If you have recently started an online business, congrats! Now comes the important part – how well you execute and market your business model in the first year and beyond. Here at Business Jump we provide you with a solid business plan, put you in touch with the right networks to increase your visibility and give ongoing support for your continual development.
But as you’ve probably already discovered, starting an online business is a steep learning curve…
We’ve put together 8 business success tips to help you make sure you’re on the right track to nurture and get your online business noticed, and most importantly, start to see financial rewards.
1. Patience
Building successful online businesses takes time, so yours won’t happen overnight. But with patience, investing your time wisely and treating your business as a revenue making venture, there is good opportunity for generating significant income. Sticking with it and giving it a chance is all part of the journey. If you chuck it in after three months you’ll never know what you could have achieved.
2. Do Your Research
It’s important to research the line of business you’re in thoroughly so you know what you will be able to offer your customers. Take note of what your competitors are providing their audiences, is there a gap or opportunity in the marketplace? What do you like that you can implement into your own site? Also note the things that you see that don’t work so you can avoid them.
3. Know Your Strengths and Attributes
Your online business needs to have a unique value proposition. It should offer something that others don’t and be developed with this in mind. Think about why people would come to your site or use your business. It’s important to know exactly what strengths and attributes you can offer your audience.
4. Develop Your Brand
Developing your brand is basically about making a name for yourself and establishing your business as the leading “go-to source” for your area of interest. Your brand and value proposition need to be aligned in all the marketing you do for your business. This includes the visual elements of your site: logo, colour scheme, font, and tagline.
5. Optimise Your Website
There’s a reason why businesses dedicate a large chunk of time and energy to SEO, in short – SEO, or search engine optimisation, is one of the most important small business tips we can offer. As it enables your website to be found by your customers in search engines and you can’t make sales without customers. Keywords and search terms that are the most important to your business should be used throughout the site in titles, headings, content, page meta titles and descriptions.
6. Post Informative Content
Build up your customers’ trust in your authority as a product or service provider by sharing your expertise through articles and blogging. Articles can be posted directly on your site’s blog and also shared via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for a wider reach on demonstrating your know-how. Fresh, relevant content is also a great way to build up your inbound links, increase organic traffic and raise your ranking for certain keywords and phrases.
Some further examples of shareable content could be:
- Case studies – to show direct benefits of your services and help customers relate
- Feature stories – businesses or topics that are relevant to your site
- Interviews – with key figures in your space
- Videos – are on the rise and great for user engagement
- Infographics – are popular and a quick and effective way to get your point across.
7. Know Your Budget
Overspending on your budget is a surefire way to flounder before your online business had a chance to flourish. You need to plan your spend accordingly and stretch your budget especially when investing in marketing and promotional materials. Google Adwords is a standard method of online advertising and can be a great way to drive traffic to your site. It lets you choose how much you want to spend, and the specific keywords and phrases you want and more to reach your ideal customers.
8. Keep Working On It
One of the major keys to business success is how much work you’re willing to put into your online business (when I say ‘work’, there are lots of tools you can use to outsource and automate tasks see what I mean in this article). Our most successful clients are the ones who are constantly on the lookout for ways to improve their sites and ways to work smarter not harder. Even after your online business becomes profitable you shouldn’t put your site on cruise control.
Want to make sure your online business stays successful? Find out how not to fail with the Business Jump free Masterclass.
