From Business Idea To A Real Business: Quick Tips
Thank you for taking our quiz! We hope this information helps you and we would love to chat about your business ideas. If you got to this page by mistake, please take a look at our business quiz on the homepage. We give free initial consultation for up to one hour just to get to know you and your business.
Where do you start planning your business?
First off, we will assume you have the basics which is a business idea, basic business plan, and funding. Those are great first steps towards starting a business, but there are other areas that can give you an edge when it comes time to launching. Here we will outline some of the less common areas often overlooked at the beginning of starting a business.
Business Name:
Getting your business idea off the ground will eventually require a name, but the sooner the better. Creating your businesses name can be helpful in planning for a variety of reasons. You might pick a few names without easily secured domain names, social media accounts, or having legal restrictions. Picking a name and doing all of the necessary research will allow you to gather everything up online and offline before it gets close to launching your new business. If you can, start your social media accounts early and start gathering up interactions online now.
Online platform:
While it would be great to have the very best physical location in the most populated potential customer location, online can blow those sales out of the water. It’s important that no matter how difficult your business might translate to online sales or leads that you make an effort to have a website. Let’s take a look at why:
Argument 1: My customers aren’t online
There are some businesses that have lower tech savvy customer bases or even customers without reliable internet access. You should keep in mind that nearly everyone is online in some frequency or another. This sort of business usually opens up a great opportunity in that competition is less active online. Easily a huge potential strength for your business. Even lower frequency searches can be substantially profitable if you dominate the online business arena. Having a website could even open up partnerships that you wouldn’t have otherwise.
Argument 2: Too much competition online
Some search terms online are flooded with results. Maybe powerhouses of big corporate funding with huge teams behind them line the first page search results. Having a website can still have a huge impact for you. You can find those more specific long tail search terms and make your impact there. You could use your website as a house of information for those searching for your business specifically (not having to answer questions saves you money and can make sales). You can pay for traffic which hopefully turns into leads at often affordable marketing budgets. There are endless ways to profit from an online presence as long as you have a solid website.
Argument 3: I don’t sell stuff
While 24 hour per day selling is a possible reason to have a website, it’s not the only one. A majority of people now search out businesses, places to go, things to do, inspirations, information, reviews, and more all online. Having a place to house information relating to your business can be valuable to customers and supporters alike. There are ways to generate money with strategic relationships even if you have nothing to sell.
Now that you need a website:
Here is where to start with your new website. You should know the answers to a few questions. Will I need to update my own website? What information will I need to show on my website? What content would my customers find valuable? What features will my website need?
Brief examples of features:
- Online Store
- Customer/Contact Forms
- Scheduling
- Lead Capture
- Image Galleries
- Social Sharing
- Media Libraries
- Downloads
- Member Accounts
- Video
- Maps
- Reviews
- Online Apps
If you aren’t creating the website yourself, it’s really helpful to know your budget. Your first website doesn’t need to be a multi-million dollar development project in most cases, but it has to handle your needs efficiently. Knowing what you think you need before talking with someone like us about it can help start a conversation to uncover new ideas. There might be fun and creative additions to your needs that will help your business. A broad website overview also helps define the project scope. If you already know the answers to these questions contact us and let’s see how we can help you.
Start writing content early:
We talked about securing domain names and social accounts. You can also start writing content. You know your business and we know online. Having content written from your viewpoint can give a head start to your website project. Even if your content isn’t SEO friendly we can edit it. Find out what you want to say and start writing. You want 100% original content on your website. Try to keep your pages focused. You don’t need a single page explaining an automotive oil change and your favorite breed of dog…ever.
Branding and Logo:
Having unified branding and a solid logo can go a long way. You want customers to know it’s you before you say it. People also find comfort in patterns and predictability. You should, from the very start, think about what you want your branding to convey about your business. Its helpful from a designer aspect to think of adjectives you want your logo to represent. Think bold, modern, masculine, feminine, vintage (a favorite of ours), clean, luxury, and fun. Adjectives like these really help us to convey your logo ideas without needing artistic ability.
Goals:
Setting goals will help align actions with your desired results. Creating a few short term goals and a few long term goals will help keep you on target. It could be quitting a job to work for yourself, your first online sale, $15,ooo per month in sales. It’s just as important to decide huge milestones as it is stepping stones. Having goals are the same as having headlights on while driving at night. You need to see when it’s dark, goals are those headlights for your business and those times when you get discouraged.
Guidance:
When you are starting a business it’s easy to stagnate, feel overwhelmed with choices/projects, and especially lacking technical knowledge. We regularly talk with business owners and future business owners. If you need a little boost in sales, passion, planning, technology, or just fresh ideas contact us today. Let’s meet up over some coffee and figure out how we can help you. We give free initial consultation for up to one hour just to get to know you and your business.
