“What are the most profitable online business ideas to start in 2025” is one of the most googled search queries on the internet.
This can only mean one thing: people are now more than ever, interested in making money passively on the internet.
If you have not started searching for your own queries, you had better join the bandwagon because the future of work is digital tech and Ai dependent.
But you don’t need to comb endlessly through the internet for profitable online business ideas to start, this blog post will take care of that for you.
Why should you start an online business?
Before we go into the plethora of internet business ideas you can start doing, let’s take a brief look at why it is important that you consider starting an online business yourself.
1. It Costs Little to Nothing to Start
Starting online businesses cost about nothing to start. You don’t need a lump sum of money to give to a landlord to rent out their space.
The business is going to be predominantly online, so there’s no need for that.
Today, just by bringing together 3 or more online tools, you can start an online business.
Some online tools have free trials you can leverage before paying a small amount for their pro versions.
In addition to paying for pro versions of these online tools, you would also be paying for a domain name and hosting for your website so that people can find you online.
These things are about the only services you’ll be paying for, and the best thing is that your return on investment will be great.
2. You are not paying staff
When you run an online business, you do not need to pay staff. The easiest way to maintain low overhead cost is to run your own show.
What I mean by this is, get a skill, perfect the skill, add more skills on top of that, and run your business as a solopreneur.
One solopreneur I admire a lot is Latasha James.
She once mentioned on her podcast; the Freelance Friday podcast, that she used to have a number of people work with her as a team, but she reduced a lot of costs when she let them go and started outsourcing the things she couldn’t handle in the business.
You might want to consider that option too. Instead of paying salaries and other things a staff would need, you can just pay other freelancers per project.
You can also consider hiring a virtual assistant to help with a few things in the business too.
3. Good Passive Income
With an online business, you can make money in your sleep.
Although, this will not happen immediately you start the business, but as you go along, and with a good automation systems, you can make money on autopilot.
Passive income is simply working with delayed gratification now so that you can start earning automatically in the future.
And having a profitable online business will help you achieve that.
If I make 20k from passive income in my online business, for me, it’s more fulfilling than making 100k from a daily job.
4. You Run your Own Show
I’m a life-long lover of working for oneself because you can never get the flexibility and freedom you get from it in a 9-5.
Most people that I know who work daily jobs hate their jobs but with an online business, you show up at your own time, whenever you like.
You run your own show and get to experiment with so many things.
Caveat
It will be unfair for me not to say this, that owning an online business is not a bed of roses.
It’s hard work, and sometimes, you may never get the breakthrough that you are looking for if you’re not determined enough.
Sometimes, you have to wake up earlier and sleep later than everyone else.
You may have to empty your entire savings into an idea that may never catch a break.
The business may fail, you may run out of money, you may get fed up and quit.
But for some of us, it’s all worth the risks.
9 Profitable Online Business Ideas to Start in 2025
1. Writing
Writing is a profitable business, don’t let anyone fool you. It actually puts food on a lot of tables.
The only thing that many failed writers don’t know is that there are different kinds of writing.
a) Ghostwriting
Ghostwriting is when you write in the name of a person or a group of people, or even an institution.
Typically, with this kind of writing services, you won’t receive any public credit for the work you do because you wrote it in the name of the person (or group) who gave you the contract.
But Ghostwriting is much more than that, it’s more like a relationship and your services are tied to the authors’ needs, objectives, and work style.
You are hired by a person to create a variety of written materials, including books, articles, speeches, blog posts, and other content, without taking credit for the work.
The client, or the person who hires the ghostwriter, is usually the one who publishes or presents the content under their own name.
If you are not already aware of this, you may be wondering how this is possible, if the piece of written article will ‘sound’ like the author’s work.
The mechanism is this; the ghostwriter works closely with the client to capture their voice, style, and ideas.
This can involve interviews, outlines, drafts, and revisions.
