7 Steps for Starting an Online Business
Have you been thinking about launching an online business but have no clue where to start? Don’t worry, I’ve totally been there.
For a long time, I would say I wanted to be a full-time, freelance graphic designer but honestly had no idea how to go about it so I wrote about a million proposals on freelancer websites, like Upwork, trying to find clients. Turns out freelance websites are not the way to go. Trust me. They are nice if you are just looking to make a little extra cash, but I do not recommend this method if you are wanting to take your side hustle full time.
If you want to take your online side hustle full time, start an online business, and start calling it a business. Even if while you’re getting your business off the ground, you have a part-time job, stop calling yourself a freelancer, or minimizing what you do, into a side hustle. It’s only a side hustle if you intend to keep it that way. If you are looking to take your online business full time, your part-time job, or your 9-5 you are looking to get out of, should be your side hustle.
Telling people that you have started a business, seems much more professional and legit rather than saying you are a freelancer or that you have an online side hustle.
When people ask what you do, say It loud and proud “I own an online business!”
Even, if you are still in the phase of getting those first clients or sales and you feel like a fraud by saying you own your own business, stop! People don’t have to know what’s happening behind the scenes. By acting like a professional and legit business owner, even when you are still getting your biz ducks in a row, people will see that professionalism and you will grow your credibility by holding your head high.
This attitude is guaranteed to bring you more clients or buyers and eventually you won't have to pretend like you have your sh*t together anymore before you know it, you’ll be reaching 10k months!
So you’ve probably guessed it by my little motivational speech there ☝️. The first step to starting your online business is having the right mindset. Block out imposter syndrome thoughts and stop telling yourself you are a fraud. The web is infinite and there is room for all of us and our gorgeous businesses to succeed.
Okay moving on… Here are some other important steps to take when launching your online biz!
Just a quick heads up, I have created this list of steps assuming that you already know what business you would like to establish. If you are wanting to get into the online business game but don’t actually know what you’d want your business to be, I’d suggest sitting down and brainstorming that component first! Feel free to download my check-list for launching your online biz! After you have a good idea of what you want your business to be, you can get started with these steps….
Branding
First and foremost, when starting a business you will need some sort of branding! Branding is important because it is the identifier of your business. Not just your logo but your photos, color scheme, typography, and any other elements that you may want to use to identify your brand. Your brand can say a lot about your business and can be a tool for drawing in your dream clients!
For instance, if you sell hand-painted sneakers that are super colorful and funky, then you probably want your brand to reflect that.
If you are not a designer and not sure where to find branding, don’t worry its actually super easy, you can find a brand designer on pretty much any social media platform!
Or you may be able to get a package deal with your web designer ( someone like me 😉).
website
Yep, you guessed it, the next step to launching your online biz after getting your branding established is a website! This particular blog post I’m writing today is about online business, so this step should come to no surprise and is truly essential to your online business.
If you are currently offering your services or products through social media or sites like Etsy, this can work temporarily, but eventually, you will have to get a website. Nothing says legitimate, professional business like a gorgeous, strategic website.
When done right, a website can be a great tool for marketing and will also make your life much easier when scheduling clients, or selling products. Unlike Etsy, when someone visits your website and they are interested in your product or service, you aren’t competing with anyone else in that moment. Sure, they may visit other websites before or after yours. But when they are on your website, it’s all about you. Oh did I mention it also looks super professional? (yes, I know I did but I really can’t say it enough)
Branding and web design are a very important investments for your business. Remember the designers are basically creating the building blocks of your entire business, including your identity, and your online presence, which are both essential to the success of your business, so keep this in mind when you are budgeting for these components.
Understandably, you don’t want to pay 5 figures during the start-up phase of your business, but I would not recommend a designer that only charges 20 dollars for a logo. Remember the more you pay, the more incentive for the designer to do their best work, and having a gorgeous brand and online presence will eventually pay for itself ten times over.
Blog + Content Creation
After you have your stunning new brand and website, you will want to come up with a plan for how you want to market your business. I’ll let you in on a little secret and tell you that blogging is the way to go. There is no doubt that your clients want to buy from someone they know and trust, and while you can get on social media and personally engage with people, It’s just not possible or efficient to engage 1:1 with all your dream clients.
What you can do, is engage with potential clients on a wider scale by blogging. Although blog readers know you are not speaking to them 1:1, your ideal audience will still feel that connection if you are writing about something they care about.
Even better if you are providing free high-quality information to your readers, they will grow to trust you. By posting on the reg, your readers will begin to trust you and grow loyal. Before you know it your audience will turn into your clients or referrals!
