a business is tough, it’s a long hard slog, and statistically, you’re destined to fail.

In today’s tech-driven society, there’s no reason you can’t start a profitable business from the comfort of your living room.

Running an online business in Nigeria yourself requires all the hard work of setting up a physical business, but once set up, provides ample freedom.

In terms of the business itself, choosing a digital business idea offers multiple benefits.

Online Business Ideas To Start In Nigeria

1. Make Money by Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketers work with brands to increase their sales. You can do this at home by generating traffic to a merchant’s website through an affiliate link.

You’ll then receive a commission on all the sales generated through your link. Commission usually sits between 5% and 20%, to be negotiated per client.

It can be a risky trade as payment depends entirely on your marketing performance: how many sales you generate and how much resulting commission you make.

On the positive side, however, the startup costs are next to none – you can post your affiliate link anywhere to generate sales.

What Is Affiliate Marketing All About?

Affiliate advertising and marketing is an offline or online-based business that offers with advertising and marketing treasured products to people on behalf of the owners of the product for which you are paid.

This is a unique fee for each and every successful sale you make on the product

How To Start Affiliate Marketing In Nigeria Online

The next important question is; ‘How do I become an Affiliate Marketer in Nigeria and make money?’

To become an affiliate marketer in Nigeria is as simple as opening a Facebook account. All you need is;

A smart phone (Any Android phone would do),

A Laptop, and

A source of internet connection

The rest is just to know the best affiliate marketing in Nigeria to join and to have the link to their website and registration portal.

Once you have all these, the next element to do is to go to the internet site for the affiliate advertising and marketing program.

Register, copy the links to their products from your dashboard and paste them on your website and/or social pages hoping that someone who is involved in the product clicks on your link and makes a purchase from there.

If your budget allows, you can reach more people by using paid advertising.

You can use networks such as Amway and Amazon Associates to generate traffic to your merchants as an affiliate.

Amazon, in particular, has a massive audience. One of the most popular affiliate network sites in Nigeria is Expertnaire which specialises in digital products. These items offer much higher commission rates, sometimes up to 75%.

2. Create a Digital Product Store

What better way to profit from our technology-dependent society, than by starting a digital product store.

This is one of the online business ideas to start in Nigeria. This business runs entirely online, and the physical resources required are next to none. The biggest investment at the start will be your time.

Digital products are anything which you can download online. The lack of physical presence means minimal resources, no production costs, no storage costs.

The most time-efficient and cost-efficient products you can sell are PDFs in various formats – templates, for example, offer lots of possibilities: templates for emails, CVs, cover letters, business cards, calendars.

You can produce a template for almost anything and with very little information. A bit of creative flare here goes a long way – people will pay a lot of money for a professional look.

The advantage of digital products is that they can be sold relatively cheaply and are free to produce.

Other examples include eBooks (recipes and ‘How to’ books are the most popular) as well as selling research and online papers.

You can even sell audio files, music and videos on your store as well as fonts, logos, backgrounds. If you can download it, you can sell it!

This business model is one of the most varied and cost-effective options for making money online.

Even if you’re running a local business, you need a comprehensive digital presence you; can check the top 20 places you can promote your business for free.

Marketing needs to be your main expense – to make money your customers need to find you. After that, your products will sell themselves.

3. Work as a Freelancer Online

Working as a freelancer is one of the most flexible jobs you can have, made even more accessible with the internet. Freelancers work on a contractual basis or per hour or project, most work from home and for the hours and times they choose. If you’ve got the skills and the equipment, it’s an almost immediate way to start making money.

It’s a simple concept: capitalise on any specialist skill you may have and turn it into a commercial service. It can be anything from web design to business consultancy or translation.

You can monetise almost any skill. Finding customers is also more accessible than ever with websites like Upwork, Experfy and PeoplePerHour, where freelancers can advertise their services and their prices.

One downside is that work can be irregular, and your income might fluctuate from month to month.

Build as big a network as possible – reach out to everyone you can. To boost your credibility, consider joining an association in your industry. Get in here on how to get a freelancer jobs and make good money.

Main paths to making money as a freelancer in Nigeria

Working with clients directly

Working client direct refers to finding and communicating directly with clients through your own means. That may be networking, existing relationships, or word-of-mouth referrals.

This is one of the hardest paths, but has the highest margins since there are no middlemen in the transaction.

Freelancing client direct also creates more resilient relationships if you plan to freelance for the long-term.

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Subcontracting

Some freelancers don’t like the hassle of finding and communicating with individual clients. For those freelancers, another option is acting as a subcontractor to another company or agency.

Another popular method for finding client work is through a freelance marketplace like Upwork, Fiverr, FlexJobs, or SolidGigs.

These marketplaces serve as the middleman by aggregating freelance jobs on one side of the marketplace and freelance talent on the other. Top Freelancing Websites for Beginners in Nigeria >>>Click Here<<<

4. Start a YouTube Channel

Youtube is a great platform ANYBODY can use to make money.

Firstly, YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world and it is owned by the biggest search engine in the world, Google. 89% of Youtube’s traffic come from outside the US.

