The recent Covid-19 pandemic has brought far-reaching changes in human life. With more and more people being restricted from going outdoors, people now prefer to meet their needs through online shops. Be it everyday grocery items or luxury products like jewels, all online businesses have witnessed phenomenal growth in the last quarter. So if you are planning to start an online business, this is the perfect time to do so.
Unlike before, when you’d need a commercial space and employees to start a business, online businesses have made things much simpler. All you need is a smartphone, and you are good to go. Online shops dispel the need for physical spaces and give you access to a larger consumer base. There are many other advantages of starting an online business from home.
This guide will take you through a step by step process of starting an online business from home:
What Home Based Businesses Can You Start?
Every successful business starts with some brainstorming about the business idea. If you haven’t come across any idea yet, here are some that you can ponder on:
Sell Products Procured In Bulk
One of the oldest and most successful business models, both in the online and offline world, is of buying products in bulk. When you buy any article in bulk, you usually get it at a much lower cost. You can then sell the products individually at a profit.
Products that are easy to ship and have a long shelf life are usually good for this model. You may even import some goods that are not easily available in your country. However, it is important to ensure that you have space for inventory before spending on this business model.
Become A Third-Party Seller
If you do not want to get into the hassle of maintaining an inventory, becoming a third-party seller can also be a great idea. All you have to do is market your platform, find sellers who are ready to advertise, and ensure that your customers get the package on time. So, customer service and marketing will be the only responsibilities on your shoulder.
Sell Your Own Products
If you are good at making something, it can become an idea for your online store. Homemade products are well-liked today, and they are pretty cheap in terms of investment. With plug-ins such as WordPress, you can build an entire e-commerce store even with limited experience.
Monetize Your Blog
Are you a travel freak? or do you hold expertise in any field? Good quality content has a high value in today’s world. If your blog is well-liked and has a large audience, you can easily monetize your work and earn a substantial amount of income through it.
Become A Service Provider
Service providers such as personal trainers, writers, and marketers are in wide demand these days. If you are an expert in any field, you can start an online platform to sell your services. Since almost all the work can be done over the internet, you do not need to commute or go outdoors to provide the service.
Teach Online
Since most people now prefer online mediums over offline ones, you may be astounded by the response an online class can get. A well-structured online class can easily rise in popularity, and you will barely need to invest in any additional resources to run them. All you need is your laptop and a strong internet connection and you are good to go.
Understand Your Market
Once you have decided on the business idea, it is now time to research the market. Market research is very important as it will help you to understand and define your target audience. Once you know the exact audience for your product, it becomes easier to reach them.
In this step, you may spend some time to research about your competition. Searching for relevant keywords through popular search engines such as Google can easily reveal to you who your competitors are. Though you may get more than a thousand results for your search, it is usually the names that feature on top that are your actual competitors.
Go through their sites and observe how they attract their customers. Think of areas where you could do better than them and that can become your USP. However, two businesses that are too identical never work well. So make sure you have some unique edges that your clients are not likely to find elsewhere.
Build Your Own Website
When it comes to online businesses, your website becomes your identity. That is why it is crucial to design and build it carefully. Select a domain name that is easy and is likely to stick in your customer’s mind. Select the right web hosting that will elevate the performance of your website.
WordPress is a user-friendly platform to build and host your website. Using the super friendly extensions, you can easily set up safe payment gateways and the like as well. For those who have some amount of professional knowledge, you may go on and build your own site. However, if you want to give it a more professional look, you can opt for a professional developer.
Select A Theme For Your Website
The theme determines the entire look and feel of your website. WordPress has many premade templates categorized by niches. You may go for them free of cost and decide on the looks, layout, color scheme and other aspects. Highly customizable layouts are also available, but you may have to pay the price for them once the free trial ends.
Enrich With Plugins
Plugins are a great way to enrich your website and attract more customers. For instance, SEO plugins help you to rank higher on search engines. The email marketing plugins can help you push your sales through personalized mail copies. Other popular plugins include ecommerce, security and caching plugins.
Create Relevant Content
It is true that content is still the most important factor. When you have quality content on your website, you will automatically attract a higher amount of traffic. Further, it is your content copy that drives the sales on your website. Adding headlines, bullet points, and adding testimonials are some great ways to enrich your content.
Take On Social Media Platforms
Social Media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn offer a great opportunity to market your product totally free of cost. You can increase your brand awareness, let people know about product launches, hold competitions and so on. You can also interact with your clients and participate in conversations to let people know that you are active.
Apart from these, search engine optimization, keywords targeting and ensuring secured payments are some other sure shot ways of increasing sales. We hope you have a better picture of how to start and market your online business from home.
So use these tips in combination with your own unique business ideas, and sure enough, you will be able to establish your business from the comforts of your home.
