Weighs in On Building an Online Business: 7 Steps to Success

Published on: 09 January 2019 Last Updated on: 24 February 2020
Online Business

Building an online business is always challenging, particularly if it’s your first business venture. Competition for customers is high in almost every marketplace, so you need to find ways to stay ahead of your competitors. Planning and preparation are crucial for long-term success

When it comes to online entrepreneurship, the CEO of SMEJapan.com, Joel Devidal enjoys sharing his passion and knowledge for his career with others. He serves as an advisor and board member to companies, helping them create bright futures through decisions around strategy, marketing, and development. His intuition and experience help these organizations eliminate excessive operational costs while still delivering quality to the end users.

Here are seven steps detailed by Mr. Devidal for building a successful online business.

Find a Gap in the Market:

Look for a niche or gap in the market that has not already been filled. This may be as simple as finding an area where your competitors are falling short of customer expectations, or it could mean finding a way to provide extra value or novel additions to your products.

For example, if you want to start a business selling residential smoke alarms, it would be difficult to compete with more well-established companies. However, you could create your niche by making your products from recycled materials and working with a designer to create unique and attractive designs.

Do Your Research:

Proper research forms the foundation for any business, but its importance is often overlooked. Researching your competitors is crucial for planning, starting and growing your business.

Customer research enables you to define and target a specific type of customer, making it easier to market your products and reduce advertising costs.

Create a Platform:

Your website is the storefront of your business; it should contain all the information potential customers will want to know, including your contact details, mission statement, FAQs (frequently asked questions) and any legal notices you need to include.

The design of your website should complement the type of business you’re running. Consider hiring a professional web designer to make your platform attractive and easy to navigate.

Build Your Reputation:

Posting regular content on your website or blog is a simple way to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Create well-researched content that is useful to your customers. Stay informed about developments and important issues in your area. Writing content for trade magazines and other appropriate websites will also help to build your reputation.

Drive Traffic to Your Website:

It takes time to achieve high search engine rankings, but there are other ways to drive traffic to your website.

Social media is one of the cheapest and most effective tools for increasing website traffic, but monitoring several social media accounts can be time-consuming. Focus on maintaining a presence on one main social media platform rather than trying to spread your time across multiple platforms. Alternatively, if your budget allows, you could hire a social media manager.

Paid advertising campaigns can also be highly effective at driving traffic to your website, but you will need to consider whether the results will be worth the cost of running the campaign.

Convert Site Visitors to Customers:

Once visitors arrive at your website, it’s your job to convince them to buy your products. Showcasing your products and services with targeted landing pages will increase your chances of immediate sales. However, visitors often need time and extra information before making buying decisions.

Therefore, the main aim should be to capture the email addresses of your site’s visitors. Once you have their email address, you can work on building a long-term relationship through regular email communication.

Keep Customers Coming Back:

Providing an excellent customer experience is the key to keeping your customers satisfied and ensuring future sales. “Happy customers are more likely to recommend your products to family and friends,” stated Mr. Devidal. Keep in touch with customers by sending regular email updates, exclusive offers, and discounts.

Building an online business is a difficult task, but proper preparation will increase your chances of success. Taking the time to do your research and plan your strategy will make all the difference when setting up a new business.

Read Also:

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

View all posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Fast Food Franchise

