Starting an Online Business on a Budget
Starting an Online Business on a Budget
Starting an Online Business on a Budget
Do you want to start your own business but simply don't have the money to outlay? I'm going to share with you some information and suggestions to enable you to begin your business today! I have endlessly researched and brainstormed to gather this information, and it certainly helped me magnificently in my own venture as I'm sure it will with yours.
Firstly, before anything else can begin, you need to write down on a piece of paper some vital information. What is it that you want to sell? How much time per day are you willing to commit? What is your demographic region? Who is your target market? Be very precise here. For example, if you run an online jewellery store, your target market may be primarily Australian women aged 20-40 who are middle-classed, fashion conscious, and like to do the majority of their shopping at home. This is of course a generalisation, but doing this will be paramount in the future when advertising, as you need to appeal your ads for your target market.
Your next step is to work out a basic budget. Whether it be $50 or $10000, how much can you actually spend? Can you afford to stock your product yet whether you'll be hand-making it or importing it? Work out how much you can afford for your first order, not forgetting the outlay involved. What other items might you need to purchase? New phone line, fax, printer, new computer perhaps? Research until you locate an ideal manufacturer for your products. Take into consideration their prices, their quality and reputation, shipping cost and time-frame. Organise the purchase of a sample product before committing to your first big order.
The primary necessary expense is of course your website. Fortunately for my business partner and I, we both have some computer knowledge. Brett (my partner) was left in charge of creating the main website, as he'd made a couple of websites in the past. This can save you thousands if you're able to do this. We signed up with Just Host, who had a great offer for 6 months web hosting (as little as $4.95 a month!). You can register your.com domain name with them as well. Just Host also supplies you with everything you need, including templates, shopping carts, email accounts, and the list is endless! They also have a live chat, which Brett has utilised often, asking questions whenever he needs a hand. Optimise your website regularly. WebCEO is a brilliant program for this. Optimisation is how your website will get to the front page of the search engines. Once it's there, business should start booming.
It is important to apply for an ABN and tax file number if in Australia. These take a couple of months to activate, so apply for these as soon as you can. Both are free. List your ABN as part of your footer on your website. This builds substantial trust on the consumer's point of view. Research about the other legalities of starting a business in your country. Is import tax applicable? What other taxes will you need to pay?
I concentrated on creating an eBay store and submitting our details to countless free directory sites and free classifieds. Our eBay store has been a major backbone to our sales. You can set up an eBay store for only $15 a month. Listing and final sale fees can be very expensive, especially when selling more costly products (like jewellery), but I've found it to be worth it, as eBay has such an enormous following- buyer who otherwise would not have found your products.
While Brett continued on improving the website, I expanded our business throughout the markets of social sites like Facebook pages and Twitter and traffic generating programs such as LinkReferral. When you can, write articles on your expertise and submit them to Ezines. I also created a couple of blogs, one on Blogspot which is free and very popular, and also with Google Groups. It is a lot of work to update your blogs and social networks regularly, especially when starting your business as there's already so many hours in your day utilised. Doing all this is quite important as it builds fan bases, markets your website, and creates valuable backlinks to your site.
Next it's time to start direct marketing. If your business serves primarily your local area, you'll find direct marketing a success. Design and order leaflets, brochures, business cards, magnets, postcards, and any other tool you may think of, and distribute them via letterbox drop. Perhaps place some under windscreen wipers of cars at the shopping centre or pin some postcards on noticeboards. The opportunities are endless. Email marketing is useful. Design and create a newsletter and establish a mailing list (you can purchase these or have an option on your websites to opt in to your list). Send a newsletter out once a month, and perhaps an email flyer once a week. I've found Vistaprint is a brilliant website, offering direct marketing tools for a fraction of what you'd expect to pay.
You can establish a business with minimal funding. The main expense is time. Brett and I have both had our moments when we wanted to throw in the towel, as starting your business
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