Checklist : Do You Have Everything You Need to Take Your Business Online?

Welcome to the online world of the internet. How are today’s screens treating you? Yes, you are now lost in a whole other world, aren’t you? What is fascinating is that 59% of the global population are accessing this world online. The digital world opens portals into endless information, enjoyable movies, computer games, virtual communication and what not. Said that, how many of us can think of a life without the internet? Well, we don’t have to. Now while we’re at it, let’s bring in some business online too.

Why Do People Hesitate to Take Their Business Online?

Studies relate numerous grounds to why people procrastinate or hesitate to take their business online. Some of the reasons are fear, lack of knowledge and confusion while people do not know where to turn to for assistance. Another serious factor is cost. People are under the misconception that taking their business online will burn a hole in their pockets. In the light of solving these, this blog is going to hit the tip of the iceberg to impart fundamental information on taking business online. Around the time you reach the end of this blog, you will have rid yourself of all the confusion and fright.

Why Should You Take Your Business Online?

The importance of the internet is on all our minds. But do you think of how you can exploit the internet to increase your business’ ROI (Return On Investment) by taking your business online? If you answered “NO”, this is for you and it is assured that your answer will change sides at the end of the blog. If you answered “YES”, but do not know how to carry through then again this blog is in your favour.

Essentially, let’s divulge why you should take your business online. Thereof, we will compare a few basic matters of the online business and the offline business.

Your offline business store runs from 9AM to 7PM, pauses after 7PM to get some sleep and loses a few potential clients/customers within the naptime. Although your online business will stay on the internet throughout the year, 24×7 without experiencing exhaustion. Closed hours for your business might lose potential clients but imagine what would happen if your online business stays open the whole time.
Suppose a potential client contacts you from afar but needs some sort of credibility to advance, your online business will naturally have the upper hand than your offline business. Your online business will establish confidence not only for people around you but for people around the digital world.
You don’t have to construct buildings to take your business online but only have to create a domain and host it which costs far less than a building. As a result, the use of the internet for business is cost beneficial.

Online businesses have several other perks. Customer management becomes advantageous. Communication accelerates between you and your client as well as among your employees. You can work from the comfort of your bed, at a cafe sipping coffee or even by the beachside provided you have a laptop with strong data connection. The list goes on. So, let’s arrive at an agreement here that the internet was made for business.

How Can You Take Your Business Online?

Like the chronology of all other plans, taking your business online will first need to be ideated and validated before proceeding with the execution. This is majorly circumscribed to your business and therefore is distinguished from the blanket strategy. However the information in this blog will indicate you to plan your strategy and take your business online.

1) Your Business Online Might Need a Rebranding

Your offline business will have a logo of its own or an identity of some sort. The same is needed for your business online. Sometimes, your logo might not fit into the web proportionately. In this case, your business needs a rebranding to suit the online business visibility. A complete replacement of your logo isn’t a demand. The rebranding process can be aligned with your old identity by adjusting and fine tuning your existing identity. Rebranding will redefine your identity, positioning and personality for your business online.

Your branding will include elements of brand name, brand logo, theme line, brand colors and brand graphics. A rebranding package will generally include a new logo to identify your business, a visiting card for you to hand out during a new pitch, a letterhead for communication both online and offline and an envelope (on request) for offline purposes. Depending on your business needs, information brochures, menu cards, opening flyers or marketing creatives can be additionally included.

2) A Custom Domain Name and a Hosting Service For Your Business Online

To establish an office for your business in the real world, you need a name for your business to go on the hoarding and a plot of land for the hoarding. You need the same exact things to take your business online. You need a name called the domain name which will be the prefix of your .com/.in/.org which is the human language equivalent of an IP address in the internet language. You also need an address to store your domain name which is called the web hosting. Web hosting services store your domain name along with the related files and bring it to your screen when you search for your domain name.

You need to be wise while choosing your domain name for it should be the same as the name of your business, easy to remember and hard to misspell. Domain name and web hosting are two different services but a combination of both is a requisite to build a website for your business online. You can avail these services from two different companies or from the same. When you buy these services, the rights for the domain name and the web hosting is usually given to you for a period of 1 year. Once bought, you even have the option of moving your domain name or web hosting to a different service provider. Now you are set to start building your website.

3) Design and Develop Your Website

Now that you have a name and a spot for your office, you should next decide on how you are going to arrange your office for your visitors to easily locate what they are looking for. Likewise to have an effective business online, your website needs to be designed and laid out in a way that your visitor understands the flow of your business information and arrives at what he/she is looking for in the shortest time. To achieve this, your design should be user centric and easily navigable with smartly placed call-to-action buttons all while being functional and simple.

An additional element that must be considered while building a website for your business online is the visibility of your website. The number of websites on the world wide web is ceaseless and most of them go unseen into the belly of the beast. To make yours evident to the search engines, you need to improvise a few elements of your website to score brownie points for search engine visibility. The process of doing these things is termed Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The URL, meta title, meta description, H1 tags, copy and images of your website can be search engine optimized. The SEO revolves around keywords and will work as an organic marketing strategy for your business online.

Most viewers of your business online will be through mobile screens. So it is momentous to tune your website into a responsive site. A responsive website is one that adapts to the display size of the viewer, be it mobile or tablet. This can be adapted through flexible layouts and scalable media.

Creating a website is not the end of taking your business online. While your website is the destination, there is a journey yet to be traced out.

Read – 4 Reasons Why a Website Is Important for Your Business

4) Announce on Business Online Directories

You probably have flipped through Yellow Pages or the like back in the 90’s and early 00’s to find contact information. The old world directories have now made their way into the digital world. Online directories are the digital counterpart of Yellow Pages. Identical to listing your business in the Yellow Pages, the online directories will collect your business information such as business name, category, contact information, website, logo, pictures of products/services, opening hours and description. There are plenty of online directories which are common to all businesses as well as specific to particular categories of businesses. You need to find the suitable ones for your business online and mark your presence there. A few examples are – Google My Business, Bing Places for Business, Yelp, Justdial and IndiaMART.

5) Whoop It Up With Social Media

Another way to direct traffic to your website is by grasping the use of social media. A prodigious amount of the internet population nowadays is seen on a few popular social media. These go without saying but to mention a few are Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. Social media is the righteous space to discover and seize your target market. Be on guard as you don’t want to promise a thing on your social media and completely do away with it on your business website. Your business online must have a consistent persona and a persistent character to resonate with on all your places of presence digitally and along the same lines.

Design your social media content strategy in a way that it gives only the trailer of what you are offering on your business website. If you reveal the whole picture of your business, your traffic will stagnate on your social media and won’t travel to your website. So characterize your online presence strategically without disappointing your audience with poorly planned content.

Read – 5 Instagram Marketing Strategies and Tips to Magnify Your Brand – Part 1

This an entire compilation of what you need to know before beginning your business online. In a nutshell, individualize your identity, pick a name and site, build your website, make noise on online directories and social media is all you need to do to take your business online. If you find yourself puzzled and need fixing, extend your hand to our website designing services. We will be delighted to meet your business minds, understand your needs, handle your business online and hoist it to the top tier of online businesses.

Checklist : Do You Have Everything You Need to Take Your Business Online?

Why Do People Hesitate to Take Their Business Online?