Considerations when starting an online business

COLLABORATIVE POST

Selective focus photo of man using laptop

We all love the idea of working from home, setting our own hours and being our own boss and this is exactly the case when you run your own online business - and you get to keep the money you bring in, no longer have to request holiday and can make your own daily decisions.

Online businesses come in many forms. Some people create content and post it on social media channels, others run their own online magazine or blog or have an online store which people can buy from - the internet has brought many opportunities and it depends on the career path you have chosen, prior to starting an online business.

Whether you know the type of online business you want to run or are still trying to decide, there are a few considerations that you will need to think about before launching. From getting your emails set up to organising your website and social media channels, below we look more into this.

Emails

No business can operate without having an email system in place. When starting, this is one of the first things you will need to consider and the consideration you will need to think about are - The monthly price of your email system, how reliable it is, what their customer service like should you need support, and how it integrates with other software, amongst other things. When you have your emails set up, it’s good to learn more about spam emails and spam traps as online security is very important.

Website

You can’t run an online business without having a brilliant website set up. There are many drag-and-drop builders with templates if you want to give this a go and are creative enough to make a good site. If not, you can turn to a freelancer to create a site for you or an agency if your budget is stretched far enough. A website acts as your shop front, so it’s imperative that it's a good one, otherwise, customers will leave and find someone else to shop with. Most sites are built using WordPress as it’s very robust and you can grow with it, however, there are other software that are just as good.

Social Media

Social media is just as important as your website and will help you grow your business, bringing in more sales. There are a myriad of social media channels that you can use, so do your research on which ones are best for you - for example, Titok is great for videos, whereas Facebook is for blog posts. We wouldn’t recommend signing up to everyone straight away as you won’t have the time to put good content out on all of them, instead focus your time on the one that will bring you the best ROI.

What considerations have you already made for your online business that you are starting? Which of the above points do you think is most important? Is there anything we have missed that you think we should add to our guide? Let us know.

— End of collaborative post —

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