Could this be the right time to expand your business online?

It’s a tough time for traditional businesses but also potentially a time of huge opportunity. People are buying products and services online like never before and it is potentially a good time for you to do the same. Especially as you may have time on your hands.

It may be something you have been looking to do for a while or that you’re looking to take advantage of the current lock down situation, either way hopefully this brief guide will give you an idea of the essential first steps you need to take.

Website

The single most essential tool available to you in your quest to take your business online is a great website. It doesn’t need to be overly complicated or expensive, it can be as little as three pages, but it does need to get across what your business does in a simple way and encourage customers to either buy or make contact with you.

You can build your own website using companies such as Wix, Go Daddy and Wordpress or pay a professional. Simple professionally built websites can be purchased from prices starting at under £500. Remember to set up analytics so you know how many people have visited you and from where.

Online Shop

If you have products to sell it is crucial to list them on either your own website or Facebook. It’s easy to manage stock, take money from customers and receive order confirmations. In most cases all you have to do is manage stock, communicate with customers and fulfil orders.

SEO

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is all important if you want customers to find you online. It’s the information that Google, Bing and others use to find your website when someone starts a search. Making sure you are found online is all about how your website talks to search engines!

Social Media

Social Media is the group of platforms made up of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Others whether you use them personally or not, they are key to running a successful online business. You will open up a huge new market of people that may never have considered your product or service before and potentially build a group of loyal customers that will spread your message far and wide for you. An average Facebook user has 338 friends so if all your friends share your business message, that over one hundred thousand people hearing about your business!

Email Campaigns

Junk email is hated by consumers and reflects badly on a business’s reputation, however, if you have a loyal customer base that is unable to access your business at this time, there are few better ways to keep them up to date with what you have available.

It’s very easy to use bulk email systems like Mailchimp to send huge numbers of emails at a time but always make sure you stay the right side of privacy (GDPR) regulations.

Online Advertising

There are two primary types of online advertising, search ads on search engines like Google and Bing and display ads on social media and other websites.

Search advertising hopes to put your product, service or website in front of someone who is looking for something you sell or provide. Display advertising shows your advert to as many people as possible within parameters set by you in the hope that it will spark their interest.

Look up Google Ads and Facebook Ads as a great starting point to advertising online.

Finally

Although it may all feel a little overwhelming at first, moving your business online, promoting and advertising it is achievable with a little perseverance and time.

If you would like to move your business online but don’t want to do it yourself, you can outsource the whole process to Juggle Outsourcing in Fareham. We can help with everything from building a website and setting up social media and analytics to getting you on social media and setting up Ads campaigns. All this can be done remotely so all social distancing measures can be respected.

Visit us at Juggleoutsourcing.com