Anyone can set up an online business, but that doesn’t mean everyone does it correctly. Just as there are conventions you need to follow in the physical world, there are right and wrong moves online. Of course, the right moves won’t always yield the right results. However, the wrong move almost never yield the right results. Therefore, if you want to set up an online business with the potential to make a profit, here are three golden rules to keep in mind:
1. Branding Matters
The way you present your business to the world matters. Even a relatively simple product or service can garner a huge amount of interest if the branding is on point. In the online arena, it all starts with first impressions. You need a brand that instantly conveys an air of quality and trust.
You can click here to read about a study by Princeton psychologists, Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov, that showed that we form an impression of someone within a tenth of a second. So, just by seeing someone’s face for less than a second, we start to characterize them in certain ways.
The same is true in business. It takes roughly 0.05 seconds to “form an opinion” about a website. Because of this, your branding needs to have an immediate impact. That impact starts with your company’s name. So not only does it have to be easy to read, the name has to work well in an online setting.
You can try this business name generator to get examples of what works. The main characteristics business names generated by AI software have in common are: they’re based on keywords, relatively short, and easily turned into a URL. Your business name needs to be optimized for search engines and be memorable enough that people will instantly recognize it.
2. Don’t Do Too Much Too Soon
Many businesses have tons of great ideas but don’t deliver on them because they want to implement all their ideas at once. An online business should be simple and easy to understand. You don’t need to diversify straightaway. Instead, stick to one or two core products and build up from there.
Indeed, this takes us back to the idea of branding. If consumers associate your brand with one high-quality product, they’ll remember it. That’s important because data from Adobe’s new Future of Marketing Research Series found that 71% of UK consumers made more purchases when they trust a brand. Additionally, 61% will recommend trusted brands to friends.
3. Get People Talking
Another thing you’ll need to do as an online start-up is to generate traffic. Even if buying activity is low, you need engagement. Make use of social media platforms and start conversations. Get people talking about your brand. The more mentions you get, the more people will take notice of your website.
You can use Jeff Bullas blog to find plenty of viral social media campaigns you can learn from. For example, in 2020 REI a recreational equipment company, promoted the hashtag #OptOutside when it announced the store would close on Black Friday.
Going against the grain and not subjecting customers to Black Friday to fear of missing out (FOMO) won the company a lot of fans. The hashtag was soon trending and sales increased once Black Friday was over and the store reopened.
Thinking outside the box and going against convention can pay dividends on social media. If you can create the perfect campaign and master the other fundamentals we’ve mentioned, you could be on the way to running a successful online business.
Also read: Those that Reject the Faceless Online Business Model Find Great Success
