With the global recession looking a little less daunting these days, now could be the perfect time to start thinking about new business ideas that will allow your entire family to achieve a reasonably reliable source of income for years to come. As everything seems to revolve around computers at the moment, it’s probably best that you take to the internet when trying to select the perfect solution. Online businesses have the potential to grow rapidly and become an overnight success, so it’s vital you prepare for all eventualities to ensure you’re able to cope with any issues you may face.
With this firmly in mind, today I’m going to spend a while discussing 5 tips that are guaranteed to help your online company expand into the internationally renowned brand everyone wants. Don’t get me wrong, there’s going to be a lot of hard work involved along the way, and you might need to adjust your methods as and when you discover new information, but for the most part, these tips should be universally useful, regardless of which marketplace you want to dominate and what the nature of your business is.
1 – Build A Truly Responsive Website
Your website is the first impression potential customers or clients get of your firm, and so it must be absolutely impeccable. Like it or not, scrimping on costs here could have drastic effects further down the line, and could result in any advertising you pay for being far less fruitful than it might have been. So, make sure you employ the services of a professional team of web designers with a proven track record of providing top notch websites tailored to their clients needs. Expect to pay well over £5,000 for the finished product though.
You’ll also need a secure payment portal to deal with card processing, but luckily, this is simpler than it once was and you should be able to find a reliable supplier online without too much effort.
2 – Advertise Your Company Wisely
Depending on the nature of your business, the advice I’m about to give might not be appropriate, but for most it’s essential. Firstly, you’ll need to create social media pages to help gain a following from potential customers and clients, then you’ll want to increase this following using tools like Facebook Advertising. Remember, every time someone “likes” or “shares” a post from your page, all their friends will be alerted, thus giving you lots of free promotion.
Once this has been achieved, try setting up a campaign with Google Adwords, as this is by far the most fruitful means of promotion on the internet at the moment. You’ll be able to target your advert at people based on their location, their age, their interests, and even their browsing history.
3 – Provide Perfect Customer Service
This is where most of your competitors will go wrong, and so is where you should aim to excel. When customers or clients have a problem, it’s vital they can contact you immediately in whichever way they feel most appropriate. So, ensure you’ve got a live chat feature on your website, email addresses are easily locatable and you’ve got enough phone lines to guarantee nobody is kept waiting for more than a couple of minutes.
Also, spend time training your staff members to act in the way you want them to, rather than how their previous experience has led them to consider suitable. Perhaps a short course might be in order?
Well, unfortunately, I’ve got to head off now because I’m speaking at a conference in London tomorrow and I’m still not 100% prepared. Good luck with everything you do over the next twelve months, I’m confident that my advice will come in very useful as your online business grows.
See you soon!