Think of the social media pages of thought leaders that you see online, many of those people are not the ones handling their own pages yet the captions ‘sound’ like them.
The handler works closely with the thought leader to understand their tone of voice so that they can produce content that feels like them.
That’s how ghostwriting works too and I’ve read many books written by ghostwriters. it doesn’t feel any different.
A friend of mine, who does this as his profession has written books for many thought leaders and when I read them there’s not much difference.
b) Blogging
The next best thing to bread and tea is blogging, or at least I think so.
Blogging is another great business you can start online if you know how to write well.
If you want to succeed at blogging, my recommendation is to choose a blogging platform like WordPress and buy a self-hosted domain.
A self-hosted domain is one that will carry your name.com although, it isn’t free.
But would you rather have fisayopatrick.wordpress.com than have fisayopatrick.com?
Which of these domain names sound more professional?
So once you have that out of the way, you can choose a theme that fits your brand and start writing.
Traffic is the life blood of a money-making blog, so you have to make sure that you are constantly sharing posts on your blog and are consistently giving value.
A great blog will have a blog page, an about page, and a services page. And if you want to sell stuff with it, add a shop page.
For me, this blog started out as an ordinary blog, but when I saw that it had a lot of possibilities, I converted it into a website and created a separate page for the blog.
The difference between a website and a blog is that the homepage of a website is static, while that of a blog displays posts in a chronological order.
Having a website feels more professional than just a blog, but ultimately, your blog page is what will get you the traffic, as long as you publish content on it regularly.
c) Newsletters
Writing online newsletters is another profitable online business to start in 2025.
Newsletters are regular publications you send via email to a list of subscribers.
Newsletters are far more personal because people will be receiving it in their emails, a place where only them have access to.
As a result of that, it’s considered the most effective source of marketing. If you can gain the trust of your subscribers, you can get them to buy anything.
Now, what do you share in your email newsletters? I’d say it depends.
First of all, you need to decide on the type of newsletter you want to write.
If you already have a target audience and you know what they love, then share newsletters that target them.
There are promotional newsletters, which focus on promoting products and services.
Now understand that people don’t like to be sold to, so if your promotional newsletters are nothing but that-promotional- then your audience will lose interest.
So dial down the salesy messages a notch and offer valuable content that are either interesting or educating.
You can also create newsletters that provide valuable content such as articles, tips, how-tos, and industry insights.
I have a newsletter where I share pretty interesting stories and it’s on Substack.
As many of my readers have said, my stories either soul-wrenching or soul-lifting, you can subscribe to them here.
d) Copywriting
Copywriting used to be all the rave back then, but now, many young people in my country have either moved into making skits or dancing on TikTok.
I believe that everyone who wants to start and run a profitable business must know the principles of copywriting.
Copywriting is the process of writing persuasive and compelling text with the purpose of marketing or promoting a product, service, or idea.
The goal of copywriting is to influence the reader to take the action that you intend for them to take like making a purchase, signing up for your newsletter, clicking on your ‘buy now’ button, and so on.
The ultimate goal of copywriting is to get people to throw their money at you.
You see those impulsive purchases you make both online and offline, you were influenced by good copy.
Copies can be used across board. Print, radio and Tv commercials, website homepages, product descriptions, even blog posts.
You can also find them in scripts for explainer videos, video ads, post ads, promotional emails, and social media.
Effective copywriting focuses on understanding the target audience, highlighting the benefits of the product or service, and using persuasive language to motivate the desired action.
RELATED: BUSINESS COPIES YOU MUST BE ABLE TO WRITE AS A FREELANCER OR AN ONLINE BUSINESS OWNER
e) Content writing
Another form of writing that can make you a few thousands is content writing.
Content writing is the process of creating written material for various digital and print platforms and the purpose of writing content is to inform, educate, or entertain readers.
The difference between content writing and copywriting is that the latter is primarily focused on persuading people to buy while the former is written to provide value through well-researched information.
