The following 10 home based internet business careers are NOT SCAMS and can get you through our current economic downturn without having to spend a fortune to implement.
They are listed alphabetically without regard to preference or recommendation.
- Call Center Rep.
- Franchise Owner
- Medical Transcriber
- Teacher
- Tech Support Specialist
- Translator
- Travel Agent
- Virtual Assistant
- Web Developer
- Writer/Editor
Call Center Rep
Call center reps take calls from home and are normally hired as independent contractors by companies who have responded to the incessant complaints of business “outsourcing” these jobs to other countries.
The so called “home shore movement” has become a huge industry in the United States and is growing by the day.
Although some companies hire call center representatives directly, most use subcontractors.
Compensation for this type business can be by the minute instead of by the hour, so be careful that you don’t get into a position where you spend time waiting around the phone without getting paid for your time.
In certain areas bilingual call center reps and those with prior experience will command higher compensation for their services.
A simple Google search for “call center representative jobs” will get you all the leads you need to get started.
Franchise Owner
Franchises offer a ready made business opportunity complete with brand awareness, a territory (sometimes exclusive), and a proven system for operating the franchise.
Franchises normally require an initial investment but those that target the self employed, the over 50s demographic, the health and wellness industry, electronic equipment, online devices or anything pertaining to the so called Green Movement can pay for themselves in a surprisingly short period of time.
In short getting into a franchise that can be operated from the convenience of your home is a NO BRAINER.
Medical Transcriber
Transcribing involves listening to dictation and accurately typing the information on hard copy of other media.
Transcribing accurately is difficult and transcribing doctors in particular can be challenging to say the least. Some Doctors have hard to understand accents, slur their words and may be talking to other people in the room while dictating.
For this reason, good medical transcribers with prior experience or training are in high demand and usually earn upwards of $20 per hour.
Teaching
With the advancement of computer technology, the advent of high speed Internet connections and the availability of collaborative multimedia software designed for home schooling; teachers and/or tutors have many opportunities open to them for working online with students.
Distance is no longer a barrier to effective learning and teachers, depending on the subject being taught, can earn six figure net salaries online.
Get Educated is one resource you can start with for getting an online teaching position or just do a Google search.
Tech Support Specialist
One of the top three home based Internet business is the work from home remote Tech Support Specialist.
Computer tech support specialists in particular are expected to be in high demand until at least the year 2016 and probably much longer.
Experienced tech support specialists are hired by call centers and command high salaries in almost any field.
Translators
If you are fluent in more than one language and can translate audio files or documents with an understanding of regional cultural nuances, you will never be without a job on or off line.
Many companies will eagerly hire home based translators with hard-to-find language skills because they can be easily accessed without regard to their geographic location.
In 2008 the national mean hourly wage for translators and interpreters was $20.74 or $43,130 annually. For jobs in management or in scientific and technical consulting services,the mean hourly wage was $56.50 or $117,530 annually.
Today, translators and interpreters make a substantially higher income despite the dismal economy.
Travel Agent
Although scams abound in the travel industry, operating a home based travel agency can be an excellent business opportunity. If you enjoy helping others enjoy their leisure time, this type business my be your niche.
Some organizations that charge for information on how to break into the travel agency business are nothing more than scams however, bona fide organizations do exist and can get you up and running relatively quickly.
Home based Internet business travel agents over the last decade have experienced tremendous growth and those with a solid business plan focused on profitability can be expected to earn $100,000 or more a year.
Virtual Assistant
Being a virtual assistant can be many things to many people. The nice thing about this field is the potential to fit your offering into what you know how to do.
Companies hire virtual assistants to help out when they are unable to justify hiring a permanent employee to their staff. This makes a virtual assistant perfect for the current economy.
You can build a virtual assistant business on your own or work from home for a company that makes you available to other clients or employees.
Virtual assistants can earn anywhere from $15 per hour to more than $100 per hour online depending on their knowledge and particular business.
Web Developer
Information technology is where most home based business hiring is now being done.
You can become a virtual assistant Web developer and offer services such as custom Web site design, custom template modification and redesign, code updates, hosting, and even usability reviews if you have the knowledge and background.
Web developers in particular are in high demand and command the highest net salaries.
A Google search for home based web design jobs or home based tech jobs will provide you with a list of companies to start looking at.
Writer/Editor
Writing, editing and proofreading for webmasters can be very rewarding as a work from home business. Although the printing and publishing industry off line has been suffering, online is a different story.
Even if you don’t have a lot of writing experience, you can join the blogosphere and get paid for posting to someone else’s blog or start up your own blog and get paid for revenue sharing (AdSense, CJ, etc.). The pay range for blogging for others is less than $5 per post to more than $20 per post.
Again a Google search can get you started.
When starting any home based Internet business watch out for scams.
Some indicators of real employment are as follows:
- The entity hiring is an established company.
- The company name and address is included in the advertisement. Don’t reply to blind email addresses.
- Contact information should include human personnel that are available for questions.
- There should be an application and interview process; NOT a squeeze page email offer.
- References or samples of the work product should be available upon request.
- Job duties and expectations should be readily available from the employer.
- Real employment should include a discussion of policies, benefits, vacations, etc.
Although the above 10 home based internet business careers are not scams, care should always be taken to thoroughly research any business arrangement you plan on entering into.
Learning how to find a niche market in today’s gloomy economy can be a daunting task especially when the job hunting opportunities are so dismal.
Gloomy Economy
Starting an online business in today’s gloomy economy may seem like crazy talk but it’s actually a viable option and can be the best way to take control of your income.
While the thought of starting your own home based Internet business can be intimidating, it doesn’t mean that you have to relinquish your current job hunting activities to pursue it.
