Does it seem harder than it's ever been to come up with an idea for an on-line business?

The internet market is saturated bu like products off the internet, the old saying applies"if you can't beat them,join them!

What I mean is,find a product that is popular or was and look to improve upon it;make it better by re thinking it's purpose.

I definitely agree about the marketing being saturated. I have an Etsy shop and a crafty blog. I frequently browse Etsy for blog feature items and cannot believe how many hits I get for so many different items.

I'll search for something that I think is fairly specific such as "vanilla soy candles" and get over 2,000 hits.

I think that my best advice if you have a specific business that you want to pursue is to make your shop unique. Develop your own photography style and item designs.

I too am struggling with this. I keep thinking that there must be something that I am overlooking! I think we have to start thinking "outside the box"...easier said than done though :-).

A lot of businesses are started when people are annoyed about goods or services that they can't get or that aren't particularly good (or because they lose their job). I've seen some really quirky and unusual ideas be successful: posting what you're wearing everyday, photos of something good that you saw that day, a site for renting private car spaces, lots of really successful stuff around products and activities for kids....think of Google and how they started with the idea to improve search...and look at how technology is constantly improving, phone apps is another area for inspiration.

Think of the problems of the thousands of small businesses that need to integrate technology into their business. They have invested billions in "old school media" for advertising and marketing and must shift online. What problems can you solve for them?

What tools?

Wow! What terrific answers! I have asked this question a few times in the past on a couple different web-sites and was quite taken back by the answers.

They consisted of people being quite childish and other answers simply didn't make any sense. It was discouraging.

I guess this goes to show again that there are many quality people with great intelligence who communicate well, enjoy helping others and getting together to collaborate here at Hubpages. How refreshing! Looking forward to seeing future answers.

Thanks so much!

No. No market gets saturated. It depends on our creativity and ability to redefine the business.

If we say its saturated it is something akin to this.

Rumor had it that, back in 1899, U.S. Commissioner of Patents Charles H. Duell declared that everything that could be invented had been invented.

(In actuality, Duell's supposed comment and his recommendation that the Patent Office be closed down proved an urban myth. Of course, that didn't prevent the metaphor from being abused by pundits such as yours truly, or by presidential speechwriters.

As they say sky is the limit and we are limited only by our thinking ...

Yes becasue even if you are smart enough to come up with an idea that is original and not saturated online, you still might not be able to get a good domain to support it. These days, so many good domains are already taken.

Yes I Agree, the internet market seems to be extremely saturated. Every one has though of everything but you can find a market that is less saturated and improve on what someone else has done.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.