by Thomas Glare:  The world of online business may seem hard to crack. But with a little courage and imagination, the rewards can definitely be worth it.

Read on for foolproof pointers on how to get your own online business on the road to success…

The Tips You’ll Need to Start Your Own Online Business

With the coronavirus pandemic still ravaging the planet, more people than ever are looking to online business to satisfy demands that previously might have been met by bricks and mortar purchases. Now is a great time to look at ways of generating income from the internet, whether as a career or a means to make some extra cash from a side project. While the marketplace is crowded, there are some very clear dos and don’ts about how to make your venture successful without risking everything on a double triple chance. Let’s look at the steps to take to create a thriving online business that can help assure success, whether you’re a veteran online entrepreneur or just starting out.

Find a Niche and Cater to It

Often people make the mistake of basing their online business on a product rather than a market when they’re starting out. A better strategy for how to start an online business is to look for demand and then meet that with supply. You’re trying to find areas where there’s a need that the market hasn’t completely come round to meeting yet. Thanks to the internet, this kind of market research is easy to carry out. You can browse forums online looking for problems people are trying to solve. Or you could do some basic keyword research to discover online business terms people are looking for in areas where there aren’t a lot of other online businesses competing for market share. Once you’ve identified a niche, you can take what you’ve learned to conceive a product for this market to start an online business and cater to its needs better than the competition can.

Find an Online Business Market with Untapped Potential

Many markets may seem saturated to the untrained eye, but some are so in demand that a new online business can still enjoy overnight success. A great example of such a situation is the online betting industry, where the companies still can’t seem to satisfy the appetites of betting fans. When you find a popular industry like this with potential for year-on-year growth that can survive any economic downturn, the sky’s the limit. A lot of shareholders and investors might even consider online betting as the best online business to start for someone new to the field. Working in this kind of field starts you off with a great foundation for your online business plan. It also means it’ll be much easier to learn the ropes and boost traffic when audiences can’t seem to get enough of your product.

Craft Winning Copy

Here’s a tried and tested formula for coming up with compelling copy that leads readers along your selling journey from arrival at your online business to purchase:

1. Attract their interest with a compelling title.
2. Outline the problem that your online business will solve.
3. Establish yourself as an authority who can fix the issue.
4. Show customer testimonials from previous purchases.
5. Describe the product in terms of how it can help the user.
6. Make the customer an offer.
7. Offer a cast-iron guarantee.
8. Generate a sense of urgency.
9. Offer a call to action for the customer to make the sale.

These are the ground rules for effective sales copy. Throughout your writing, you should keep the focus on the ways your product can improve a customer’s life and well-being. Put yourself in the mind of a customer and ask what your online business can really offer with a purchase.

Create Your Perfect Website

So you have a product and market in mind along with some killer copy and a good sales pitch. This means it’s time to put on your online business manager hat and step into the world of web design. You might be tempted to create an intricate customer experience, but generally, less is more. You’ll have a matter of seconds within which to hook a customer’s interest before they click away to somewhere else. So you need to keep your product front and center with these tips:

• Pick a white background with no more than two fonts on the page.
• Ensure that your navigation is simple and intuitive from page to page.
• Only add media like video, audio, and graphics if they push your message.
• Add an opt-in offer with a first purchase so you can gather email addresses and marketing information.
• Make the purchase process straightforward. It should take less than three clicks for a customer to reach checkout.
• Your website is your virtual shopfront, so make it efficient and customer-friendly.

Help Drive Targeted Customers to your Site with Search Engines

The easiest way for new sites to gain visitors lies with PPC (pay-per-click) advertising. While you could wait in the hope that traffic will arrive organically, PPC makes two very convincing arguments for itself as the best way to start an online business on the right foot. First of all, PPC advertising appears at the top of the search results straight away. Secondly, PPC adverts let you experiment with various keywords, along with prices, headlines, and selling approaches. So you’re getting traffic straight off the bat whilst being able to research, which keywords and SEO approaches are scoring you the most conversions. This knowledge can then be weaved through the text on your pages, further boosting your search rankings and generating visitors organically.

Establish Yourself as a Credible Expert

Many people primarily view the internet as a source of information. When you start distributing that information cost-free on sites within the purview of your product, you should start seeing increased traffic and improved search engine ratings. The cheat code is adding a link to your website with each nugget of insight:

• Generate free content providing solid advice. This could take the form of videos, articles, and other kinds of useful media. Use social media and message boards to spread the word.
• Make sure to include “send to a friend” links when posting hot content on your website.
• Make your voice heard in online forums that relate to your online business opportunities. Do the same in social media networks, and you could find yourself becoming an influencer.

It’s great reaching new audiences, even if they don’t all convert to customers. Regardless, the more sites that repost your content, the more links will connect to your site. This helps with search engine optimization for your pages and can send you hurtling up the rankings.

Use Email Campaigns to Convert Viewers into Online Business Customers

Wherever audiences find your content, you want to create the opportunity for them to join your opt-in list. Once you’ve made the crucial first step in this dialogue, the potential for productive customer interactions will bloom. With permission agreed upon to send emails, you will be able to:

• Develop a long-term relationship.
• Respond to their online business needs.
• Receive concrete marketing feedback.
• Access a cheap and efficient marketing that’s highly targeted.

Any visitors to your site who specifically opt into marketing messages should be considered as scorching hot leads. The ball is in your court to follow through on that opening gambit.

Boost Online Business Income Through Upselling and Back-End Sales

A single purchase might be something to celebrate, but it’s impossible to put a price on the value of a lifetime online business customer. The first sale is always the hardest, and customers who buy something from you once are far more likely to buy from you again than a first-time conversion. That is if you’re willing and able to follow up on their initial interest. This is where back-end marketing becomes critical to online business. Induce repeat business by:

• Offering products that relate to or compliment their first purchases.
• Distributing loyalty points or one-time discounts that they can cash in on their next purchase
• Pointing them towards products that align with their initial purchase on the page after their checkout confirmation.

Make sure to look out for your customers, and you’ll find that customers start looking after you.

Take the Leap and Embrace the Future with Your Own Online Business

While online business is bigger than ever at the moment, there’s never a bad time to dive into the internet and see what opportunities it throws up. The landscape of online business shifts so often that it can, in fact, be easier for rookies to find their niche than it is for veterans whose idea of success passed its expiry date years ago. While you’ll have to stay agile to keep one step ahead of the online business competition, the steps we’ve outlined have proven to be relevant whatever marketplace you target. Find a need and create a product to match it. If you have confidence in what you’re selling, your marketing needs to reflect that. Once it does, customers will respond in kind and with the right follow-up actions, you can convert first-time buyers to lifetime clients in a matter of weeks, putting your online business on the track to long-term success. What are you looking for in a great online business? Maybe you have some ideas for a niche in the market that hasn’t yet been met? Let us know in the comments section below.

Bio: Thomas Glare is a full-time online business SEO specialist with a passion for creating high voltage content that keeps audiences on their toes. With a long career in E-Commerce and social media under her belt, she’s always looking to help the next generation of creatives get a step up the ladder.

Source: AWAKEN