7 proven strategy to take your business online in 2021: A Step-by-step guide

Getting your business successful online is not easy or really that hard. From analyzing your competitors to growing your online presence, Fortunately, in this step-by-step guide, We will be showing you how to take your business online in 2021. But firstly, let’s talk about the benefits.

What is the benefit of taking your business online in 2021

If you have a business and it is not listed online, this is the right time to get started. We will be showing the strategy to grow your business online. Your online store/website is where your customers will be spending a whole lot of their time reading, watching, researching, socializing, and buying. A website or online store can automate your daily activities from talking to clients, pricing, contact and shipping, and lots more.

Many businesses start with a simple presence on a Facebook business page or a payment gateway store — and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just important to realize that you don’t have total control over those platforms and you’ll likely be limited in terms of what you can do there.

As such, you might want to expand your digital presence to include several important elements.

Steps to take your business online

In this article, We will be showing you the 7 proven strategies to follow for your business success online when you’re starting a business online in 2021. 

We have seen hundreds of people start and grow successful businesses by doing the following steps:

1. Find a low competition niche.
2. Write a business plan.
3. Get a fully functional website.
4. Use search engines to drive traffic to your site.
5. Create Valuable Content.
6. Connect with customers on social media.
7. Increase your income through back-end sales and upselling.

Step 1: Find a low Competition Niche.

Most people who are just starting make a huge mistake of getting a website first, and then relaxed and wait for the money to roll in, no it doesn’t work that way, you need to research your competitors and market your business next, if that sound too overwhelming, you can contact an experts like Netwalkers to help you out.

To boost your chances of success, start with a market. The trick is to find a group of people who are searching for a solution to a problem, but not finding many results. The internet makes this kind of market research easy, go for the following strategies:

• Do keyword research to find keywords that a lot of people are searching, but don’t have a ton of competition with other sites.
• Check out your potential competitors by visiting their websites and taking note of what they’re doing to fill the demand. Then you can use what you’ve learned and create a product for a market that already exists — and do it better than the competition.
• Visit online forums to see what questions people ask and what problems they’re trying to solve.

Define your “why.”

It is good to know why you are launching your business. But just launch your business because people are doing so, you can think and define your why you’re launching a business and the problem you’re trying to solve.

Clarify your target customers.

You need to clarify your target audience – do you have a passion for making people’s lives easier? Or enjoy creating art to bring color to their world? Identifying these answers helps clarify your mission and your target audience. Third, you want to define how you will provide this value to your customers and how to deliver that purpose in a way that they are willing to pay.

Step 2: Write a Business Plan.

Once you have your idea in place, you need to ask yourself a few important questions again: What is the purpose of your business? Who are you selling to? What are your end goals? How will you finance your startup costs? These questions can be answered in a well-written business plan. 

A lot of mistakes are made by new businesses rushing into things without thinking about these features of the business. You need to find your target audience. Who is going to buy your product or service? If you can’t find proof that there’s a demand for your idea, then what would be the point of launching a business online? 

Conduct market research.

This involves conducting surveys, holding focus groups, and researching SEO and public data. 

Market research helps you understand your target customer – their needs, preferences, and behavior – as well as your industry and competitors. 

The best small businesses have products or services that are differentiated from the competition. This has an important influence on your competitive aspect and allows you to send unique value to potential clients. 

Step 3: Design and build your website.

Once you’ve got your market and product, and you’ve nailed down your selling process, now you’re ready for your small-business web design. Remember to keep it simple. You have fewer than five seconds to grab someone’s attention — otherwise, they’re gone, never to be seen again. Some important tips to keep in mind:

• Choose one or two plain fonts on a white background.
• Make your navigation obvious and simple, and the same on every page.
• Your website is your online storefront, so make it customer-friendly.
• Include an opt-in offer so you can collect email addresses.
• Make it easy to buy — no more than two clicks between potential customer and checkout.

