Every business requires a strong foundation. From your website and business plan to your online marketing efforts, it’s important to have many of these elements in place early on. If you’re thinking about starting a business or have recently jumped into the world of entrepreneurship, check out these tips from members of the online small business community.
Create a Business Website with a Few Simple Steps
When you’re just starting out with a new business venture, you might not have a lot of money or resources to build your website. But it’s still essential for you to have an online presence. Luckily, there are some simple steps you can take to create a solid site for your brand. Katie Lundin of Crowdspring outlines them in this post.
Connect With Your Target Market Online
Once you have a website and perhaps some social media accounts, you need to find ways to actually make connections with potential customers. Fleur Hamilton goes over some tips for making that happen in this post on the Daily Bits blog.
Focus on Relationship Marketing
In fact, the relationships you form with customers, online or otherwise, can help you build a business that’s sustainable over the long run. If you want to build a base of returning customers, check out this post by Rachel Strella of Strella Social Media. Then visit the BizSugar community for more commentary on the post.
Future Proof Your UX
The experience that you create for your customers online can make a major impact on your success. UX testing can help you ensure that you provide a positive experience. But it’s also a good idea to look ahead to the future. Marco Bonomo elaborates in this Marketing Land post.
Build an Effective Startup Business Plan
Creating a business plan should be one of the first steps for any new startup. But how do you create one that will allow your business to operate as effectively as possible? Ivan Widjaya dives into the concept and offers some tips in this Noobpreneur post.
Focus on Three Basic Things for Exponential Growth
New businesses have plenty of opportunities for growth early on. But you need to know the right things to focus on so your efforts are targeted toward high impact activities. In this 3Bug Media post, Gary Shouldis lists three of the top things to think about as you’re trying to grow your business.
Build a Customer Focused Content Strategy
Content marketing can be a strong part of any company’s marketing plan. However, some companies forget to keep their customers in mind when they create that content. In this Target Marketing post, Rohan Ayyar explores the idea of creating a customer focused content strategy.
Build Community in a Changing Social Media World
If you’re going to make use of social media for your business, your focus should be on creating a strong sense of community among your target customers. Michael Stelzner details how you can accomplish that goal in this post on the Social Media Examiner blog.
Watch Some TED Talks on Leadership and Business
If you want to go into business, you first need to build your knowledge base. It can help to gain insights and inspiration from industry leaders, like those featured in this post by Beth Worthy on the GMR Transcription blog. Then see what BizSugar members had to say about the post here.
Boost Your Newsletter Open Rate
Email marketing is another important element of any online marketing plan. But if you want your messages to make an impact, you need people to actually open them. In this Content Marketing Institute post, Michael Brenner shares tips for boosting your newsletter open rates.
If you’d like to suggest your favorite small business content to be considered for an upcoming community roundup, please send your news tips to: sbtips@gmail.com.
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