How to start a successful Online Business

There´s a sequence of steps to follow that ensure the sucess of your online business. Thousands of people have already successfully started and developed their online projects by following these steps:

1. Find a market need and fill it.
2. Build creative and appealing content.
3. Design and build a simple and user-friendly website.
4. Use the search engines to drive more traffic to your website.
5. Show that you are an expert in the field.
6. Follow up your costumers and subscribers through emails.
7. Increase your profit through pre and post sales strategies.

Anyone, from newbies to the most experienced entrepreneurs in the online world, can benefit from this process of learning how to start an online business.

Step 1: Find a market need and fill it.

Most people who are just launching their project make the mistake of looking first for the product and only then for the market.

To increase your chances of sucess, start with the market. The secret is to find a group of people who are looking for a solution to a specific problem but never find any answers. The rise of the Internet has made this process of market analysis easier:

• Search for online forums and see what people are looking for and which problems they are trying to solve.
• Find keywords that most of the people are searching but emphasize those that have low competition.
• Check out the websites of your potential competitors and write down what they do to fill the need of your costumers. After this process, you can put into practice everything you have learned and create a product for the existing market – and do it better than your competition.

Step 2: Build creative and appealing content.

There is a tested formula for content creation that takes your visitors through the sales process, since they arrive until the moment they make a purchase:

1. Arouse the costumers attention through a catchy title.
2. Describe the problem that your product solves.
3. Establish your credibility of being the solution to that problem.
4. Add statements from people who have already used your product.
5. Talk about your product and the benefits it brings to those who use it.
6. Make an offer.
7. Provide a strong guarantee.
8. Create urgency.
9. Offer to buy.

During this process, it is essential to focus on the benefits of your product or service and that its purchase can improve your costumers´ lives. Put yourself in your costumers´ shoes and ask ” What will i benefit from this?”

Step 3: Design and build a simple and user-friendly website.

Now that you have selected your market and product and have mastered the sales process, you are ready to develop your business design. Always remember to keep things simple because you have less than 5 seconds to grab people´s attention – otherwise you might lose potential clients. There are some tips to keep in mind:

• Choose one or two simple font styles on a white background.
• Make your website navigation simple and clear.
• Only use graphics, audio, or video if they enhance your message.
• Include a data fill form so that you can collect email addresses.
• Make the purchase process easier – a two click maximum between the potential buyer and the checkout.
• Your website will be your online store, so make its navigation user- friendly.

Step 4: Use the search engines to drive more traffic to your website.

Paid per click ads are the easiest way to bring traffic on a recent website. There are two major advantages compared to getting traffic in an organic way. First of all, pay per click ads appear immediately on the results page and allow you to test different keywords, titles, prices, and sales techniques. Not only you can generate immediate traffic, but you can also use these ads to discover your best and most converting keywords so that you can deliver these same keywords throughout your website, which will consequently help your organic search result ranking.

Step 5: Show that you are an expert in the field.

People use the internet to search for information, so you have to provide that same information for free to other websites and you will see more traffic to your website and better search engine rankings. The key is to always include your website link for every bit of information your provide.

• Give professional content for free. Create articles, videos or any other type of content that people will find useful. Share that content through online article directories or via social media.
• Include links such as “Send to a friend” on the content of major value on your website.
• Become an active expert at social networking forums and websites your target audience is on.

With this, you will also get new readers, but better than that, all the websites that post you content will redirect back to yours. Search engine value links from relevant website and this is reflected in their rankings.

Step 6: Use the power of email marketing to transform simple visitors into costumers.

By creating a data fill form, you are creating one of the most valuable assets of your online business. If your costumers and subscribers choose to fill it out, they are giving you permission to send them emails. This means that:

• Offer your clients and subscribers something they have asked for.
• Grows a lasting relationship with them.
• The answer is 100% measurable.
• Email marketing has a much lower cost and is much more effective than print, TV or in radio because it is highly targeted.

Step 7: Increase your profit through pre and post sales strategies.

One of the most important strategies in digital marketing is to get the lasting engagement from your costumers and subscribers. At least 36% of people who have already bought some product ou service from you will do it again if you follow them.

The hardest part will definitely be closing your first sale, and it will also be the most expensive one. Using pre-sales and post-sales techniques to get your costumers buy your product or service again.

For instance, some of these techniques are:

• Offer products that complement their initial purchase.
• Send digital coupons that can be used on future purchases.
• Suggest related products on your “Thank You” page after they have conducted the purchase.

You should award your costumers for their loyalty and you´ll see that they will return even more loyal.

The Internet is constantly changing, to the point that one year online equals five years in the real world. But the principles of how to start and develop a successful online business remain unchanged.

Whether you want to launch a project on the online world or improve your current strategies, these steps will help you to successfully reach your goal.

If you are looking for a professional team to help you develop strategies for your online business, please contact Mixlife.