Every single start of new a year, a lot of us have the self-belief of achieving a goal that would make this year the best of our lives so far. Is that goal of yours to perhaps start an online business with every determination and resilience you have?
If you believe so then 2025 could be the best year of your life yet! This blog will go through how you can start a successful online business in 2025!
An online business managed by you has benefits like…
- Working in Your own Personal Terms
- Contributing Towards Society Through your Talent
- Earning an Income Through Loyal Clients/Customers
- Being an Inspiration and Role Model to Others
- Work Flexibly while Juggling Between other Responsibilities or Hobbies
Whether you are looking to do a business based on selling clothes, gym/calisthenics programs, food, technology, skin care etc. you will need to create a step-by-step guide to ensure you are able to…
- Appeal to the Right Audience
- Advertise at the Right platforms
- Understanding your Audiences’ Wants and Needs
- USP (Unique Selling Proposition)
- The importance of Leveraging Social Media
The step-by-step guide as follows…
Defining you Market: When you have an idea of the product or service you want to sell and achieve a good recognition for online, you need to research particular demographics that you intend to target. Alongside identifying what other businesses sells or provides a very similar service to you so you can be aware and learn of what to improve on when your business is facing a fallback.
You need to consider…
- The Reason why your Service/Product will be Convenient and Efficient
- Will my Service/Product Be Useful in the Future as the World Adapts More into AI
- Will My Target Audience Have the Money to Afford Whatever You Are Selling?
Knowing your Business Model: A business model is a strategy for a business to become profitable along with the chances of appealling to investors and talent. This enables you as the business’ owner to know the best method to successfully make their business thrive financially.
This is in terms of…
- Being Aware of What Products are Worthy to Sell
- How it Wants the Services/Products Presented in the Market
- Figuring out the Estimated Revenue
Examples of business models are…
- E-commerce
- Advertising
- Subscription
- Freemium
Write a Business Plan
To avoid the risk of having your business experiencing hurdles and unsustainability, having a business plan listed down on your paper/digital notebook will allow you to organise and become aware of how you want your business to be…
- Structured
- Developed
- Competing Amongst Others (USP)
- Appealling to an Audience
- How Products and Services Will Be Sold
In addition you need to list the particular costs of whatever equipment and products you need operate your business as well as the estimated revenue and a strategy for growth.
Figuring out a Name
A name is for your business is inevitable as it is needed to be created for the purpose of…
- Branding
- Marketing
- Recognition
- Identity
- Legacy
When it comes to creating your business’ name, ensure that the words are…
- Short
- Attention Grabbing
- Simple to Spell
- Interesting
Whatever business’ name you choose that is relatable towards the four above listed characteristics, make sure the name includes your businesses’ purpose. To ensure your website will be easier to rank on various search engines, so your website can be found. To bring the attention to the people hoping to purchase products/services that your website has for sale.
This is why such a small aspect of the business such as the name can bring a volume of traffic on your website – this is how SEO can bring sustainability to your business.
The Development of Your Online Store
There are many website builder platforms to choose from to be able to create your website to effectively market your services and sell. These platforms are…
- Wix
- Shopify
- Squarespace
To make your online store optimal for accessibility, the store needs to have a compatible mobile version linked with social media platforms for the purpose of digital marketing. Alongside product pages that uses particular marketing techniques to inspire people make a purchase with impeccable SEO.
Using any of the three listed platforms above will provide you with the tools so you can be equipped to sell online towards your potential customers. These tools will allow you to develop your website by…
- Adding Products
- Adding Descriptions
- Manage Stock and Orders
- Checking Data and Analytics
Most importantly nothing can be brought from your website without a merchant account. The purpose of a merchant account is to approve payments made by credit/debit cards from your online shoppers. The account is separate from a business’ account.
To gain access to a merchant account, it can be from your bank or any other merchant provider.
Creating Your Online Brand
How do you want to represent your online business? Your brand is what tells us what your business is all about and how it will contribute into society towards the key targets such as…
- Target audience
- Investors
- Suppliers
- Employees
The USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is the essence that creates your brands visual identity and tone of voice as a way to engage with society through its representation and persona. To successfully have your business achieve visual identity it needs…
- Logo
- Brand Colours
- Brand Fonts
The aspect of tone of voice is by how your business is heard in society through the written communication known as copywriting and spoken content.
Sites To Create Brand Logo’s
- Canva
- Adobe Express
- Drawtify
- Wix
- LOGO.com
Leveraging Social Media
If you do not use social media to promote your online business, you are potentially missing out on sales as social media is being used daily by a large number of your target audiences as part of their daily lives and habits.
Shopping through social media is increasing as people want…
- To Discover New Products
- Closer Contact with Brands
- Community Interactions
- Credibility
- See Personal Reviews
Using SEO
In order for your potential customers looking for a product or service that your online business is tailored to, SEO is helpful to achieve your website being discovered on a search engine.
The content you can do to help achieve this can be…
- Blogs
- Product Pages
- Video
Additionally you can create a YouTube channel based on your website. As YouTube has an algorithm that recommends particular content to users based on there interests.
The Legal Responsibility
All businesses need to be registered with HMRC – including yours. Get in touch with an accountant or solicitor for advice on…
- The Business’ Structure (Legal Responsibilities)
- Tax
- National Insurance
- VAT
Are You Cut Out For This?
Having an online business will never make an income for you if you avoid working at the times of day that you do not want or feel comfortable working on. Along with having a number of days of the week to prioritise entertainment, rather than working to develop your business.
However this can not stop you from having hobbies along with having a little social life. Which is good to have a little break from the stresses that you can experience when developing your first online business.
Good luck on your journey!
