More recently, the BBC decided to create an online spin-off series, Dragons Den Online. Referred to as the “underground” version of the hit TV show, the online version gives budding entrepreneurs the chance to present their ideas via short video pitches, which are then posted on the show’s website. Online visitors are invited to rate each pitch, on a five star basis, with the best ones selected to present in person to the online Dragons, for TV broadcast on BBC2.

You can see the latest business idea’s at Dragon’s Den Online.

According to Google traffic estimates, monthly Google search volume for Dragon’s Den averages about 350,000 searches per month.

Unlike the TV version of Dragon’s Den, the online version has only two Dragons in the shape of Shaf Rasul and Julie Meyer. Shaf set-up E-Net Computers, one of the largest buyers of CDR and DVD media and optical storage products in the World, and a global import/export hub in Dubai, and was listed in the Sunday Times rich list as having an estimated wealth of £82 million

American-born Julie Meyer is the founder and CEO of Ariadne Capital, an investment advisory company for entrepreneurs valued at £14 million which worked with clients including travel firm lastminute.com, and also co-founded the First Tuesday company, an inter-personal networking forum for venture capitalists and entrepreneurs with over 41,000 active members in 18 countries! She is also a columnist for London’s City AM.

The Dragons have so far invested in several diverse ideas from the online show including Gill Goodchild’s bespoke costume firm “Costume Workshop Direct” which received £35,000, David Warr’s interactive CD Rom program for learning English as a second language “Language Garden” and Alexi Deak’s social networking site “Family Fridge” – the tool that brings your family closer together!

“Family Fridge” received great reviews from various quarters including the Mail and Web User magazine, and presented a unique approach to social networking based around having an online profile that all the family can share. It enables a family to have shared access to a calender, “post it” notes for important reminders, an online messaging service, a private area for storing important information and, most interestingly, a “gift list” service that allows family members to post ideas for gifts they would like to receive, which can then be viewed by the other members. This last idea presents a possible revenue stream for the site, as the gift list could then link to available products and information online, as well as offering a very clear sales lead to prospective sellers.

It will be interesting to see if this site catches on, after the initial flurry of interest when it was presented on the Dragons Den Online TV show in September.

Traffic volumes for “Family Fridge” still seem relatively small, but it seems like it’s happy days for electrical retailers selling “fridges” and “fridge freezers” with Google reporting more than 5 million searches per month!!!

Dragon’s Den Online presents a very simple, accessible way for entrepreneurs to pitch for investment, and because it lets the online community decide which are the best ideas, gives a good indicator of what may be the most popular products and best investment, before the Dragons have even seen it.

Gary Collins, CEO at Status Media, an online advertising digital agency, based in Norwich, UK, said, “I’m a big fan of the Dragon’s Den TV show, perhaps we should show the Dragon’s our unique link building solution or online lead generation service, I’m sure that Peter Jones would definitely like the concept, I would definitely be interested in striking a deal with his existing media business, PJ Interactive.”

Here are our top 5 favourite wacky online business ideas:

1) Google – a robot that decides which websites are most useful to you
2) Twitter – a website where you post random comments, only a few words long, in no particular order
3) Facebook – a website where you share your most embarrassing photo’s and and tell people how drunk you were last night
4) YouTube – a website which arguably replaces TV and where you can watch home movies online just like Jeremy’s Beadles’ – “You’ve Been Framed”
5) Wikipedia – a website where you can find out anything about anything!

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