The world today has turned into a global village; where everything can function very efficiently with a single click. In these calamitous times, surviving the turbulent corporate world can be possible by shifting towards an online business or ebusiness showing an exponential growth in its potentials. Starting an online business is not at all an easy task; it may even take up to a year to launch your very own online business. Here we present to you a simple protocol that you can follow to start and operate your very own internet business.
• THE IDEA
Let’s say you come up with a good idea but are you sure it’s good enough? An easy way to answer this question is to find out what others think. You may need to get out and carry out some market research. You will need to see what your target market needs are and what kind of products/services appeals to them. You need to make sure that your idea, is unique, exceptionally well portrayed and is approachable by the common man. Without a good idea, a good product/service or good content, or anything else will be a complete waste of time.
• THE WEBSITE
You will have to find a skilled commercial developer to design your website unless you have the expertise. You have to be very specific and deductive of what goes onto your website remembering a very imperative point, whatever goes onto the internet, stays there…forever. The whole point of employing a commercial web developer is to benefit from their years of experience. Many people treat a website design like art. Whilst this may be appropriate for certain industry sectors, for the vast majority the website should be designed to appeal to the target market not the artistic whims of the website owner. This applies to both the look of the site and the interface.
• THE LAUNCH
After the great idea, the research, a completed business plan and development of your website, it’s now time for The Day – The Launch. Make sure, you have carried out the promotion strategies as per your business plan, so everyone in the associated fields is aware of your presence in the market. You can use online social communities, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg etc to promote your online venture.Assuming you have a reasonable plan, do not focus all your marketing around the launch - you will need several weeks or even months to remove any bugs and teething troubles. No developer is perfect and no business plan is perfect. You need to allow yourself for the mistakes.
• HOSTING THE WEBSITE
This is normally something your developer will do for you but you can also carry out your own research and correlate for a better decision. You need to understand that good quality, secure hosting, high speed connectivity and ample bandwidth will cost you. Your revenue may depend upon the quality of the hosting service offered because if your site in unavailable, your customers would not be able to see it and you will end up making no money at all.
• MARKETING
You have to properly market your online business in order ensure name and success. You scan set aside at least the cost of the website again as a marketing budget, preferably more. Pay per Click campaigns provide excellent return on investment, as do professionally managed search engine campaigns, but do not rely solely on these. Consider avenues like viral marketing, and publicity stunts and, traditional marketing like newspapers, radio, TV, Yellow Pages etc. You can even try out email shots but making sure your ISP and webhost approves of this practice. You can improve these figures with an enticement or special offer, so give consideration to that within your business plan.
• TIME
You need to understand that is takes time for the search engines to index your site and it could weeks before you make your first sale. Very few websites take off immediately but an online business can provide you with a good income if it upholds a combination of planning, a good developer and a sensible marketing budget. Further just as in the conventional business, many online business enterprises do not recover a profit in the first, many don’t even realize in the second either; thus patience and perseverance required at all times.
• LEGAL PROTECTION
You have to make certain everything you do, say or publish on your website has to be in sync with legal rights and refutations. Any defamatory remarks made against any person or organization can and will result in legal consequences. If your budget approves, for safeguarding your online business take out insurance for professional indemnity, public liability etc.
• SENSIBLE BUDGETS
Different ideas require different budgets but a sensible budget makes certain that third to a half of it is allocated to the online business portal and the rest for the marketing.
After reading this article, you will be able to decide if running an online business is your cup of tea or not. And if you have decided to go for it, then we suggest you take above mentioned protocol into account and carefully get your online business off the ground.
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