How To Shift Your Offline Business To Online
Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By rupatilak84@gmail.com
hello dear,
Now , We all are very much aware that how much important role playing digital marketing in business for their fruitful and successful growth in the world. If you don’t know about this then you can go through Know how important is digital marketing for small business.
so, why late ?
Hurry up to see how you can shift your business from offline to online .
Here are step by step method to shift your business.
1.Buy a domain name.
2. Create a website
3. Work On the site’s Design.
4.Decide what you want to sell online
5. Get Your Legal ducks in a row.
6.Add a Catchy & Attractive Content to your website.
7.Set up Your Payments Methods.
8. Announce your move at last.
step 1 : Buy a domain name
Domain name selection is the first step in moving your business online.
Always select your domain name with name of your business. Which help out the customers to easily find out and remember you even though you get online.
It’s also one of the first steps you need to take when you start a blog or create a website.
so here ,are the steps to buy your domain :
1.Choose a reliable domain registrar (like Hostinger,bluehost,A2 Hosting etc).
2.Find a domain availability checker tool.
3.Run a domain name search.
4.Pick the best available option.
5.Finalize your order and complete the domain registration.
6.verify the ownership of your new domain.
step 2 : Create a website
Once you’ve registered a domain name, you’re ready to start building your website. An essential step in setting up a site is choosing a platform where you’ll host its content. Think about your expectations for selling online before deciding which platform or software is best for you.
Just create an account and you can start building your website and selling right away. When you figure out what you want to achieve with your website, you can choose the type of platform that will bring you closer to your goals.
step 3 : Work on the site’s design.
Now , It’s time to work on your website design by using a simple templates .
Always pick a simple ,professionally designed theme and then add customizations over time if you wish too.
Make sure that it should be easy for your customers to navigate on your website because it also reflects your brand’s personality.
After the selection of the best theme now you can do simple changes like
1.Replace the default logo with your own.
2. Change the background, font, and navigation menu.
3.Insert or remove content from various pages of the site.
4.Add social media links in header and footer
5.Display an email sign up form or link.
6.Showcase some of your products videos or images.
step 4 : Decide what to sell
Another thing you need to do when moving your business online is to decide what to sell from your existing offerings.
While service-based firms don’t have to worry about storage and shipping, brick and mortars may have to trim down their inventory in order to keep costs low.
So, its better you decide before creating your website ,that what do you want to sell actually through your website .Is it a product or service.
step 5. Get your legal ducks in a row
Taking your business online doesn’t mean you’re exempted from standard legal procedures. In fact, you may have to fulfill a few more requirements depending on how you plan to run your operations. Below are some of the key legal aspects of selling products and services on the internet.
Business license
There’s no dedicated license for an online business. This means you can use the same license that was issued when you registered your brick-and-mortar or LLC. However, you may have to apply for a Home Occupation Permit if you plan to run the business from home. The SBA list of state licenses and permits can help you identify one specific to your location.
DBA license
If your online business is going to operate under a different name than your traditional company, you will need to get a DBA (Doing Business As) license. You can apply for a DBA with your state government based on where your business is incorporated.
Tax obligations
You will also need to register for an EIN (employee identification number) so that the IRS can tax you on your transactions. Additionally, you might need to collect sales tax if you plan to sell goods or services in a sales.
Data privacy
If your business collects customer’s information, you will have to display a privacy policy that explains what you will or will not do with that information.
step 6. Add content to your website
Content is crucial to moving your business online. Because people won’t be able to visit you in person, the only way to help them get an idea of your business is to write good content. Add content on the key pages of your website so that people can learn your story as well as get familiar with your products or services.
While you can create and add content on an unlimited number of pages, focus on your:
- Home page
- About Us page
- Product/service page
- Returns & Refunds page
- Contact Us page
Here are a few tips on what content to include on each page:
Home page
Your homepage should feature a quick blurb of what your business does, some high-quality visuals showcasing your product or service, and perhaps a few testimonials from your existing customers.
About Us page
Use this page to share the story of your humble beginnings. Post lifestyle images to show that there’s a real person behind your company.
Product or service page
Here you can list the details of the products or services you sell. Create a Subheadings, bullets, and visuals are great for improving the readability and layout of this page.
Speaking of visuals, you can snap a few high-quality shots of your products using your smartphone or by any photographer ,if you can bare amount for him.
Returns & Refunds page
Your returns & refunds page isn’t just a box to tick off — it actually reveals how much you care about the customer experience . Use conversational language to tell customers what items (e.g. damaged, lightly used, etc.) can be returned and how refunds are going to be made.
Contact Us page
Put your email address, phone number, physical address, business hours, and even social media handles on this page. If you’re using an ecommerce platform, you can also apply a contact form on the page you create.
step7. Set up your payments
In order to kickstart your online sales, you need to be able to take payments from your customers.
While it’s possible to generate revenue with one simple online payment method, many customers are becoming accustomed to seeing various ways to pay across their favorite websites. So, always choose a simple ,secure and easy payment method for customers ,so they feel easy to get shopping with your online platform.
step 8. Announce your move
Moving your business online is one thing; getting people to notice it is another thing. One of the most challenging parts is to stand out from the crowd of competitors who have similar offerings. So, after you go online, do everything possible to spread the word about your business. Here are some channels you could leverage:
- Email: Don’t go spamming everyone and violating rules, now. Send a simple email to your existing customers and those on your email list. Keep it informational as including a promotion may prevent the email from reaching their primary inbox.
- Social media: Create an announcement post on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and any other platform your business has a social profile on. Include a link back to your website to get eyeballs on your new identity.
- Search engines: Though it takes time to establish a presence in search engines, you should start working on SEO as soon as you get your business online. The easiest way to do this is to research what keywords people use when searching for similar businesses.
- Influencers: When is the last time a customer came to your business because of someone else’s referral? When starting out, consider partnering with influencers to spread the word about your business. Work with smaller influencers than big names as they’re more effective at getting people to engage and act upon their recommendations.