How to create an online business/website
Updated: Dec 20, 2022
Various clients have inquired about what it takes to create a thriving, profitable website. With everything shifting online these days, companies are closing and there is an increasingly substantial number of mobile users. It's vital to know how to outsource and market your business so you don't lose customers. What better way than to evolve your presence online and reach an exponential number of potential customers daily.
Key Points
Set your goal (Choose your niche)
Choose a platform
Define your layout
Optimize your Website Speed
Purchase your domain name
Gather your content
Make it accessible to everyone
OPTIMIZE for mobile
Strengthen your SEO for better reach
Engage with visitors (use chat forms)
Ask for feedback (reviews of your service)
Publish your site and update regularly
Set Your Goal
Find your niche or market that you want to sell to. The best way to find your niche is to find a need in the market of which you want to sell. Provide a need or offer customers cannot pass up.
Set a financial goal for the month or so on, so that you have an idea of what your ROI is. Find your target/market audience, this will be your potential customers! You can find your target/ market audience using any social media platform, running ads, or posting regularly from a business page.
When you set your goal, you should be including why this business exists, what you and your customers will gain from this business and how it benefits you and your customers, whether it be the service/product itself or the benefits of a product or service like yours. Your goal should be clear. What do you hope to achieve from this business?
Choose a platform
As of late, my personal favorites are Wix and Shopify. These two platforms provide you with all your needs to get started! Wix provides you with the freedom to customize whatever you want as frequently as you want with affordable monthly subscriptions! All your apps or add-ons are in ONE PLACE making everything easily accessible. However, there are countless platforms to choose from (i.e.: Google, Tailor Brands, GoDaddy etc.).
Define Your Layout
Define your layout by choosing a theme or look that you wish to accomplish with your online business. Most websites are built with a template rather than from scratch unless you're an amazing coder. The above platforms will provide you with both options however without all the technical itineraries. With Wix you will be able to custom the look and feel of your website to your liking. Shopify allows you to choose from different templates according to your niche to achieve the best fit for your store/website. The look and feel of your online store/website should be easy to navigate and easily accessible.
Speed Optimization
Your site speed is very important, potential customers have a tendency to exit before reaching your homepage if it takes too long to load. You will need to optimize your website speed so that your store may respond faster during the loading processes.
First, you will need to test your website speed and performance. Then you will be able to start optimizing it. In order to increase your website speed, you will want to use the following guidelines.
Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Move your website to a better host/ platform (optional)
Optimize the size of images on your website
Reduce your number of plugins
Minimize the number of JavaScript and CSS files
Use website caching
Implement Gzip Compression
Optimize database in CMS
Purchase Your Domain Name
The platform you decided to use should allow you to purchase your domain name through a second party. Once the domain name has been selected this will be the domain used for potential customers to access your online store/business.
Gather your content
Here is where you will add all of your merchandise, information or content to your website. This is what your customers will find interest in & potentially buy. To make sales you will need to find a winning product or service that many people need. In short, you’ll have to find a niche and then find a hole where this niche isn't oversaturated. Most people who start online businesses bite off others. However, when you do this, you are selling yourself short due to the competition, you would have to show potential customers why your product or service differs from the rest. Whereas, finding a product or service that has barely any competition will make you stand out.
Make your website accessible to everyone
On most platforms your website will not be fully visible on search engines until you purchase a subscription from the platform you're using. Once you’ve purchased your subscription and domain name your website will become accessible to anyone who comes across your URL.
Optimize for Mobile
It is imperative to make sure your website is optimized for mobile use! With everything moving online and, most people always using their phones to shop. The best way to get more potential buyers is to make sure that your website is accessible and fully optimized for mobile use. Now, how do you do that? You can use the tips below!
Test Your Site Using Google's Mobile-Friendly Tool.
Use a Responsive WordPress Theme.
Choose a Reliable Web Host.
Improve Your Site's Loading Times.
Redesign Your Pop-Ups for Mobile Devices.
Enable Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
Create a Mobile App.
If this doesn't work, you can always check your platform to see if they offer to do it for you while you edit your online store (ie: WIX).
Strengthen SEO for better reach
To strengthen SEO, you can use plugins or external tools. Although most you'll have to pay for however, if your niche isn’t a lone wolf, you can use shortcuts to find what SEO key words your competitors use to make them the top of Google searches (i.e., Google Analytics Insight, Search Metrics, Similar Web & Klue).
You can also follow these suggestions to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) and watch your website rise the ranks to the top of search-engine results.
Publish Relevant Content. ...
Update Your Content Regularly. ...
Metadata. ...
Have a link-worthy site. ...
Use alt tags.
Engage with visitors
Please note, the best way to get sales is to inform your customers about your product/ services in depth. Cold market customers are intrigued more when you inform them little by little. This way customers can become comfortable and formally acquainted with purchasing your product/service. Trust is important as well, while engaging with your market audience they will need to feel a sense of security. Your site should display this as well! Customers will not purchase from an online store if the site looks untrustworthy. Badges can help however they are not necessary. Add a chat box to your store so that customers are able to send you direct messages for faster responses. Make sure a contact page is visible! Lastly, any questions that are asked to provide all information that is necessary about your product or service.
Ask for feedback
Post purchase you can send an automated email to customers to take a survey and review your product/service to display on your site. These reviews will display transparency and build trust on your site.
Finally,
PUBLISH ALL FINAL DRAFTS OF YOUR SITE & UPDATE IT REGULARLY!
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