The world of trading and offering services online has never been bigger. If you are thinking of opening a business in 2021, chances are that you have already thought about at least having a profile on social media, if not going completely on the web to do your business. Well, here we will give you several neat tips on how to grow your online business!
1. Simpler Websites Are Better
A website is the alpha and omega of all online businesses, its showroom. While designing it, it is easy to get carried away trying to put every possible bit of info on it because you think it’s essential and it will attract the attention of the customer. In reality – sites that are overcrowded and too straining to interpret are much less favored compared to simple and condensed ones.
Think of all the great online businesses, Google, Facebook, Netflix… They all have a very toned-down look, usually with only one defining color, and not a lot of text or information on their main page.
2. Improving Your SEO
This cannot be stressed enough, yet many people don’t even know what it’s all about. Search Engine Optimization is the process of boosting your website’s chance of being found on one of the internet search engines. Most people tend to hire professionals to do it for them, and they don’t even need to be near you but could even be a London SEO agency, for example. As every search engine has different algorithms that determine whether a website will be listed at the top, you need to carefully adjust your presentation so that some keywords are mentioned more, or that you are mentioned in other critical places also.
3. Keeping Customers Updated and Aware
Although there’s a chance of it being marked as spam – sending emails to your clients and customers every now and then is a great way of making sure you don’t lose touch with them. It would be a very smart move to start making a mailing list right from the beginning, as every person who interacted with your business is a potential customer and worth having in mind.
Make sure that the emails you send are unique enough for the machine to not recognize them as spam, but also not too friendly and familiar as you are still representing a business and want to maintain such a relationship with clients.
4. Have Reliable IT Support
There are many reasons why you should consider hiring an IT expert for your company, or at least have a deal with an IT company to maintain your website. Those who do their business exclusively online depend greatly on their website functioning properly, as any bug or delay in that part means lost revenue.
Having someone to jump to your aid in case of a hacker attack or when you expressly need to update some information is therefore of the utmost importance.
5. Be Present on Social Media
As the number of users of social media platforms continues to rise we are faced with the fact that that is the best possible way of reaching out to people over the internet. Today even businesses that are very local have profiles on some platforms, so if you’re serious about your online business you have to have a presence there also.
Depending on the type of business you do, you will want to focus on different sites, but have all those profiles interlinked so that potential clients can find your content more easily.
6. Be Present in Real Life Too
Even though your field of conduct might be entirely online, such as giving consulting services, you should still consider actually having an office or exhibition space for it. For starters, it is a great place to make some content for marketing so you can show that you exist as a company.
Secondly, there are clients who might learn about you online but will want to meet you in person to do business – so having an appropriate space to welcome them and have a meeting is a big plus! Of course, if all of this is out of your budget you can always settle for a rented space for the occasion that can do just the trick.
7. The Attention Span is Short – Grab It!
Studies show that the average attention span of users on the internet is only a few seconds long, and is decreasing! This situation presents a very difficult problem regarding what to show on your website so it is both informative, relevant but also draws attention.
For starters, your website should load as fast as possible so you don’t lose any users to the waiting time. After that the main information you want to convey, such as a product or a message, should be clearly visible, without much, or any, pop-ups to disturb it. Unless you have established customers that don’t mind it – the initial impression should be very concise and attractive.
8. Cater to Mobile Users
As more and more people have smartphones at their side it’s very likely that you will need to adapt to their needs and create a mobile-friendly site.
This is a job for web developers and they will have to do the needed programming for it, but it is still up to you to see what content and in what way it should be shown, as well as how optimized searching through it should be.
9. Connect with Colleagues
Your online presence will only be highlighted if you’re also a part of a community that shares a trade. In reality, this doesn’t mean forming a union or closed market but being present on forums and chat rooms where colleagues exchange ideas and opportunities.
If others perceive you as friendly and professional they will be likely to share projects with you or outsource to you if they cannot manage an order, for example. They will also sometimes mention you in their marketing if you’ve collaborated, and that is always good for business.
Swimming with the sharks is not easy in any business, especially not on the internet where the big sharks don’t have any physical borders. Luckily for you – neither do you, and the worldwide web offers an almost unlimited market for all but the vaguest of products. Following these simple tips, you can thoroughly grow your online business in every direction and maybe one day even be considered a big shark yourself!