Tips for Launching an Online Business

Launching a successful online business is the new dream goal for most people.

10:01 11 July 2019

And why shouldn’t it be? When you consider the flexibility to work from anywhere and write your own hours, it feels like being a business owner has no downsides. Of course, when you get into the trenches of entrepreneurship, it can feel a little different. For all of its perks, there are serious downsides to owning your own business.

The biggest downside comes when you’re first launching your business or within the first few years that it’s around: Inconsistency. Until you build your brand, you can find yourself leading a feast or famine life, with some months bringing in good revenue and other months tanking. This is when your true skills as an entrepreneur are tested.

Are you able to push through and learn what you need to know to find success with your online business, or are you doomed to find yourself back in an uninspired 9-5 job? These tried and true tips will help you be an online business success story rather than an online business flop.

Content is King

Bill Gates is cited for coining the phrase “Content is King” in an essay he published on the Microsoft website back in 1996. Back then, he was only hypothesizing that the majority of online revenue would be generated by content--that is, stuff that’s written online.

Today, we know his hypothesis is true. Content is such an important aspect of a business model that you almost can’t find online success without knowing something about search engine optimization.

Here’s the low-down, in case the phrase is new to you. Search engine optimization is the art of telling search engines, like Google, why your website matters and why it should rank higher in searches than other similar websites. The key to ranking higher in Google than other sites?

You guessed it: Content. Specifically, high-quality, well-written content that’s better than any other content on the same subject. Many businesses higher freelance writers to ensure that the content on their website is above and beyond the content on any other website. But at the very least, you should be sure to hire an SEO expert to take a look at your website and help you determine which keywords you should be using. Digitrio.com.sg is a great place to start if you’re looking to hire an SEO expert.

Solve a Problem

There’s a lot of noise on the internet. Every day, people sift through hundreds to thousands of websites and advertisements competing for their attention. So which ones stand out? Which ones do they investigate further?

Online businesses that work are ones that solve problems for their customers. For example, if you’re trying to work and your toddler keeps getting into everything, you may find yourself googling how to keep your toddler contained while you work. When google returns a website selling play yards, you’re going to investigate further because you need that problem solved.

When it comes to your product or service, first, figure out what problem it solves and who it solves that problem for. Then, communicate that through your product descriptions and blog posts. This will make your website come up when people are searching how to solve that specific problem. It also makes it easy for you to design advertisements that will specifically appeal to those people in the future.

Get Better Every Day

If you want people to trust your brand and invest in you, then you need to ask yourself every single day what you can do better than the day before. It doesn’t mean that you have to work harder every day, or longer, or more hours. It just means that you have to do better.

Maybe, for your business, “better” looks like investing in an FAQ page on your website so your customers can get their questions answered even when you’re not online. Maybe it means creating a new blog post that answers a question that comes up a lot. Maybe it means investing in better photos for your website, or finally creating a logo. But, especially in the early years when you’re scaling your business, you should focus on getting better and better on a regular basis.

Wrapping Up

The hard thing about starting an online business is that it is by no means “easy money.” Being your own boss takes a different kind of perseverance and mental agility than just showing up and phoning it in at a 9-5 job. You have to set your own deadlines, and if you don’t meet your deadlines or your work doesn’t attain the results you’re looking for, you’re the one who is directly affected.

That kind of pressure can really get to some people, which is why entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. However, if you can handle the heat of entrepreneurship, you can find yourself enjoying financial freedoms and flexibility that you never had when working a traditional job for someone else.