This is the digital age, where most businesses are online. And if they’re not, they should be taken online. The internet has offered up an invaluable resource for reaching new people, with a lot less money, allowing small businesses to reach customers around the globe. But the idea can feel daunting. How do you get started? What do you need to know? Where do you find website design inspiration? Well, thankfully you have our handy little guide to help you.
Read on to find out all the ins and outs of getting your online business off the ground.
Create a website
source: unsplash.com
The first step of launching your online business is to start up your business website. It is the virtual premise for your customers to explore, so much like a real shop, everything has to be clear, engaging and, most importantly, show what your brand stands for at a glance.
One particular tool that can assist you in creating a highly engaging website is Editor X. It allows you to intuitively design your site with more freedom in choices rather than simply using a ready-made web template.
A customer, but especially an online customer, has a short attention span, and will not hover around somewhere they think they won’t get anything out of, so you have to determine your demographic and then tailor your website to engage them.
Plus, because of impatient customers, it is important that your website is free from bugs or glitches. Customers aren’t going to wait around during long loading screens to see if you’re worth it, and any bugs on the path from item to payment can be enough to cancel a sale.
Luckily, chances of this happening are lowered if you use a website builder, like WIX. As well as ensuring your website stays at its best, while being entirely customizable, WIX offers a range of online tools to help you get started, like a domain name creator and extra features like booking forms.
Create your content
source: unsplash.com
If you are going to attract people to your website, you will need to give your audience something to engage with: this is where content comes in. You will attract audience members with content either you or your marketing team has created for your website.
You can do this on your own, appealing to customers who prefer the homegrown and genuine approach, and if you do it right you can create a few pieces of content to post across platforms.
It’s useful to know what social media platforms will appeal to the audience you are aiming for, and what their content media mainly is. For example, Instagram and Pinterest are primarily photo-based, where YouTube is the monopoly on long form video content. For short form video content, use TikTok and Snapchat. You can add all of these to Twitter and Facebook, but the customer primarily uses these to gain information and updates, so they are best for posting offers and stock updates.
If you are stuck for ideas on what content to make, take a look at some other brands. Some platforms encourage users to tap into trends, like TikTok that has trends that change with the wind. Others have staples that will never die, and long-lasting genres you can tap into. YouTube is best known for this. You can create a channel around, for example, cleaning or family life and create video after video using your cleaning products – and before you know it you’ll have an oddly satisfying community following you. Read this article on asakyu.com to learn the tips on how to create a successful YouTube channel.
Other pieces of content can be posted everywhere. Ideas like demonstrations of your product, ideas on where it can be used, and reviews of your product can all be filmed and posted across Instagram stories, TikTok and YouTube channels, and Facebook and Twitter posts.
Learn your digital marketing
source: unsplash.com
Marketing your business online is far better than the means traditional media has been using. It’s far cheaper, more accessible, and, importantly, far more effective.
However, in order to make it as effective as possible, you will need to understand the data side of things. This is the boring part, but it is as vital a part of marketing as your content or website.
Luckily, it’s not hard to pick up. There are guides you can follow online to get the basics, or if you really want to nail it, you can take the extra step of taking an online course. Read up on your Search Engine Optimization (SEO), keyword research and affiliate marketing to find out what you need to understand to keep eyes on you.
SEO determines how high you rank on Google’s search options. You are aiming for at least the first page since no one looks at the second page. You do this by keeping your website relevant to the people looking for it, using keywords.
You can also market your business or brand through affiliate marketing. Other creators making content, such as influencers or bloggers, can create content around a link to your site, driving their audience to your site. This can be as subtle as a mention in a blog post about something else, or as bold as a dedicated shoutout on an Instagram story.
And you’ve got the basics understood. Before you know it you will have masses of customers streaming into your site.
