How to Move Your Business Online?
There's
a lot to gain from moving your business online. With a strong
web presence, you have access to a much larger audience, advanced
marketing tools and platforms like social media that can help you
build strong relationships with your consumer base.
However,
there's also a lot of room for error when moving your business
online. Fortunately, you can avoid most of the common pitfalls with
the right planning.
Here are 10 tips for moving your business online.
1. Start With Your Website
If
you don't have one already, you'll need a website. It will be the
central component of your brand's online presence — almost everyone
who encounters your company online will hit your site at one point or
another. While other elements of your web presence — like
social media accounts — are important, having a strong,
well-designed website is key in moving your offline business to the
web.
If
you don't have much experience with web design and development, it's
a good idea to outsource this step. Hiring
a web designer and developer is one option. You can also use
a website builder — like Squarespace or Wix — to quickly design
your site without needing to learn any code.
2. Build a Social Media Strategy
You'll
also want to start building your social media presence as you develop
your website. Start slowly — focus on just one or two of the major
platforms that's most relevant to your audience. Right now, the
big three are Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and each has
its own distinct user base. Instagram's users are much
younger than Facebook users, for example. Twitter's user base also
skews younger, but not as much as Instagram — and it's also not as
widely used as either of the other platforms.
In
addition to being the most popular, these sites also have some of the
best social media analytics platforms available.
Even
if you feel like you can tackle more than just one platform, it's a
good idea to start small — especially if you haven't run a social
media page for a brand before. An abandoned or sparsely updated feed
can give the impression you're out of business or don't care about
communicating with customers. If the choice is between doing one
social media platform well or a few poorly, then focusing on just one
will be the better option.
3. Plan for Maintenance
Have
a plan for when your website goes down or if different elements
break. You should also expect any high-tech features — like
automated chatbots — to need tweaking even after your website has
gone live.
You
may be able to handle website
maintenance yourself, and some web builders will provide a
support line that connects you with technicians in case of downtime
or glitches. It may be worth it, however, to hire staff specifically
for this task.
Contracting
out your website's maintenance can provide you with
a few different benefits — like enhanced coding or some
extra web development expertise.
Hiring
maintenance staff is also a good idea if you don't have a lot of
experience with web design or technical know-how. Your team can
ensure your online migration is as smooth as possible and also clue
you in to good
data migration practices, like keeping a regularly maintained
backup.
4. Find an E-commerce Platform
If
you plan on moving your storefront online, you will also need an
e-commerce
solution so you can sell your products over the web.
Ideally,
you'll have some kind of storefront up and running at the same time
as your website and social media presence.
If
you don't have much experience with web development, you should look
for a solution that already exists, rather than try to build your own
or have one developed. E-commerce platforms like Shopify and
BigCommerce can help you quickly develop and implement an online
storefront.
Gather Product Information
Once
you've selected your e-commerce platform of choice, start gathering
the information you need to build a successful online storefront. For
all the services and products you offer, gather information like
names, descriptions, photos and prices, and start building your
online catalog.
Having
this data on hand before your store goes live will ensure a smooth
setup.
6. Have a Plan for Returns and Refunds
Going
online can make your returns and refunds a little more complicated.
Your new customers won't be able to just show up at your store and
ask for them. You'll need to plan for how people can return items to
you and be refunded or receive a replacement item.
Many
e-commerce platforms and tools will come with features that make this
part easy. If you decide to develop your own shopping platform,
however, you'll need to also consider how you'll manage this.
7. Learn the Basics of Online Marketing
Familiarize
yourself with your options for ad campaigns and social media
marketing, as well as common online marketing terms — like
conversion rate, SEO or A/B testing.
If
you haven't used an online marketing platform before, you should do
some research and experiment with basic features. Consider testing a
simple ad campaign once you've launched your web presence.
8. Learn About Web Analytics
Before
your website goes live, you should also begin learning how to use a
web analytics platform, like Google Analytics. These tools can help
you track important information about your site — like how long
visitors stick around, your bounce rate and how long your page is
taking to load. All this information will be valuable in fine-tuning
your web presence.
9. Work With Existing Tools
Unless
you have a lot of technical experience, you should generally avoid
creating tools yourself. If you need something — like an e-commerce
platform or digital chat window for your customer support team —
someone out there has probably designed it already.
10. Regularly Test and Audit Your Web Presence
Once
you've gone live, keep track of your analytics. Watch out for red
flags — like high bounce rates or long loading times — that may
suggest something is wrong with the design or tech behind your
website.
You
may also want to develop a regular maintenance schedule to
ensure that all the tech that's keeping your website running is
up-to-date and secure.
Moving Your Business to the Web
Moving
your business online can provide you with access to a larger audience
and a great range of digital tools. However, it can also be tricky to
manage. If you want to avoid some of the most common pitfalls, you
should work with existing tools and learn the basics of online
marketing.
Lexie
is a digital nomad and graphic designer. If she’s not traveling to
various parts of the country, you can find her at the local flea
markets or hiking with her goldendoodle. Check out her design
blog, Design Roast, and connect with her on
Twitter @lexieludesigner.
Content is originally posted at
https://www.pxmediainc.com/how-to-move-your-business-online/
Labels: website maintenance
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