Inspiration for a new business can be found anywhere! Perhaps your company doesn’t appreciate all the hours you put in, but you have a ton of knowledge besides your incredible work ethic. Maybe you are talented and are ready to show your skills to more than just your family and friends. Or is it possible you found a product not in an already over-saturated market? In any case, you have the idea. Now comes the hard work of getting your great business idea out there.

Many startups think they can jump ahead and just get started without understanding the whole picture. All too often, I hear from new business owners after they already wasted time and money on their DIY website without fully grasping the whole process. They reach out after realizing that even though their DIY website may look pretty, it is missing the backup components needed to make it found through Google search, and the content is not attracting or keeping customers.

It’s not their fault. Website generators like Wix®, SiteBuilder®, Squarespace®, WordPress®and others make it look easy and fun but neglect to train them to add the correct SEO or how to create compelling content that spells out exactly why their business is the best at what they do.

Yes, this is a long article. But if you are considering starting a new business, please take a few moments and read through it. I’ve worked with over 100 small companies and many of them startups, so even if you feel well-prepared, there might be a tidbit or two that you overlooked.

The Basics for Any Business

Anyone starting a business from scratch needs the basics:

Refine Your Great Business Idea.

Ask yourself the following:

• Are you offering a service that can stand out from the rest?

• Do you have a unique product that fulfills a specific need?

• Who is your competition? Are you competing against a megastore, chain, or smaller business that has existed for generations?

• How can you stand out from that competition? You have a good business idea if you are faster, cheaper, have more knowledge, or better quality.

• Who are you selling to? Can you easily define your demographic?

Conduct Thorough Market Research.

This is more than just knowing who your competition is. You should be researching every piece of public data about them. You can subscribe to services to see competitors’ SEO and find out exactly how they attract customers. The U.S. Small Business Administration offers an excellent guide here with sources on market research and competitive analysis.

Write a Detailed Business Plan.

This is the time to be brutally honest with yourself. Rushing past these essential questions will only come back to bite you. Perform a break-even analysis to determine if the profit from your business is worth your time and effort. Click here for a break-even analysis guide by Business.com.

• How will you finance your start-up costs?

• How much can you realistically afford? Every business is different, and start-up costs will vary significantly, with some costing less than $1000 and some requiring much more.

• Will you require an SBA or other type of loan?

• How will you secure that loan?

Outline the Work Flow.

• How will you get your product or service in front of people?

• What is the process once an order or request is taken?

• Will you need to rely on anyone else during this process?

• If offering a product online, how will that order be created, inventoried, and shipped? Will you:

  • Store and ship products yourself?

  • Use dropshipping?

  • Considering print-on-demand?

  • Offer affiliate marketing?

• Who pays for shipping?

• How will taxes be handled?

Register Your Legal Business Structure.

Your official business structure affects how you file your taxes and determines your personal liability. Here are your options:

• Sole Proprietorship - if you entirely own your business and are responsible for all debts and obligations. Your own personal credit can be affected by this.

• Partnership - Two or more people are personally liable as business owners.

• Limited Liability Corporation - This structure has the legal protections of a corporation with allowing for personal tax benefits.

• C-Corporations - Corporations are good for new businesses that plan to “go public” or intend to seek funding for venture capitalists.

It is always a good idea to run your business idea by a business or legal advisor to ensure you have the correct business structure.

Once you decide on the structure, you must register with the government. Corporations will need an “article of incorporation” document which includes your business name, business purpose, corporate structure, stock details, and other information about your company.  If you do not have a corporation, you still need to register your business name (aka DBA Doing Business As). You have the option to trademark your business name for extra legal protection.

If you have anything other than a sole proprietorship, you may also need to get an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. Even with a sole proprietorship, you may still want to apply for an EIN to keep your personal and business taxes separate. Click here for more info from Business News Daily.

Get All Required Licenses, Permits, and Insurance.

Check with your local city hall to see if you need special permits or licenses to run your business. You can search for specific licensing requirements by state through the SBA Database.

Don’t forget insurance! You may need to be protected from property damage, theft, or even a customer lawsuit. Plan to have your policies, liability statements, and terms of service in place before you launch the business. Again, I highly recommend that you speak to an attorney that specializes in business startups to ensure you are fully covered.

