Starting a Business [blog]

Getting your first sale or customer through the door of your website and converting them to a credible lead can be difficult for brand new businesses, although here are a few tips to bear in mind.

Promote Your Site Across All Channels

You may need to hold fire on ordering some business cards until your site is effectively launched – otherwise anyone going on your website after speaking to you may not be impressed with a holding page.

Ask For Opinions Early & Often

Ask friends and family you can trust to give you an objective and useful opinion on your website and get them to give you advice on your website concepts. Just be aware that waiting until the website is build and “finished” and then going back and changing everything with your web designer is a recipe for bruised egos and burning any goodwill you have accumulated in forming a working relationship. They may even charge you for their time so you have been warned!

Be sure to ask your business coach or partner as their input may shed some light on why your site is under performing. It may be a glaring omission or as subtle as changing a few colours.

Write Content Often

Even if you are not getting traffic, it is important to continue plugging away at your website to not only boost the value of their website to potential visitors but to offer anyone who does visit your website something of value.
This also signals to search engines that your website is still live and fresh.

Avoid Lowering Your Rates/Prices

If you are clamoring for work, avoid the temptation of lowering your rates or prices just to get a sale – this will have a couple of unforeseen consequences which may not manifest later on.

For example, if that clients that refers your work to another, they may expect the same rates – therefore you may be undercutting your own business.

However, you can always over deliver – promise your client additional free extras, then your customer will no doubt discuss your service with others.

Check The Competition

Keep an eye on the competition – and see what they are up to? Have they cut back on advertising spend during certain months of the year? This may be an indication that they are knowingly reducing their overheads as they are experiencing a low period themselves.

All business have to adapt and you have to do so as well to survive. Have they started blogging recently? Are they promoting a new line of products? Keeping abreast of developments with your competition can help you know what your competing against and this will help you define your own niche and refine your unique selling point.

For example, if your rivals are offering rock bottom prices – then you can probably place your prices a little higher and pitch to the higher end clients as you offer premium customer service.

Of course there are many more tips out there so why not share your own ideas in the comments?

Research is Key

First thing you need to do is go out there and research. You need to get to grips with whom your potential customers will be, as well as what they will need and how you can potentially offer it. This will also include key research such as getting appropriate price points to offer you service (which may be lower or higher than you were expecting!).

You will also want to research suppliers and get up to date price lists so you can see the kind of margins you’ll be operating on. This will allow you to see if you can make a viable business or not.

More importantly, don’t be afraid to go back to the drawing board with your initial idea, as you may need to adapt it or come up with a brand new idea totally.

Write Up A Business Plan

The next stage would be turn your research into a viable business plan that will ensure you keep focused on what your business has to offer and how you intend to achieve it.

Look for Partners & Suppliers

If you look for partners in your business whom have relavent skill sets to yours will allow you to keep looking after what your best at and will allow you to share the risk and allow you to share contacts, experience and expertise.

This is the point to start forming relationships with your potential suppliers and testing the waters. You need to quickly weed out those that are a waste of time and will prove to be unreliable (which may reflect on your business) and this is the time to negotiate prices.

Begin Marketing

Marketing is the key to any business that intends to become successful as well as stay successful. Whether this is through mediums such as paid for advertising or through more convention methods such as posters and flyers.

Although many business rely on foot traffic and word of mouth, to reach wider audiences modern businesses have to be ready and willing to embrace other sources of advertisings such as the internet and many business are turning to eBay and other sites to sell their products and service.

Other Considerations

Finances

All business require a certain amount of administration work such as keeping an eye of cash flow, chasing payments as well as ensuring that you have a steady stream of work and that the work you are currently doing isn’t below standard.

Although this is something you may not be good at, you can always bring in someone external or have a partner who is good at look at your finances every now and again to keep everything on track on a regular basis.

Be Aware of Your Own Personal Weaknesses

By being honest with your own strengths and weakness, you can help offset your own weakness and make sure your business is a success. For example, if you’re not good at marketing, considering seeking professional help or even help from a friend to help give you advice and provide a sounding board. If you’re good at what your do but terrible with number, consider hiring an accountant to look after your books.

Are you thinking of starting a business around your new idea, or perhaps turning a hobby into it’s own business venture, then you’ll want to take heed of the following steps:

1. Research your market

Identify potential customers and talk to them and find out if your idea is meeting a real need in the market.

2. Develop and Plan

Test your product and service with real customers, make changes, and test it again. Keep going until you know your service is meeting all the needs of your clients and exceeding expectations.

3. Find partners and suppliers

Every business needs suppliers, even virtual online business needs suppliers for supply them with the hosting for their website but you’ll not only need to know the costs involved, but also what level of support they are willing to offer – when the server crashes, will your host leave you to sort it out yourself or will they offer a hand or even take over and restore the website for you?

4. Set up the Business

Do your research into the types of business available and find out which structure is right for your business? Is your business potentially risky and you need the personal protection of a Limited Company can provide, or will going into a partnership help you to raise the capital investment required?

5. Get Funding

Explore different avenues of business finance, from bank loans to government backed schemes through to searching for this illusive business angels.

Also research your “expected” revenue streams so you can see if your business is viable or not in the long term.