How to successfully create your own digital business?

Many people believe that the online marketplace and e-commerce platforms can be the same thing. It is true that both are used for online business purposes, but there is a crucial difference between them. The website of an online store or commerce can be a business opportunity at this time due to the special characteristics of its business network.

In addition, it allows you to develop your professional activities in different sectors and depending on your preferences and skills. To the point that you can opt for a digital business in the world of fashion, sports, leisure or entertainment. You have no limits to where to go to start your own business idea. Because what ultimately counts is that you are very passionate about this project.

Within this general context, it is very important that from this moment you define where you want to direct your business project. For which, it is necessary that you analyze this decision or even share it with other people who are in the same situation. At the end of the day, it is about obtaining the maximum experience to carry out your project and that it does not remain in the drawer of oblivion. This is the main enemy with which you will have to fight from this moment on.

Digital business: more than a wish

You cannot forget that this online activity requires a series of qualities that you must add to your business passport. Where, it is not always easy to fulfill it and therefore in that area is where you have to concentrate at the moment. Not surprisingly, successfully creating your own digital business is not always easy. If not, on the contrary, it requires a certain effort on your part if you really want to satisfy this special need.

In order for you to achieve this goal, we are going to set you a series of guidelines that are completely achievable from your strategy as a digital or online entrepreneur. So that little by little you can cover some of your most desired goals. Wherever, you have no doubt that there is a proven sequence of steps you can take to ensure your success when starting a small online business. I have seen thousands of people start and grow successful businesses by doing the following:

  • Find a need and fill it.
  • Write a copy that sells.
  • Design and build a user-friendly website.
  • Use search engines to drive traffic to your site.
  • Establish a reputation as an expert for yourself.
  • Follow up with your customers and subscribers through email.
  • Increase your income through background sales and promotional sales.

Anyone from the newbie to the seasoned online entrepreneur can benefit from this process by learning how to start an online business.

Step 1: Start a business that fills a need

Most people just starting out make the mistake of looking for a product first and then a market.

To increase your chances of success, start with a market. The trick is to find a group of people who are looking for a solution to a problem, but are not finding many results. The Internet makes this type of market research easy:

Visit online forums to see what questions people are asking and what problems they are trying to solve.

Do keyword research to find the keywords that a lot of people are searching for, but you don't have much competition with other sites.

Check out your potential competitors by visiting their sites and taking note of what they are doing to meet the demand. Then you can use what you have learned and create a product for a market that already exists, and make it better than the competition.

Step 2: Write a copy that sells

There is a proven sales copy formula that takes visitors through the sales process from the moment they arrive to the moment they make a purchase:

  • Spark interest with a compelling headline.
  • Describe the problem that your product solves.
  • Establish your credibility as a problem solver.
  • Add testimonials from people who have used your product.
  • Talk about the product and how it benefits the user.
  • Make an offer.
  • Make a solid guarantee.
  • Create urgency.
  • Ask for the sale.

Throughout your copy, you should focus on how unique your product or service is to solving people's problems or improving their lives. Think like a customer and ask "What's in it for me?"

Step 3: Design and build your website

Once you have your market and product, and have nailed your sales process, you are now ready for your small business website design. Remember to keep it simple. You have less than five seconds to get someone's attention ... otherwise they will leave and never see each other again. Some important tips to keep in mind:

Choose one or two simple fonts on a white background.

Make your navigation clear and simple, and make it the same on all pages.

Only use graphics, audio or video if they enhance your message.

Include an opt-in offer so you can collect email addresses.

Make shopping easy: no more than two clicks between the prospect and the checkout.

Your website is your online showcase, so make it easy for the customer.

Step 4: Use search engines to attract buyers to your website.

Pay-per-click advertising is the easiest way to get traffic to a new site. It has two advantages over waiting for traffic to come to you organically. First, PPC ads appear on search pages immediately, and second, PPC ads allow you to test different keywords, as well as headlines, prices, and sales approaches. Not only do you get immediate traffic, but you can also use PPC ads to discover your top converting keywords. You can then distribute the keywords throughout your site in your copy and code, which will help your ranking in organic search results.

Step 5: Establish an Expert Reputation for Yourself

People use the Internet to find information. Provide that information for free to other sites, and you will see more traffic and better search engine rankings. The secret is to always include a link to your site with each piece of information.

Give away free and expert content. Create articles, videos, or any other content that people find useful. Distribute that content through online article directories or social media sites.

Include "send to a friend" links in your website's valuable content.

Become an active expert on industry forums and social media sites where your target market is located.

Related: How to Create a Free Facebook Messenger Chatbot Without Code

You will reach new readers. But even better, every site that publishes your content will have a link to yours. Search engines love links from relevant sites and will reward you in rankings.

Step 6: Use the Power of Email Marketing to Convert Visitors to Buyers.