Thinking that blogging isn’t your thing? I’m not here to tell you that you have to blog. There are plenty of marketing strategies out there. But I will tell you I never thought I would start a blog. But after a little research, I saw how useful it can be for marketing, I decided to try it out. Turns out it does drive a lot of my traffic and I am also growing to love it!
When starting your business it can feel like your brain is running a million miles a minute. Sometimes it’s nice to get some of those thoughts written down or share all that new knowledge you are learning. I have grown to find blogging therapeutic and if it also drives traffic to my website, well then, great!
If you are still like I will absolutely not blog, that is okay. Think of other creative content ideas to post on Pinterest that will drive traffic to your website. For instance, instead of writing an entire blog post, you could just create quick tips with a call to action, or opt-in freebies (we will get to that more when we talk about email marketing).
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Pinterest Business Account
So how exactly do you drive traffic through your blog? Easy. Pinterest is the go-to marketing tool for your business. Instead of being like any other social media platform, it is actually a search engine like Google, but better! It’s super easy to grow your audience and quick. When I first started using Pinterest for my business, I went from my audience being a couple hundred to 8k in just a month.
The secret to growing your following and audience through Pinterest is simply being active. I suggest downloading Tailwind (hello affiliate link! You will get a $15 credit through this link!), which will help you schedule your pins for the week. I personally aim to schedule 10 posts from other people a day and 1 post of my original content a day or every other day (depending on how productive I’m being with creating new content.)
One pin of original content a day can seem like a lot but remember you can pin your original content to your other boards or repurpose your content. For instance, you should be able to create 30 pins for one blog post by just changing the overall design of the Pinterest image. Feel overwhelmed by this thought? I have created 10 free Pinterest post templates for you, using Canva, that are completely customizable.
In addition to posting regularly, be sure to create visually pleasing posts that will be irresistible!
In no time you will see your audience grow, your website traffic increased, and your sales boom!
HoneyBook
If you are a service-based business and you are ready to take on clients, you will want a way to manage your clients. That is what Client Management Software (CRM) is for! When it comes to CRM Honeybook is where it's at (affiliate link coming at ya, get your 20% off!) Honeybook helps you streamline your projects with automations and project pipelines. Even if you don’t have any clients yet, get signed up for Honeybook anyway, so you can get familiar with it before you do get your first client! While you are waiting for your clients to flood in, personalize the templates, set up your bank account to receive payments, create a contact form, or set up your scheduling. When your first client does roll around, Honeybook will make you look so professional and prepared to handle their project!
Here is a list of important tools Honeybook offers:
Templates for proposals, pricing guides, invoices, and brochures
Contract template
Task lists
Scheduling
Project pipeline
Receive payments
Book keeping
Contact forms
Email automation
Email Marketing
Another good idea to incorporate into your magnificent marketing plan should be email marketing! Before you get overwhelmed by the choices, I’ll tell you that after a ton of research about email marketing and after some experience, chose Convertkit (yep, another affiliate link). Convertkit unfortunately isn’t very customizable when it comes to email templates, but it basically has every email marketing functionality you could think. It also charges you based on the number of subscribers and not the number of email lists. So you won’t be getting charged double for the same subscriber even if they are on multiple email lists.
So how do you grow your email list you might ask? Through your blog! see how it all ties together? What you can do is create a blog post, and incorporate a freebie to offer, then when someone pops on over to your blog from Pinterest, they read your blog about creating beautiful Instagram posts, then offer them a free pack of Instagram post templates, to download. Then bam! All your visitors are signing up for your email list because you gave them an incentive to. Honestly, a great way to begin marketing your business is by providing offers that are mutually beneficial. In the opt-in freebie example, your visitor gets free stuff and you get an email subscriber! Although you are giving them free things now, your email list is where you can sell them on your product or service. See! Everything comes full circle.
Networking groups
So I totally get that the whole Pinterest and email marketing thing can seem a little intimidating at first. And while these marketing techniques are proven to drive traffic and sales, it takes time to grow your audience. It might be a while until someone signs up for your email list and it will take time to grow your Pinterest audience, so what can you do in the meantime?
Network!
Social media is great for networking and getting your first clients! I personally got my first client through Girlboss, which is a great networking website for women looking to support one another!
Joining Facebook groups are also a great way to market yourself or get advice.
SocietyGal is one of my favorite Facebook groups. Full of women who want to connect and share advice. SocietyGal also has an app and for $3.99 a month, you can list your service on the app where people can message you directly about working with you.
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There you have it. Seven simple(ish) steps to launching your online business. This is just the backbone basics to getting your business up and running, go ahead take this list and customize it to work for you.
If you are thinking of starting your own online business and need help with the branding and website part, I got you! pop on over to my services to learn more!
