How Do I Grow An Online Business?

From hiring specialists to join your sales team to drafting a powerful SEO strategy, here are 20 answers to the question, “What are your best tips for immediately growing an online business?”

• Hire Sales Reps to Find Industry Partnerships
• Get on TikTok
• Place Personalization at Every Step of the Customer Journey
• Use PR to Create Exposure
• Collect Reviews
• Consider a Slight Price Increase
• Cultivate Employee Advocacy
• Hijack Page One of Google
• Prioritize Customer Service
• Make Your Website Mobile-friendly
• Bring the Right Team Together
• Reach Out to Your Network
• Generate Buzz in Your Fan Base
• Finesse Your Marketing Strategy
• Outsource Routine Tasks
• Grow Your Email List
• Concentrate on Your Intended Audience
• Create Quality Content for Your Website and Optimize It
• Run a Paid Ads Campaign
• Draft an SEO Strategy

Hire Sales Reps to Find Industry Partnerships

Starting an online business is the first step to success; however, quickly growing it is a challenge. My best tip for immediately growing an online business would be to hire sales representatives that can make connections with potential partners in other industries.

For instance, if you own a sports website, you could hire sales reps to approach companies that sell clothes related to sports and create a strong partnership based on mutual interests. This common strategy allows both parties to benefit from each other’s customers by promoting their services on each other’s platforms, thus increasing your client base rapidly.

Michael Alexis, CEO, swag.org

Get on Tiktok

TikTok is where you do your marketing, especially if you’re digitally based. If you host a podcast, blast it out on TikTok. If you’re selling items via Etsy, shoot a video and post it on TikTok. Any and all marketing professionals who understand the dos and don’ts of growing an online business will recommend TikTok as the fundamental platform to rely on.

That’s where the young people are. That’s the network used the most by the demographic business owners covet the most. Find out what others do on TikTok and borrow the best ideas you find. TikTok is a robust platform. You’d be wise to take advantage of it.

Rachel Blank, Founder and CEO, Allara

Place Personalization at Every Step of the Customer Journey

Modern-day customers are picky and demanding, and they truly value personalization and getting unique attention. In fact, for many people, it is even more important than attractive pricing.

Try to add a touch of personalization everywhere: from a welcome message to the packaging of orders to the request for feedback, and more. This will help you convert more website visitors to paying customers, increase customer loyalty, and reduce churn.

Today, when the choice of products and services is so abundant, finding a personal approach to your customers actually makes you stand out and has the power to help you scale your business.

Gosia Szaniawska-Schiavo, Senior Content Writer, Technology and Business, Tidio

Use PR to Create Exposure 

My best tip for immediately growing an online business is to explore alternative marketing channels. A common example is leveraging the power of public relations by creating a press release and actively pitching it to influential media outlets.

This can help create meaningful exposure for your business, potentially leading to hundreds or thousands of new visitors and customers. Public relations is often overlooked, but it can provide great exposure at little cost compared to other marketing options like paid advertising or search engine optimization.

Carly Hill, Operations Manager, VirtualHolidayParty.com

Collect Reviews

Credibility is one of the most important components of marketing. But when you’re a new business, credibility isn’t on your side just yet.

To grow your image as a reputable business, focus on getting reviews as quickly as possible. Reviews show customers that other people have done business with you. It gives them a glimpse into others’ experiences, which helps to reduce their feelings of risk.

The value of reviews will keep growing, too. The more reviews you get, the more complete a picture others will have of your business. Reviews don’t disappear and will keep marketing your business around the clock, helping you to grow your brand image.

Alli Hill, Founder and Director, Fleurish Freelance

Consider a Slight Price Increase

If you have a product or service, consider increasing your prices slightly. This will help grow your profit margins and can provide you with more resources for furthering your business.

Additionally, this will enable you to stretch your budget to invest in digital marketing strategies such as social media promotion, search engine optimization (SEO), and content marketing to increase your online visibility and customer base.

