How to start an online business? – 5 SIMPLE STEPS TO SUCCESS
Everyone is now so much busy that they don’t have time to go out shopping; therefore, people prefer buying products online. If we specifically talk about the USA, almost 70% of people of the entire country’s population have shopped online, and 25% of Americans shop online at least once per month.
This is the best time to start an online business; here I am sharing 5-simple steps to start an online business
1-Picking a business model
Here are the most commonly used business models; you can check these and figure out which one is best for you.
Selling physical products: This is the most common business model which involves creating a shippable, physical product and markets it online. This business model is having many advantages like customers can check your products online, and they don’t need to visit your physical store, customers can get all relevant information related to your products online like reviews of previous customers, product descriptions and there are many videos and photos of products available online. But selling physical products is also having some drawbacks, you have to handle inventory and shipping, products out of stock or products getting expired due to no or very limited sales.
Selling e-products: Like physical products, digital products don’t have any physical existence, These products often come in the form of downloadable or streamable files, such as MP3s, PDFs, videos, plug-ins, and templates. The benefit of selling e products is that you don’t have to hold inventory, and there is no shipping cost. In digital or e-products, eBooks, software, videos, graphic and digital art, documents, and online courses are included.
Selling advertising space online: This is the easiest way to earn money online; there are three most popular ways to sell advertising space online
1-Affiliate marketing, in affiliate marketing, you have to promote a product or services on your website, and if anyone buys that product through your website, you will get a commission.
2-Google ad sense, if your website is compatible for Google ad sense, Google will use your website to promote products and services of other companies, and you will get money on the ratio of click done on these advertisements, Google will pay you 68% of the payment that they charge from the company for advertising their product/service
3-Or you can sell your advertising space directly to business owners, and you will get full payment, it means that there will be no 3rd party involved.
Consulting: In the consulting business, an expert provides expert advice in a particular area. There are many types of jobs related to consultation. Like you can offer online business consultancy, HR consultancy, PR consultants, marketing consultants, social media consultants, etc
2-Confirm a market exists for your niche
Once you have decided what kind of business you are going to offer, the next step is researching your niche online. This step is going to help you to find that how much competition is there in your niche, If there are too many websites offering product/services same like yours, it means you can get your market share, but you find nothing related to your niche or a very less data then it means you can become a market leader or your product/service is not in demand. You can do this step by simply entering keywords related to your niche.
3-Choose a platform
If you are going to sell a physical product, then you can choose Shopify, WordPress(woo-commerce), Etsy. These platforms give you an easy to use interface to design an attractive store. You have to pay a subscription fee and hosting fee for using their services. But if you want to sell your products on an already established marketplace, then Amazon is the best platform. You have to pay an annual or monthly subscription fee + 1$ per sale.
4-Create products
Once you are done with the above three steps, now it’s time to create your product. Write an attractive description of your product, use high-quality videos and photos to convene your customers. You must write all ingredients, advantages, and ways to use the products. If you have a great product, but you are not describing your product in an appropriate way you are not going to win a sale, because the user is checking your product online on his laptop or smartphone, your words, photos, and videos will be a reason for him to chose your product. After writing a description, taking photos and videos, now it’s time to launch it in your store.
- Build an Audience
You have launched a product and its available for customers, now it’s time to promote your product. How can you expect a sale without promoting it? Make a social media presence, regularly share updates and news about your store and products, interact with customers through Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. To build more audience, offer discounts to returning customers or start a competition on your social media pages. If you are facing difficulty in growing your social media accounts organically, you can also use paid promotion. Paid promotion on social media is inexpensive, and you can get positive results in a short time. The last thing don’t forget to link your social media accounts with your store.