The amount of online tools that are available which you can take advantage of makes “now” the precise time to consider starting your own home based internet business.
Although many entrepreneurs have made a full time profession out of their well planned, fully developed online businesses; a home based internet business can also be an extremely profitable side job that can still allow you to accept a less than ideal position in the work force.
Learning how to find a niche market in today’s gloomy economy and becoming successful with it requires some honest self evaluation.
First of all, what are your qualifications in the niche market you plan on entering and how do you find a profitable niche market.
Your qualifications are important to your customers. They must be able to trust you personally and an under qualified business owner on or off line will not foster their trust.
If you have been involved in a previous business, section of the government or have a lucrative hobby such as rare stamp or coin collecting, this may be a good beginning for your niche market.
Hobbies in particular can be expanded to create a lucrative business around and if you enjoyed the career path that you have already been involved in, you should consider branching out from it. Both options can provide you with a niche market you are pre-qualified for.
The next step is to determine the viability of your pre-qualified niche.
You need to determine the likelihood of it’s success, the financial and human resources required to execute your online business and the best avenue to present the business to your audience.
This is where business experience comes in and why hobbies and prior business experience can be so important to success in any niche market.
What sector the business is in and what type customers your business caters to are also factors that combined with your personal business knowledge will affect how to find a niche market in today’s gloomy economy.
If you have previously worked in finance, business, or promoting events, you may have a great opportunity to become an online consultant. This niche allows you to offer your expertise and services online with minimal start up costs.
If you are a photographer, web or fashion designer, writer or graphics artist, you should consider becoming an online freelancer. Freelancing requires minimal costs, is easily conducted from your home and offers you the flexibility you may need to persue job hunting opportunities if you so desire.
If you are an inventor, an engineer or an architect, you might consider eCommerce online. There is a plethora of economical and free online tools at your disposal that you can use to market and sell your product on the Internet.
Niche possibilities are endless and limited only by your imagination.
Once you have decided on your niche market you need to set up a plan of action.
- Create a business plan or an outline of where you plan to be in a year or so.
- Develop a customer base to present your business to.
- Set up social media outlets as a primary marketing tool.
- Join business groups and network you product.
The more people you contact regarding your business, the more people will discuss it with someone else.
In an economic downturn, starting your own home based Internet business can be the best way to “take the bull by the horns” and take charge of your destiny.
Learning how to find a niche market in today’s gloomy economy and how to make money online doesn’t have to be a daunting task, and becoming a profitable entrepreneur is definitely not out the realm of possibility.
Improve Mobile Shopping
The really successful retailers have learned how to improve mobile shopping for their customers on their mobile commerce sites.
Mobile commerce presents a tremendous opportunity for retailers when conducted properly and in general, consumers are moving to mobile channel in hordes.
A recent IBM study suggested that mobile commerce users accounted for more than 10 percent of all online traffic sales on Cyber Monday.
But many retailers still face an intimidating challenge; providing a trouble free user experience for their demanding mobile customers that meets their sometimes unrealistic expectations.
Although a slim majority of comments made by mobile shoppers were positive, according to a recent social media survey of the top 35 mobile retailers worldwide; 41% their users indicated frustration of some sort when using mobile shopping websites and/or apps.
Although more than a third of mobile web site users praised their ease of use, time saving characteristics and the increased ability to get great instant deals; less than a fifth of users said that mobile websites were easy to use.
There is obviously room for improvement and the really successful retailers have learned how to improve mobile shopping for their customers.
Over half of negative comments made by mobile shopping users were about obstacles they encountered while trying to complete their online shopping transactions.
Other sources of customer dissatisfaction included apps that didn’t work as promised, forms that were difficult to complete on their devices and instructions that were confusing or incomplete.
Mobile shopping users have extremely high expectations.
Even though they may have successfully completed their transaction on your mobile website; a negative experience using your website could prevent them from purchasing in the future or even cause them to share their negative experience publicly on social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.
Unfortunately, over 80 percent of adults who have completed transactions using a mobile device expect their experience to be better than when making the identical transaction on their desktop computer.
For all you online retailers, the stakes are high.
Not only do you risk losing shoppers on your mobile website, many shoppers are less likely to buy from the same company via other channels if they have experienced a problem while conducting a mobile transaction.
The solution for online retailers to improve mobile shopping is to have a clear knowledge of the online experience they are providing their customers and to correct any problems as they become apparent before other users are affected.
Many online retailers forget that mobile devices lead to new behaviors.
Rotating screens and swiping and varying “folds” are just a couple of behaviors that are associated with specific types of devices that may present device specific issues that may need to be addressed.
To make the most of mobile websites, businesses must recognize that they may need to do some things differently.
Here are some recommendations on how to better capitalize on mobile commerce:
- Make your mobile site easy to use.
How easy your mobile website or app is to use can be a huge advantage over your competition. Research shows that only 17% of mobile users are satisfied with the ease of use of mobile websites on their devices. Streamlining and optimizing your site to make it idiot proof for novice users will benefit you in sales and your bottom line over time.
- Pay attention to user feedback.
Customers use social media to vocalize their likes and dislikes. Use Twitter, Facebook, etc. to see what customers are saying about mobile websites and apps. You can find out what works and what doesn’t by visiting app store reviews. Be open to suggestions and changing your site to improve mobile shopping for your customers.
- Don’t buy into the next “cool” idea.
Before you decide on integrating a new complex process into your mobile website, consider how it will help your customers purchase from your site and from their mobile devices. Implementing a form that orients from vertical to horizontal for easier data entry is a good idea to implement. Other so called “cool” ideas that do not benefit your customers should be avoided at all costs.
Always consider your mobile service from the perspective of your customers before initiating complex processes to improve mobile shopping.
