How To Start My Own Online Business Step-by-step

Has the question ‘How to start my own online business?’ ever come to your mind?

A regular office job may look great for its stability and security, but you could feel that it’s time for you to move on.

And it would be 100% understandable!

The world is changing rapidly, and well-known 9 to 5 office jobs can’t always provide you with the desired amount of money. Meanwhile, every day you see dozens of success stories from self-employed online entrepreneurs, and wonder why can’t you do the same. Now you will know how to start your own online business in 5 steps.

What actually stops me from starting my online business?

You may be afraid or reluctant to quit your full time work. The truth is that if you want to start an online business, you don’t need to give your job up. You will be able to combine them easily!

Another probable obstacle comes up when people don’t know where to start from while creating an online business. Indeed, successful business results require a clear plan to follow.

So, if you’re wondering how to start your own online business, take a look at these basic steps:

• #1: Estimate your resources
• #2: Conduct a research
• #3: Set up your website
• #4: Come up with a breakthrough marketing strategy
• # 5: Start making money

Let’s discuss this algorithm in detail!

Step 1: Starting your online business with the resources analysis

Before you jump at the opportunity, think carefully about your own lifestyle and resources. At this point, you need to answer the following questions:

• How much time you can spare to your business every day?

Remember that your health, your family and social life require your attention, too, and be realistic in your estimates. Even 1-1,5 hours per day can be enough for building a serious business, so don’t worry if you can’t find more time.

• What are the technical tools that you will use?

Do you have a PC, or a laptop, or a tablet, or at least a smartphone? Can you use it to go online and run your future business? Or, do you need to get a more sophisticated device first?

• Where will you work?

The best thing about online business is its flexibility – you can work from any place within your home, and even run your venture while travelling or being on vacation. Still, it is a good idea to plan and prepare your working zone to make sure nothing will distract you. Home is home, so it’s important to create a separate and fully equipped space where you can be 100% focused on the business.

Step 2: Decide on the type of online business you want to start

As soon as you understand how much time and effort you can dedicate to your online business, you need to do a research to discover a suitable business idea. At this stage, consider the following:

• What type of business would you choose?

If you already have a 9 to 5 job, you obviously need a venture that A) doesn’t take much time, B) doesn’t require much of your effort.

Can you imagine returning home after a long working day and sewing teddy bears for sale (or writing a freelance text)? Or buying 100 t-shirts to hold them in stock (i.e. at your own home) until someone buys at least one? Or queueing in a postal office and awaiting your turn to send a package to your foreign buyer?

In other words, you need to find a business that doesn’t burden you with crafting, stocking and shipping products. Considering all the suitable options, trying yourself in dropshipping business seems to be the most reasonable decision, though you surely are free to go for any other type of online business if you feel like that.

For a number of reasons like low startup costs, business freedom, and plenty of perfect business ideas available, dropshipping is a great choice for people willing to build a successful business. Also, it is a winning solution for those who don’t have much experience with e-commerce sites: you don’t need much to launch a small business based on this model.

• Can you rely on someone else’s experience?

Since you’re at the very beginning of your online business journey, there are many details and aspects of it that you simply don’t know yet. This is perfectly fine because you will gain the necessary knowledge in due time. What you need right now is advice of the people who already have some relevant experience. This is why it’s absolutely necessary to browse thematic forums and take part in the discussions.

• What exactly do you need to learn?

Do you know how this business model works, technically? What is necessary to start this business ? How will you raise awareness about your business in order to attract more clients? None of this is rocket science: there exist enough YouTube channels, step-by-step roadmaps and all-inclusive guides that you’ll easily explore during the preparatory stage.

Step 3: Creating a successful online business starts from your website

When you’ve made up your mind about the type of your online business, then it’s time to decide where to start it from.

There are a lot of eCommerce marketplaces, such as eBay, Amazon, Upwork, etc., which offer you an easy way to implement your business idea. You could just create an account on one of the marketplaces and get an access to a huge number of customers visiting those platforms every day. However, it’s quite difficult to draw clients’ attention in there. The thing is, the set of tools to promote your products or services on these platforms is limited. Not to mention the fact that you have to pay for using those marketplaces.

The truth is that your independence is the key to success in any business. That’s the reason why many entrepreneurs choose to set up their own eCommerce site. Building your own website allows you to create an outstanding destination for your customers. Besides, it guarantees that you have a full control over your business process. The latest technical achievements give you the opportunity to launch a website of any type in three simple steps:

• Buy a domain. In plain language, your domain is the address of your site on the internet. Make sure that you’ve chosen a domain name which is SEO-friendly and rolls off the tongue.
• Choose a hosting provider. In other words, find a server for your website.
• Set it up. When you’ve found a hosting provider and bought a domain, you can start building your site. The growing number of entrepreneurs and companies make their choice in favor of WordPress as the foundation for their online business. This system can be easily adjusted to eCommerce industry by using WooCommerce.

Step 4: Draw up your marketing plan before starting an online business

The role of marketing is hard to play down. If you want to win clients and make your online business take off, you should have a carefully thought-out plan to promote it.

Unlike an account on famous marketplaces, your website can’t become popular with customers until you reach them at first. Fortunately, there are enough ways to carry it out:

• Content marketing. You can attract clients with providing relevant information on your site. People usually turn to the Internet to find some enlightening sources. Put out some useful articles and tips in regard to your business – it will bring potential buyers in.
• Search engine optimization (SEO). If you want customers to find your eCommerce website easily, making it SEO-friendly is a must. The first thing that your potential buyers will do is look for the goods on the Internet. Therefore, if your site isn’t optimized to Google requirements, it won’t come up in the searching results.
• Social networks. That’s not a secret that social platforms have a huge audience – people with various interests. And the beauty of social networks is that you can easily figure out this interests. Thus, you can target a great number of people on such platforms as Facebook and Instagram.

Step 5: Start building your online business

Now you know what type of online business you are going to start, and you are aware of its basic rules and mechanisms. Enough with preparations, it’s time to make a move!

• Make a schedule

Since you’ve already known what it takes to ACTUALLY start your business, you can schedule the most important stages of your work. Don’t try to make everything at once, take your time to avoid mistakes.

• Outsource

If you don’t have the necessary skills to carry out something, such as creating a website properly, it’s a good idea to find someone qualified. Even though you’ll have some expenses, you will be sure that your business is starting in the right first-class way and going to pay you back your money .

• Launch

Go on with your plan and start making money!

Every single person in our brilliant support team does their best to guide you throughout your whole business journey, which is why you can be 100% sure: if you rely on us to start your online venture, you’re in for a treat.