Experience The Sweet Taste Of Success By Investing In A Fast Food Franchise

Have you been wondering what it’s like to run a thriving, lucrative business that puts smiles on your customer's faces while generating a solid stream of income? Then investing in a quick-service restaurant franchise is the perfect business move you could make! Fast casual franchises offer investors a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reach their financial goals while gaining many benefits and advantages.  As a franchisee, you’ll gain an established brand name, receive the perfect marketing and advertising material, and find the necessary strategies to grow your establishment. Many investors have been flocking to these business models as the fast food market evolves. This is because they offer many benefits and advantages to take your finances to the next level. In this blog article, we’ll explore some benefits of investing in a fast-food franchise. Let’s dig right in! You’ll Have Everyone Talking About Your Franchise One of the key benefits of investing in a fast-casual restaurant is that you’ll receive an established brand name that already carries power within this competitive sector. This is because all the food enthusiasts have already built trust and awareness around the brand. The franchisor has invested time and effort to build the brand name in the landscape. They’ve spent money, time, and energy figuring out the perfect strategies to enable the business to stand out among competitors and impact the landscape. This established brand name is excellent for investors because you won’t have to set the business up for success by yourself. Instead, you can just leverage the power of the brand name. You’ll also gain an established following and customers with awareness and understanding of the brand. This means you’ll be able to figure out the ins and outs of the industry and understand exactly what your clients want and need. With this brand name, you’ll reach more members of your targeted audience in no time! Marketing And Advertising Your Delicious Meals Effectively promoting your mouth-watering meals can be challenging. This is often challenging because, as an owner, you’re not always sure how this media will be perceived or how you will showcase your ability to deliver delicious meals. When you invest in a trademarked business, you’ll gain all the specialized marketing and advertising strategies needed in this challenging sector. As a franchisee, you’ll get the best digital marketing strategies, expert SEO practices, and social media campaigns that will take your business to the highest level of success and victory. Along with these frameworks in place, you’ll also gain access to all the video content, social media posts, and articles surrounding your services and products. Remembering that social media is one of the most important aspects of running a thriving business is vital. This is where your clients can communicate with the brand and find valuable information about the company, all while gaining industry insights surrounding the fast food space. This means you won’t have to develop these strategies and processes yourself. Instead, you can leverage the experience and expertise of the franchisor's top-notch marketing team. So you can relax and rest assured that your business will be marketed to the public effectively. Joining The Broader Franchising Community One of the fantastic benefits of investing in a trademarked business is that you’re not alone on this business journey. That could never be further from the truth!  When you decide to invest in a franchise business, you automatically join a group of franchisees, providing you with a sense of community and support when running your business. This group will give you the perfect advice, supportive resources, documents, and ideal strategies to grow your establishment to the highest level. This will also be the perfect platform for discovering new and exciting business techniques and skills. This will enable you to gain innovative trends, new skills, and the best practices to advance your business in the market. Remember that these other owners are always there to help you and offer valuable advice to help you reach your corporate goals and dreams. This will become your lifeline across this unique business journey you’re embarking on! Training And Information About The Fast Food Sector Are you new to the quick service landscape? No problem; franchising will allow you to learn everything you need to prepare meals. As an investor, you’ll gain expert knowledge and expertise surrounding the fast food industry. This training will be handed down to you as the owner and your staff members who spend hours preparing these tasty meals. Your employees will be taught about the menu, how to make the dish, and what techniques and skills need to be harnessed to succeed in this field. They’ll also be taught how to effectively deal with demanding customers and work with operating systems and processes. As the owner, you’ll also gain all the strategies needed to take your business to the next level! You’ll get specialized strategies to improve your leadership skills and help you run a thriving business. Next, you’ll be taught how to think outside the box and bring all your best business ideas and theories to life to make it in this exciting field. It’s Less Of A Risk It’s known that most businesses close their doors within the first two years of opening. This is because the owners are either new to the field or lack the necessary tools and equipment to make it in the industry. When you invest in a franchise company, you can relax knowing that strategies and processes are in place to secure your business and ensure you operate effectively. This means that your business is safe because the franchisor has established specific procedures to protect the establishment. Closing Thoughts In conclusion, investing in a franchise business could be the best business decision you’ll ever make. You’ll be able to find the best training and educational resources and gain expert experience in the field. You’ll also be given exceptional marketing and advertising strategies that will help promote the delicious meals you’re preparing. As a bonus, you can relax and rest assured that your business will thrive and grow while you become part of a community of franchisees who support you along the journey. Through hard work, dedication, and creative thinking, you’ll experience the sweet, delicious taste of success in no time! Read Also: Are Franchise Crossovers An Effective Way For Mobile Games To Grow Their User Base? Is Packaged Foods A Good Career Path In 2024? – A Detailed Guide Tools to Turn Unruly Seafood Into Dinner

READ MOREDetails
Dry Cleaning Services

Ways to Get Dry Cleaning Services at a Low Price

You understand that some of your clothes require dry cleaning. They have fabrics that are so sensitive that regular washing won't cut it. Things could get worse if you use the washing machine. These clothes could shrink or wrinkle. You don't want these disasters to happen. Therefore, you should ask dry cleaners to do the job. The only problem is that as you start checking the prices, you feel that it is too expensive. Don’t write off dry cleaning services yet. There are ways to get this service without the need to spend a lot of money. Ask for a long-term contract: Find a dry-cleaning service you can trust. If you have already found the best dry cleaners in Chelsea after trying their services once, you can ask them if they provide long-term cleaning services. If they say yes and they can offer discounted prices for choosing to partner with them, you need to sign a deal now. Usually, though, they will require a minimum number of clothes for them to wash each month to avail of the discounted price. If you have a lot of clothes that need dry cleaning anyway, it is not a bad idea. Check if delivery services are available: If the dry-cleaning company can provide delivery services, it helps reduce time and effort. You don't need to go there to drop off the clothes and go back to pick them up. They will come to you to collect the used clothes. It takes a few days to clean the clothes. Once finished, they will come to you and return the clean clothes. You can ask for additional ironing services, so the clothes are ready to wear. As long as the delivery is free of charge, it is okay. Try dry cleaning twice a month: Instead of the weekly dry-cleaning services, you can ask for a monthly service. In doing so, you can save money. Some dry-cleaning companies offer discounted prices if you ask them to clean several clothes in one go. Besides, you might still have enough clothes to last for two weeks without asking for dry cleaning services. Avail of seasonal promotions: Some dry-cleaning companies might offer seasonal promotions during the holidays or off-seasons during the year. As soon as they announce the promotion, you need to be first in line. Given these strategies to avail of cleaning services at a low price, you need to give it a try now. If your clothes have a specific tag that says, "dry cleaning only", you have no choice but to do so. Otherwise, you will be in trouble. You could end up with damaged clothing. You will regret your decision later because you were trying to save money by avoiding the service. Regular washing won't work, especially if you are using a washing machine to do the job. It can be too harsh on your clothes, and some fabrics will not survive a washing machine. Read Also: How To Find Affordable Carpet Cleaning How Cleaning Helps Us Feel Better And Why We Don’t Do It

