Introduction
Being a successful businessman is more of a skill than a talent. For some, it can be both but oftentimes; the business administrator’s experience can be one of the major qualities that could spell the difference between a successful and a failing business venture. In fact, it is not so uncommon to see widely talented, skilled, and even experienced businessmen fail in their ventures. Creating a business may be a bliss but the part where a person has to manage it successfully and turn it into an empire and make the enterprise strong for a certain number of times is what is more important and naturally harder. Given these train of thoughts and ideas, it would be logical to assume that businesses may never be compared to toys that are governed by speculations, or computers that are governed by their hardware components. There is more to establishing and managing a business than technical specifications. Everything in a business has to work harmoniously, if not perfectly. A business owner may for example, be fully backed by more than adequate financial resources for capital and other procedures that require liquidity but as long as the management and organizational practices remain poor and unplanned, everything will go down, maybe not faster, but slowly but surely. This section of the paper only intends to make the reader understand that the process of establishing a business can never be classified as a simple one, even for an experienced business owner at that; and that no matter how long a business experience an individual may have, he will always go back to the fact that risks and dealing with them will always be a part of a having a business. The objective of this paper is to discuss in detail, the various steps that an aspiring businessman, an individual who is already a businessman, or basically anyone who has an inclination to business, having one, or simply managing one—although this is generally considered the harder, if not the hardest part of owning one, is recommended to take in order to turn his interests and aspirations into a successful and profitable business venture. Establishing a business with a physical store and location can never be so easy to accomplish. And for those who are born in an era characterized by the rapid and inevitable digitalization of so many things, creating a business that suits the needs and preferences of the possible target markets can be a bigger challenge. Today, the number of businesses not only having a physical store but also a virtual one—one that exists on the internet has been on a rapid and continuous increase. This can actually be more alarming than surprising. It can never be surprising for capitalists to switch to using business establishment strategies that would bring them more money, even if it means going through a needle hole. In an era characterized by the rapid increase in the population of computers, many people are becoming fond of using wireless technologies, specifically the internet in doing things that they usually exert physical effort for such as shopping for groceries and all sorts of things for utility and personal purposes. Just about anything can be bought and done using the internet and this again is not really that surprising considering the fact that the number of online business stores are continuously increasing just as fast as the number of customers who prefer to shop in the comforts of their home rather than join in the bandwagon of people rushing into malls and shopping centers for a several days-long bargain sale. What is trying to be pointed out here is the fact that the world of online business establishment is getting more and more complex as days pass by. Gone are the days when people only rely on their feet and already-liquid assets to procure commodities that they either want or need.
Chapter One: Building the Company
Discovering and Establishing New Products and Services
An industry association for online retails called IMRG or Impact Management Recovery Group stated that consumers have been spending more money on online goods and services since 2006. There are many high-profile successes of internet related businesses over the past 10 years because of the rapid growth and influence of the internet. It undoubtedly revolutionized the way people live their lives; which encourages individuals to enter a new competitive world of internet or electronic commerce. And what is even more enticing and attractive is that there are a lot of tactical ways to get started .
The initial strategy and main foundation in entering an online business is to determine the main product to be put on the market. Discovering new products and services is the main lifeblood before launching an online business, and it needs a certain level of organization and substantial planning before embarking on the development. The industry of online business or e-commerce is very competitive, and to avoid risks of losing, downsizing, or even bankruptcy, there are numbers of factors to be considered. There are some important guidelines to be remembered in discovering new products and services which applies to all businesses, whether online or not; identify if the product will meet the specifications of the customers; for instance, considering its design, convenience and performance benefits, as well as looking on its best potential and considering the long term outlook of the product or service, putting the principle of marginal utility at hand. It must also be technologically feasible, if the design and manufacturing requirements are attainable. In addition, the new products and services must be matched with the market needs which can be determined by the use of market research such as online surveys or asking the expectations of possible best customers. Basically, the effective idea in creating and establishing new product and services is to think about the things that the people are not aware they need yet – something that is not frequently sold or offered online.
In starting an online business, it is not just about knowing the needs of the market, but knowing the level of competition as well. Satisfying the needs of the customer should be the main purpose of the business, but it must be done better than the alternatives offered by the competitors. In Info Entrepreneurs by Canada Business Network, it was stated that a ‘unique selling proposition’ is the most needed feature in establishing new product or services. The offers of a starting online business should have the eminence that makes it outstanding in the marketplace, and it includes determining the preference of the customers on why the products and services in the business should be chosen rather than the offers of the competitors, both now and in the future.
