- Find a need and meet it.
- Write a copy that sells.
- Design and build an easy-to-use website.
- Use search engines to drive the audience to your website.
- Establish and promote your experience.
- Communicate with your customers and subscribers by email.
- Anyone, from the most novice to the most experienced entrepreneur can benefit from this process of learning how to start an online business.
Step One: Find a need for the audience and meet it.
Most people make the mistake of first looking for a product and secondly buying from the public. To increase your chances of success, start with your audience. The trick is to find a group of people who are looking for a solution to a problem but without any results. The internet facilitates this type of market research:
- Visit online forums to see what questions people ask most often and what problems they are trying to solve.
- Do keyword research to find keywords that many people are looking for but not competing with many websites.
- Check your potential competitors as you visit their pages and consider what they do to meet demand. Then you can use what you have learned and create a product for an existing market – and do it better than your competitors.
Step Two: Write a copy that sells
There is a proven sales formula that introduces users to the sales process from the moment they arrive until the moment they make the transaction:
- Stimulate interest with a compelling title.
- Describe the problem that your product solves.
- Establish your credibility through the solution you give to the problem.
- Add testimonials from people who have used your product.
- Talk about the product and how it benefits the user.
- Make an offer.
- Provide a strong guarantee.
- Create immediacy.
Throughout your copy, you need to focus on how your product or service is uniquely capable of solving people’s problems or making their lives better. Think like a customer and ask yourself, “What does this mean for me?
Step Three: Use the power of email marketing to turn visitors into buyers. When building an opt-in list, you will have created one of the most valuable assets of your online business. Your customers and subscribers have permitted you to send an email. This means:
- You give them something they asked for.
- Develop life relationships with them.
- The answer is 100% measurable.
- Email marketing is cheaper and more effective than print, television or radio because it provides higher targeting options.
Anyone who visits your page and joins your list is a potential audience, and there is no better tool than email marketing to follow this audience.
The internet is changing so fast that one year online equals 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 are starting a small business online, stick to this series. If you have been logged in for a while, do a quick review and see if there is a step you have skipped. You should not have difficulty with the basics.