Key Questions You Should Ask Before Launching an Online Business

When looking into launching a business there are things you should always consider. Who’s my ideal customer? What is my unique selling point? What’s the scalability of my business?

These are questioning most business owners think about. Rightly so, as you do need to know this but in todays world of business you are going to need an online presence. Here are some key questions you should also consider.

 

Here are three (3) key questions you should ask before launching an online business:

There are a few ways to do this. Firstly search engine optimisation (SEO) can be used to ensure your website is seen. SEO is the process of taking steps to optimise your website to rank higher on search engines such as Google. This can be done by using keywords, writing blogs and regularly producing content.

 

Social Media is another method used to promote businesses. This gives your business an online presence and allows potential customers to learn more about the products or services you offer before visiting your website.

 

Thirdly Ads can be used to make sure your business attracts attention. The brilliant thing about running adverts is you can tailor it towards your target audience giving you the best possible chance of them visiting your website. There are different places you can use to run ads but the main two are Google ads and Facebook ads. With millions of people using these platforms everyday the potential customers you can attract is massive.

 

Finally word of mouth is also very powerful. This is because there is an element of trust when a brand is recommended.

 

Choosing a suitable business name is vital to the success of a business. It is important to ensure it’s not too long and also easy to both read & pronounce. Read this blog on a choosing domain name for more information.

 

Click here to check if your domain name is available. Additionally are the social media handles available and are they the same as or very similar to your domain name.

here are several methods you can use. Whether that’s through email marketing, social media, blogging or videos. Email marketing is good for retaining customers and letting them know when your new products and services are released. It also allows you to build up a list of people you can instantaneously contact.

 

Social media is always useful to grow a brand. You can use various social media platforms to push traffic towards your website and from there ultimately to whatever call to action you want them to take.

 

Depending on your business some social media platforms will be more useful than others. Instagram has more younger users and was created for mobile users. But it also requires you to stay on top of hashtags with aggressive posting. Facebook has a massive audience reach but also an older average target audience. However due to its popularity Facebook advertising is very expensive. Twitter has a large reach as well and ads are more likely to see success their than Facebook by 1-3%. You can also do a lot of free marketing with hashtags. However, it is extremely competitive, requires multiple tweets each day and even if drives traffic it may not drive sales.

Blogs and videos both work very similarly, you want to generate leads, develop better customer relationships and position your brand as a top brand within your industry. You can do this by writing or making videos on either your business or topics to do with it and then sending them directly to your website from there. To be successful blogs and videos should be visually appealing and have good content flows.

 

It’s all about marketing. If you don’t promote your products & services your customers won’t know you exists. Whatever your chosen method marketing remember customer retention and referrals are proven ways of growing a business.

 

This question is quite important as a lot of people don’t consider this. All the major social media platforms have different users and many who use one don’t use the others.

Being honest about this is important to the mindset you will have when starting.

 

All businesses have a shelf life; some short and some long. For example fidget spinner vs convenience store. Fidget spinners have been in existence for decades now but  in 2017 suddenly became globally appealing. After the hype died down with Fidget Spinners, most are now passing it out as a fad which didn’t result in cultural shifts. However a convenience stores are much more necessary and won’t be becoming unpopular anytime soon as they provide an economic lift to society.

Making sure you have a financially sustainable business model is very important.

 

Will your profit margins be high or low? How long will it take before you break even?  Will the effort of running the business be greater than the reward? These are key questions to think about. You can have a brilliant idea but if the numbers don’t add up properly it won’t matter.

 

 If you have considered all questions and able to answer each one then what are you waiting for. Start your very own business today!

You are now more educated. What’s next?

Once you have answered all the key questions and you are prepared to start your own business. You can launch your very own website!