Many people dream about having an online business, as it gives you the opportunity to work from wherever you want, and when you want.

But what is the cost of starting an online business, and how do you get started, if you have little or no experience with online marketing?

In this article I will answer these questions and show you how cheap, you can start an online business compared to a regular business.

I have started an online business from scratch myself and this is now what I do full-time.

Let me be honest with you right away – starting an online business is not a get-rich-quick thing. Like any other business, it takes hard work and time, but it is possible to get started fairly cheap, which is a great advantage.

And you can learn it even if you have no previous experience.

What kind of business can you start online?

Making an income online is the dream of many people. It allows you to travel and still have an income, decide where and when to work, and you are your own boss.

Because so many people dream about it, there are unfortunately also many scams online that take advantage of this and use it to cheat people to make a living themselves.

When I first started I actually at some point doubted it was even possible to find any legit and honest people making a living online.

But it is definitely possible to make a living honestly online, and there are many ways this is possible if you just know where to look and what to be careful about.

When you look for opportunities there is especially one thing you need to be aware of – if it is a program that promises that you can become rich within a month with more or less no effort, it is probably a scam. Starting an online business and becoming successful takes time and effort, so you need to be willing to put in some work.

Legit ways to have an online business then includes earnings from ads on websites, affiliate marketing (which is a big favorite of mine), having a webshop, offering freelance services, and much more.

In general, making money online is possible by focusing on your passion and working with this, which is another great motivator. Later I will go more into how you get started like this.

Can you make money with an online business?

Before getting to the cost of starting an online business, and how you can get started in a cheap/free way, I just want to address a few things about the potential of making money online.

It is definitely possible to make good money online if you make an effort. It is even possible to make VERY good money.

But as I have already mentioned, stay away from the programs that promise you that this will happen overnight. It is a very important aspect of being able to build an online business that you are not going for the quick fixes and shiny objects, as they rarely work, and that is why I have to emphasize on this.

So to be clear – yes it is possible to make a living from having an online business, and it is also possible to make a very good living and get all the freedom that comes with this.

It is even possible to learn, even if you do not have any experience working online. BUT you will not get rich overnight, and this is important to remember because to succeed you need to go into it with the right mindset.

What does it cost to get started online?

So if you want to start an online business, how much do you have to be willing to invest?

It, of course, depends on a number of different things like what kind of business you want to start and your previous experience. There are some online courses that will cost you thousands of dollars just to get started – some of them are worth it and some of them are definitely not.

But it is also possible to get started very cheaply.

My recommended way to start making money online is to do it by building a website, get traffic to it, and then monetize that traffic. That is, of course, a very quick explanation, but below I will go more into how you can get started with this if you wish to. The great thing about this approach is that it can be done by anyone if you just get a little guidance.

So what would it cost to get started with this approach?

The only thing you really need is a website. For that, I would recommend you to get a domain name, which would cost you around $15-$20 per year, as this is great for branding and for the promotion of your website. But it is also possible to build a website for free if you first want to try to build a website before investing anything.

If you have never built a website before, the most effective way to do this is by getting some guidance. There are of course many free tutorials online, but the free ones rarely give you all the details, you need to build the right foundation. So it can be worth investing in some good training.

Training can have many prices, and as already mentioned you will sometimes find training that costs thousands of dollars and has several extra costs.

But in my experience, it is also possible to get some really good training and all the tools you need to build an amazing foundation for between $250-$350 (below I will tell you about my favorite platform for this). However, you can also get access to certain trials for free and test the training before deciding to invest or not.

So let’s say you go all in – you buy both a domain for your website and training for around $350. Your total investment for the first year of your business would be around $375. And remember it can be done cheaper than this depending on how fast you want things to go, your experience, etc.

Costs compared to an offline business

If you compare the above costs to starting a regular brick and mortar business, it is a very small investment and low risk.

I have looked into starting a brick and mortar business myself, and even if it is a small shop you, for example, want to open, you in most cases would have to invest somewhere between $10,000-$50,000 before you even open the doors.

On top of that, you are committed to having to pay rent, etc. for a while, so it also comes with a big risk. If you want to get out of an online business, you can just stop, and there will be no more costs.

I am not saying online businesses are therefore better than brick and mortar businesses. I am just giving you something to compare the risk/investment with because I sometimes hear people saying that it is too expensive to invest around $300 for starting an online business.

But you have to see it as a business and if you are serious, this is a very small investment that you can fairly quickly make back. And it is definitely worth the investment to be able to create your own business you can make a living from on your own terms, right?

Take your first steps to start an online business

Now you know more about what the potential costs of starting an online business will be.

As mentioned, it very much depends on how you would like to make money. In my experience, the easiest and cheapest way to get started is to get some good training and learn how to build and monetize a website. It has huge potential and can be learned by anyone if you get the right training.

I have worked with online marketing for many years, but I did not know how to monetize my websites and how to properly build an online business.

At first, I looked into a lot of options, tested a lot, and failed a lot.

That is until I in 2016 joined the learning platform Wealthy Affiliate. It taught me the whole process step-by-step, and that is why it is now my top recommendation if you want to build an online business and start making money online.

Because of the training and tools there, I have been able to create a full-time income online.

The great thing about this platform is that you can get started for free. You can join and get access to the first 10 training lessons for free, and you also get 2 free websites. So it is a great way to test out a service, before deciding whether you want to go for it or not.

So if you want to start an online business today, I encourage you to check out read my full review of Wealthy Affiliate below, join for free, and start following the free training step-by-step. You will then quickly build a great foundation and be able to see if it is for you or not.

==>Click to read more about how to start step-by-step on Wealthy affiliate<==

There are other ways to start online but I have tested a lot and, in my opinion, Wealthy Affiliate gives the absolute best value for money and if you are a beginner and have never made much money online the training there is awesome and will really help you build the best possible foundation.

It really does not have to cost a lot to start an online business if you just follow the right training. What is most important is that you are willing to take action and keep consistent – then the results will come.

If you have any comments, need any help, or have any questions, just leave a comment below. I will be more than happy to answer and help you out.