Starting an online business is a goal for many people. The advantages of running an online business are many: work from home, be your own boss, never drive to work again. There are differences in business start-ups for online versus brick-and-mortar businesses, most notably the cost—which is usually much lower for the online business. However, there are also many similarities between the two types of business start-ups. Online business owners face many of the same frustrations as their brick-and-mortar counterparts. In some ways the online business owner has it worse, because they never see their customers. Physical businesses can look out the windows and see customers passing by or stopping in to see what they have to offer. Often the only way for an online business to tell whether people are browsing is a web counter or site tracker. One of the most frustrating aspects of online business during the business start-up phase is to watch that web counter remain in the lower digits. You may start to second-guess yourself: have I gone into the wrong business? Am I marketing my business correctly? Where are my customers? There are many ways to track and increase the number of visitors, and therefore potential customers, to your online business. The best time to implement these is during your business start-up, so you can take full advantage of them for the duration of your online business operation. Here are three good strategies you should make use of during your online business start-up:
Guest books. Adding a simple guest book to your online business website can encourage visitors to let you know they have been to your site. This is especially important during a business start-up. One way to get more people to sign your guest book is to offer incentives, such as a free subscription to a valuable or interesting newsletter, or entry into a drawing for one of your products or services. People love to get something for nothing, and these giveaways won’t cost you a dime either!
Tell-a-friend. You’d be surprised at how many online business owners don’t take advantage of this powerful feature that gets your customers involved in your marketing. If you have an exciting, dynamic website with lots of value along with a great product or service, your visitors will want to tell others about it. Your online business will prosper through word-of-mouth when you install the tell-a-friend option on your website.
Surveys. People also love giving their opinions. Including a web-based survey about a topic relating to your online business during your business start-up phase will encourage visitors to become active participants. It will also give them a reason to return to your online business, so they can find out how many other people agree or disagree with their opinions. The business start-up phase for an online business can be a trying time, especially when you’re left in the dark about your customers. These three methods will help you grow your online business and keep customers interested in visiting your website.