Establishing an Online Presence

I can’t think of any business that would not benefit from having a professional website that lends credibility to the owner’s knowledge, experience, talent, etc. The internet is the first place people naturally go when looking for any product or service. Unfortunately, standing out from the online crowd is not easy. With over 250,000 websites launched daily, it is an uphill battle, but not impossible. Let’s break down the essential steps.

Start with a Professional Website.

I’m sorry, but a DIY website will not cut it when creating a credible business. Yes, it can be easy for a novice to build one using Wix, Weebly, Google Sitebuilder, Squarespace, WordPress, Shopify, and a host of others, but what they don’t tell you is how to get that website crawled efficiently so people can actually find you through a Google Search. Unless you have years of experience with all the different types of SEO (on-page, off-page, local, and technical) and keep up with the never-ending changes, then go with a professional.

Don’t Skip the Branding.

Branding your business correctly may be the most critical business decision ever. First impressions are everything online, and with the ever-increasing competition, you may get only one chance. You need to make your business appear approachable, relatable, trustworthy, and, above all, memorable. Your brand must be clear and reflect precisely what your product or service represents while appearing likable and invoking familiarity.

The overall look, feel, and language should be laser-focused on your particular target group to ensure they feel comfortable and secure in your professionalism and that it mirrors their expectations.

• Does your business name clearly define your business and make you memorable?

• Can you find an available domain name that is short, easy to remember, and contains keywords?

• Are your colors and fonts clear, and do they relate well to the product or service?

• Do you have a unique yet recognizable logo that is clear and flexible enough to be used in various ways, including products, letterhead, apparel, social media, etc.?

• What is your tagline? A good motto will give a clear indication of what you are about and what you want to achieve. A great slogan will be as memorable as your logo.

Ensure your Content is Professional and to the Point.

Even if you know your product or service inside and out, unless you have years of marketing experience, you may not be able to showcase it in the best light online. A marketing expert considers several things when building out content. You must clearly explain how your product or service will solve a specific problem while emphasizing what sets your business apart.

Building content can be tricky. There is a fine line between not having enough and overdoing it. Google wants at least 300 words per page, which may crowd your message. A professional web designer can code in those extra words without overwhelming the viewer.

When creating individual pages on your website, it’s good to keep in mind:

• Service Pages - If you have good, quality content, strive for individual pages for each service. This not only builds topical authority for each service but there are more opportunities to add attention-grabbing SEO.

• Blog Posts - Blogs serve several purposes. They are an opportunity to add keyword-rich, authority-driven content, which causes Google to recrawl your website. Still, they are also a great way to attract new readers to your website through social media.

• City/State Pages - If your business works in several towns, cities, or even states, having a separate page with distinguishable content on each can capture the attention of those in separate towns. Just make sure the content is just not duplicated or “spammy” and there are blogs or pages that support each new page.

• Client Location - Depending on your website type, be sure to pinpoint the location of clients, especially if you are showing previous clients’ work. This is done differently with each website generator.

Images, videos, graphics, and animation can all add interest to a website. Still, they must be professional and look clear on all device types including phones, tablets, and laptops. They also need to be optimized so they don’t slow your website speed down, as a slow website will immediately be dropped in Google rankings.

Create an Exceptional User Experience.

Nothing is more off-putting than an unprofessional, confusing, or clunky website. Viewers will view a shoddy website as an extension of the care you put into your business. Google recognizes this; if your website is not UX designed, it will penalize your ranking accordingly. Here are some aspects to keep in mind:

• Site Speed - A site should load in less than 3 seconds, or the viewer will probably leave. This threshold becomes less and less every year, so ensure yours is speedy.

• Navigation - Is your navigation clean and easy to maneuver, or do you make users wade through layers to find what they need? Again, frustration is one of the biggest turnoffs to any viewer, and they will quickly turn to an easier-to-navigate website.

• Usability - With ADA compliance, websites are held to a higher standard, ensuring disabled users can use each website. Text size, alt text, and voice recognition must be considered to meet the needs of all possible users.

SEO and Why It is All-Important

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is optimizing your business’s digital presence (including its website and business listings) for search engine results. The goal of SEO, or search engine optimization, is to get new customers from search engines like Google or Bing by being discovered by appearing on the first page of an internet search. This is further complicated by the general term “SEO” when there are actually four types: On-Page, Off-Page, Local, and Technical SEO.

With so many websites crawled every day, Google has to keep changing it’s algorithm to ensure it is ranking each website according to a neverending set of rules. SEO encompasses a large part of those rules so if your website is missing it, Google will keep you out of the top rankings.

