subject: How to build your business from your internet connection [print this page] How to build your business from your internet connection
Starting a business is a serious financial proposition in these troubled financial times. Setting up office premises, providing for a marketing budget and sourcing suppliers all require a large investment, and with banks reticent about offering loans for start-ups, it can difficult to come across the capital to get started.
However, there is a way to establish your business and start finding customers that requires much less investment than an on the ground' business. Running your business online provides many benefits. For starters, you don't need to invest in office premises at the outset. You can run an online business from your home internet connection, and can outsource support roles, including marketing, copywriting, accounting, and sales to freelancers and home workers around the world.
Freelance job sites have hundreds of skilled workers available to take on tasks ranging from web design and graphic design to copywriting, admin, human resources and sales. And crowd-sourced creative communities allow you to post projects ranging from logo and web design to branding and marketing, with a set budget. Hundreds of talented freelancers will then pitch ideas for your project, before you award the project to the best idea, for a fraction of the cost of hiring a full-time creative agency.
As the web is now the first place most people look when searching for products or services, establishing your business online is an essential element for any new business. Why not take it to the next logical step and run your business solely online? All you need is the know-how and a small business broadband internet connection.
A solid knowledge of search engine optimisation (SEO) and internet marketing strategies is essential for any online business, to ensure that your website will rank in the search engines and your customers can find you. At its most basic level, this means finding out what keywords or key phrases your customers are likely to use when searching for your products or services, and optimising your web pages for these keywords, in the page titles, meta tags and body content. Whichever way you go about it, one thing is certain your initial outlay to set-up a purely online business will be dramatically less than your outlay for a business with full-time premises and staff. And this means that you'll start to see a return on your investment much more quickly with an online business. It makes perfect sense the only thing that is confusing is why more people haven't already put their great business ideas into action and created an online start-up!
Isla Campbell writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
