7 tips for creating successful online business

There is a secret to successfully launching an online business, and it’s all in the basics. The internet is such a fast and crowded place that often entrepreneurs rush through the basics to get up and running quickly.

That is a fireproof way of halting the success of your business. So, how to take the first step and successfully start your business online?

Find a need and fill it (Find your niche)

Avoid making the common mistake of first focusing on what you’re selling and only then to whom. The first thing you should do is to identify your niche. Your goal is to determine a group of people that can’t find solutions to their problems. Luckily, you have tools and resources to help you with that:

– Scour forums related to your market or search Quora to get an idea of what kind of issues people are trying to solve.

– Scope out your potential competitors using this handy tool Nibbler, which allows you to spy on your competitors SEO, social media performance and satisfaction. Look into the content they produce – low-quality content and lack of transparency are great areas to outrank them in and take over.

– Examine a mix of different keywords on Google Trends and Google AdWords keyword planner to identify the keywords companies fail to compete for, but many people are searching.

Write copy that sells

Your consumers are looking for a solution to a problem, and a quality copy can gently nudge them along their journey to finding the fix. So before you start with the creative process, have a clear understanding of your product and the experience it brings. Once you have a clear vision of that, follow the fireproof advice below for compelling content:

– You must start with a robust and exciting headline. Your headline is the first thing your customer will see, and it must be interesting enough to peak their attention to find out more. So use the Headline Analyzer to test your headlines before you post.

– Use Grammarly and Hemingway App to improve your writing style and quality of content.

– Always remember that all your consumer wants is for you to solve a problem for them, so ensure you include information about how your product will help them. Convince your reader you understand their struggle by sharing your experience with them. A shared experience will peak their interest to find out how you got through it.

– Empower emotions to allow your reader to see the world without their problem. Invoke fear by positioning your product as the only solution to their problem and your pitch is halfway done.

– Show your audience your product is the answer, by providing credible reviews, testimonials from previous clients and social proof.

– Introduce powerful CTA buttons. Considering the product or service you’re selling, ensure that you incorporate those fluidly into your copy. The key to successfully persuading them to buy is by making the process insanely easy. There should be no more than two steps from a visitor to a customer.

Your copy should always highlight how your product will solve your consumer’s problem and improve their quality of life.

Design and build an easy-to-use website

Once you have found your market and have polished off your content strategy, it’s time to build yourself a website. Keep the design simple and easy to use – you cannot afford to lose customers to poor design. Start by choosing a reliable and supportive hosting provider like Hostinger and an easy to use web builder like WordPress. Pick a beautifully designed and well-built template. Browse the vast library of customizable templates on BYLT to find the one that fits your niche. Ensure that navigation is clearly visible on your site and the journey from visitor to a customer should not be more than two clicks away. Create graphics with Canva and PicMonkey to complement your message. Fire up Sleeknote for secure email collection and mailing list building.

Use search engines to drive traffic to your site

Producing quality content and waiting for people to find it won’t drive traffic to your site. Be proactive on your social media by sharing links to your site. Twitter is perfect for snappy messages, and Instagram and Pinterest are excellent for image-heavy promotions. Get Buffer to manage all your social media in once place to increase activity across all channels. Paid search and display advertising are the most obvious ways to attract traffic to your site is. Paid-per-click marketing will position your website on the top of search pages and will give you the freedom to test different combinations of keywords and headlines to establish your highest-converting content. Use that information to scatter the most successful keywords across your site to boost your SEO.

Establish an expert reputation for yourself

When people are on the hunt for information, they turn to the internet. Become the go-to source for information for your niche, and you can quickly boost your search ranking and drive traffic to your site. Create useful, bite-size content to deliver expert advice. Use GoAnimate to montage fun animated videos or Haiku Deck to create engaging presentations and scatter them online using social media channels. Create free content like cheat sheets, eBooks, and checklists to take away. Identify the networks and social hubs where your market can be found and become an active contributor. Most importantly, always include links with each effort that link back to your site.

Follow up with your customers and subscribers with email

Incorporating email collection and easy subscription on your site is crucial for building your mailing list. Sleeknote and FeedBurner are great tools for email collection to include on your website. Once a customer subscribes to your site, it means that you’ve succeeded in helping them with their problem and they want more. It’s important to follow up after each sale with a ‘thank you’ note and an update of what’s to follow, as it will help you build a loyal customer base. A growing mailing list is also excellent for email marketing, which is cheaper than any other traditional form of marketing. The success rate of email marketing is higher too, due to how well targeted it is.

Increase your income through back-end sales and upselling

The most critical marketing strategy online is the one that helps you establish lifetime value for each of your customers. Following up with your clients is important to prompt them to buy from you again, so you the techniques for back-end and upselling to persuade to return. Utilize your ‘Thank You’ page by including links to similar products your consumers just bought. Email them with promotional vouchers and discounts after their first purchase. Start a ‘friends discount’ scheme to encourage them to share their experience with family and friends and drive more traffic to your site. The first sale is crucial to hook your consumers in, so reward them, and they will return the favor.

The internet is a fast-paced universe, where things are always changing. And yet, the fundamentals of how to successfully launch your online business remain the same. So if you’re just getting started, you can’t go wrong if you follow the advice above. If your business is already up and running, but your growth is stalling, consider reviewing your process and go back to the basics. Incorporate all the above into your business strategy, and there is no reason you should not succeed!

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DISCLAIMER: This article expresses my own ideas and opinions. Any information I have shared are from sources that I believe to be reliable and accurate. I did not receive any financial compensation in writing this post, nor do I own any shares in any company I’ve mentioned. I encourage any reader to do their own diligent research first before making any investment decisions.