How to run a profitable online business
By Emmanuel Udom
Business is good; if you get the mix right from the word go. With internet, most businesses have now gone online and are raking in money in millions for the owners, across the globe.
Going online for your business, from research and observation appear to be cheap, easy, accessible and affordable. This means, you invest little and get bountiful returns with time. But, you need lots and lots of commitment, patience, endurance, hard work to get your business running from the embryo stage to the level it begins to make money for you.
Unlike off-line business, which attract clients and customers from the area it is located most times. Though occasionally, people could come from far and near to buy your products or services, doing business online means the entire world is your market place.
So, you may be selling shoes, cars, bags, belts, electronics etc, helping other persons, groups, firms or companies to sell their own products, or offering services like training, mentoring, real estate, counseling, electronic books and so on and so forth, there are structures you need to put in place or else your business could be dead on arrival
Remember, whether you are running your business online or offline, the key words here are clients, products, services, profit, investment, returns, reach, market, niche etc.
WEBSITE
For you, my brother and sister want to successfully reach the world, you need a website. This is the only platform online where you can tell your target clients, customers or market what you are selling that is capable of solving their peculiar challenge or problems. So, you need a good website designer, who knows his or her onions well, when it comes to turning out a friendly, attractive and well blended and colorful site.
Remember, you are not the only one in the line of business you are involved in. Therefore, your site must be rich in content and yet simple, easily accessible, colorful and linked with some of the social media sites like face book, twitter, youtube, myspace and so on.
The first impression visitors have on clicking your site and looking through could either encourage or discourage them from visiting the site or even dealing with you next time. So, you have got to be careful and painstaking, while designing and hosting your site.
So, like me, if you are a novice in website design business, please get a professional webmaster and hosting to handle it for you. Yes, it is a deal, so you will pay him either monthly or yearly for his professional jobs. It is better, safer and more reliable this way. Ask around you and go online to see those powerful web masters in your area.
ONLINE MARKETER
If you start an offline business, you need marketers, sales boys, sales girls, to go from place to place with handbills and your products to tell people. Fantastic, but you have got to pay these marketers their money or commission or else no deal.
Yes, you may also place advert in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. Quite expensive if you must ask me, since you need to budget to ensure that the advert runs for few days, weeks, months or even years in order to create awareness and eventually attract clients.
But, in online business, your customers or clients do not have to see the product or service you are telling them about. So, what is the way out here?
Well, this is where a write up or an article, pleasing, inviting, well constructed and attractive comes in here. Your write up is the only contact you have to make with your clients or customers in order to convince them to either buy your product or service or make the next click.
In the build up to your article, these are some of the thoughts that will be playing up in your mind. You must convince the potential client that your product will solve his or her peculiar problems, challenges or needs.
The person wants to know, what is in this for me; therefore, from your headline to the body of the articles, these questions must be answered in specific terms, backed up with facts and figures, testimonies of people who have benefited from dealing with you across the globe.
Even with all these, you need a money back guarantee angle to further persuade your potential client or customer to pull out his or her cheque book
There are millions of specialized and general interest websites across the globe that do not attract traffics, visitors and therefore do not make money for their owners. A non functional site, as far as I know is simply a nice looking piece of business card, dropped somewhere in your room.
In Africa, Nigeria some of us are not internet compliance. Like, me, others are still studying the internet and trying to log in. But, from my little knowledge about the net, I do not think, but know that there is a goldmine waiting to be tapped online.
So, whether you are from a developed or developing country, look inwards, discover your special talent, skill, knowledge, or passion and sell it to the world through the net.
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