When the products and services are established and finalized, the next step is to set competitive pricing policies before launching the offers online. A pricing strategy is a significant part of the development process; it will determine if an entrepreneur has the capability to invest in the project. There are factors that should be taken into account.
- An entrepreneur must know the value and benefits of the online business’ products and services to the customers compared to the offer of the competitor; if the price is one that the customers are prepared and willing to pay.
- It must also be determined whether or not the online business project is the first one to market; if the products and services are revolutionary or just merely adopted from previous or current market trends.
- Choosing the selling channels to be used in an online business. It is essential to know the efficiency of the channel because it will highly affect the distribution costs and promotional spending.
- The speed in establishing product or service.
Business Description
Business description is an overview of an overall structure of one’s business. It is the basis of the consumers of the business’ structure, its purpose, the goods and services that are offered, current status, future plans and other information that a customer ought to know about the business. Basically, it is a business plan that will give interested consumers some insight about the business. Being transparent in disclosing all the details of the business is one of the strategic ways to make the patrons feel more connected, which will greatly affect their decisions concerning financial matters with the business.
There are steps in creating business description, first is describing the industry or the field where the owner/entrepreneur works. It is a good way to give the consumers a background about the influence of the business. It will give the readers the perspective on how the business fits in and it will show that it is a dependable and a credible one. Second is to describe the basics of the business. Once the field and industry have already discussed, the second part of the description should be focusing on the ‘basics’ of the business, such as the year it is established, if it is a new one in online marketing, how long have the entrepreneur inclined to such business, and the likes. The structure of the business must also be revealed in the description, if it is a corporation, partnership, or just sole proprietorship. The officers or the principal owners must be enumerated in the description as well, including the expertise they bring in the business. The specific type of business must also be stated; if it is primarily a retail or wholesale business, service or manufacture. Numbers of the people involved or the employees are also included in the description. Third part of business description is the mission statement and future goals. The mission and vision of a certain business must be concrete because these are its link to sustainability. It is establishing the purpose of being today of the business and the aspiration of tomorrow. A comprehensible mission is a reminder of the business purpose, why it exists. On the other hand, a clear vision sketches the business’ ambition and for the future, what a business aspires to be. In structuring mission and vision of a business, there are two main questions that must be answered from a consumer’s standpoint .
The portion of mission statement of a business description should include the target market of the business; if the products and services are specifically offered to teenagers, business people, housewives, and so on. Geographic focus must also be elaborated in this part, if the business sells and offers its products and services only locally, nationally, or globally. Values and philosophy of the business are also necessary; this will give the consumers a positive impression towards the business. Important things such as stating the products and services of the business should not be forgotten in mission statement. History of the business is also essential; it will drive the readers to feel more linked with the business. In stating history, major milestones must be declared, such as when was the business was created. Even if the business is a new one, this section can be used in explaining how an entrepreneur came up with the idea of putting up such business, as well as how the idea happened. Moreover, company culture can also be discussed in mission statement. Another important content of the business description is a discussion of current and future goals – mission. The things that should be discussed are the long-term and short-term plans of the business for the future, whether it engages a specific level of sales, expansion plans, etc. The goals must be reasonable and quantifiable to achieve within a particular time frame. All the contents of in this section must be truthful.
Everything that the readers need to know can be put in a well written business description. Therefore, it has to be organized in a logical manner with the industry description, basic facts about the business structure, mission statement, history and goals, or vision. Business description is not only an important part of introducing a business; it also provides the readers or the potential costumers a tremendous chance to know the story behind the business, which creates a very reliable impression.
Keywords and Content
Various small businesses online have implemented different online marketing efforts to attract customers to increase the sales. Keywords and content of an online business are the foundations for a successful search engine optimization to attract target consumers. It is vital to know the specific target market or costumers that the business is trying to reach. The contents of an online business must be the language that the target consumers normally use, their common use of words and how they converse on the social web. Constructing specific topics and phrases in optimizing business website that are rarely used by the customers will only result in a waste of effort in the part of the entrepreneur, and frustration on the part of the consumer, because these contents are not easily found.
