The easiest and straight forward home based Internet business is that of maintaining an E-Commerce site. Depending on the products and services you wish to sell or promote, you can have quite a lucrative business without having to do anything more then promoting your site. You don't need inventory, and you don't have to ship any of the products as this will be the responsibility of the wholesaler. It is so easy that someone who has never run a business will quickly learn how to operate one of these sites and it require only a small start up capital to begin. This open up alot of opportunities for every body who care to improve their life.
In the majority of cases, you contract with a company that already has an E-Commerce site, and they provide you with a "mirror" site of theirs with your code and URL. You are responsible for promoting the site, but you will not be handling the shipping or maintaining of inventory. Normally they will also provide training and teach you how to promote your site. For someone who has a busy lifestyle, this is a perfect business. You don't have to sit at your computer waiting for someone to buy something because it will be automated for you, including the installation of credit card links. The only thing you will have to do is promote your site so that you will have a steady flow of visitors in order to ensure constant traffic and sales. You will receive a commission from those who purchase products from your site. Of course, this is not the only type of E-Commerce site.
You may choose to set up your own website under your own domain name to post links and banners from companies with whom you have agreed to be an affiliate.
Currently there are many companies willing to set up the website for you for free if you join their program and pay for the domain hosting fee. When you sell a product or recruit a member for the affiliated companies through your website you will earn a commission and sometime a residual income as long as the member you recruited remain a member of that particular company. Another revenue is to allow other companies to advertise in your website such as Coogle Adsense, Amazon and many others. In exchange for posting their advertisement or banners on your site, they will pay you for every click or click that create a sale depending on the agreement you have with the company. Of course, these are not as profitable as direct sale through your website, unless you can generate a great deal of traffic as some companies only pay perhaps a few cents per click or sale. However, if you have the time to promote your site, you may generate enough traffic to make it worth wile.
Promotion is the key issue with an E-Commerce site whether it is a mirror site or your own website. The amount of money you make is directly related to how much time you spend promoting your site and how visible your site is. How much you make depends on the scope of your site and your target audience, so it is not something you can predict ahead of time, you have to do the work first and reap the benefits later. The important thing is you have to commit yourself to try, nothing venture nothing gain.