{"id":15110,"date":"2020-01-07T18:48:53","date_gmt":"2020-01-07T17:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.names.co.uk\/blog\/?p=15110"},"modified":"2020-02-12T19:25:46","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T18:25:46","slug":"key-steps-to-starting-your-online-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.names.co.uk\/blog\/key-steps-to-starting-your-online-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Key steps to starting your online business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Starting an online business is becoming\nincreasingly popular as the desire for a better work-life balance increases. No\nless than 62% of adults believe that entrepreneurship is a good career [1]. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Here are 3 key steps in starting an online business:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Identify a current problem for your target market<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Determining a genuine problem that your\ntarget market is facing is critical to success in starting an online business.\nTo identify the problem, you first need to research your target market. Spend\ntime exploring the social media platforms and forums where they are discussing\ntheir problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finding out what they are struggling with right now will provide you with some ideas as to how to position your product or service. An irresistible offer is essential in attracting your target market and in building an email list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Build your email list<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Your email list may well be your online\nbusiness&#8217; greatest asset. Social media can be a highly effective way in which\nto build your email list. Creating a video on YouTube, running a Facebook Ad or\ncreating a series of blog posts are three leading ways in which you can get\nyour offer in front of the right people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still not sure that building an email list\nwill justify the time required? In 2019, email generated $38 for every $1 spent\n[2]. Once you have built your email list (which is an on-going process), you\ncan now begin to get your products or services in front of your prospects and\ninto your sales funnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Create a sales funnel<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Having identified your target market and started to reach out to them via email, you need a process that turns those leads into customers through your sales funnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sales funnels enable you to define the\nprocess and to track individual prospects (potential customers) as they\nprogress through it, building the relationship at every stage. Sales funnels\nare made up of several stages and each one requires specific attention. By far\nthe most popular sales funnel model is AIDA which has 4 stages: Attention,\nInterest, Desire and Action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Attention Stage<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Organic search marketing, blog posts, social media posts, Facebook Ads or Google Ads. At this stage, you may be offering potential customers something for free in return for their email address. Getting that email address is vital in the following stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Interest Stage <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Having attracted their attention, you now need to develop their interest in your product or service. What problems does it solve? Why is it better \/ cheaper \/ faster than the competitors? Focus on the benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Desire Stage<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Creating desire through follow-up contact\nincluding email marketing and other content such as webinars that sell the\nproducts or services based upon the results they can deliver for the\nprospective customer. Customers buy results not features. Show them how others\nhave achieved their desired benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Action Stage<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If the preceding stages have been handled\neffectively, closing the sale should be a natural next step. Make it\nfrictionless and easy to do, ideally online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Whilst there are no guarantees in starting\nan online business, there are a number of key steps that can shorten the odds\nof success for you. Good luck!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">[1] https:\/\/gemconsortium.org\/report\/gem-2016-2017-global-report<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">[2] https:\/\/www.emailmonday.com\/dma-national-client-email-report-2015\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Starting an online business is becoming increasingly popular as the desire for a better work-life balance increases. No less than 62% of adults believe that entrepreneurship is a good career&#8230; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.names.co.uk\/blog\/key-steps-to-starting-your-online-business\/\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":14738,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1596],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips-and-tricks"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Key steps to starting your online business - names.co.uk blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Starting an online business is becoming increasingly popular as the desire for a better work-life balance increases. Here are 3 steps to consider...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.names.co.uk\/blog\/key-steps-to-starting-your-online-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Key steps to starting your online business - names.co.uk blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Starting an online business is becoming increasingly popular as the desire for a better work-life balance increases. 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