Easily Start An Online Business Now with These Bold Steps

Online businesses in the UK have seen a sharp rise since the Coronavirus pandemic. Some 85000 online businesses were launched during the lockdown.
E-commerce seems to be here to stay. In January 2022, e-commerce sales made up more than 27% of total retail sales in the UK, according to Cybercrew. This is down from 36% during the pandemic, but up from about 19% pre-pandemic.

There are several advantages to having an online business, including being able to work from home (backlink to the previous blog post about at-home jobs), low start-up costs, and the ability to sell to anyone in the world.
If you have an inkling of an idea, now is a great time to begin turning that idea into a reality. With some thoughtful preparation, you could quickly have a successful business on your hands.

Research

The first thing you will want to do is decide what kind of online business you would like to have, and find out what steps you will have to take to open your virtual storefront. You will want to find out who you want to serve, and what needs you would like to fulfil with your new business.
You will have to decide what your mission is. While the purpose of your online business may be to make money, having a mission will help you to believe in your business and set goals to achieve.
To find out if your fledgling idea has wings, you will need to conduct market research. Conducting this research can help you find out not only who your target audience is, but what they care about. This can help you in establishing a brand that best speaks to your target audience.
Keyword research, which is finding out how often people search for keywords related to your business idea, can help you understand the demand and interest for what you hope to provide with your online business.
You will want to study potential competitors’ business models and websites, and how they attract customers. This will help you understand what works, what doesn’t and what you can make better.

Business Plan

Once you have conducted your thorough market research, you will want to begin to develop a business plan. A business plan is a map of how your business will work and how you can achieve your goals. If you are planning on getting funding from banks for your startup, you will need a business plan to show that you have a legitimate business idea.
A business plan typically has nine main sections:
● Executive summary
● Company description
● Market analysis
● Management and company structure
● Service or product information
● Marketing and sales strategy
● Funding information
● Financial projections
● Appendix
Each of these parts will help you define your business thoroughly, from your mission statement and vision to how you will serve customers and make money for investors. This document will grow and change as your business does but will be your guide stone for years to come.

Register Your Business

In the UK, you must register your business with HMRC and/or Companies House. Some companies will register your business for you, paying the £12 corporation fee on your behalf and setting you up with a business bank account.
You can register as a sole trader, a limited company, or a partnership, with different reporting and accounting obligations for each. You must provide an address when registering your business which will be available for anyone to search. If you would prefer to keep this private then you can sign up for our Virtual Office. Our service provides you with an address that you can use with Companies House.

Manage Your Money

While your business plan should have given you a clear idea of what your financial situation is like, you will still want to stay on top of your finances. You should be sure to know what taxes you will have to pay and make sure you have the funds set aside to cover them. You may want to build your business credit in case you want to borrow to expand in the future.
If you are uncomfortable managing your money, you may want to consider hiring a business accountant to make sure everything is operating properly.

Build Your Online Home

It’s never been easier to start a website, with dozens of website builder sites that provide lovely templates for people with little to no web design experience. Websites like Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify will host your website and provide you with resources to put together your site quickly and easily. Some website builders don’t charge anything, but most start at about £5 a month.
You can get started right away by showcasing your products and how they can improve customers’ lives. Make sure your website is easy to read, quick to load, and interesting to look at.
You could also hire a web developer to build a custom website for your business.
If you don’t want to build your own website at all, you can set up your virtual storefront on an e-commerce seller, like Amazon UK, eBay, Asos, or Gumtree. This will give you a hub from which you can sell your goods, services, or content, while relieving you of some of the responsibilities of owning a website or a domain, like updates and anti-malware.

Market Your New Business

Once you have built your website and started your business, the logical next step is to start letting people know about your wonderful products, services, or content. Social Media can be used to post about your business or write blog posts on your blog and on others. You can use online word-of-mouth marketing by encouraging happy customers or influencers to share their experiences with your product online.
Search engine optimization techniques are also highly recommended to make your website a relevant and trusted place for people to come to for answers. Pay-per-click advertising on search engines and social media can also be a handy tool to get your website in front of relevant viewers.
You could post on message boards about your business or talk amongst other business owners. You can start an email marketing campaign, and use a loyalty programme to get customers’ email addresses.
Once you have a few customers, ask them for referrals and always be responsive to make sure they have an excellent customer service experience. Hopefully, your first customers become repeat customers, and then you’ve got an online business growing beautifully.