I often get asked “what business should I start” or “what is the best business to start” and I always answer with a question; what skills and experience do you have? This is the best starting point for any business idea. Some people’s skills and experience are in creating content and there’s a bit of a struggle in working out how to turn this ability into a business. So today we will look at online content business ideas. These are businesses that can be created by people with above-average skills and experience in content creation. 

Blogs/Magazine

If your particular skills are in writing, editing and creating graphics for print then consider a blog or magazine. The difference between a blog and a magazine particularly online isn’t much these days with terms like Blogzine becoming mainstream. The idea is to create a blog or magazine that focuses on a lucrative subject area. It’s not always what you think though you will need to find out what matters to the communities which you expect to make money from. Every product or business serves a community and the best place to get insights is the intended community. Beauty, fashion, business, personal finance, food, children and tourism are some of the popular areas but you could find many more.

Podcast

Podcasts are very popular. They have kind of taken over the space that radio used to occupy in the minds of people. The advantage is of course being on-demand and delving into topics that don’t usually get airplay on mainstream radio and tv. If your skills are to do with audio content and you can both moderate and drive discussion then podcasting could be the way for you. Podcasts are easy to monetise but that doesn’t make attracting the money easy. You will want to find the right subjects to discuss, subjects that motivate people.

Video

Video is a game that has changed a lot and there is so much more space in it. Presently you have long-form videos and short-form videos. Videos travel well because of how engaging it is.  Travel, food, and activities are some of the popularly explored subjects through video. So a person with skills in video content production can make a name for themself and a business out of video content. There are many angles to consider as well. Some people have made a success out of lifestyle videos, review videos, self-development and so much more.

Community

Communities are becoming a more prominent type of business thanks in part to the internet’s ability to reach people far and wide. Businesses do best when they serve communities and you can also create communities. Building a community around a certain type of content is a good business idea in this day and age. A content creator that decides to focus on health and fitness can create a community all about health and fitness. The key is tyo make it a membership-based community where members will subscribe. Communities aren’t to be sneezed at as they can be used to further make money through selling advertising opportunities to others.

Newsletter

The newsletter is a ridiculously underrated content business idea. When they hear newsletters most people think of email newsletters but the lack of internet neutrality in Zimbabwe has spurred the sending of newsletters through WhatsApp and Telegram among others. Newsletters are effective methods to flex your content creating muscles. You can go as far as to create a paid newsletter but that demands information worth paying for in the newsletter.

Digital products

This category is a wide one but it stands that this is one of the business opportunities for people who have content creation skills. Here you think of ideas such as ebooks, audiobooks, courses and so on. Products that can be sold digitally with the advantage that you make the effort once and they keep selling. Skilled creators can leverage their abilities and experience to create such digital content. It’s best to make products that serve a specific group of people and no group is too small to serve if the product is helpful.

With content dominating the internet there’s no reason why content creators themself cannot be the heroes of the area and build their content-based businesses.