What do YouTube and eBay have in common? Well, they’re all online businesses thriving off the back of the greatest invention in human history: the internet.
Before the internet, starting a business was a back-breaking venture. You needed capital for equipment, facilities, staff, and marketing—and none of these things were cheap.
But things are different in today’s world. Now, all you need to kickstart your entrepreneurship adventures is a laptop, an online presence, and a sellable idea.
Even if you’ve only got one of these, you can still start a thriving digital brand with the right guidance. That guidance is what this blog post offers. In the next few sections, we offer a step-by-step guide to launching a successful online business. Here are some expert insights into becoming a digital entrepreneur:
Pick a Profitable Idea
You can sell anything online these days—food, skincare products, career courses, fitness plans, etc. The possibilities are almost endless.
However, this simple fact has an advantage and a downside. Yes, the online business market is so broad that almost anything can be turned into a product. But that doesn’t mean you can pick any random passion you have; best to carry out a domain name search for a website, create an online platform, and start hunting for customers.
You have to determine if your idea has the potential to become a million-dollar venture (or at least grow big enough to consistently bring in revenue). And if you don’t already have an idea, you need to find one with that profit-making potential.
In other words, your idea has to be a problem that people are willing to pay money to solve. To help you out, here are the top three niches you can search for ideas for an online business:
- E-commerce stores (clothes, jewelry, health and wellness products)
- Freelancing services (writing, graphic design, virtual assistance, social media management)
- Coaching and consultancy (webinars, podcasts, online courses)
You can use surveys, keyword research with tools like Google Trends, competitor analysis, and social listening to determine which idea within these niches is profitable.
Define and Understand Your Target Audience
It’s easy to focus on all the logistics involved in building an online business and forget about your customers. After all, any business with a great product and efficient frameworks will thrive, right? Well, not quite.
Your customers are one of the most vital parts of your business, and knowing them inside out can help you to tailor your products, branding efforts, and marketing messaging to appeal to their needs, pain points, and interests.
However, when it comes to defining a target market, most business owners stick with surface-level data. Let’s say you offer fitness coaching services, for instance.
It’s easy to say your target audience are first-time mothers who want to get back in shape, but that’s still a bit generic. Instead, you can narrow it down to busy first-time moms navigating career and motherhood and searching for less time-consuming but effective daily workouts.
That’s a much more specific market, making it easier to tailor your offerings. When it comes to defining your target audience, you want to specify the following details:
- Age
- Location
- Gender
- Values
- Lifestyle
- Hobbies
- Pain points
- Buying behavior
- Social media behaviour
Of course, you can’t uncover these details with guesswork. In-depth market research is critical to understanding your target audience.
Build Your Online Presence
Physical businesses require stores, and online brands need a presence on the internet. Your online platform could either be a social media page or a website—or even a combination of both, depending on the business type.
When it comes to creating a website, you can use a CMS or website builder. But, regardless of the option you choose, ensure the design elements match your brand’s image and identity.
Don’t overdo it with the layout, as well. Focus on keeping things straightforward and eye-catching with the right blend of colors, fonts, and images. You also want to follow the same path for your domain name, avoiding anything too complex by keeping it short and memorable.
As for social media, we recommend focusing on where your customers are most active.
Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook are more or less the top three platforms today, but you can’t sell on all of them with the hopes of attracting anyone who comes across your products. You need to figure out where your target audience spends most of their time and focus on that platform.
Define What Makes Your Brand Stand Out
Regardless of how unique you think your business idea is, odds are there’s already someone else selling the same thing. In other words, you likely already have some competition.
Depending on how long they’ve been in the business, they’ve also probably gained a sizable following. Why should their current audience (and anyone who’s still undecided about who to buy from) pick you over the competition? That’s where your unique value proposition comes in.
Your UVP defines what makes your brand different from everyone else in your niche. It could be anything—your pricing, a specific process that makes your results faster and more effective, personalized or exclusive offerings, etc.
Once you’ve discovered what makes your brand distinct, make it a central part of your brand and marketing messaging to attract customers.
Invest in Effective Marketing Strategies
Since you’ve got a profitable product, an eye-catching website, and a unique value proposition, customers should roll in easily, right? Not when they don’t know that you exist.
The reality is, you’re still a new business with zero visibility, and you need to make it easy for your customers to find you. This means that you should invest in extensive marketing.
If you’re not sure where to start, content marketing is a strategy that’s effective on social media and the web. You can combine it with SEO for your website to improve your search rankings and reel in organic traffic.
That said, whether you’re creating content for social media or the web, focus on valuable and insightful content that addresses your customers’ pain points and solves problems. Of course, it should also be related to your products.
This type of content builds trust in your brand and makes you the go-to name for your customers when they finally want to buy. On social media, influencer marketing and user generated content are some strategies to consider. You can also invest in email marketing and paid ads.
Scale and Grow the Business
The way we kickstart businesses may have changed thanks to the internet, but some things still remain the same. For instance, the business world never slows down. Improved products enter the market, often powered by new brands.
In the midst of innovation and increased competition, you must continue to evolve to stay relevant. Here are a few suggestions that can help you grow:
- Pay attention to customer feedback to improve your products
- Invest in the latest technology to streamline operations and processes
- Monitor marketing data and use the numbers to tweak your strategies for better results
- Be open to change and exploring new markets
- Analyze the competition and adapt based on their strategies
- Stay updated on industry trends
You don’t slow down as an online entrepreneur because your business is up and running. Scaling the business is the next step after the launch, and you need to pay attention to your customers and the competition to grow.
Final Thoughts
The internet has made it easy for anyone to start a business. In the digital era, an internet connection and an idea are all that’s needed to begin your journey towards launching an online store, a freelance agency, or a coaching and consultancy service. Got these factors in place? You can go ahead to define your target market and value proposition, build an online presence, and invest in marketing to reel in customers and sales.
