adminDo you have an idea to start and build an online business?
That’s great, because the power of the internet enables and allows you to reach literally every corner of the globe inexpensively whilst you create a business that is amazing and profitable. Even so, how would you if your business idea will be successful? Unfortunately, statics show that most businesses barely make it two years before they fail, and this is due a to number of reasons.
It is important that you do your research before rushing into starting up online select your niche careful. It is true that you can start and manage an online business with a really limited budget, however, even shoestring budgets would need to be protected. Take the following steps before you launch your internet business and you will drastically improve your odds of succeeding in the online world.
Understand How the Web Makes You Money
You need to see if your service or product can use one of the proven web business models for making money online. Shoe stores are viable brick-and-mortar businesses, on the contrary, shoes may not always sell as well on the web. People have to physically try on shoes to make sure they fit. So you need to see if your business idea can fit one of the following methods for proven profit generation on the web for your particular audience market:
- Selling information
- Selling online services
- Reselling another company’s products (retail and drop ship)
- Referring people to make a purchase somewhere else and receiving a commission (affiliate marketing)
- Selling your own products online (for shipping or download)
See if There Is a Viable Market Online
If there is someone already selling a product or service similar to your offer online, you may think that is a bad thing. However, the opposite is actually true. Research the web for businesses similar to yours, then see if they are spending money on advertising and marketing and how. A business that knows what it’s doing won’t throw good money after bad, so a continued advertising campaign shows that a business is making money with the goods or services that it is advertising. This is a positive indication that the business may be a profitable one for you to also enter.
Do Your Smart Keyword Research
It is shown that Google claims 75% to 85% of all desktop and mobile web searches, so we will start our keyword research there. You can type the words “buy ____ online” and “online ____ business” into Google search. Fill in the blank with the name of the product or service that you are offering. Use other variations of keywords and phrases related to the business that you want to start. You want to be able to see thousands or even millions of search results. Multiple advertisements by different companies also reveal that you do have a good idea for a potentially successful web based business.
There are various keyword research tools on the market, such as the Jaaxy Keyword Research Tool.
Figure Out Your Costs
How much would it cost you to build a website?
How are you going to get traffic, through generic or paid channels?
What is your product fulfillment process?
How much will that cost you?
You would need to understand your start-up and management costs for running an online business to find out if it a viable or financially disastrous idea.
Understanding Your Competition
You have to know everything about your competition for you to make money online. Otherwise, starting an online business becomes nothing more than you depending on luck for success. The low-cost business and worldwide reach of the web, although great reasons for starting a business online, will almost certainly level the playing field between you and your competitor. Fortunately, the same Internet qualities that give you a global business reach also make it easy to spy on your competition.
How to Research Your Competitors
First, you have to find out who your competition is! This is easily done. If you want to sell blue extra-large widgets, type “blue extra-large widgets” into Google. What do you see? You’re looking at the search results for web pages that contain the words “blue extra-large widgets”. Spend some time looking through the results.
Many of the results will lead you to your competitors’ websites. Make a list of these businesses and then individually type those names into Google for more in-depth information. You should join the email lists of your top competitors, because there is no better way to know exactly how they are marketing their services online than to receive the information firsthand into your inbox on a regular basis
What Are Your Competitors Doing on Social Media?
Now that you have located your competition, look for evidence of social media marketing on their websites. Find links to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and other top social media sites. Click through those links and see exactly how your competition is marketing their business.
Check for the number of followers each business has. Those competitors who have developed the biggest social media presence bear watching for good online business tips and practices. Are they buying Facebook ads? Do they attempt to sell directly through their social media pages, or do they build relationships first? What time of the day do they publish posts and updates? You can quickly earn an advanced degree in successful web business operation just by observing what works for your competitors.
Go Mobile to Monitor Your Competitors
Bing Finance and Google Alerts will deliver notifications to your mobile device every time a particular company or business name is mentioned. Type the names of your competitors into each application and receive free updates on their activity direct to your mobile.
Glassdoor and Feedly RSS Reader are two other sites that secretly spy on your competition and keep you informed. So when you are out and about, you are updated in real-time as to exactly what your competitors are doing online.
Finally, recent changes in the Google algorithm will penalize a site that isn’t properly optimized for mobile, as it delivers a poor customer experience to mobile users. Check to see if your competitors are optimizing for mobile, and make sure that you optimize your own site accordingly.
Marketing Stats You Must Know Before Start-Up
You may not be a “numbers person”.
If that’s the case, you’re going to have to change that mindset to open and manage a successful online business.
Selling any service or product on the Internet means knowing your numbers before you get started. This dramatically improves your odds of succeeding on the web. Keep the following marketing stats in mind before you start your virtual business.
- According to HubSpot, a full 78% of potential customers conduct their product research online. So your website must be mobile compatible across all devices. Oddly, the majority of these researchers then make their purchases on a desktop or laptop.
- Here is another 78% statistic. 78% of business professionals check their email on a mobile device. This means your electronic newsletter had better be optimized for smart phones and tablets.
- B2C (business to consumer) emails are most likely opened on a mobile device. If you are a business selling products directly to customers rather than other businesses, you need to have an email marketing plan in place. According to the DDMA National Email Benchmark of 2015, B2C emails received a 57.4% better open rate than B2B (business to business) emails on a mobile device.
- Leads obtained through SEO efforts are 8.59 times more likely to buy from you than outbound leads. Search Engine Journal noted that marketing platforms such as print advertising and direct mail have roughly a 1.7% close rate. So your chances of making a sale are better if someone finds your product or service online through a search engine. Any leads you obtain from that traffic have an excellent 14.6% close rate.
- The State of Inbound Marketing suggests you should have a company Facebook page. That’s because their research shows that 80% of all US social network users want to connect to businesses through Facebook rather than some other channel.
What’s the smart takeaway here?
You absolutely must know your business-specific “numbers” before you launch any type of business online.
How Do You Learn the Skills To Get Started?
There are various programs that can help you gain the skills to research if you have a good idea for a business online? After you have found a niche, find yourself a good course or training program that can help you get started the right way and help you by identify lucrative markets which you can offer your products or services.