More and more businesses are going from brick-and-mortar to the digital space. As more consumers turn online for their shopping, it’s no wonder so many businesses are jumping on this online trend. Having an online business is easier today than ever before, but there’s also a lot of competition. There are a lot of helpful tools to get you started, but you’ll need a solid strategy for staying ahead of your competitors in the online space. Here are tips and tricks for transitioning your business online with ease.
Finding the Right Platform
Your first step as a business owner is to find the right platform for transitioning online. There are two options: preexisting or self-owned. You can use a pre-existing selling platform like Etsy or even Facebook to display your inventory. While it’s easy to set up your platform through a system like this that already exists, beware of these platforms’ many limitations.
If you can afford it and you have time for it, you should choose to self-host your website. This gives you complete freedom over your site! It’s not expensive to get started with a website nowadays, and there are selling platforms which are easy to integrate into your website. An article on Forbes.com lists choosing the right platform for your online business as one of the biggest parts of the setup process!
When choosing the right platform, you’ll also need to choose a way to integrate your merchant account. You need the checkout process to be as smooth and clear as possible to avoid abandoned carts. Choosing a merchant account is essential to your business success. Well-known platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce make it easy to integrate your merchant account for a seamless checkout process.
SEO Optimization
After your platform is established, you need to focus on SEO optimization. Search Engine Optimization or SEO isn’t just for big-name businesses. As a smaller online business, it’s essential your audience is able to easily find you. You can boost your SEO presence by including relevant keywords, meta titles and tags, and by creating a mobile-friendly website. A study by ImFormza.com revealed that 75% of internet users don’t scroll past the first page of search results! That means it’s essential than ever to appear on that first page for your chosen keyword.
Content Marketing
Content marketing isn’t something you focus on if you’re only operating an in-person business. In the online sphere, it’s absolutely necessary to create a strategy for content marketing.
Content marketing is simple. It’s the creation of valuable content that is easy to share on social media and beyond. It can be blog posts that generate traffic to your website or YouTube videos that attract a bigger audience.
All of these types of content encourage users to interact with your brand and build a relationship with your business. Lilo, a well-known digital agency, reports that there are over 140,000 sites being launched daily! That’s a big number!
Transitioning Online
It’s intimidating to take your business online, especially if you’re new to the world of online marketing. Luckily, there are so many helpful tools and companies that make it easier than ever to create a powerful website for your business. As long as you use the tips above, your business will reach a larger audience than ever before! You’ll wish you took your business online sooner!