Lilian Chen, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Bar None Games

Cultivate Employee Advocacy

Employee advocacy is one of the most effective ways to immediately grow an online business. By leveraging your employees’ networks, you can quickly boost your reach and visibility on social media.

Encouraging employees to create and share content related to your brand and products on their own channels enables you to reach a much larger audience than what would have been possible with just organic methods.

It also helps build trust with potential customers, as they are more likely to trust content shared by people they know. Statistics show that employees have 10 times more followers than brands, and their content is up to 561 times more likely to be shared! Work smarter, not harder.

Emily Neal, SEO and Content Specialist, DSMN8

Hijack Page One of Google

One of the best ways to grow an online business quickly is to do what I call “page one hijacking.” First, you do a Google search for whatever general category you’re in, but also include the words “best” or “top.”

For example, if you sell men’s socks, you would search “best men’s socks,” and Google will return a ton of articles that are lists of all the best men’s socks brands. Next, you go through each result and make sure your brand isn’t already included in their list.

Finally, you reach out to the author of the article and ask them what it will take to get added to the article. You may have to pay a fee to get them to add your brand, but as long as it’s reasonable, it’s worth it because your brand will then be ranked on page one of Google right from the start while you build up your own rankings.

Adam White, Founder, JustReachOut

Prioritize Customer Service 

Brand yourself as a company that truly cares about its customers. You can emphasize this on your website, in your email campaigns, and on your social media platforms. Engage with your followers and show them you care about their feedback. Resolve issues quickly and reward your VIPs for their loyalty.

If you focus on the customer experience, your online business will immediately grow.

Kim Walls, CEO and Co-Founder, Furtuna Skin

Make Your Website Mobile-friendly

Over the last few years, the use of mobile technology has transformed the way people shop, and that is why it is critical that your website is mobile-friendly if you want to immediately grow your online business.

Over 90% of all people have used their smartphones to search for and purchase products, and upwards of 70% do so multiple times a month. Making sure that your text formats properly, that descriptions line up with images, that links are seamless and go to directed pages, and above all, that loading speeds are optimized, is imperative to create a great online customer experience.

By ensuring that your website is mobile-friendly, you will keep visitors on your page longer while increasing conversions, as well as immediately growing your online business.

Alexandre Bocquet, Founder and CEO, Betterly

Bring the Right Team Together 

Having a team of highly skilled, experienced professionals to support your business is essential for growth. When you have the right people in place, they can help you develop strategies and execute tactics that will drive your online business forward.

Additionally, hiring the right people can give you access to new ideas, perspectives, and skill sets that can help bring about growth in your online business. Having the right people on your team can help you build strong relationships with customers and partners, which will be critical for long-term success.

Justin Thomas, Founder and Lead Consultant, JourneyEngine

Reach Out to Your Network

To see immediate growth, it comes down to taking action. During the slow times and when I was starting my online business, the one way I always could gain traction and see immediate growth was outreach. In the beginning, it was emailing my network to share my latest venture. And throughout the years, it has included reaching out to past clients, networking relationships, and even people within my own industry. The common thread is outreach. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. Once you do, you’ll see growth!

Jenny Belanger, CEO and Creative Director, JennyB Designs

Generate Buzz in Your Fan Base 

When you’re a startup with a product that appeals to multiple audiences, focus on the bigger, more significant category. This is your customer base who actively uses your product and will buy it again and again. And while they will provide the most financial value to your business, these customers are more likely to engage with it regularly.

This fanbase will create more and more buzz online for your e-commerce or mobile commerce so that when you talk to retailers, you can leverage the audience and loyalty you’ve already built.

But it’s essential to begin with specialty retailers and boutiques instead of trying to get into Target or Walmart from the get-go. You want to work your way up to the mass retailers, whether or not you have an infusion of capital.