The most effective way in constructing keywords for an online business website is to use a social media perspective. It is the effort of an entrepreneur to discover the things that the potential consumers are interested in, and the most commonly talked topic online. To make keywords and content development much easier for an online business website, a basic search engine keyword analysis must be done with free tools offered by Google; such as Google keyword tool. Just simply enter the kinds of words and phrases that the costumers commonly use and the tool will immediately report back the popularity of those words, and it will suggest related phrases to target. Aside from Google’s tool, there is another effective instrument in choosing the best phrases and keywords words for the content of an online business website, it is called Social Mention. It offers a social search function that provides list and sets of keywords that most often found in famous social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook. It will present the frequent words used by the consumers online on their tweets and comments and on other social contents. Aside from the keywords and phrases content of an online business website, an entrepreneur must also come up with a very unique and remarkable brand/business name that will be easily found and remembered by the potential consumers. “Your brand name is a keyword and worth protecting. Check your brand name with a site like Knowem to make sure no one else is squatting on it. You can register accounts yourself or have the folks at Knowem do it for you”.
Chapter Two: Creating the Platform
Any kinds of businesses need to have a social media presence, because in this generation, all the potential consumers, clients, and audience live on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, BlogSpot, YouTube, and so on, and it is reasonable for an online business to go to those places to reach the people, because the consumers are not coming for the business, it is the other way around. There are different social media tips designed to help entrepreneurs to set up and administer a social media presence for an online business from the article 15 Social Media Tips for Small Businesses written by Jilly Duffy.
1. Knowing the Desired Results
An entrepreneur must know the purpose of the business when it enters the world of social media. The necessary and common functions such as promoting the products and services, providing answers and assistance to the customer, linking the major website to engage more audience/customers, to build and gain, credibility as well as to earn the people’s trust. An owner of an online business must always think about creating a positive image of the business. And the media platform is one of the most effective ways to promote and glamorize one’s business, and it is also an efficient way of connecting and serving the customers. In a nutshell, an entrepreneur must establish a social media mission.
2. Choose Where to Be
Just because there are lots of positive feedbacks about various social media websites such as Instagram and Pinterest attracting millions of users does not mean these are the perfect ones, and it does not automatically mean that one’s business will benefit from those sites. It is a must for an entrepreneur to be wise in deciding where to spend social time, because in business, every time and effort counts. One of the best ways in choosing the perfect social media site is to discover if people are already talking about the business or brand on various sites.
3. Find Out if the Business is already on Facebook
Normally, an online business has its own main website, and it is more likely known by the customers even before it enters social media promotion. In this step, an entrepreneur should know if his business is already on Facebook, because there is a possibility that is it already placed. It must be immediately claimed by the owner.
4. Find Out if the Business is being Talked About
The most common social media site where people frequently post their update is Twitter. Assuming the business has already an active website, an entrepreneur should discover if the business is being mentioned on Twitter.
5. Find Out if the Business Contents have been pinned by Pinterest Users
Pinterest is one of the famous social media sites which can be a good tool in promoting products and services, and knowing that one’s business has been promoted in this site, it is already an edge to attract potentials consumers.
6. Broadcast the Purpose
When an entrepreneur has already decided where to put the business in the world of social sites, the purpose and function of the business should be well explained. Important information of the business such as its description, the products and services offered, and the likes, must be placed on various sites when setting up profiles. The explanations in each social site of the business must be clear and tight. Referring back to the main business mission statement is the easiest way to do. The common question on the perspective of the customers such as “what is the business or brand” should be answered in each social sites of the business.
7. Fulfill the Promise
In asking potential customers to like a business’ Facebook page involves an action of fulfilling the promise, such as updating the people about what is new in the business, giving exclusive offers, updates, coupons, photos, news, and other things that the business promised to deliver. The Facebook “likers” of a business page are always waiting for something new, and fulfilling the promise by giving these simple services will increase the customers’ loyalty.
8. Be More Than a Business
Social sites such as Twitter and Facebook are being used by the people to connect with people. As an entrepreneur, these websites are not just for plain business transactions. It is also a good way to introduce the owner himself to the followers and likers by putting personal information of the “about” section of a social site. This will also give an impression to the customers that the business and the people behind it are transparent.
9. Do Not Always Focus on One’s Own Content
There are customers who are not comfortable seeing a business account in a social site posting same and repeated contents about its own products and services. Being an egocentric business creates a negative impression. Therefore, when the business is already placed on social sites, it is also necessary to publish and post contents discussing relevant issues, brands, other businesses, or ideas that will make the audience/consumers excited. Sharing little bits of the entrepreneur’s passion and interests to its customers is a good thing as well. It is another way of connecting and reaching out. Taboo topics pertaining to politics, money and religion should be avoided in the business’ social media presence.
