Setting up a business, no matter how small is a big commitment. Although the internet has made owning and running a successful small business much easier, it’s also added plenty of new challenges you’ll need to think about. With millions of others setting up small businesses online, you need to make sure your brand is unique and maintains a positive reputation.
But, if you’ve got an idea for a small business that you’re passionate about, and are willing to put the work in, having a successful small online business is well within your reach. In this article, we’ll detail some tried and tested tips to make sure your small business is a success. These include giving your e-commerce store a strong foundation and a clear path for growth. Let’s get down to business.
Set Up Your Strategies
No successful business was ever built on improvisation. Although it may evolve or be scrapped entirely, having a plan for your small business will make gaining traction much less time-consuming and challenging. In this section, let’s take a look at some of the things you should prepare before you start selling your products or services online.
Branding
A brand strategy details what your small business’s brand will be, how you will convey it to potential customers, and why that brand is your best bet to overcoming your competition. It’s important to create a cohesive and appropriate brand that immediately evokes your niche. This is because much of your web design and marketing will follow your brand’s lead. You may like to brainstorm some potential branding ideas before you commit a single one to pen and paper in your branding strategy.
- In general, a brand strategy might include your brand story: why you have chosen to set up your business, and how you aim to help people with your products or services.
- Next, your brand personality is key to making your business memorable and unique. Pick a few personality traits that represent your business. For example, if you are setting up a luxury skincare brand, your brand’s personality may be indulgent, perfectionist, and helpful.
- You can also outline your brand voice, which is how your business will communicate with everyone from one-time site visitors to lifelong customers.
- Finally, you should include any policies that relate to your brand’s colors and imagery. This might be what fonts and logos you use and when you use them. These policies will help make sure your brand is cohesive and memorable.
Digital Marketing
Once your brand strategy is complete, you can get to work on marketing that brand. Since your small business is online, you can take advantage of a wealth of digital marketing opportunities to get your brand out there. Your digital marketing strategy will detail how you plan to do just that, helping to focus your efforts and eliminate wasted time or resources. Speaking of, it may be worth listing all the possible skills and resources your small business can dedicate to digital marketing. These may be things such as audio and video recording equipment and editing skills, a professional photographer on staff, or even previous customer service experience.
- Once you know what you’re working with, it’s time to see what resources your competition is taking advantage of. By analyzing your competition’s branding and digital marketing, you can build upon the techniques that bring the best results.
- Then, you can get started analyzing your potential customer base. Your ideal customer relates to your brand immediately and will follow your sales funnel to a definite purchase. Since these are the customers who are most likely to convert, your digital marketing should be aimed at these individuals. Try and outline this customer using age range, gender, financial position, and interests so you can tailor your marketing to them.
- Finally, it’s time to choose what digital marketing tactics you’re going to focus on. SEO is a big one that may need an entire strategy in itself. For now, it’s worth choosing 3 keywords or phrases that represent your business. Try and opt for keywords that potential customers often search for, but that aren’t already in regular use by your competitors. You can also outline plans for social media here.
- Next, choose how you’ll assign your resources and set your goals for these tactics. You should also create a content strategy, dictating how often you’ll communicate with customers through blog posts, videos, email marketing, or on social media.
The more time and research you put into your digital marketing strategy now, the less time you’ll need to spend tweaking your marketing once your store is up and running.
Growth
Your growth strategy will detail how you plan to tackle any industry-wide challenges your business is facing, and where you’d like your business to be in a certain period. By setting out clear and achievable goals, as well as outlining exactly how you plan to achieve those goals, you can tailor your actions and reframe your other strategies to ensure lasting success and avoid stagnation.
Your growth strategy should include any important goals you’re looking to hit. You’ll need to include what resources and experts you’re going to dedicate to achieving that goal, roughly how much time you have to achieve your goal, and how you’ll need to alter your products, services, and marketing.
For example, you may want to increase your market share in the health and wellness sector in the next 6 months. To do this, you may choose to research and source higher-quality materials or ingredients for your products. Then you’ll need to market this change to health and wellness customers. You can assign any relevant employees and marketing tactics to this task
A growth strategy can be helpful at any point in your business’s journey. However, though you likely have a few goals in mind when setting up your small business, you may want to wait before you write up a growth strategy. This is because most small businesses start out battling for the same goals, using the same tactics and techniques. Once you’ve carved out a space for your business within your industry niche, you’ll have a clearer idea of where you want to take your business and how you’ll get there.