READ MOREDetails
Amazon FBA

Top 8 Reasons Why You Should Use Amazon FBA For Your Business

Sometimes, in order to reach more customers in a faster manner, businesses need to employ fulfillment services. That kind of service is the utilization of a third-party warehouse, which would then prepare and ship the orders for your business or company. Amazon FBA can provide you the opportunity to double up your revenue.  Today, one of the most popular fulfillment services is Amazon’s FBA. Fulfillment By Amazon or FBA is a third-party service that helps thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs worldwide, offering fulfillment solutions to private and business sellers so they can start their e-commerce or online store at home and expand globally. Now, you can trade and process orders efficiently and you can even save money from hiring people to perform product packaging and shipping because Amazon prep center and freight forwarders, like fbabee.com, can help you. You sell and market the products and the fulfillment center will pick, pack, and ship the products for you. Here are some of the top reasons why you should use Amazon FBA for your business: Different Ways Amazon FBA services Can Lift Your Brand Image   There are multiple ways you can uplift the brand image of your company by listing your name in Amazon FBA. Work out the plans that can help you to achieve your goals. 1. Raises Your Credibility as a Seller As a seller, you need to raise your credibility to attract more visitors and customers to your online store, so they will always return and make future purchases. Since Amazon Prime was introduced in 2005, it has become successful, and many sellers are signing up for Seller Fulfilled Prime. If you have a prime account, it increases your reliability as a seller, and you'll get the following benefits: By offering Prime Services, it reassures customers that you're a reliable seller. Buyers have a peace of mind doing business with you because your store appears to be highly recommended by Amazon. The more products you sell under Amazon Prime, you gain more interested customers as compared to sellers who have not signed up for the Prime Services. 2. Save Time and Effort Doing an e-commerce business is made more straightforward and seamless. Now, you can focus on the most important aspects of your business without worrying about logistics and actual product inventory. Here are the things you can focus on your business moving forward: Strengthening your digital marketing strategies Conduct market research to know what products are selling or in-demand Finding ways to expand your business Restructuring workforce to adopt advanced technologies Upgrading your accounting and management systems Growing your other businesses  3. Secured Buy Box A “buy box” pertains to the white box found on the right side of a product’s detailed page of Amazon. It allows customers can add products to their shopping cart from the sidebar of the page. Increase Your Chance of a Successful Sale. If your store appears on a buy box, more buyers will likely purchase from you because the majority of purchases happen through buy boxes. More Exposure For Your Business. Because your online store is readily visible on a buy box, more customers can see your products. Gain a Good Seller Reputation. With good seller performance, you have a good chance to become one of the top sellers.  4. More Products to Offer You can provide a wide selection of unique and helpful products to your customers. You're no longer limited to offer just a single product. All you have to do is get the pulse of the general market as to what products are in-demand and worth selling for higher profits and implement effective social media marketing and other digital marketing strategies to promote your products.  5. benefit from Multi-channel Service You can use Amazon FBA to serve buyers across different marketplaces, like eBay, Flubit, and even your site. It only means that you’re not just confined selling products on Amazon just to use Amazon FBA, you can also use the service on your other stores on different online marketplaces.  6. Fast-Paced Business Growth Your online business will progress and grow because you'll be able to provide excellent customer service with the help of Amazon. If you have a fast-paced business growth, you’ll earn more profits and have a sooner opportunity to expand. Here are the advantages of FBA to help you grow your business fast: More buyers will purchase products from your online store because you are offering Amazon Prime products and service. There will be more future purchases because of trusted and guaranteed services. 7. Happy and Satisfied Customers As a seller, you can offer guaranteed excellent customer service. Buyers enjoy a wide range of benefits such as guaranteed delivery times and free one-day delivery. You don't have to hire call center representatives to handle customer questions and concerns, because Amazon got you covered. Without even lifting a finger, your customers will highly appreciate you resolving their problems. Amazon FBA products ensures happy and satisfied customers for your business.  8. Less Stress and Hassle The business world is challenging, and many business owners face everyday struggles. It's a good thing that fulfillment services are now available to process orders fast and easy, thus reducing the stress and hassle associated with packaging and shipping. E-commerce is made better than ever with fulfillment services. Conclusion Many lives have been transformed because of fulfillment services, from simple childhood business dreams that became a reality. Everyone is given a chance to do online business without worrying about managing the actual products. Fulfillment services have proven to be a good business venture for small businesses. It's your time to find your spot by starting your business online. Read Also: Your Review Of Amazon’s FBA Wholesale Marketing Course Looking For A New Watch? Shop Branded Ladies Watch With Up To 70% Off On Amazon.

READ MOREDetails