Setting up a business and starting to trade online is quicker and easier these days than ever before. You can be up and running in a matter of hours in some cases and over the last 18 months, we’ve seen more and more people taking that leap.
There are a number of steps you need to take in order to do so, and luckily we’ve detailed them for you right here…
Number One: Fill a Need
Your business is only as good as your business idea, and the best ideas will find a gap in the market. Before you get started you really need to nail down the market you want to enter, find out where there’s a need, and then fill that need with the relevant products or services.
There are many ways in which you can do this, from conducting market research, to taking on keyword research from Google, reading forums like Reddit etc.
Number Two: Create Strong Copy
The next step is knowing how to sell your business. Online, this will largely come from the content you’re creating. In your copy you need to concentrate on what sets you apart from the rest of the market. Ultimately, a consumer needs to know exactly what’s in it for them, and why exactly they should be choosing you.
Copy needs to be sharp, enticing, create urgency and speak in a language that your target audience understands.
Number Three: Build Your Website
Now, this may feel rather daunting, but it needn’t be. Sure, you probably won’t have the skills to build and design a website, but there are plenty out there that do. If your budget won’t stretch to the tens of thousands of dollars it costs to employ an expert web designer, do not panic.
There are dozens of great website building platforms currently available with tons of great templates which will allow you to build a professional website in minutes. These website templates put together by leading website builder Duda are perfect for a range of different business needs, and you can easily add in your branding to get you up and running in no time.
Number Four: Consider Advertising and PPC
Once your website is up and running it’s time to start reaching out to your target audience. A good way to get started with this is by using PPC or social advertising. It’s a relatively cheap method of marketing, and allows you to hit the exact type of audience you want. You can target specific keywords and essentially have to pay for every time that ad is clicked, so it’s important you target the right keywords to ensure conversions into business on your site.
Number Five: Build Out Your Reputation & Marketing Tactics
From there, you of course need to build out your business if you are going to succeed in the long term. This can be from expanding your site, to developing social channels and engaging with potential customers, to building out your marketing further.
In the case of the latter, this is a must. From PPC you should move into SEO, where you can look to organically rank for the keywords you have bid on, while aspects such as email marketing are also key marketing methods adopted by many successful businesses.
As you expand, you will be able to take more aggressive and wider approaches to your marketing and branding tactics, allowing you to push competitors and develop your own name as an expert, and thus becoming the go-to brand within your market.
This covers the very basics and the essence. Unfortunately, many online business fail due to lack of planning and lack of setting achievable goals. Online business doesn’t differ very much from offline business.