Popular YouTubers make massive amounts of money in ad revenue from viral videos. All you need is a camera and an idea – it’s entirely free to create an account and publish videos.

This is one of the online business ideas to start in Nigeria, although there’s serious money to be made on YouTube, for most vloggers, achieving YouTube fame takes years of hard work.

Five hundred hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every single minute. The best way to earn money is in ad revenue or paid partnerships with brands, which you’ll only secure by having a big following.

Building a subscriber base requires consistent, regular and above all, innovative content.

The key to success on YouTube is to find your niche. With so many people doing it, you need to offer something different. Lifestyle, health, fitness and beauty are already very saturated markets – try and find something a little different to stand out.

5. Start a Blog

For creatives, writers or anybody with a keen interest in a particular field, building a blog is for you. You can learn how to Start a Blog In Nigeria and Make Money

It’s a place where you can share valuable or entertaining information to attract a loyal readership.

Building a profitable blog requires the creation of regular, high-quality content to keep readers coming back.

You’ll also need to decide on a niche – millions of blogs exist on the internet and to grow your reader-base you’ll need to narrow down your target audience.

Choosing a niche is also critical for attracting advertising, which is where you can make good money from your blog.

Creating a readership in a particular area will encourage relevant businesses to pay to advertise on your site.

The most commonly used free content management platforms for blogging are WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr.

Once you’ve built a loyal readership, you can consider adding extra content for subscribers and charging a small monthly subscription fee as an effective way to increase your blog’s revenue.

Top Blogging Niches for Bloggers

Here are a few niches to choose and start your blogging career in case you’re thinking of what to blog about in Nigeria.

Health
Personal finance
Online business
Travel
Affiliate Marketing
Fitness
Cryptocurrency
Wealth
Investing
News & Entertainment
Make Money online
Dieting

Even if you’re running a local business, you need a comprehensive digital presence you; can check the top 20 places you can promote your business for free.

6. Become a Copywriter

Online business ideas to start in Nigeria that will help you grow fast is Copywriting. Copywriters create different types of marketing materials by writing sales copy to attract readers’ attention and sell brands, products or services.

A copywriter’s portfolio typically includes sales brochures, web content, sales scripts, sales emails, demonstration scripts, product data sheets and white papers.

Copywriters are always in demand, and big brands will pay significant amounts of money for effective advertising campaigns.

Persuasive, engaging and grammatically sound copy can earn you massive amounts of money.

You can start your business at home with very few resources and enjoy all the flexibility and benefits associated with a career as a freelancer. Get in here to learn how to make money as a copywriter

You can use platforms such as PeoplePerHour and Fiverr to offer your services as a freelance copywriter and to find clients.

The more credible you are, the higher the rate you’ll achieve. Next to relevant background and experience, it’s important to have a sound portfolio to be able to show prospective clients.

You can begin by offering your services for free or for a reduced rate to some reputable clients as a starting point.

7. Create and sell an online course

In many of these online business ideas, we’ve suggested completing an online course in the subject area to establish authority in your field.

But where do these online courses come from?

If you’re a specialist in a particular area, you can produce an online course to take participants through training or education on a topic.

Alongside expert knowledge on your subject matter, you’ll need to be adept at producing media that can deliver the training, in the form of videos, podcasts, websites or apps.

One main advantage of this business model is that once you’ve produced your educational content, you can sit back and relax.

Your courses will generate passive income as they’ll exist on my platforms indefinitely.

As an online course provider, you may consider using platforms such as Udemy, Skillshare and Teachable to grow your sales and market your product.

8. Buy and sell on Jumia

Selling on eBay has become a very profitable business model. Anyone can do it, starting today. The concept is simple: buy products cheaply and sell them on with a profitable mark-up.

The trick lies in finding profitable products. Some of the most lucrative ideas include antique selling, books selling, and selling small accessories, such as mobile phone or hair accessories.

Selling on eBay is fast, cheap and reaches millions and millions of potential customers.

A top tip is always to leave your buyers positive feedback. Positive reviews encourage them to leave you good feedback in return, which will boost your credibility and your sales.

Another tip, take time in photographing your product: the more photos, the better, and the better chance of a quicker, higher sale.

9. Start Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a supply chain management technique which involves selling and delivering products without ever having physical contact with them.

Instead of stocking the products you have available on your store yourself, you only order products from a supplier when you receive orders, and have them delivered straight to your customer.

In this Online business ideas, the primary benefit of dropshipping is you do not have to invest upfront in purchasing and storing large quantities of stock as typical retail businesses would.

You do, however, have to make sure your dropshipping suppliers have a fast delivery time, are reliable and can provide excellent customer service.

You can find many dropship product suppliers on platforms such as Aliexpress and Doba. Alternatively, you can also contact small business owners and ask if they’d be interested in this type of cooperation.

10. Trade in cryptocurrency

The cryptocurrency market boomed in 2017 and remains one of the most popular investment options today.

Trading in cryptocurrency differs from trading in traditional currencies as it cuts out the middleman: the bank. Instead, cryptocurrency is traded directly from seller to buyer.

