The truth is, that it’s the idea that matters. You have to find profitable online business ideas, since it’s the idea for your online business that get’s you started. The execution decides over your success, but if you are not able to find profitable online business ideas, you won’t be able to execute well and thus struggle making money.

I want to show you my favourite three methods that I use to find ideas for my online business. They will get you started right away and it will be hard for you, not to loose focus on the most enjoyable and profitable ideas!

Combine Brainstorming and Keyword Research

I love this method, because it let’s me go absolutely creative with my thoughts. Whether I’m surfing through the web, following the actual trends in social media or dreaming about the next possible tech gadgets, I’m gathering potential ideas.

When I’m out in the nature, talking to friends or just watching TV, I’m using those moments to let my thoughts flow and I’m capturing whatever comes into my mind in Evernote.

A recent example of a gadget inspiring me is Myo, a great device for controlling other devices via your muscle contractions. The possibilities for utilizing this are endless, if we are capable of leaving our old thought patterns.

After I’ve got a number of items (mostly 10 or more) I head over to Long Tail Pro* or Market Samurai* and perform some keyword researches. When I analyze the keywords, I mostly look for those with > 2,000 monthly searches and fairly low competition in Googles Top Ten. The global amount of sites doesn’t matter! You’re just competing with the best ten, so don’t let 400,000 pages targeting your keyword scare you.

When I found a keyword I go on and think about ways making money with it. Sometimes a well targeted blogpost with an affiliate link is enough, for others it’s profitable to create complete niche sites. The Niche Site Project by SEO expert Spencer Haws shows you the complete way to build a niche site from scratch and make > $500 per month with it.

Talk to People

I can’t stress this enough, collaboration is extrem important for your success!

When you get involved with other masterminds like you, it’s likely to happen, that something great will come out of those conversations. When passionate people meet, it’s always a productive, goal oriented and enjoyable time.

I recommed using groups in social media, even though some of them require purchasing an account first. Most of them are definitely worth their money! I can recommend the Internet Business Mastery Academy*, where I’m also a member of. Their Facebook group currently has more than 500 active (!) users. You can’t imagine the potential of help and inspiration you can get. It’s incredible useful to discuss your (hopefully) profitable online business ideas with this group.

You may talk about topics like defining your target market, experience with software tools, how to let your idea become real, how to sell your products and so much more.

A great free forum is the Fastlane Forum. I’m active in both places and I absolutely love them!

Open Your Eyes and Ears

Going through life with open eyes and ears seems so easy, though it’s really though.

It means, that you carefully search for existing problems in your direct environment. You’re carefully listening to other people and seek for negative aspects in their daily routines.

You could do this sitting in a café, talking a walk or while shopping new clothes. Every time somebody seems to be unsatifisfied, angry or sad, it’s an opportunity for you!

Imagine yourself having your car for repair in a garage. The owner of garage sits mad in front of his PC, because his software is not working as expected. Do you think, he’s the only garage owner using this software? Most likely not!
You could start a conversation with him, asking him what makes him upset. In that conversation he may tell you the exact problems he’s facing. This enables you to look for a solution.

A possible scenario would be, that you phone him and other garages some days later and do a small survey. After defining all problems you could outsource the programming of a better software, because those garage owners will buy them – since it solves a real problem.
You could offer them a upfront payment with a discount to get the necessary capital for the software development.

Think about this again. All you need is one REAL problem in the everyday life of some business or group of persons. You need no money, since you can get capital through upfront discounts. You don’t need to be a programmer, just outsource it. You just need to exactly understand the problem. And the effort to get started.

Every situation where you explore unsatisfaction is a possible business idea! Try to adapt this thought pattern and you will never ever have a problem with finding  profitable online business ideas!

* = Affiliate Links