Content writing can be found on blogs, social media platforms, eBooks, case studies, product descriptions, and so on.
Good content attracts potential customers and nurtures them through the sales funnel, improves search engine rankings through keyword-optimized content, and keeps your audience informed and engaged with valuable content.
2. Video Editing
Every Tom, Patience, and Lila can edit videos with CapCut and make money from the shoddy results they produce.
Video editing is an in-demand skill because videos are all the rave now, but you can set yourself apart from others by going the extra mile.
Create exceptional videos by combining technical skill and creativity, coupled with a good understanding of your target audience.
Every video must have a purpose and you need to determine the purpose before you start filming.
Is the purpose of the video to entertain the audience? Is it to inform? Or to educate them?
Tailor your content to the interests and needs of your target audience.
Ensure that you write a detailed script or storyboard to organize your thoughts and structure your video.
I stalled starting a YouTube channel because I didn’t know how to use Adobe Premiere Pro or any of the prominent video editing tools.
But when I discovered Inshot, starting the channel was a piece of cake. And from Inshot, I moved to CapCut.
Now like I said before, its not just enough to know how to whip videos together with transitions, you need to understand how to edit and form a story with your video.
Having said that, the best way to learn video editing is by editing videos. I think watching 200 tutorials is enough for you, drop the tutorials and start editing.
Editing a video can be the most challenging part of the entire video production, but it can also be the most rewarding.
This is because, if done well, your video will come out just as you have planned, therefore, the way you edit the videos matter a lot.
It also matters that you follow the already made plan you have on ground.
When filming videos, I make sure that I film enough footage so that I can cover all bases-many video editors call this coverage.
When editing (and filming) your video, pay attention to audio and external sounds because people might forgive you for a bad visual, but bad sound is unforgivable.
So, video editing is one of the profitable online business ideas to start in 2025.
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3. Facebook Ads
There’s a pandemic of business owners running Facebook ads here and there, and what makes it worse is that they are running it themselves.
Just some time ago, someone reached out to me to tell me that Facebook banned their ad account and they have not been able to run ads.
This person knows absolutely nothing about social media (I know because I asked them a few questions).
If I’m not mistaken, that’ll be the 7th person that has complained about their ad accounts to me in a space of 2 months.
It’s such a shame to see that people’s idea of marketing on social media is running Facebook ads.
That’s where you come in.
You can learn the proper way to run ads on Facebook and then position yourself as either an ads trainer, a Facebook ads expert, or both.
And since many people believe its the answer to their sales problems, you can help them do it to get desired results.
So Facebook ads is definitely another profitable online business you can start in 2025.
Like every other online business owner out there, you want to position yourself as an authority in that space and start showing up with valuable content.
Please note this: before you start showing up as an authority in any field, make sure that you have gotten adequate knowledge and can help people get results.
There are many people on the internet that show up as authority figures in their field with no adequate knowledge of what they are talking about.
They just pile up nonsense upon nonsense on their platforms, misleading people.
You want to ensure that you are creating a brand that can share quality and thought-leadership content all the time.
4. Social Media Management
When you offer the right social media management services to clients, you’ll have the tools that you need to grow your own business as a social media manager.
In fact, the easiest way to enter into the world of online business is to manage social media platforms for clients.
But social media management is much more than just publishing content on social media platforms, anyone can do that.
RELATED: Step by Step Guide on How to Become a Social Media Manager in 2025 and Beyond
It’s about crafting out strategies that will help the client accomplish their business goals through social media.
It is much more than waiting for comments and likes on the content that you publish, it involves cautiously planning and properly executing a strategy to cater to the business goals.
To develop a working strategy for social media, you must first research the target audience of the brand that you are managing social media for.
Developing social media strategy is knowing how to allocate resources like cost, schedule, and also proper pricing.
