How To Start Your First Online Business [Ultimate Guide]

Come Up With A Good Concept

Begin by thinking about where your passions and strong points intersect. You've probably got several things in mind, so you now need to choose one and take it to the next step.

Is there unique and noteworthy knowledge that you can offer as a service or employ to launch some sort of business?

Do you enjoy talking in-depth about a specific topic that you can now write articles about or teach online?

These are all strengths you can use to start your own online business. However, to move on to creating your business you do need to make sure you can support and develop this concept in the future.

Think About Your USP

What is it that you offer that fills some gaps in the market or is unique to your online brand?

You don't need to overthink your business concept. If your merchandise or service fills any gap, you can add all the entertaining extras afterward.

For the time being, all you must do is assert the idea by selling a quick version of it that you can develop over the course of a couple of days.

This is pretty simple for software developers: Concentrate on the essential features.

For bloggers, this could entail writing short articles about a topic to measure the traffic before filming an entire course or writing a bigger post about it.

No matter what, the advice here is not to go all in before you get a 'sneak peek' first.

Think About Your Monetization Options

So how will you generate income from your online venture? After all, this is the main reason why you are doing this to start with.

There are 4 prevalent approaches to this, which are advertising, affiliate marketing, drop shipping, and direct selling, so let’s see what those entail to figure out which one would work best for your type of business.

Advertising

Advertising channels such as Google Adsense have a clear and simple offer that involves you placing the ads on your website and them paying you a small fee every time a user taps on one of them.

The struggle with advertising has to do with quantity.

Attempting to make big bucks with ads usually necessitates a large number of visitors to your website, which is not that easy if you are starting out from scratch or without a customer base already waiting for you.

Affiliate Marketing

You can promote your merchandise by creating an affiliate program of your own or by joining affiliate networks and programs as an affiliate and making money by selling other companies' products.

This way, your commission fee is much higher than it is with affiliate marketing, ranging from 20-35% for each product sale.

Direct Selling

There is certainly nothing more profitable than selling your own merchandise directly from your website. If you choose to run ads and sell your own products, this means you will keep 100% of the profits.

However, when you are on a low budget and unsure of how many customers you will get, then it might be better to start with drop shipping until you increase your customer base to then sell your own products.

Evaluate The Costs Of Setting Up The Business

Everything might sound easy so far and you might think that it can all be answered and decided with a brainstorming session, but do you even have the money to start a business?

We bet you’ve already thought about that but in case you don’t know the answer, let’s see what the options are.

One case scenario is where you already have a budget to invest in your business, so you are ready to start.

The other case scenario is where you either don’t have any money to start your business or you don’t have the full amount required.

So, how do you go about it? Well, one option is getting a fund, but before you go down that road, you need to make sure you actually need one.

When considering running an online business, many people think of partner investors. Having a partner who has a budget to invest in the company is a simple way to get the business running and start making money.

However, there are some other alternatives you might wish to consider, like submitting your concept for Kickstarter crowdfunding to get people to financially support your idea and help you start your company without having to sacrifice part of your company’s control.

Another option is getting a loan, even a small one, with as low an interest as you can. In this case, though, make sure you have a great concept and a lucrative business that will pay off the loan in a short amount of time.

Build Your Brand

Who are you, and what is your company’s vision, mission, features, and offers that make it so special? Once you figure out what your USP is, you also need to work on your brand and its consistency.

From making clear what it is you are doing to deciding on your brand’s logo, colors, writing voice and style, and overall online appearance, you need to make sure that you paint a clear picture of your brand.

Think About The Legal And Fiscal Stuff

You must choose a business framework that will determine the way you will deal with taxation as a business owner.

Draw up a financial strategy to figure out the amount you will focus on saving for tax payments, what outgoings are necessary for keeping the business afloat, and whether you will run the company as a second income or as a standard job.

Adjust Your Products And Services In Response To Feedback

Once those first customers arrive and purchase something from you, you need to ask for some feedback unless they give it to you for free.

This way, you can improve your offer from the very first stage and start your business on the right path by having already made some necessary adjustments to attract more customers.

The Bottom Line

Take this guide as a step-by-step list that can help you start your first online business and work hard to make your dreams and goals come true!