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Updated: December 17, 2023

19 Types of Online Business

Referral Business – 5 Things To Know

Here's how much money you can make with a referral business...

Referral business

What is a referral business?

With a referral business you’re the middleman (or woman) connecting buyers and sellers. You are not the customer, nor do you ever own or provide the end product; you are the bridge between the two sides.

You usually get paid a commission or finder’s fee.

Referral is one of 19 types of online business and considered a Level 3 online business, according to our framework.

Click here to see all 6 levels and 19 types of online business

6 Levels and 19 Types of Online Business

Level 1 = Novice

Okay for side income or beer money, but hard to earn a living.

  1. GetPaidTo
  2. Contests

Level 2 = Intermediate

Best for earning a living online when you’re starting out, but hard to scale.

  1. Remote Job
  2. Freelance

Level 3 = Advanced

Easier to scale and higher income potential, but you usually need significant investment of time and/or money upfront.

  1. Agency
  2. Referral
  3. Resale

Level 4 = Superior

Even more scalable and even higher income potential, but also more complex / difficult / expensive.

  1. Authority
  2. Digital Product

Level 5 = Distinguished

Most complex / difficult / expensive, but the rewards here can be massive.

  1. Physical Product
  2. Cloud Service
  3. Marketplace
  4. Social Network

Level X = Wildcard

These are the misfits. Many aren’t even considered businesses in the traditional sense, but they are all ways to make money online. You typically need a lot of time, money, or luck to succeed with anything here.

  1. Trading
  2. Investing
  3. Esports
  4. Betting
  5. Gambling
  6. Multi-Level Marketing

How can you make money online with a referral business?

Here are the legit ways I’ve found to make money online with a referral business…

Start a Niche Website

Niche websites focus on a specific topic and mainly generate income by referring visitors to third-party products and services via affiliate marketing and/or display ads.

Jill Loeffler started a niche website about San Francisco, recommending different things to see and do in the city…

  • Jill Loeffler

  • Founder of SFTourismTips.com
  • $5,000 monthly website revenue

Sa El has a niche website that helps people buy insurance…

  • Sa El

  • Founder of Simply Insurance
  • $50,000 monthly website revenue

Both Jill and Sa built their sites from scratch.

Another option is to buy and grow an existing niche site…

Buy a Niche Website

For example, Doron Wolffberg and his team bought a niche site for $52k, grew it considerably, then sold 16 months later for a nice profit…

  • Doron Wolffberg

  • Co-founder of Cliverse Media
  • $124,750 company profit from one website flip

Try Affiliate Marketing Without a Website

Instead of building out a full niche website, some people find success promoting affiliate offers via paid ads on social media or search engines.

Robby Blanchard is a prime example…

  • Robby Blanchard

  • Founder of Commission Hero
  • $400,000+ monthly affiliate revenue

⚠️ It looks like it has become increasingly difficult to make money doing affiliate marketing via paid ads. I struggled to find believable examples of people doing it beyond 2019.

Generate Leads for Local Businesses

This is sometimes known as Rank and Rent SEO. You would create a website that generates leads for local businesses, and get paid per lead.

For example, one of Ruan Marinho’s websites generates leads for painters in Connecticut…

  • Ruan Marinho

  • Founder of Develomark
  • $1.5k – $3k per month from one website

Put Ads on a Landing Page and Drive Traffic

⚠️ This doesn’t work well nowadays but old-school online entrepreneurs like Kevin Ham made a fortune with it…

  • Kevin Ham

  • Domainer
  • $70 million estimated annual revenue

Kevin bought up lots of domains in the early days of the world wide web. He set up landing pages on those domains and filled them with ads, then would make money from visitors clicking on those ads.

The ingenious part was how Kevin drove traffic to his landing pages. Details here.

Pros and Cons of Referral Businesses

  • Quite scalable.
  • Strong passive income potential.
  • Little-to-no customer service required.
  • Lends itself to diversification; nothing stopping you from connecting many buyers and sellers.
  • Potential to evolve into a marketplace business (see below).
  • Usually requires a complex set of skills.
  • Slow and/or expensive to start. Usually takes months or years to earn a living from this, unless you can afford paid traffic and use it effectively.
  • Can be quality control issues since you don’t own the products or services you’re recommending.
  • Lots of fake gurus and scams promising quick and easy success.

Is a referral business a good way to earn a living online?

A referral business is a legit way to make money online, but I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners or the faint-of-heart. 

This kind of business is popular because it’s simple in theory and there’s strong passive income potential. But, in my experience, it’s a tough business to succeed with if you’re new to making money online.

Referral Business Resources

About The Author
Niall Doherty – Founder and Lead Editor of eBiz Facts Born and raised in Ireland, Niall has been making a living from his laptop since quitting his office job in 2010. He's fond of basketball, once spent 44 months traveling around the world without flying, and has been featured in such publications as The Irish Times and Huffington Post. Read more...