Don’t let starting and running a business overwhelm you. Always start small. And that goes for whether you’re just launching or you’ve been operating for years. Because small steps are often a part of the journey for independent entrepreneurs. No matter where you are in your business journey, here are some tips to help you make those minor but important changes from members of the online small business community.
Consider a Micro Business — at Least to Start
You don’t need to have dreams of owning a gigantic enterprise to take the leap into entrepreneurship. There are plenty of opportunities out there for those who want to start and stay relatively small. If you’re interested in starting a micro business, take a look at these considerations from Meredith Middleton on The Customer Collective.
Influence Sales Using Persuasive Emotions
Emotions play a key role in persuading customers to purchase. And that’s true for businesses of any size. If you want to increase sales, check out this Post Funnel article by Sam Hurley to learn about three emotions you may not have considered adding to your sales strategy. Then see what BizSugar members are saying about the post here.
Gain Smarter SEO Insights with Data Blending
SEO is all about learning what works for your specific site and then making use of the most effective keywords and strategies. To do that, you need to collect data. But you also need to blend it in a way that uncovers the most valuable information for your business. Hamlet Batista elaborates in this Search Engine Land post.
Find the Right Newsletter Frequency
An email newsletter can help nearly any type of business communicate with customers effectively. Some are sent weekly, others months. Some even go out on a daily basis. Finding the right frequency for your business is an essential first step. Learn more in this GetResponse post by Tim Watson.
Protect Your Brand with a Trademark
When you’re just getting started as a small business, it’s important to protect the few resources that you have. One of the most important things to protect is your brand. Learn how a trademark can help in this CorpNet post by Nellie Akalp.
Combine Direct Mail with Digital Marketing
Many new entrepreneurs jump into digital marketing right away, since it’s usually cheaper and easier to get started. But for some businesses, offline marketing techniques like direct mail can also be very effective, especially when combined with more modern strategies. Summer Gould discusses the topic in this Target Marketing post.
Create a Global SEO Strategy
If you do business online, you have the ability to reach customers all over the world. Even if your business is new, why limit your customer base to a specific area or country if you don’t have to? In this post, Neil Patel offers some tips to help you get started building a global SEO strategy.
Transform Your Business with Statistics
The quicker your business starts collecting data, the better you’ll be able to develop statistics that help you analyze important trends. With this information, you should be able to make adjustments and grow your business using smart strategies. Ivan Widjaya offers some thoughts on the subject in this Biz Penguin post.
Step Up Your Social Media Game with Graphics
Social media is a very popular tool for new businesses. But you need a way to grab people’s attention on those platforms. That means creating graphics. Are Morch goes over the benefits of using Canva for graphics in this post. And BizSugar members shared thoughts on the post here.
Learn How Population Density Affects Local Rankings
If you want to increase visibility for your local business online, you need to consider the population that you’re marketing to. The amount of people in your specific area can make a major impact on your rankings and strategy. For more on the topic, head over to this Bright Local post by Amanda Peterson.
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Aira Bongco
Baby steps are the key. As long as you are moving forward, then that’s good.
I can resonate with the Micro Business idea because it reminds me of what I did back in 2006 and how I just stuck with it over the years.
It is difficult to stay disciplined because when you start a new business you want to try and be all things to all people and take on any manner of work that you can so you can grow your business. I decided very early on that I would just specialize in writing US immigration business plans, and while I had plenty of potential clients (and still do) that have asked me to write business plans because they want to get financing, raise investment funds, or make a presentation to venture capitalists, etc., I decline that work because my specialty is immigration business plans for foreigners who are seeking to obtain a work visa to come to the U.S. to start a business, buy a business, or a franchise. It is very much a micro business because I am serving a specific niche that needs a specific business plan for a specific purpose.
I would advise those that are looking at starting their own business to really niche down and solve problems for people within a specific niche and be the best that you can at it. There are definitely limitations as to how much you can grow, but that is not always a bad thing because if you can keep your business a certain size that is manageable you can serve your clients in a much better way and provide them with a more personalized service that achieves the desired result for both of you.
Annie – your article is very good, and with respect to SEO, I do not necessarily target local traffic, but I do write business plans for companies that do and your advice on population density affecting local rankings is something I never really thought of before, but so true.