10. Keep a Fresh Stash of Images
Posting photos and fresh images is highly necessary in social media accounts of the business. It will definitely attract the customers to visit the social accounts from time to time. Keep stash of photos from work environment, the people behind the online business, photo types of the products and services offered, and even outings that flash entrepreneurial creativity, or any photos of the activities done behind the business. However, updating photos in social sites of the business should be done intermittently. The photos should also be reserved rather than publishing everything all at once, because it will give the customers something to look forward to. The photos that are being published should also be named intelligently. The captions should catch the interest of the customers.
11. Learn Basic Image Editing
Since photos are the main content of social media accounts of the business, an entrepreneur should also knowledgeable in enhancing the photos of products and services. Good quality of images shared in social sites attracts the interest of the people.
12. Use an Aggregator App
All the social media accounts can be managed with one place with a social-media aggregator app. With the use of this application, it will be easier to manage all media accounts of the business by posting updates on Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites from one place.
13. Daisy-Chain Update
Daisy-chain or connecting various social sites of the business is another way of managing multiple updates. Connecting Facebook and Twitter accounts can make all the posts and updates of the business to one of those accounts appear on the other. An entrepreneur can daisy-chain multiple services, for instance, Google+ to Facebook to Twitter. It can also be done in other social sites. This will make the information and updates of the business uniform in all of its social media accounts.
14. Adding Descriptions, Captions, and Comments
When the business shares photos, videos, and links, it should be captioned and entitled diligently. Posting repeatedly without descriptors will create a notion that the owner does not think of what to post. In addition, acknowledging the comments of the customers is also necessary, it is a way of showing appreciation, a simple reply of “thanks” and “likes” can already go along the way in building relationship with the customers.
15. Lock down Tweets to 100 Characters
Twitter gives 140 characters per one Tweet, and according to Shea Bennet, co-editor of All Twitter, 20 characters should be reserved in a Tweet so that the people who re-tweet the content can add their own comments and insights. This will help the business know the feedbacks of the customers.
Aside from Twitter and Facebook, Google+ has a lot to offer as well for online businesses. It is a good place of business because it is owned and operated by Google. Google+ has an advantage in getting ranked by Google. Having a Google+ account for the business increases the odds of getting highly targeted costumers/visitors from Google’s search results. Google+ has its own version of Facebook’s “likes”, which is called “+1” votes. The costumers from Google+ can also rate the content of the business account. In a nutshell, the main advantage of using Google+ in business gives significant impact on search rankings.
Another convenient media platform for business is blog sites, and one of the most credible is Wordpress. It is a highly flexible content management system. It can serve as a foundation of small business website for ecommerce or online marketing. It has unlimited storage for images and videos which will help the business in promoting products and services. A social media account should be creative to catch customers, and creating a creative social site can be done in Wordpress because the look of the site can be customized.
Chapter Three: Making Content
Creating Product and Services
Customers are different. It is not possible for them to be serviced in the same approach because they have different demands. In innovating new products and services, an entrepreneur should think first about the needs of the customers, the services that the people might need. It is the business who should adjust to the different demands of the different kinds and groups of clients. There are various strategies in knowing the effective products and services that will meet the needs of the customers. The most important thing is to know the value for the clients and his satisfaction. In this generation, most especially in the industry of online marketing, the competition is high, and the customers are exposed to different businesses selling wide range of assorted products and services, and the customers are able to judge pretty well which among the businesses offers the best net value. In developing new products and services, an entrepreneur should consider the price that the customers are willing to pay; it has to be reasonable. However, in creating products and services to be offered online, it is not just all about the needs and wants of the consumers, it is also necessary to know the interest of the entrepreneur. There is a variety of helpful tips in knowing what kind of products and services an online business should offer.
The most effective initial step in determining products and services is to choose what highly interests the entrepreneur or owner of the business. The first step in creating what the business should offer is to investigate and research the amount of work and time involved with the product or service; which highly needs the passion and enthusiasm of an entrepreneur. When a capitalist has already decided on a certain product or service, the amount of money that would cost the business to sell and provide the product or service should be determined. The cost should have to be attainable and possible to accomplish, and it should be verified if it will be profitable and would be enough to live on to sustain the business in the long run. If not, an entrepreneur should come up with an alternative choice. Figuring out the problems that a potential product or service solves is a smart way in finalizing what the business should offer. The general idea is that people buy to eliminate the pain, “for example, people in New York City will tend to buy comfortable walking shoes during a transit strike; the shoes will prevent or eliminate the pain caused by walking a long way. For what you plan to sell, list all of the "pains" that your product/service can eliminate.”Next step is to recognize the customers or groups of people who probably has the pain that an entrepreneur identified. Know the dilemmas of the people online through the use of surveys and by researching the trending topics on social websites that the customers frequently talk about. An entrepreneur is also responsible to know the customers or certain groups of people who does not need the product and service that the business has to offer. This is to measure the quantity of target customers and quantity of those who are not. Once the business started to have loyal customers, an entrepreneur has the privilege to raise the price of the products and services. Depending how much money an entrepreneur expects to get out of the business, as well as the amount of money that the customers have.
