How to Start an Online Business For Beginners
Whether you are intending to start an online service business or goods business there are basic requirements you are expected to put in place for your business to be efficient and effective.
The purpose of all businesses is to outshine competitors and make profit by all means. Every business individual or enterprise aims at making their business name a household name.
Just like in a real time business, an online business requires that you do some research about your intending business before you go into. Unless you want to waste money and time, it is important that you research about the business you want to start before you go into it.
If for instance you want to start an online media you must first research the laws that guides the establishment of an online media by talking to those who are already in the business and learning the dos and donts involved in the business or else you may have to spend endless time doing what you shouldn’t do. There are many online resources that you can explore.
Like every other business, there is never a good time to start; the best time to start a business is right now. Start first and make all necessary corrections as you move on. If you don’t start and you wait for a convenient time, that convenient time may never come!
For the purpose of this write up, I have listed the major requirements to start an online business.
Step One
Decide the kind of online business you want to start. There are various kinds of online businesses; I will list just 10 of them as examples.
Blogging or writing and publishing
Advertising and networking
Sales of goods like cars, clothes, office equipment, stationery, software, handbags, and others
Online casino
Services like health advise, consultancy
Real estate online
Books, gifts etc
Music store and online record label
Online church and ministries
HR Services
If you are planning to run a blog or a website for your business, look around for those who have already started, see what they do and learn how they run their business. You may not be able to contact them directly but you have free access to their sites to learn what they do and how they do it. Have it in mind not to be a copy-cat however. Online businesses are tougher and difficult to maintain than a real time business this is because lots of people have misused the simplicity of the net, therefore stringent methods have been put in place to make online business more difficult than it used to be. There is a great competition for market on the internet therefore you must carve a niche for yourself if you must survive, being a copy-cat will not help your business to succeed online. Be as original as possible and you will be shooting for the sky.
Step two
Choose a unique name for your business; remember that to have a strong base on the internet you must use the name for everything you do online, the more the name becomes popular the more it is being recognized by search engines. It is very important that you choose a name that is not already in use to avoid being sued for copyright and better still using a name that is already common will reduce your ability of being recognized online by search engines and you will have difficulty getting a good Google ranking.
It’s like for instance if someone is already using the name “Toogle” online, and you want to start a business which you also decide to name “Toogle”, the other business which have been existing will definitely rank better than you do, if there are many “Toogles” you will have to compete with all of them to be noticed. Unless you do some magic it will be difficult for you to be seen by search engines and you would have used your own hands diminish your online presence except if the other “Toogles” are unserious businesses. It is however better not to think you can outsmart them all, choose your own unique name.
When choosing a name for your online business, ensure that it is a name that is unique to your business, if possible a name that has not been selected by other businesses and your business will gain great recognition.
Choosing a unique name for your business is as important as starting the business itself. In fact your business name is your business itself. Overtime it’s the name of your business that will be recognized and not the business itself.
Step three
Get an expert advice or let a professional design your website and you may also use a blog for your business. Blogs are good for businesses but they have their limitations.
By using a website for your business you have lots of resources opened to you for use, like limitless pages to write about your business, web storage facilities, video messages to promote your business, online payment methods using pay pal, credit cards and google merchants to facilitate your online businesses without having to go through the stress of visiting a bank.
To build a website in Nigeria, you need between N25,000 to N65,000, that is between $151 to $400.
If you need professionals to build your website, please check this website building and designing options.
Step four
Once you have your website completely designed and built you are a step away from actualizing your dream, your website will be submitted to hundreds of search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, Alexia and many others manually. This can be done for you by your builder which is usually not part of the payment options or you may choose to do it yourself. Learn how to submit to search engines. It is important to also work on your keywords and Search Engine Optimization.
Many buyers search through the search engines particularly Google search, ranking well on Google will expose your business to more buyers. It is therefore important to do everything possible to ensure that your business rank well on Google search.
Step five
Apart from submitting to search engines, you also need the use of the Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Stumble Upon to promote your business online.
With Facebook your business can attract millions of people using the facebook for networking and social interactions. You can create a Facebook Page for your business and tell people to follow your posts on Twitter.
Your published pages on your website will be shared via these social networking to your various audiences on and interested buyers will click on your link and you can have as many interested buyers as you can imagine.
Make sure your website is updated daily or at the worse within a week, ensure the contents are fresh and original and you are on your way to the top of your business.
As you continually update your site and get people to follow your posts you will continue to rank well in Google and other search engines and soon enough your business will become a household name on the internet.
Want to start an online business but not sure what to do or where to start, please contact us for more
information. You can send an e-mail to admin@ackcitynews.com or you may call: 08121807240, 08105649346
Related Posts via Categories
No comments