Being an entrepreneur is all about finding out what people want, and giving it to them. It’s also about working for yourself, which tends to mean doing a lot of the work yourself.
While it might seem like you’re alone in your endeavors to launch your startup company, you actually have a lot of people and resources at your disposal to help you. Articles such as this one are great reference points, and even though it might seem like it, you aren’t the first person to build a business out of nothing.
So, in an effort to be one of those resources that helps you gain some speed, here are some ways to help boost your online presence (and grow your startup to a reputable company).
Create an Awesome Website
This is many people’s first step, although not everyone’s (you’ll see that farther down). It’s no secret that everything has moved online, everything from house-shopping to getting your groceries. This is why getting a great website is so crucial when looking to create a prosperous business. One crucial step that you’ll definitely want to take is to find cloud-based services to help deliver WAN traffic. However, many companies are now looking to use sd-wan networks instead of traditional WAN solutions due to the clear depth of application visibility they offer, which is key in optimizing user experience. In a virtual world filled with dominant websites and paid search-results, it can be hard getting your webpage to be noticed. To do so, you’re initial goal will be creating a web design that converts. Quality web design and seo marketing strategies can make or break a company, so having a well-thought-out, engaging web design optimized for search engines is crucial. Don’t fill the page with copious amounts of information — stick to keeping things simple and sweet. If you overwhelm your visitors, the less likely they are to have a good experience. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t include certain features, though. Adding things like product search, blog posts, purchasing options, expert chatrooms, customer reviews, vlogs, order tracking, and advertising can help your site do well. If you would like some help building your website, you might want to reach out to a digital marketing agency such as Ram Digital who are a Website Design Leek specialist.
Social Media
This is the other place where many companies start. The reason being is that many people didn’t know they had something to market until social media told them that they did. So if you’re trying to create a legitimate business from something that stemmed from social media, such as artwork, clothing, fitness coaching, etc, then you probably already have a solid social media presence. This is really good. Most people are on social media nowadays, and having a large following will help with brand awareness. If you don’t have a strong social media presence, you need to get one. That means following people and pages, posting relevant and useful information and topics, and always linking back to your website. You should also note where your targeted demographic spends their time since you won’t need a profile on every platform. In fact, almost 66% of marketers claim Facebook as being the most important social media platform, according to the Social Media Marketing Industry Report. So figure out where you can reach the most amount of people (that you want to reach) and focus your attention there.
Never Stop Posting
One of the biggest things that many companies don’t realize is that simply being online isn’t enough — you need to continue being online. That means posting to your social media profiles regularly and engaging your followers. It means creating relevant and helpful blog posts or videos to post to your website. It means updating your website, social media sites, google maps, local listings, everything. Nothing should be left to fend for itself. If someone posts a negative review on a platform, it doesn’t matter if no one will see it; you need to address all bad and even some good reviews to keep yourself relevant. So what’s the take away from this section? That’s right. Never stop posting. Ever.
Use IT support
If an order gets lost in a transaction, or if a part of your webpage becomes corrupted, or if someone types in your URL and they get a big “ERROR 404” and you don’t know how to fix it, then you’re in for a rough ride. In an effort to get ahead of these problems before they start, you should hire an IT support technician or outsource to an IT service. They’ll be able to assist you and clients with technical support and make sure your services stay running as they should. Yes, that means another cost, but one that truly cannot be ignored. Outsourcing your IT can be relatively inexpensive, and 31% of IT services were outsourced in 2016, according to Deloitte’s 2016 Global Outsourcing Survey. If you don’t want to outsource, then bring on an in-house IT technician. Instead of paying a security guard the average annual salary of roughly $30,000 (according to the U.S. Department of Labor), you’re paying a virtual security guard to make sure online operations run smoothly.
You should always keep up with what’s trending, and pay attention to how Google ranks your page. If you can’t seem to get your site to the first page, or you want it to rank even higher, then you should consult with an SEO company to help you.
Nobody ever said starting your own business from scratch was going to be easy, or even inexpensive, but it’s something that you will own and nurture throughout its growth, which says a lot about you and your tenacity to succeed.
So don’t get discouraged if things aren’t going your way. Listen to what others may say and get the help that you think you need, but don’t forget to run the company how you see fit.
