Myths and Facts About Starting an Online Business

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Myths and Facts About Starting an Online Business
Most of the businesses are already established
over the internet while some are still under the
phase of setting up their business online. It
has become quite easy to build an online presence
these days because developing an e-commerce
store or a basic business website is no more a
tedious job. But sadly, there is all kind of
partial, false or misleading information on the
internet about starting a business online. To
help you with taking the right step while you
begin with your online business in 2019, here
are some misconceptions and the realities to make
a note of. Myths 1. A Business Plan or Strategy
is Not Required Most businesses fall because
they dont have a strong business plan- as
said by Investopedia. Its not essential to
have a 10 pages long detailed document describing
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• your mission statement or quarterly projects
  road map, however, a plan still needs to be
  there. Here are a few things you can consider
• Income goals for a month.
• Products and services youre going to offer.
• Prices for your products and services.
• Processes, procedures, and timelines that need to
  be followed.
• Monthly expenses.
• Marketing initiatives and plans.
• Any legal formalities, if needed.
• Thus, a business plan is needed to set your goals
  and expected outcomes for your online business.
  Do ensure that theres a scope for the product
  you are selling and try not to over or
  under-value the price of your products or
  services.
• Marketing Strategy is Not Needed
• The businesses that fail to analyze their market
  and dont have a strong online presence are
  likely to collapse. If you really want the
  netizens to know about your brand, you need to
  reach them through correct mediums. Adwords,
  social media, video, email marketing, etc. are
  some of the common ways to market your products
  online. Prepare a plan that defines your target
  audience, how youll reach them and the content
  that engages them.
• It Doesnt Require a Lot of Your Time
• Many of them think that only their passion and
  ideas are all that they need to make their
  business successful. But thats not true. You
  will need to invest a lot of your time for
  learning things that you might already not know.
  At least till the time, you dont have enough
  funds to hire an experienced team.
• Lets consider an example. As a business owner
  you might be good at developing a software but
  at the same time, you may not have the skills to
  design a picture in Photoshop. In such cases,
  youll need someone who has hands-on designing
  and takes care of all the designing requirement
  or you can even learn Photoshop on your own.

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• Online marketing and advertising.
• Content development, content marketing and
  distribution.
• The cost needed for creating, developing and
  delivering your products or services.
• Workspace, software, tools/equipments, services
  that youll need.
• Hiring fulltime employees or freelancers.
• 5. Getting started with an Online Business All by
  Yourself is Difficult
• A lot of resources are available out there to
  help you get started with your business online.
  Web hosting platforms and website builders help
  you make this process of taking your business
  online simpler.
• Some platforms like MailChimp and Hootsuite allow
  you to automate some of the online marketing
  processes like sending bulk emails and scheduling
  social media updates. Additionally, there is
  some accounting software like Wave and QuickBooks
  that helps with getting invoices paid, accepting
  payments, etc. Finding talents on the web is also
  not burdensome anymore. With some online
  platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, WorknHire you can
  hire freelancers to get your work done like
  creating your website or content creation.
• All that you need to run a business is easily
  available on the web and with the help of
  appropriate tools and software, you can make your
  online business fruitful.
• Truths
• Data Analytics is Important
• An article that was published by The Economist in
  2017 mentioned that oil is no more the worlds
  most valuable resource rather data is. Wondering
  what does it has to do with your business?
  Irrespective of the size of your business youll
  need to study and gather data about users who
  visit your website more often, their search
  pattern, purchasing habits, etc. Ignoring this
  can lead to lagging behind among your online
  competitors.
• Doing data analysis every now and then will help
  you launch an online business thats nimble and
  ready to adapt with all the latest marketing
  trends online.

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• working for reaching your target market. A high
  return on investment may now show up
  immediately, but if you are getting at least a
  few orders every month, youre on the right
  track.
• Give Priority to Customer Service and User
  Experience
• One single blunder online and your online
  reputation drops instantly. Social media has a
  great power to make or break your name in the
  market. A few negative reviews on social media
  or review sites will affect your brand in a
  flash.
• For this, make sure you have the best team for
  customer service. So your customers get the best
  solution for their queries and problems.
  Responding to customer complaints and inquiries
  will take your brand to the next level.
• Take timely feedbacks from your customers and
  constantly enhance your products and offerings
  to build a good reputation. Another important
  factor is that your website should be compatible
  with all screen sizes (mobile- responsive). Else,
  your visitors will leave your website even
  before checking out the products or services.
• Creating Appropriate Content for Your Business is
  Vital
• While starting your business online, its
  critical to know your target audience, which
  platforms are they using, what they care about.
  For standing out from your competitors make sure
  you build a content that is engaging, helpful,
  informative and relevant to your audience along
  with optimizing it for search engines.
• Security and Trust are Really Important
• With the increasing number of data breaches and
  web attacks, online users dont easily trust all
  the businesses that are online. Give them a
  reason to trust your brand by installing
  security certificates for your website and adding
  a privacy policy. Security certificates are
  mainly important if you have an e-commerce
  website that requires your users to fill in
  their credit/ debit card/ net banking details for
  making a purchase. Ensure that none of your
  customers data is jeopardized and do tell them
  how you are going to keep their data secure so
  they dont hesitate to buy a product or service
  from your website.
• Are you planning to start your business online?
  Ensure that you keep all the above-mentioned
  myths and facts in mind to make your online
  business a successful one.

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