Starting an online business from home isn’t an easy feat. You might be stuck wondering what you can offer potential customers, or where to begin in figuring out how to start an online business.
There are a lot of benefits to starting an online business. Working from home, setting your own hours, focusing on a niche you know properly about, and typically avoiding colossal startup costs.
While starting a business online may be more accessible, in order to grow and maintain you must follow a similar process and principles to starting a traditional business.
There is a proven sequence of steps you can follow to guarantee your success when you’re starting a small business online. I’ve seen thousands of people start and grow successful businesses by doing the following more have also failed.
To help you get started, I’ve written this step-by-step guide that will tell you everything you need to know about successfully launching your business online.
The First Thing To Do When Considering Starting A Business Is To Ask Yourself These Questions. Why?
1. There must be a genuine motive for why you are starting a business that will outlive your generation, never go into it to satisfy your hunger or reap money from people, you might end miserably. Discovering you are why allows your audience to view your business as a living entity with a strong purpose and identification. It also gives employees and customers a way to connect with you on a personal level by including experiences in life. With a strong purpose, your business will have a clear purpose.
Finding your purpose will take some deep thinking on your part. Think about moments of your life that had the biggest impact on you, and consider why they did. Is there a common theme between these impactful moments?
If This Method Doesn’t Work Well For You, Ask Yourself The Following Questions:
- What does success look like to me?
- What does an ideal day look like to me?
- What kind of impact do I want to have in the world?
- What really matters to me?
- What’s an issue I feel passionate about solving?
- What makes you happiest?
- What do you do best?
Take some time to self-reflect and ponder the answers to these questions. Your Why Fuels Your Success.
2. Find Your Niche
The next step is finding your business niche. What is a business niche? A business niche is a specialized or focused area of a broader market that your business serves specifically. According to Charlene Walters, business and branding mentor and author of Own Your Other, finding a niche differentiates your business from the competition and allows you to excel in your sector. As someone setting up a business, it is crucial you identify a niche if you want to create a steady revenue stream, establish a loyal audience and create a more focused business.
Every industry has several niche markets. If you think of a specific product that serves one of your unique needs, you can probably classify it as a niche business idea.
Here’s How To Create a Business Niche For Your Company
- Select your target audience – find an area you are knowledgeable in
- Define an unmet need
- Research your customer base
- Create your business plan
- Market your business to your specific audience.
Identifying your niche comes with multiple benefits including better relationships, less competition, and increased visibility.
3. Build Your Online Presence
Having an online presence creates relationships with customers, builds trust, increases brand loyalty, and drives sales. Just think about how consumers use search engines like Google, Bing, and Apple maps: To get directions to a local business or find its address. To find out the business opening times. To see photos of local businesses and their products or services. To read and write reviews about local businesses. To make an online booking.
This simply means providing customer care service through digital media. Brands that have appraisers on social media platforms are seen as more trustworthy by customers. Your brand should not only satisfy your customers but should also create an emotional connection by inspiring them. No other Avenue provides the ease of spreading a story around your brand as social media does. Making a post on your Instagram, sharing Facebook stories, and uploading videos and other engaging content helps communicate the story or idea behind your brand.
4. Create Value as a Brand
Warren Buffet once said, ‘Price is what you pay but the value is what you get’.
It is easier to compete on price but the value is what will set you and your company apart and create that demand for your products and services. Creating value is becoming even more necessary in the market and finding innovative ways to create this value will ultimately help you to ‘Lead Your Brand’ and lead to growth.
Here are some ways to create value for your customers
Know Your Customer
The starting point to value creation is a business that knows the customer. They know the customer well enough to understand their needs and wants, once you know this, it is easier to innovate and to even predict what they would appreciate or find worthwhile in your service or product to continue to do business with you.
Know and Communicate Your Point Of Difference
Create value by consistently communicating with your customers and communicating the ‘promise of value’. Customers want to do business with brands they like and who deliver on their promises. By communicating your value as a business and following through on the promise, you are establishing the most important aspect to build and grow your brand and establishing a firm foundation of TRUST
Go “MAD” With Value
An important way to create value is to have a societal approach to the product or service you offer, this is MAD (Making a difference) to people’s lives and having an impact. Customers today are looking at brands that care, that care about the bigger picture, and who are giving back.
5. Be Strategic
The Key is to become a strategic business, Owner. Strategy decisions will guide your business in the direction you’re working towards. With so many ways to go, it’s important to keep your vision top of mind. Here are some guiding questions to ask yourself and your team along the way:
- Who are we?
- How do we stand out?
- Where do we want to go in the future?
Once you have an overall picture of your business objectives, narrow down your questions to focus on the more immediate goals that will help you get there. Make sure to stay realistic: keep your plan of action within the resources that you have available, your user base, and your specific market needs.
This information can help you shape the most effective business strategy for your unique business.
Written by Lilian Felix