Products and Services Content
The products and services section of an online business should contain a thorough discussion about of all the elements related to the products or services that the business is selling. Products and services content should be organized and broken down into following parts to make it more comprehensible for the customers/clients;
- Product and services description
- Concise comparison of similar products and services in the market/competitors
- List of price points
- Thorough explanation of how product orders will be fulfilled
- Outline of anticipated future products or services
There are tips in writing contents of products and services in an online business which will makes it an effectual part of the business plan. First, focus on the customer. The main purpose of the products and services section of an online business plan is to visibly express the benefits that the business is providing to the customers or client. All the background details that are provided regarding the products and services should focus on that objective. In concerning the part of the customer, an entrepreneur should always think of the question "Why does my ideal client want this? How will my product or service make his/her life better, easier or more profitable?” Second is to get to the point. Discuss directly the primary process of products and services of the business. The needs that the business is fulfilling, the problems that are solving, as well as the overall purpose should be clearly stated. Third is to keep it simple. The description of products and services of the business should be understandable. An entrepreneur might be an expert in the industry, but the customers are not familiar with the technicalities of the products and services. Fourth is to show the uniqueness of products and services. The website is an overall representation of an online business, therefore, all the glamorization of the products and services should be done to impress and attract the customers or clients. Adding brief description of similar existing products and services can help highlight the uniqueness of the product and services of the business. It is also necessary to put a description expressing how the product and services is better, different and unique. Lastly is presenting the rate or price of the product and service. A description on how an entrepreneur arrived in such point of prices should also be included.
SEO for Online Business
SEO or “search engine optimization”/”search engine optimizer” is a process of getting traffic from the “organic”, “free”, “natural”, or “editorial” listings on search engines. All major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, have the results of web pages and other content such as local listings or videos that are shown and ranked according on what the search engine considers most relevant or frequently visited by the users.
For an online business to get a chance of being pushed up the rankings in search engines the website should contain common and trending keywords that customers frequently use around the internet, more so in social networking sites; this will surely develop an SEO friendly website. The more posts and updates the business publish in the website or on its social media accounts, the higher the chance that the business will show up in the searches. The website of the business should have a site map. It will help search engines discover all the important pages on the business website.
Online Seminars, Webinars, e-books, and tutorials
Webinar is a word play of web and seminar. Web marketing seminars or webinar is another kind of effective business online. A webinar is the same to how seminars are conducted. It also delivers topic in person through workshop or seminar, but the difference of webinar is it is being conducted online which makes it very convenient. It can be used in different ways but the general idea is to share a computer screen with the participants. What makes webinar a convenient service is that the participants or clients can just simply sign up for it online, and in able to hear the presentation, the participants will just simply use computer screens and speakers and will just log on to a webinar with a special free software.
Webinars normally educates independent entrepreneurs or online marketers on how to use SEO (search engine optimization), blogging, email marketing, and social media to increase the visibility or publicity of the one’s business. Through online seminars/webinars, entrepreneurs will get a chance to be knowledgeable on how online marketing goes; things such as how to raise search engine visibility, how to run an opt-in email campaign, the different benefits of blogging, how to engage web visitors, and the likes. Webinars are efficient and a good kind of online business.
Another type of an easy and convenient online business/service is eBooks. It is easy and affordable to create. Compare to other products, eBooks can be created inexpensively. It doesn’t require any expensive equipment or materials. It is also inexpensive to distribute. Other products require shipping costs, while eBooks can be directly accessed by the customer from the internet with no shipping charges required. EBooks also appeal to a wide variety of audience. EBooks can be written and designed based on the way how the entrepreneur wants to attract certain target customers. Writer/entrepreneurs control the topic in eBooks, which makes it easy to decide who to target. EBooks also have high profit potential. It is cheap and easy to create, but it costs high in the market. Most importantly, eBooks are highly versatile; “EBooks are one product that can serve a multitude of purposes. For one, they do make excellent additions to your product catalog. They can also be offered as free gifts to entice customers to purchase from you.” The author can only take less effort in promoting eBooks unlike other products that has to be publicly promoted through the use of social media. An author of an eBooks can just simply write, design, compile and create the eBooks cover.
