Hey guys, I am soon to launch my first company / first business online. I've only done things like freelance work before, but this is a full fledged, very large operation and wondering if any experienced business owners out there could give me some tips on starting out, what to expect; things of that nature. I know the obvious, customer support and care, etc, but what were some of things you could have done better from the start that you didn't, advertising suggestions, dealing with employees / freelancers, etc. Thanks, look forward to suggestions.
The best advice I can give you is to be persistent and patient. It might take months before you start making real money and as long as you never give up you'll achieve whatever you want. Learn money management, if you start getting payments make sure you only take a percentage out, leave a percentage for further company expenses and keep investing a big chunk in advertising. If you don't have experience buying advertising start with the really affordable places and run several tests. Once you see which ads bring the best ROI than start putting a little more money into those. Do not put all your eggs in one basket!
first invest only if you have a garanty that you'll have a profit. spend only profit money. do not spend extra money. before advertise your business you should try to drive free trafic to your site, see what bugs your site is having. do some different landing pages to see which are better converting to sales/trials or whatever you're business is. after you done all these steps and you think you have a stable and well converting site you should try advertising. Also (if this is the case) you can make an affiliate program Good luck
Thanks for your suggestions. I am certain this will make money for me, but at the same time I am sure it will take a bit of time to establish. I have been planning for things in the future if it does pick up well, and an affiliate program is something I would eventually like to try out ( the niche is automotives, so it's pretty big, should be able to find a good audience for this ).
My advice is never stop learning. Never stop trying to get better. Have worked with a lot of business owners over the years who try to run their business like it's a 9-5 job. When it's your business, it's not 9-5. In the last 10 years, our staff has grown from 5 to nearly 50 people. My role as owner has changed considerably. Not only do I continue to try to be better and more knowledgeable in our field, but I also read and study how to be a leader, and how to be a manager of people. I try to grow every day. Good luck.
I would say make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck when it comes to advertising. When I first started out I would blindly advertise and not know who would see it and know the conversion rates. Once I figured out the best way to advertise it all changed
You should have the critical data of the competitor such as their main customer origin. If can,you should go to survey how the competitor work,manage their client,what they lack off.
I have done alot of research on the competition. There is a bit of competition, one of which has a ton of negative reviews on rip off report I've already gotten quite a ways into development of all that I need and do have and offer alot the others don't. One competitor is never online, and is quite small. The other is actually pretty large, but is also the one that has all the negative reports. In terms of advertising, which has been more successful? I was thinking Adsense would be the way to go, but have never used any advertising program before.
What business do you go in (SEO, marketing, etc)?? Why don't you build an offline course about teaching Internet Marketing for noobs. That would be great income.
Well, I am providing sites instantly to independant businesses once payment has been made, but I am focusing only on certain industries ( I will accept custom work though ). I have already built several powerful tools for this, and the customer has the ability to add new features to their current plan. It does involve a bit of marketing, using others API's to put their products easily on other sites like classifieds, etc ( using Ebay, many other big sources ). There is so much more involved with it, but won't get into that . I will say, at the moment, it is much nicer and and thorough than the competition. So basically, it is marketing for noobs, as well as maintaining a website for noobs. My fiance's mother owns her own bus. but has no site, and is very computer illiterate, so I have been using her to make sure my services are easy to use without sacrificing it's power, and so far it is. Thanks for everyone's response.
don't put yourself under too much pressure and don't be scared to ask for feedback. it took me a while to re-define my business to a point where I was in tune with what the customer really wanted as opposed to me trying to dictate what the customer wanted.