You also need to know how to set up and optimize social media accounts by using key-word rich bio, eye-catching profile image, and highlights that showcases the brand’s offerings.
The key to a good social media strategy is to understand how compelling content is created.
To top it all up, you must understand analytics tools in order to provide an all-round social media management service to your clients.
Most platforms offer built-in reporting that includes important data about your clients’ social media account, so you want to learn that as well.
5. Digital Product eCommerce Store
eCommerce is also one of the profitable online business ideas to start in 2025 is to sell digital products or have an eCommerce site.
An eCommerce site business, is predominantly run online, selling digital products.
Digital products are anything which you can download online.
Some ideas of digital products you can sell are online courses, video trainings, laptop and mobile phone wallpapers, digital memberships, AI soft wares, artworks, fonts, printables, etc.
Selling digital products is not only profitable but also helps you generate passive income, and what’s more, you can reach a global audience.
Driving traffic to your site is your best chance at making big money. Once the store is up and running, all you need to focus on is advertising and marketing.
Digital products sales do not give you any unnecessary overhead or inventory costs.
The success of an eCommerce store relies heavily on branding so focus on creating a strong brand with a niche target market.
This business runs entirely online, and the lack of physical presence means minimal resources, no production costs, no storage costs.
Apart from the previous examples I mentioned, you can also sell PDFs, templates for emails, CVs, cover letters, social media designs, logos, backgrounds, and so on.
The advantage of digital products is that they can be sold relatively cheaply and are free to produce.
6. Graphics Design
Graphics design services is also something you can sell predominantly online.
Graphic designers can make a fortune selling logos, designs, backgrounds, and even fonts online.
So apart from offering your services as a designer, you can also sell these things to generate passive income.
As a graphics designer, you want to target people who are just starting out in business, they will likely not have designers already and since they want to be showing up online, they’ll need some design content.
Advertise your services as a graphics designer by showing up on social media and creating a portfolio website for yourself.
The designers that get booked round the clock are those who put themselves out there as often as they can.
Also as a graphics designer, you can consider being on freelance platforms like like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.
Again, a good tip is to showcase your portfolio, market yourself through social media, and offer competitive pricing and outstanding customer service.
Launching a graphic design business is no small task, you still need to put together a list of graphic design business ideas and services you’re comfortable offering like logo design, packing & label design, signage design, and website design.
You can also include creating presentation slides as part of your graphics design services.
A lot of people outsource presentation slides creation to freelance designers so they can save time and focus on other aspects of the presentation.
This is definitely something you can take on in your graphics design business.
7. Become a Web Developer
With platforms like WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace, you can become a website developer in no time.
What you need to do is to reach out to small business owners who you feel may need a website for their business and offer your services to them.
As a web developer, you are typically responsible for designing, creating, and managing websites.
And since majority of the businesses out there outsource their web development projects to freelancers, you can do it as a part-time job, as a freelancer, or as a full-time job.
It’s entirely up to you, and there’s no need to be concerned about a lack of workplace space or any other physical constraints
I offer website development services and it is pretty profitable. Although there are a lot of factors that contribute to this.
First of all, you need to be a bit tech savvy, not necessarily know how to code (although this is an added advantage), but you may need to do a few things that your knowledge in tech will help you in.
Secondly, you can only create an outstanding website if you are great in writing web copies.
Most website designers only know how to build a website, but if you have web copywriting skills, you can create a website that has good SEO potentials.
This is an added advantage as you’ll be adding the price of copywriting to your website development price.
Also, your clients will be satisfied and they’ll keep coming back.
Another factor is that you need to be skilled in design as well. This will help you choose the right theme for your clients and also help you know how to change styles as you develop the website.
You also need to be resourceful about the kinds of tools to integrate in the website you are creating, some of them are payment gateways, customer relationship management systems, and so on.
Web development is, without a doubt, one of the most profitable industries, if not the most profitable, for many years to come.
