Away from the fear of what COVID might do, I think SMEs should think about profitable website ideas. Look at what’s happening all over the world, digital products are spiking off the radar in market capitalization.

It’s quite amazing all that has become possible and the opportunities to grow your web-worth are even now almost endless.

The 2020 Airbnb Story No-one Is Telling:

The founders of Airbnb sold cereal to fund their big idea of an Air Bread and Breakfast. By the end of 2020, a company that was expected to crash had raised $3.5 billion and was capitalized at a market value of over $100 billion.

When considering what they did differently, I found an almost mundane but exciting article. Airbnb had cut down on their advertising spend by partnering with mParticle data to employ user-generated data for their organic marketing. They saved $800m just by pausing all advertising spend.

This should tell anyone what they need to know about the future of profitable websites. There is almost endless access to data and information that will allow you to innovate and earn a whole ton of cash.

2021 is that year where everyone would be finicky about what they spend on. To justify expenses, you must either be making people a whole lot of money or helping to make their lives easier as they do that.

Top 5 Profitable Web Businesses to Build in 2021

1. E-commerce. A simple store that sells information products can earn you a decent residual income. In 2020, I ran a digital store that had over two hundred thousand naira in profit (N200k+). I’d recommend for small businesses who cannot afford a full e-commerce website that you check out the Paystack storefront feature.
2. Drop-shipping. This used to be the rave some time not too long ago. It’s coming back with so much more! A lot of people “trapped” in their homes would love to get some of their best products online. A drop-shipping website could be the easiest way to connect manufacturers of products and customers without anyone getting sick.
3. Consultancy. Not every website must be used for product sales or advertising revenue. Designing a website that allows prospects to find your professional practice could be highly profitable.
4. Food Delivery. This could be for uncooked products or cooked meals. Locked away people are hungry people. The need to maximize working from home and social distancing would require a lot of delivery services. The rise of logistics companies would definitely not be stalled as food and product deliveries will expand.
5. Home Services. Time-saving and helpful for tackling stress, home services would come in handy for a lot of people. A recent trend with the US. brands I have worked with is the provision of multivendor sites for artisans and semi-skilled service providers who offer home delivery.

Building an online presence is one of the many ways young entrepreneurs can build resilience for their business ideas. More than ever before, people would be online like we have not seen. We will find entertainment, information, and amusement online and this means that decisions to make purchases would also happen while we are online. In addition to websites, businesses should consider investing in:

• Landing pages; sales and product pages.
• Sales copywriting.
• Social Media copywriting.
• Email campaigns.
• Graphics and social media content.
• Lead magnets or ebooks.

All the above are often useful for promoting whichever website a business decides to develop. I’d love to hear your thoughts so send me a comment or message. If you’d like to get a little more up, close, and personal, then shoot me an email: [email protected]