The era when you could afford to have a business with no online presence is all but gone. All over the world, people are becoming increasingly dependent on the internet to get the goods and services they need and learn about new items.
With 80 percent of Americans making at least one order online in a year, you will miss out on huge potential sales if your business is all offline. The dependence on web stores for essential consumer products has only grown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In seeking to minimize the risk of getting infected, many folks resorted to ordering their food using online delivery apps, for example. Even as life returns to normal, many consumers will maintain their online shopping habits. You need to put your business online to catch these potential buyers where they do most of their shopping.
Moving your business online may appear daunting, especially if you have no online presence whatsoever. You may be intimidated by what you feel is your lack of knowledge of how the internet works or you may fear that the exercise will come with a huge price tag. You may also not be completely convinced of the necessity of this online mumbo-jumbo.
Here are some ideas of how you can go about creating a place for your business online:
Invest in a Digital Space
The first stop in the quest to take your business online will be a domain registrar. Here you will do a search for the preferred domain name for your website. Ideally, your chosen domain name will be the same as the name of your business.
Once you find an available domain name that bears at least a close similarity to your business name, you can purchase it. You will be required to pay a fixed fee for your domain name every year.
After securing your domain, you will need to develop a concept for your website or web store. As you think about the design of your site and the content it will host, you should have both your brand and your target audience in mind.
If you are offering products or services for sale online and need a site that will allow potential buyers to place their orders, you should think of platforms like Shopify and Magento. These make it easy for entrepreneurs to set up and operate online stores.
Choosing Product Offerings
Speaking of online stores, you want to carefully select the products from your physical store that you will put up for sale online. Putting your entire catalog online might not be feasible due to the expense involved.
A good idea is to start by putting up your most popular, fast-moving items on your website. Invest some time and resources in finding out what products your target market prefers.
Focusing on lightweight items that are easy and cost-effective to ship makes good business sense. To minimize the costs of storing and delivering goods, you might want to consider bringing on board a dropshipping company. The beauty is that some e-commerce platforms offer dropshipping apps as an add-on, helping you kill two birds with one stone.
Plan Launch Day
Having an official launch date for your site or online store will help generate some buzz around your website and give it some starting momentum in terms of sales. You can do this by harnessing the power of social media.
Start a catchy hashtag around your site launch and try to get it to trend. You could also reach out to influencers on Instagram or Twitter whose content is aligned to your brand to help you spread the word on your launch.
Using offline media, including print and broadcast media, can help generate interest in your launch if you can afford it. You could also think about creating an event at a popular New York venue graced by local celebrities.
Figure Out Marketing
Besides launching your site with a bang, you need to consistently figure out how to keep potential buyers streaming into your online store. One of the ways you can do this is by offering them content that will benefit them. You could have a running blog that gives them consistent tips on how best to experience your products.
Few people can resist a freebie. You can work this to your advantage by luring visitors to your site with free downloads of e-books with helpful information, or you could offer them enticing goodies for referring your web store to friends.
You can try out many ideas, but not all of them are effective, and some can be rather costly. A marketing agency in New York can help you save time and money by recommending strategies they’ve seen work for similar businesses.
Playing the Long Game
Moving your business online will help you tap into the power and reach of the internet to grow your business. But chances are, your competitors are already there. So above creating and launching your site, you have to think about how you will make them choose to visit your site over others over the long term. These steps will offer you a good starting point.