8.) Sell Online Courses
Selling courses online is a lucrative business to start if approached strategically. You need to first determine who your course is for.
Are you targeting beginners, intermediates, or advanced learners?
Next, choose a topic you are knowledgeable about and that has demand in the market.
If you know how to cook special delicacies, you can teach people how to cook that delicacy and even upsell them a recipe book.
Think of something you are exceptional at and create a course around it. Then plan your course content meticulously.
Outline modules, lessons, and key takeaways. Include various formats like video lectures, quizzes, assignments, and downloadable resources.
Ensure that you invest in good equipment for recording videos and audio. Clear visuals and sound can significantly enhance the learning experience.
You also need to consider platforms where your online course will be hosted. Self-hosted platforms like Teachable, Thinkific, and Kajabi allow you to create a branded website for your courses.
You can also use Selar, YouTube (set it as private) or your own website.
Another vital thing to consider is marketing and sales.
Email marketing: Build an email list and send regular updates, valuable content, and promotional offers. Use automated email sequences to nurture leads.
Social media marketing: Promote your course on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Use engaging content like teaser videos, testimonials, and behind-the-scenes.
Content marketing: Write blog posts, create YouTube videos, or start a podcast to provide value and drive traffic to your course.
Webinars: Host free webinars to provide value upfront and pitch your course at the end.
A few tools to use is Canva. WIth Canva, you can design your course, screen record, and also edit the video.
For email marketing, my go-to every time is ConvertKit. But you can also check out Mailchimp or Mailerlite.
9.) Create YouTube Channel or Podcast
The final one for this post is to create a YouTube channel or a Podcast (or both, like me).
You can start a YouTube channel, grow it with relevant content, monetize it and start making money.
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.
Making money on YouTube takes years of hardwork, and those who are currently making lots of money from it can attest to that.
About 500 hours of video are published on YouTube every minute, how do you intend to beat that?
The key to succeeding on YouTube is to carve a niche for yourself.
My YouTube channel niche is on social media, online business, and content creation.
It’s a pretty tough niche to be in because it’s a bit crowded, but with so many people doing it, I focus on offering something different to my audience.
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.
Once you meet the eligibility requirements (1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past 12 months), you can apply for the YouTube Partner Program to earn money from ads.
Explore other monetization options like sponsorships, affiliate marketing, merchandise, and crowdfunding.
If you want to build a subscriber base, you need to be consistent with your videos and publish valuable and innovative content.
Regular uploads help keep your audience engaged and attract new viewers.
Growing a YouTube channel takes time. Be patient and persistent, and focus on creating valuable content.
Use insights from analytics to improve your content, upload schedule, and engagement strategies.
Unlike YouTube, a podcast has no monetization reward, the money comes from sponsorships and ad placements.
Podcasts have been a thing since 2018 and they offer a great solution to those of us who live in a fast-paced world.
The beauty about podcasts is that you can listen to them as you commute, workout, cook, clean, do anything because it doesn’t require your active input.
If you want to start a podcast, first choose a subject you’re passionate about and knowledgeable in, then decide on the format (e.g., solo, co-hosted, interviews, roundtable discussions).
My own podcast is majorly about the challenges Nigerian creators face in the country. I do this by bringing creators in my network on board to share how they are coping.
Once you’ve decided on that, determine how often you will release episodes (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly) and decide on the typical length of your episodes (e.g., 20 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour).
Outline your first few episodes, including key points, potential guests, and any necessary research.
The final steps is to create your podcast cover art, choose a podcast name, and then start podcasting.
Conclusion
As technology continues to evolve and people’s tastes shift from what it used to be to something better (trust me, this happens consistently), these business ideas will provide the foundation for building a successful online business for yourself.
By leveraging the right tools, understanding market demands, and consistently delivering value, you can carve out a profitable niche in the digital world.
The future of online business is bright because the future is digital, and with the right approach, 2025 could be your most profitable year yet.