When you build a list of options, you are creating one of the most valuable assets of your online business. Your customers and subscribers have given you permission to send them an email. That means:

  • You are giving them something they have asked for.
  • You are developing lifelong relationships with them.
  • The answer is 100 percent measurable.
  • Email marketing is cheaper and more effective than print, television, or radio because it is highly targeted.

Anyone who visits your site and opts for your list is a very hot lead. And there is no better tool than email to keep track of those leads.

Step 7: Increase your income through bottom sales and upselling.

One of the most important Internet marketing strategies is to develop the lifetime value of each customer. At least 36 percent of the people who have bought from you once will buy from you again if you follow up. Closing that first sale is by far the hardest part, not to mention the most expensive. So use the backup sale and the boost sale to get them to buy again:

Offer products that complement your original purchase.

Send electronic loyalty coupons that they can redeem on their next visit.

Offer related products on your "Thank You" page after they purchase.

Reward your customers for their loyalty and they will become even more loyal.

Implement a workable plan

The Internet changes so fast that one year online is equivalent to about five years in the real world. But the principles of how to start and grow a successful online business have not changed at all. If you have just started a small online business, follow this sequence. If you've been online for a long time, do a quick review and see if there are any steps you're neglecting or never got to do in the first place. You can't go wrong with the basics.

If you wanted to create a marketing agency more than 25 years ago, the barrier to entry was colossal. With a primitive digital landscape, the overhead to create such an operation was daunting, and nearly impossible without an initial investment. In addition to startup costs, you were limited to physical and traditional media and the headaches associated with everything, but manufacturing something that resembled return on investment for your clients. Being "in the red" for a long, long time was inevitable.

The time has changed. It is not impossible to think that a skilled individual or a small team could create a fully operational marketing agency from scratch in a few months (with a little help, of course).

Companies are spending more of their marketing budgets on digital advertising than ever before, and everyone wants a piece of the action. In this guide, I'll walk you through the five steps you need to take if you want to create an online marketing agency from scratch (trust me, I've already been there).

Develop the necessary skills

Online market animation. If you are a narcissistic person with grand visions of becoming Neil Patel right after accepting your diploma, you are likely to fail miserably.

You can be as creative and smart as anyone in the game, but if you're not prepared or experienced enough to deal with the many nuances of account management and customer relationships, you'll quickly find another job. It may take years for some to develop the necessary skills, it may take less for others. Anyway, I think you need to hold a real job for some time before venturing out on your own.

Work environments are much more complex than we think when we are working in them. Above the actual work you produce are a multitude of expectations, verbal and non-verbal communication gymnastics, and politics. Everything from how the organization is structured to its culture, product, and leadership plays a role in how your day-to-day (and your career) unfolds.

Before you master your digital marketing skills, you need to experience what it's like to work where your clients can work. This will inevitably make you a more comprehensive and well-rounded professional. When your clients are stressed and possibly projecting it onto you, you are not going to take it personally.

Requires help from other people

Get more help growing your agency with our free guide: Other Ways to Win and Retain More Clients

With that said, it's important to understand that soft skills are only 50% of the end product that is you. You need to be good at what you are going to offer as "professional" services. No matter how skilled your sales game is, a customer will sooner or later find out that they have been sold snake oil. You have to be able to get results. If you are starting your career managing clients for larger agencies, I encourage you to start working on a marketing team or to collect a handful of small clients to learn the channels and skills that you are going to execute with.

What is not clear to those who have never been on a marketing team is how much is invested in it. Aside from the pressure to produce, you have to learn complex systems, and if your team is small, you have to develop a variety of skills to get even the simplest campaigns off the ground.

This involves, but is not limited to:

  • Build landing pages
  • Designing Ads
  • Build messaging and positioning
  • Learning systems like Marketo, HubSpot, and Salesforce
  • Successfully implement trace
  • Spending hours on a climb just to watch it fail
  • Substantial pressure to produce

The benefit of managing clients is that many of these aspects are taken care of before they reach you. However, having the experience of working on these things gives you the added value of really knowing what you are talking about when something they give you does not work. It also helps you deal with the pressure to deliver quality results because you've been there before… many times.

Be a contractor before you become a founder

Having a paying job that allows you to have brain surgery without a lifetime of debt is a luxury many of us take for granted. Taking the leap from working for yourself has such a long list of risks that it could be a separate blog post. What mitigates a lot of that risk is building the foundations of a business before making the decision to do it full time. I suggest doing some recruiting jobs for a period of time while holding a full-time job for a variety of reasons, including ...

It allows you to do a job on your own without taking many risks. In this sense, do not forget from now on that you have a sample of business life when you start to make some of the proposals that we have indicated in this article. Because, in effect, what it is about at the end of the day is that you fulfill some of your dreams in the area of ​​digital business. To do this, perseverance must be one of your strongest weapons from now on. It will help you achieve more things than you think from the beginning. So that in the end you achieve success above other considerations. Where a digital business can help you with these wishes you have.


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