Though your plans and strategies should be as concrete as possible, they’ll need to grow and change as your business and brand do. It’s worth re-evaluating your strategies every 6 months for the first few years to find out what’s working and what needs improvement.
Perfecting Your Online Store Website
Perhaps the most important thing to consider when setting up an online store is the store itself. Your website has to convey your brand, help potential customers form an attachment to your business and products, and then convert those individuals. An unsuccessful site will lead to an unsuccessful small online business.
Let’s take a closer look at the must-haves on your site, that will help convert customers and push your business to success:
- Budget Adequately - While it is possible to create your business site for free, this can lead to a lack of professionalism in its design and a struggle to gain customer trust. It’s much better to invest in a site that will help your online business see success. However, marketing your site is another thing that requires financing, so finding the right balance in your budget is key.
- Prioritize User Experience - No one likes to stick around on a site that takes ten minutes to load and is one endless wall of text. Your site should be interesting and inviting, giving potential customers a reason to explore and potentially purchase from you. Cache pages, optimize images, and use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to improve load speed. Make sure your site is optimized for different devices also.
- Earn Trust - Whether it’s your home page, about page, contact page, services page, or blog, your site should have one main aim; to gain trust for your brand and foster customer connection. A people-first approach can be a great way to remove the corporate feeling from a brand, centering your employees and how much they love your business. You should also set up a clear privacy policy that can be accessed on your site, as well as secure your site with an SSL certificate.
- Stand Out - Though your small business niche likely has some reliable branding basics, being experimental in your branding can pay off. Standing out from the crowd with a unique business, brand, and site can draw visitors in, giving them an original cause to support. Some ideas for stand-out branding on your site might be to have a video of you greeting visitors as the first thing they see, or it may be as simple as using unusual and emotive colors.
- Content is King - SEO and searchable, sharable content will help drive organic traffic to your site. After seeing your well-made, user-optimized site, this traffic is what converts into customers and contributes to your success. This is why so many small business owners believe content is king. As well as peppering keywords and phrases throughout your site, you should use relevant imagery and keywords in any videos or audio, too. A great way to get on top of content is to post on your site’s blog regularly, answering popular search questions in your industry niche.
- Be Available - Potential customers and existing customers alike may need to get in contact with you with inquiries about their orders. Having a contact page on your site is a must, as well as quickly responding to emails or calls with all the necessary information a customer needs. You can have a contact form built into your site to ensure you are notified of customer inquiries. Other businesses looking for partnerships or bloggers looking to feature your products can also contact you through this page.
More Tips for a Successful Online Business
Even after you’ve perfected your site, your work is far from over. Achieving success with a small online business takes constant work and dedication. Here are some other tips you might like to try, to make sure your small online business stays reliable and profitable.
Social Media - Although you’ve likely outlined your prospective approach to social media in your digital marketing strategy, it’s worth paying it a little more attention. Maintaining a presence on every social media site, from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, to Youtube, LinkedIn, and Spotify, will take a huge amount of resources. But, if you want your business to be successful, this is a great catalyst when increasing organic traffic.
Feedback - By opening comments on your blog posts and checking reviews on third-party sites, you can help protect your store’s positive reputation and get some great feedback. Using this feedback, you can ensure your business grows in line with what your customers expect from you. They can also serve as a great boost for your business, should any potential customers come across positive comments and reviews.
Research - You may well have done weeks worth of research in the run-up to opening your store. But, just because you know your ideal customer and the current market trends, doesn’t mean those things won’t change. Staying on top of your customer and market research throughout your journey will ensure you avoid potential pitfalls and capitalize on important opportunities.
Sources
- https://99designs.com/blog/web-digital/ecommerce-website-design-tips/
- https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31739/7-components-that-comprise-a-comprehensive-brand-strategy.aspx
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2021/02/25/how-to-create-a-digital-marketing-strategy-eight-steps-to-laser-focus-your-plan/?sh=51cd7fb37a82
- https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/strategy-for-growth
- https://edcollaborative.com/blog/goals-that-you-can-set-to-grow-your-small-business/
- https://www.questionpro.com/blog/business-research/
- https://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-make-a-successful-website/257617/#close
- https://www.businesstechweekly.com/online-sales-and-growth/grow-your-business/how-to-build-a-successful-online-store-10-steps-to-increase-your-online-sales-successfully/
Leave a reply