If you want to make money trading in cryptocurrency, you must understand the market.

You’ll need to study cryptocurrency trends and have a solid understanding of the stock market before you invest.

The best way to make money is the buying and holding method – buy an asset, stocks, for example, at a low price and wait for interest to build up. Then cash out, making a profit.

If you’re going to trade in cryptocurrency, stick to the four leading currencies: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Ripple.

These have been on the market for a while and are therefore safer options. But remember, trading in cryptocurrency is always a high-risk venture.

11. Become an SEO consultant

SEO is vital for the success of any online business. SEO stands for search engine optimisation and involves optimising website content, with the overall aim of ensuring websites rank highly on search engines. Ranking highly generates increased website traffic and boosts sales.

SEO consultants need to know how to conduct keyword research to determine which words are optimal to use in titles, headlines, descriptions, articles or any other text that appears on a website to increase website rankings.

SEO is the most critical success factor for any digital enterprise, meaning SEO consultants are in high demand and can make a considerable profit.

You’ll need experience in the industry, knowledge of SEO concepts such as authority, keyword research, search engine spiders and link building as well as an analytical mind that can interpret data.

In today’s technology-driven society, your service will sell itself – finding customers is your only barrier to success.

Make yourself a website and advertise on social media and LinkedIn. You can also advertise your services on freelance sites such as PeoplePerHour and Fiverr.

To make more money, consider completing an online course in coding or digital marketing to give your business more authority.

12. Become a Social Media Influencer

The popularity of sites such as YouTube and the exponential growth of Instagram has given rise to one of the most lucrative and attractive new careers: being a social media influencer.

Companies create partnerships or run ad campaigns through these “influencers” – individuals with huge followings on their media accounts – as a marketing technique, a method used in almost every industry.

Your best bet for success is to find your niche and hone your brand. Pick something where you know you can consistently create content.

There are so many young people trying to become influencers that it’s become a very saturated market in certain areas, particularly in the areas of fashion, lifestyle and exercise.

Be prepared to hustle: it’s a common misconception that the life of an Instagrammer is an easy one – but expect hugely varied income month on month and a lot of hard graft at the start.

Having a lot of followers on Facebook and other social media channels will be your biggest asset when trying to get paid advertisement deals with brands.

Generating a large following is best done by posting regular content, consistently updating all your social media channels and engagement with your audience. Get here to learn how to make money on Facebook in Nigeria.

Try tagging and mentioning brands to attract them to your profile.

Finally, use hashtags! It may seem outdated for Instagram users with personal accounts, but it’s a great way to play the algorithm on social media and make sure new people can find your account.

13. Freelance Graphic Design

As a graphic designer, you will work with your client to produce visual content that communicates their brand message to their target audience.

Commissioned projects include creating marketing materials such as posters, billboards, logos and packaging.

Graphic designers typically use software Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver to create their work.

The websites we’ve mentioned above for freelancers such as Upwork, Fiverr and Freelancer are great places to market your services, as well as reaching out to companies directly.

14. Develop Apps

If you’ve got a specialist skillset in app design and development, you can market this skill for a significant profit.

In recent years, almost every business has an app, from airlines to supermarkets to fitness influencers to online dictionaries.

App developers are in-demand and won’t be going out of fashion any time soon.

With any freelance business, to start making money, you need a portfolio.

The best way to do this is to offer your services for free to several reputable companies.

Once you’ve built apps that they’re happy with, this will serve as a credible portfolio to attract other high paying clients.

Start by deciding on a platform, for example, iOS, Android and Windows. Make sure you’ve got some qualifications.

A degree in computer science or engineering is a solid starting point, but you can also complete online courses.

The next step is marketing. Try and create a network in the industry. If you can get an internship in the industry, this is a great way to make contacts.

Create a website and invest in advertisement. Contact as many businesses as you can who might want an app developed.

The good thing is, it’s an easy sell – almost all companies can profit from having an app.

Online business ideas then to deal with this, Practise makes perfect! This is the best piece of advice that app developers should heed.

To offer an outstanding service, you need to be an expert in your field. Make sure you’re a specialist at fixing bugs and troubleshooting so you’re not hit with any surprises that could cost you in revenue.

15. Make Money in Data Entry

In this role, you’ll input and manage information in various types of documents. Typical tasks include entering data into existing sheets, creating new data in databases, updating existing records and deleting the files that are no longer of use or no longer current.

It’s a straightforward business to start from home with nothing more than a computer.

Most companies will be spoilt for choice when choosing a company to handle their data entry, so make sure your website is slick and spend time on your marketing campaign.

Some clients will require you to work with various data entry software such as EpiData or Entrypoint Data Entry, so it’s a good idea to master these.

Summary

Launching a company from your own home eliminates the huge overheads associated with investing in a brick-and-mortar office and physical supplies Minimal capital investment means less risk, allowing you to spend more money on advertising to grow your client base.

Operating online also throws your business open to customers from all corners of the world, giving you scope for considerable growth.

What’s your Opinion on these online business ideas in Nigeria, let’s hear your response.