How to Start An Online Business From Anywhere

There is nothing better than owning and maintaining a successful online business. Online businesses give entrepreneurs the freedom and independence to make money from anywhere in the world. Thousands of people start and grow successful online businesses every day.

Thus, here is how to start a small online business that will guarantee your success. 

#1. Fill In A Need

Value is created by finding a need, defining it and filling it with a product or service that generates satisfaction for your customer. To be successful in any business, both online and offline, you’ll need to find that need and fill it. Creating real value and satisfying the needs of your customers, is what will catapult your business to success. 

To find this need within the market you’ll need to try and find a group of people who are searching for a solution to a problem, but not finding many results. The internet has its ways of revealing this kind of information and you can find it in:

+ Online forums – see what questions people ask and what problems they are trying to solve. Product or service opportunities can exist in features, unrealized markets or even in positioning and marketing. 

+ Keyword research – find keywords that a lot of people are searching, but do now have a lot of competition with other sites. The idea here is to pinpoint what you and other people are passionate about. Passion is what will deliver your product or services value and mission to the market successfully. You can use google keyword planner search tool to help you out.

+ Study potential competitors – visit their websites and take notes of what they are doing to fill the demand. Studying the competition will help you identify any unserved niche segments.

Use the things that you learn in your market research to create a product for a market that already exists for it – then do it better than the competition. 

#2. Create A Sales Formula

The most important thing in business is to generate sales. Therefore, before creating the product or service and establishing your presence online, create a sales formula. Take imagined visitors through the selling process from the moment they land on your site or page to make a purchase by using the following proven sales copy formula. 

1. Arouse interest with compelling headlines

2. Describe the problem your product solves

3. Establish the problem your product solves

4. Establish your credibility as a solver of the problem

5. Add testimonials from people who have used your product

6. Talk about the product and how it benefits the user

7. Make an offer

8. Make a strong guarantee

9. Create urgency

10. Ask for the sales

Throughout the process, you will need to focus on how your product/service is able to solve the customer’s problem and improve their lives.

Think like a customer and ask, “What is in it for me?”

#3. Design & Build Your Website

So you’ve got your market, product or service and an amazing sales process, now you’ll need to build an online platform upon which you will present the product or service to the customer. Here, you will need to keep it simple as you will have very little time to get target customers attention. 

Here are some tips to keep in mind as you design and build your platform:

1. Font & colours – choose one or two plain fonts on a white background and choose the best colours to evoke the emotion you want in your customer. 

2. Navigation – make it easy to navigate the site and keep things consistent. 

3. Content – use graphics, audio or video to enhance your message delivery and customer experience. 

4. Information – find ways to collect user information such as including an opt-in offer so you can collect email addresses.

5. Sales Process – Make it easy to buy, no more than a few clicks between potential customers and checkout. Also, include widely used payment options. 

6. Storefront – Your website is like your storefront, so make it customer-friendly and inviting.

You can use Shopify, BigCommerce, WordPress or even Blogger platforms to get your website up and running.

#4. Optimize for Search Engines

Search engine optimization can be achieved either through organic means or advertising. In organic search engine optimization, the aim here is to be on the first page of google for crucial keywords. This process is slow and takes time for traffic to come to you organically.

Time is money and money is time, therefore, the quickest and easiest way to drive traffic to a brand new website is through pay-per-click advertising. Though it will cost you, it will get your website on search pages immediately and also allows you to test different keywords as well as headlines, prices and selling approaches.

#5. Build An Expert Reputation

Establishing an online reputation as an expert will better position you in search engine rankings and bring more traffic.

The secret is to link your site to worthwhile information across the internet. You can do this by creating free expert content like articles, videos or any other content that people will find useful.

Then distribute that content through online article directories or social media sites. Also, encourage your customers to share the valuable content on your site. To become that expert, participate more in industry forums, social media sites – anywhere your target market hangs out.

#6. Utilize Email Marketing Tools

Email marketing is one of the cheapest, most effective and most highly targeted ways of marketing. Thus, making an email list one of the most valuable assets for any online business. Anyone that lands on your website and opt-in your list is a very hot lead.

Before anything else, ensure that you are set-up to receive permission from your customers and subscribers to send them emails. By doing so, sending them emails they asked for won’t be spammy and at the same time enabling your business to forge lifetime relationships with customers. Consequently, use email marketing tools to follow-up on your leads and generate sales for your online business.

Learn More: 12 Valuable Business Lessons Learned The Hard Way

#7. Retaining Customers With Marketing

Marketing is key to customer retention and hence, you should spend a significant amount of time getting to your customers and what they value.

Two simple internet marketing strategies you can use are back-end selling and upselling. They are considered the most important marketing strategies to develop and maintain a loyal customer base. With these marketing strategies, you will be able to keep your customers coming back again and again.

Here are four ways to use back-end selling and upselling:

1. Personalize everything – customers like to feel seen and appreciated. So ensure they are seen and their needs are met.

2. Always offer your products or services that complement your customers’ original purchase.

3. Ensure that you send out loyalty coupons, which they can redeem when they visit your website the next time. Rewards for loyalty will only strengthen your customers’ loyalty to your brand.

4. After every purchase, send and ‘Thank You’ note via email and include offer related products.

Learn More: 5 of the Most Common Fears of Entrepreneurs

Get Your Online Business Out There!

These are just the basics, however, you really can never go wrong adhering to them.

If you don’t want to build a website right now or simply want to sell everywhere. Here is the quickest way to get yourself out there using established e-commerce platforms. These platforms have mastered that art of e-commerce and have their platforms already optimized, have an established relationship with their customers and much more.

Here is a list:

1. Amazon – Worldwide

2. Esty – Worldwide

3. Jumia – Kenya and the Rest of Africa.

4. Kilimall – Kenya

5. Other, Social Media Platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn, etc.

Overall, there is no right and wrong as to how you should set-up and run your online business. Do what works. The most successful e-commerce websites diversify and have multiple revenue streams their own websites. At the end of the day, it is said that customer’s only preference is convenience.

Happy Building! 

Image credits: Top by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels