There are many reasons why someone may want to start an online business. Some people want to quit working for a boss. Others want to make more money without having to be away from their families. Some people just want to have more control over their working house. Does any of this sound familiar to you? Have you been looking into how to start an online business? If so, keep reading here to find out exactly how you can start an online business.
Coming up with your idea
The first thing you need to do to start an online business is to come up with your idea. How are you going to make money? Get out some paper or your computer and start writing up ways that you could make money. Make a list of your skills and passions. What are some things that you enjoy?
By making these lists, you can figure out what skills and passions you can turn into a business. For instance, if you know how to and love to write, you could make a business writing and selling e-books. You don’t necessarily have to settle on the first idea that comes to your mind. Take some time to brainstorm. This process could take you a while. However, it is always best to come up with brilliant ideas than to just hastefully jump into a business idea.
Validating your business idea
Have you found a business idea that you think will bring you a decent income? If so, the next step is validating your business idea. This can be done in many different ways.
You could choose to build or website. Start by making one landing page that advertises your service or product. Spend some time and effort marketing the landing page. From there, you can start seeing how many people are going to be interested in buying your product or service.
You could also choose to run a test. It is fun, easy, and creative. Go to your local coffee shop and tell people you will buy them a coffee if they give you 10 minutes of their time. You will need to be prepared for this – take your ideas, photographs, and information about your potential business with you. When you talk to these people, you can ask them their favorite things about your product or service, what they would change, the amount they would be willing to pay for your product or service, and other questions that you may think to ask them. By doing this, you can get a good idea of whether people would actually be interested in your business idea.
Heading to the library or reading online
Now, you are going to need to head to the library. You will want to learn about how to launch products, market your product or service, create marketing campaigns (unless you are going to pay someone to do that for you), how to launch a start-up business, and anything else you can get your hands on regarding starting a business. There are many books and e-books at the library that allow you to find this information.
Another way to do this is by getting online. You could search for reliable websites. There are many websites that offer free information about creating start-up businesses and selling products successfully. Find all the information you can that relates to starting a business you are passionate about. For instance, if you want to start selling crafts online, learn all you can about marketing these types of products. The more that you learn about creating a successful online business, the more successful you can become. The more successful that you become, the more profits you are likely to make.
TIP! Follow this comprehensive digital marketing course with over 20 hours of training and practical steps you can follow. The course covers SEO, YouTube marketing, Facebook marketing, Google Adwords, Google Analytics and more.
Spreading the word via social media
Social media is at your fingertips every single day. It is time to start using it to your benefit. You can start spreading the word about your product or service on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms. All you need to do is post high-quality content consistently. If you start getting the word out there about your product or service, you can engage with potential customers or clients. Let people know the idea behind your business. Talk to them and ask them what they want to see in your business. The more you communicate and spend time understanding what people want and need, the more successful you can make your product or service.
Creating your business website
After you have determined whether your business idea is going to be profitable, you should create your business website. There are many free places that allow you to create a website. You could also pay to get a custom domain. Depending on which website you go with, you could put a blog or even a store on the website. The cost of the website could vary depending on which platform you use. Your website should have an About Us page, high-quality content, and excellent information about your product or service. You can and should link your business website to your social media accounts, as well. If you feel you won’t be good at creating the website, you can hire a website designer and content writers to do this for you.
TIP! If you’re looking to build a website, check out ThemeForest. They offer 50,000 beautiful templates for WordPress, eCommerce and other websites. No coding experience required.
Creating and utilizing an email list
If you are going to make consistent money from your online business, you need to create and utilize an email list. Email marketing is extremely important to business success. You can have a form on your website that allows people to sign up for your email list. You can also have people sign up through a link that you post on your social media channels. Regular, informational emails from your company about your products, services, or any deals that you are running can help you to make more sales. It could potentially bring in more customers to your business, too. You will want to keep up with your email list, so you know how many new people are joining your list. This will help you to see how much current interest there is in your business.
Writing an e-book
Do you want to give people a better background about your company, products, services, and just more about your business idea in general? If so, creating an e-book is a great way to do this. There is only so much information that should go on your website. If your website landing and product pages are too long, people are going to get bored or overwhelmed and leave your website. You could give them basic information on your website and leave them with a link to your e-book. The e-book can go more into detail about your business, products, and services. While you will want to elaborate on your business, be sure you make this e-book interesting, as well.
Learning from the best
You have already decided what type of business you want to create? You may have even created your business and the website for it, as well. It is never too late to learn from the best. Take some time to research who the experts are in your field:
- Who has made the most money selling products or services that are similar to yours?
- Who has the best reviews online for their business?
Find out these answers and learn from these people or companies. It is sort of like keep your friends close and your enemies closer – except it is to keep your competitors closer. You want to learn from those who are successful in business and this is the way to do that.
TIP! We highly recommend Liquidweb for your web hosting. They offer managed hosting services starting from $19 a month. They also offer powerful dedicated and cloud servers. If you’re not a techie, you will need some support for your questions every now and then and Liquidweb offers excellent 24/7 customer support — the best in the web hosting industry.
Breakdown of the price to start an online business
Are you low on cash, but you want to start an online business? You don’t need to worry. Starting an online business doesn’t have to cost you a lot. Coming up with your business idea is free. You just need a pen and paper or a computer to generate a list of your ideas. Validating your idea doesn’t have to cost you a lot – depending on how you go about it. It could even be as low as about $10. Going to your local library or gathering information online about starting an online business could be free. You can also spread the word about your business on social media for free.
If you want to take advantage of social media boosted posts, this may require little out-of-pocket expenses. Depending on where you go for your website, this could be anywhere from free to $80 for a decent website. You can send out emails for free after people join your email list. Creating an e-book could be free or cost a bit depending on where you go to create your book. As you can see, creating an online business doesn’t have to cost you much. The point of creating an online business is to make money.
Now that you have this guide, you can start making a plan to create your online business.
BONUS TIP! Grow your audience, promote services, and sell products with marketing automation platform GetResponse. They offer a 30-day free trial and you don’t need a credit card.