Brian Lee, Co-Founder and CEO, Arena Club

Finesse Your Marketing Strategy

Identify your target audience, and if you’re targeting a specific niche, then do research on the channels you can effectively communicate with them through. Figure out their needs, preferences, and pain points, and tailor your messaging and marketing efforts accordingly.

The next step is to develop a compelling value proposition that sets your business apart from competitors and clearly communicates the benefits your products or services offer in comparison to others.

Last, effectively use the channels you’ve identified to market your business. This may include leveraging social media, influencers, or even paid ads. What works for others may not work for you as well. It will take a lot of trial and error before you can finesse your marketing strategy to grow your online business exponentially in a short time.

Abeer Raza, CMO and Co-Founder, TekRevol

Outsource Routine Tasks

The best and easiest way to scale an online business is to outsource routine tasks as soon as possible. There are many online activities that are considered “routine” but aren’t really immediately beneficial to growing a business, and you should look to outsource these as soon as possible so you can focus on higher ROI activities.

What can be outsourced? Pretty much everything, but in my experience, start with things like social media management, content, administration, customer service, accounting, etc.

Michael Maximoff, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Belkins

Grow Your Email List

If you need to grow an online business immediately, and you have some sort of marketing budget, put it all into cultivating an email list.

If you must run social media ads, direct people to sign up for an email list and that’s it, because that will give you the best long-term value from your audience. Email marketing is still one of the most effective forms of marketing out there, and it pays immediate dividends to a new online business.

Steve DiMatteo, Owner, Cleveland Vintage Shirts

Concentrate on Your Intended Audience

The higher the quality of your visitors, the more you streamline content, products, and services. This means you’ll focus on people who are most likely to spend money with your company.

For example, if you sell kitchen appliances, you would not want to write guest blog posts on a lawn care website. Any marketing you do must apply to what you provide. Everything from the type of content you create to the brands of products you stock will be influenced by your target audience.

I think this is an important factor to consider if you want to maximize your chances of success. Many new businesses make the mistake of attempting to target “everyone.” This frequently results in a haphazard marketing strategy that is overly expensive in the long run. Maintain your focus on those who will directly benefit from the business.

Jeff Romero, Founder, Octiv Digital

Create Quality Content for Your Website and Optimize It

As a marketing expert who focuses daily on building SEO-oriented digital marketing strategies for clients from different industries, the best and first tip I can offer is to build an attractive website and create quality content that is relevant and valuable to your niche.

Defining your niche and knowing your audience will lead to giving your customers exactly what they want. Once you clear this stage, you can plan your content marketing strategy. We have proven content marketing to be one of the simplest and cheapest strategies to help grow your business’s online presence.

Creating a site for your brand using WordPress and SEO tools allows you to optimize your content while knowing the basics of on-page and off-page SEO marketing allows you to optimize your website, its online accessibility, and discoverability.

Stewart Dunlop, Founder and Chief Strategist, LinkBuilder.io

Run a Paid Ads Campaign

Paid ads can help you get in front of your target audience quickly and effectively. You can choose from a variety of platforms to run your campaign, including Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, and more. When done correctly, paid advertising can be one of the fastest ways to generate leads and sales for your online business.

Amy Lee, Medical Advisor, Nucific

Draft an SEO Strategy

My opinion is that a smart SEO strategy that takes advantage of gaps in content competition and includes the key elements of technical SEO can be a cost-effective way to send your brand to the top of Google and get more people to visit your site.

Doing keyword research is a good place to start. This means making a list of keywords that your target audience might search for that are related to your brand. One of the most important pieces of information here is “search volume,” a metric that several tools use to show how many times specific keywords are searched for each month.

It can be filtered by region and device, among other things. Focus on medium- and long-tail keyword strings that don’t have a lot of competition. If you own an online candle shop, for example, focus on keywords like “artisan handmade candles” instead of just “candles.” Comprehensive keyword research can help you come up with a great long-term content strategy and key on-page SEO markups, etc.

James Nathan, Founder, SEO Agency UK

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