Do you want to know how to plan your online company launch? I have carefully modified the process into just 4 steps you should follow if you want to start an online business the simplest way. That means, it’s no longer difficult to launch your online business.
Think about this article as a guide on how to start an online business for beginners. A better way to launch an online business professionally even if it’s your first time to do so.
However, you don’t have to be internet savvy to launch an online business. It’s a simple guide to help even internet dummies begin their first online business successfully.
Types Of Online Company Launch
Before you can launch an online business, start with choosing the type of online business you can do. The options are many but you need to narrow it down to what you are passionate about.
Also, the list is not limited and it’s still growing. More and more online businesses niches will continue to emerge. You can even create something new yourself. But for what is possible now and what you can start online includes:
- Advertising.
- Affiliate Marketing.
- Blogging / Vlogging.
- Creating and Selling Digital Products.
- Dropshipping
- Sponsorship
- Selling Information Products.
- Coaching, Courses, and Consultations.
- Membership Websites And Membership Programs.
- Selling Digital Marketing Services.
- Freelancing And Virtual Assistant Work.
- SAAS – Software As A Service.
- Sell Handmade Goods.
- Niche market e-commerce retailer.
- Web designer or web developer.
{1} Start With A Company Launch Plan
The first step to launch an online business is picking a niche market that interests you. It’s not just picking a niche. Pick a niche that also interests you. Interest is important. You shouldn’t be engaging in a business that really doesn’t interest you that much.
Even if you don’t have as much interest, you should at least have enough interest in that niche to wake you up every morning with enthusiasm. If the idea interests you, it will drive you with passion to make it work.
Also, the interest alone is not enough. You have to pick a profitable niche as well. Sometimes interest wane, but success helps to keep you doing what you do. And if you have both interest and success, imagine how far that would go.
So, it’s important that you ensure both your interest in the niche and it’s profitability. That’s your first step to launch an online business. Get it right and it will be a successful business from day one.
Tips On Picking A Niche Market
- Use your interests and passions
- Know the problems you can solve.
- Who are your competition.
- How profitable is your niche.
- Put the idea to test.
Also, Entrepreneur Magazine has similar tips and it explained it in more details. Click on THIS LINK to read the whole post on Entrepreneur Magazine blog.
{2} Build Your Website
A website is your platform of choice when you desire to launch an online business. It’s okay to start either on social media or even sell on marketplaces like Amazon, eBay or Etsy. But nothing beats having your own website.
Your website is the perfect home for your online brand, identity and products. Although, you can skip having your own website but it’s a wrong move that will cost you in the long run.
So, it advisable to start from the on-set to build your website. That would include:
- Buying a domain name
- Paying for web hosting
- And building a website
Your online business should any of the following :
- A blog
- An eCommerce
- Or custom site, tailored to your business needs.
Your website should be built with your plan to launch an online business in mind. Whatever option you chose should form the design idea for your website. Some of these web design ideas can also be merged together. For example, you can have a blog with an eCommerce store attached. Or an eCommerce store with a blog attached.
You can also have a custom made site with either a blog or eCommerce or even both attached. So, whatever design idea you have, just ensure it’s first tailored to your online business niche idea before adding other design ideas as attachment.
Tips To Build A Website
Jimdo published 22 Tips for building a DIY website. You will find that interesting even if you don’t plan to build your website yourself. Listed below is just 8 of those tips. You can follow this link to read the full details on Jimbo website.
- Start with a goal for your website.
- Find inspiration from those who have gone before.
- Think about who your audience is.
- Take the time to create a site plan.
- Make your navigation menu fit on one line.
- Fill in your SEO settings.
- Invest in your own domain name.
- Choose a domain name that’s easy to spell.
{3} Company Launch Product Or Service
If you built your website based on your niche, you should have either a product or service or even both. That should prepare you for a launch. But you need to make the product or service available to potential customers.
How to launch an online business is not entirely different from how you launch an offline business. The only difference might be the platforms and how you intend to advertise and promote the business.
As a new business, you need to plan your promotional strategy in line with your niche market. How do you intend to advertise your online business? Which platforms would you use? What should be your promotional budget?
In addition, a launch affords you the opportunity to test real life viability of your online business. You should be readily prepared to adjust, improve, remove and split test different segment of your market. At this stage your focus should be to test your niche viability. Go slow with advertising until you have fully tested your market to experience its viability.
Tips to Lunch A Product Or Service
- Know your customer.
- Plan your go-to-market strategy.
- Create promotional content.
- Prepare your team.
- Launch the product.
- Use Facebook and Google re-marketing
{4} Scale Up Your Business
Once you have a tested and proven your niche online business, the next thing is to scale things up. Your marketing strategy will determine how far it can grow. This is when you should map out good budget for your advertising and branding.
Understanding how to brand your online business will be key here. Also read: 10 Simple Steps To Brand Your Business. You will find simple steps to follow on how best you can brand your online business like professionals.
Having a great online brand is key to scaling any business today. Your brand Equity gives you some fringe benefits with other established online business. Apart from attracting lots of links from good PR sites, it will also boost your relevance and gain you some search ranking advantage with search engines.
Google and other search engines are shifting their search algorithm to favour brands over other online sources, as the credibility issue have become crucial to verifying the relevance of online information. So, building a good online brand is one of the best ways to market and scale up your online business much faster.
Tips to Scale Up Your Online Business:
- You should make it easy for your customers to buy your product or service.
- You should setup conversion funnels and track your conversion metrics
- Also, follow your defined branding process and consistently grow your brand
- You need to communicate effectively with customers using every source, especially setting up email automation sequences to nurture, promote and convert potential customers
- You also need to setup and maintain a consistent social media branding across all platforms.
Conclusion
In summary, online company launch is easier now than years ago. The 4 simple steps here further simplified the whole process. I particular advise that you understand step 1 and 2 and apply them well. They hold the key to the rest of your successful journey in launching an online business.
Also, the best way to launch an online business is to start it small and scale it up when you discover what works for you. It doesn’t matter how successful an online business niche has worked for someone else, you may not have what it takes to make it work for you as well. So, sticking with what you are passionate about that’s also profitable is key.
