How to set up an online business

Business is booming in the online world. Thousands upon thousands of web shops and blogs are created every day, but what distinguishes a successful online store from a store that will completely flunk? In this article we’ll take a look at what’s really important when it comes to setting up your own online business. Who knows, after reading it, you might decide that now is the time for you to take your great ideas off the shelf and start an online business with them!

7 Fundamental Steps

This isn’t some clickbait article (“7 Steps to setting up a successful online business!”) that will give you some fluff with no real information in it. We are, however, going to give you some steps. These steps zoom in on what’s important when you first want to set up an online business. Where do you start? With these seven steps:

1. You need to find your niche. A niche is your specialization. Say you really like knitting, but nobody’s tried to do and sell specific patterns of your favorite cartoon character, so you decide to take this idea and use it for your online business.
2. Text on a website is often referred to as “copy.” This “copy” can range from articles like this one, text on an introduction page or even product descriptions. Never try to write fluff and always aim for quality content, whether you write it yourself or you let someone else do it.
3. Don’t try to make your website too complicated; you’re going to want your customers to have a good experience. Use a clean template or have a website built by a company or freelancer. Just make sure it’s neat.
4. Search engines play a massive role for your online business.
5. Customers are the most important thing for an online business, so treat them right and give them rewards. For subscribing to your newsletter, for example.
6. Back-end sales and upselling can significantly improve your income.
7. Build your network and maintain your reputation.

Are you confused about some of these steps? Don’t worry; we’ll go into detail on some of them below.

Finding a niche

When you start off, it’s easy to get lost in the product that you’re trying to sell, but the most important thing to focus on is finding yourself a market for that product. Do some research about what people are really looking for by browsing online forums, doing keyword research in search engines and visiting competitor’s websites. Use the knowledge you have gained from this to tweak or create your perfect product.

Aim for excellent copy

Don’t settle for mediocrity when it comes to copy on your website; make it great! Great copy keeps customers entertained and providing valuable information might lead to actual sales for your online business. Make sure you have a good headline, a nice introduction and a solution that you’re offering for problem a customer might have. It’s good to sound a little pushy sometimes, but don’t make the reader feel rushed. If you don’t know how to write good copy, branch out to freelancers or companies who specialize in it.

A good website

When someone first lands on a page— your website, in this case—they get an impression of it in about five seconds, which will determine if they’re staying or going. So, you have about five seconds to grab a potential customer’s attention and keep them on your website. To do this, you need to have a clean looking website. What qualifies as a clean looking website, you say?

• A white background works best. Don’t use fonts in abundance, either. Pick one or two fonts you like and stick with those. Be consistent.
• Don’t confuse customers with complicated navigation buttons.
• Don’t use audio, video or other kinds of graphics unless it actually adds value to something.
• Have an option where people can sign up for e-mail newsletters.
• Make products easy to buy; ideally one or two clicks.

Search engines

Google AdSense will help you find an audience and you can pay for targeted ads. These ads will show up on relevant websites and will link to yours. You need to know what kind of keywords your customers are finding your online business with and use that information for your targeted ads. The use of the right keywords in your copy will also make search engines see you as more “relevant” than your competitors. This can make you rank higher in a search engine. Just be careful as using your keywords too much might get you in trouble!

Back end sales and upselling

The trick to making your customers come back to you (36% of those customers will come back to you anyway!) is to offer related products, have coupons in your newsletter and have excellent customer service.