Running an online business is just like running any other enterprise with several significant exceptions. First of all, your online presence is not just there to increase your visibility. It’s intertwined with the infrastructure of your enterprise and, as such, crucial to all your business efforts. With that in mind, in order to give your business a sizable boost, you need to find ways to move your online business ahead using digital means. Here are the top six ideas to help you make this possible.
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1. Focus on crucial KPIs
The first thing you want to do is find a way to single out the most important KPIs and find the way to reliably track them. For an online business, these are things like your earnings, traffic, sales, or number of subscribers. In terms of the overall strength of your online presence, you may also choose to focus on your SEO rank and your domain authority. Another non-specific item you want to track is your quality of design. Keep in mind that to improve in some of these aspects, you actually need to know how to track them.
2. Think about first-time visits
The next thing you need to think about is the first-time visits and visitors. Namely, start by roleplaying a first-time visitor or having one of your friends or acquaintances visit your site and answer (honestly) a couple of questions. These questions are:
- What is the first thing that you’ve noticed?
- Do you understand what the business is about right away?
- Is the site easy to navigate?
- Is there anything that’s missing or that you would like to add?
Answers to these questions are not just feedback – they’re a course of action. By answering these questions, your survey takers are not just telling you what’s wrong with your site but also suggesting improvements.
3. Prepare for crawlers
Your website has two types of audience – human and robot. It is your job to optimize for both. You see, the algorithm uses crawlers to “read” and index your website. In order to make this a lot easier for them, you need to optimize the site and “improve” its infrastructure. That is the so-called on-site or technical SEO. According to SEO Sydney experts, having a professional handle would be the best course of action. Keep in mind that unless your website is indexed properly, it won’t be able to get ranked.
4. Learn how to produce social media videos
Video marketing is incredibly effective but producing videos for social media is slightly different. Social media videos require shorter formats with special attention to thumbnails. Also, you need to learn how to make captivating captions. In the social media Story era, it’s crucial to learn how to fit the whole story inside a 15 seconds’ long campaign. Here, production value makes all the difference, but with the modern tools, filters, and smartphone devices, you don’t need expensive equipment to reach even the highest levels of production value. Even using user-generated video content can be quite handy.
5. Thank people directly
Taking time to thank your customers, subscribers, and readers directly might make them more serious about their role in your business success. Loyalty works both ways, and to get loyalty, you need to be loyal, as well. People love preferential treatment, so if you want them to stick around, you need to share their content, like, comment, or even send them a direct message. People love recognition, and they might provide an insane return if you do so. They might leave positive reviews or rate you generously in the nearest future.
6. Test everything
Whenever you introduce a change, you can and should test its effects. That is one of the biggest privileges of running an online business. First, you have the privilege of introducing a change with a couple of clicks, and it becomes active immediately. Second, you can accurately track the traffic and every change related to it. It means that you get to see the exact effects of every single change you implement. Remember that things don’t always work as advertised and what works for others doesn’t necessarily have to work in your case. The same goes the other way around.
In conclusion
At the end of the day, there’s nothing more important than understanding the industry that you’re getting entangled in. What you’re aiming to do is focus on things that matter (KPIs), adopt methods that give the best results (video marketing, etc.), and track any changes in real-time. Remember, some changes and decisions take time to fully develop. So, don’t be too eager to jump the ship. Wait a bit to see if things are giving the desired results. The best way is to pick up a couple of tips and then try to learn through your trial and error (while testing, naturally).
Author Bio:
Alison Pearson is an interior design student. She is a writer and designer, and her ultimate passion is art and architecture. She is also a bibliophile and her favourite book is “The Sound and the Fury” by William Faulkner. Follow her on Twitter.