If that sounds too technical or you need helping to get a website, contact Netwalkers, they’re very good at building a modern website.

Step 4: Use search engines to drive targeted buyers to your site.

Once you’ve got your website up and running, learn the leading organic traffic driving tactics to get more visitors to your brand-new website.

Step 5: Create Valuable Content.

So, what’s your story? Every business has one. And a compelling story drives an effective small business website, publish the following article on your blog page.

• How did you get started?
• What problem can you solve for your customers, as only you can?
• What do you tell customers about your business?
• How do you explain to friends how you make a living?

Think about your mission, your passion, and what makes you stand apart from the competition. Then start writing.

It could be as simple as this:

“I started baking with Mom when I was barely tall enough to reach the kitchen counter. She taught me everything she learned from her mother and grandmother and encouraged me to pursue my passion in college. I started my bakery right out of culinary school. Today, I might not end up covered in as much flour, but I still love baking as much as I did when I was a kid. I think you’ll taste that passion in my cookies.”

Be mobile-ready

A mobile-friendly website is optimized for a positive user experience on mobile. Whether you design your website or hire a designer to do it for you, make sure your business website looks and performs as well on mobile phones and tablets as it does on desktop computers.

Step 6: Connect with customers on social media.

Building a business presence on social networks like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter where your customers and prospects spend their time is sort of like setting up a stand at the world’s largest virtual business program.

How social media can help your small business

Why is social media so important for businesses today, and more importantly, how can you get in on that action?

Build a relationship. You can start by building followers on social media like Instagram and Twitter, you can connect with your customers and prospects and share content with large numbers of people. Social media makes it easy to grow your business faster by redirecting them to your website where they browse through your pricing page, testimonies page, FAQ page, contact page, about page, and lots more.

Build your brand. You can build your brand easily on social media by sharing valuable information about your business and showcase your personality.

Drive traffic to your website. Your brand-new website can take some time to get organic traffic, but with social media, you can make things faster by posting your blog post on social media and sharing your website link.

Make sales. Eventually, these activities — connections, brand building, driving traffic, establishing expertise — all lead to the same place: sales.

By getting social, you will continue to build credibility, raise brand awareness, and engage with current and potential customers.

Ready to get started? Click here.

Choose the right social media platform

Not all social media are worth spending time as a business owner. Some platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter, specialize in visual content — perfect for product-centric businesses. Some networks allow you to share long-form content, live-stream video, stay on top of industry trends, and analyze your business.

Do some research. Where is your target audience hanging out? How about your competitors? What benefits can each network offer your business? take some time to Analyze that.

Take all that data, look at it in the meaning of the marketing goals you have established for your business, and define a social media strategy that works for your business.

Best practices for using social media for business

Once you’re all set up on your chosen networks, and listening to get a pulse on your customers and competitors, it’s time to start posting and sharing content. To get the most out of social media for your business, it helps to follow a few basic guidelines:

Make friends. Social media is about connecting with people. So, even if you are representing a business, be sure to let your human side shine through in your posts. Return favors (such as sharing and liking posts and pages).

Add value. Provide useful information in your posts, such as links to related articles and videos.

Show respect. Treat your followers with honor and respect.

Get it right. Be sure to check your facts, spelling, and grammar.

Encourage open dialogue. Craft posts that encourage followers to respond. Ask questions.

Be responsive. Acknowledge followers’ feedback and engage them in conversation.

Get visual. Post photos and videos to boost engagement.

Leverage promotions. Come up with special offers for social media followers.

Drive traffic to your website. Include your website address/URL (Uniform Resource Locator) in posts for followers who want to learn more about your business.

Step 7: Evaluate your efforts

Whatever the level of your business success, we believe in growth. As a result, our web designers are keen on creating platforms that help businesses reach higher. We are the Software Engineering and Digital Marketing expert in Lagos, Nigeria that will put your business success first.

What are we waiting for? Let’s get started.