What is Advanced SEO?

Say you have a beautiful, professional website that has all the bells and whistles: the branding is perfect, the content is spot on and intriguing, the images and videos are crystal clear, and even the on-page SEO is error-free. Will you be on the first page of Google search results? Unfortunately, no. That is still not enough. There are millions of websites with all of that so Google has to be even more picky. That’s where advanced SEO comes in. Learn more here.

Why do I Need a Blog?

Every website should have a blog. It can be called something else, but the concept is the same. New keyword-rich content added regularly alerts Google that your website is growing and is an authority. It will recrawl your website and catalog all those new keywords when it indexes that new page.

Blogs are a great tool to draw potential customers or clients to your website. Blogs that help solve problems or answer questions correctly will not only be appreciated by your readers, but they will perceive you as an authority and will be more apt to reach out for your particular service or product.

Not all blogs are created equal, however. There is a clear set of rules and expectations and blogs that are shoddy can actually hurt a website. Learn more about writing blogs that rank well here.

What are Backlinks and Citations?

Off-site or Off-page SEO focuses on acquiring high-quality backlinks from other reputable websites and social media signals, brand mentions, and influencer partnerships.

Google values trust and authority, mainly established away from your website through link building, citations, and review generation. These can include:

• Brand mentions - references to your brand on external domains

• Link building - inbound links to your website from external domains

• NAP citations - business citations from directories like Angie’s List, BBB, & HomeAdvisor

• Social media - business profiles on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, & YouTube

Important notes:

• It is essential to use quality backlinks that are ranked highly. Otherwise, your website may be marked unfavorably.

• Your business information must be exact and match every citation.

• If using a citation processing company, ensure that any links being built are consistent and will remain in play, even if you leave that service. Some will delete those backlinks if you stop paying for a monthly service.

Why is Link Building So Important?

Link building is sometimes a controversial subject for SEO, but Google openly admits to using links as a ranking factor. The problem is that earning links naturally is rare, as most websites don’t want to link to a blog post and certainly not a service page.

Your best chance of earning natural links is through your homepage, as other companies might list your business as a recommendation. Still, the link-building process is far more complex than anyone would like to admit.

Here are the main types of links:

• No-follow links are hyperlinks from your website to other websites (or vice versa) that have no direct influence on your search engine results. Google doesn’t even crawl no follow links, and, as such, they pose a minimal threat of penalization.

• Do-follow links hold the most ranking influence for SEO. When an authoritative website links to a page or posts on another website, there receiving site gains authority. In 2023, the algorithm is better at ignoring spam links; those that slip through the cracks may result in a manual penalty to the website. The best way to get white-hat DoFollow links is to create long-form blog posts.

• Internal links refer to links built from one page of your website to another. Too often, web designers ignore the value of internal link equity and focus only on external links.

How do I Handle Reputation Management?

• Citations - One of the faster ways to build credibility is to list your business on local directories using a reputable citation builder service. Most directories include a NoFollow link to your website, strengthening your link profile. A consistent stream of NAP citations (name, address, phone number) proliferates your contact information through the web.

• Reviews - Most viewers trust reviews on platforms like Google, Facebook, Yelp, etc. These reviews can be critical to your online reputation, so keep an eye on them, ask for reviews from clients as appropriate, and respond immediately to good and bad reviews.

• Social Proof - A digital badge, accreditation stickers, license numbers, testimonials, etc., all prove you are an authority in your field. Be sure to include locations and service details whenever possible.

There’s No Getting Away from Social Media

Between the overwhelming amount of competition online and the plethora of social platforms, no wonder small businesses are confused about finding the best way to stand out online. No matter what size business you have, social media is the most expedient way to gain exposure, drive traffic to your website, and create more leads and sales.

For many businesses, this decision to do it themselves comes down to the budget. It is possible to do it yourself, but there are several steps that should be taken to ensure your success:

• Create a dynamic free Google Business account and include all of the information you can. Contact email, website address, product or service details, service locations, etc., and be sure to update with clear, quality photos or posts often.

• Ensure you have a professional website that accurately reflects your business and branding. If you do not have a website, social media viewers may compare your business to another with a great website and determine that the other one has more credibility.

• Identify the social platform that will work best for you:

  • Targeting those younger than 40 and have a product or service that photographs well? Go with Instagram.

  • Looking for a specific interest group or location? Facebook might be better.

  • Selling a B2B product or service? Look at LinkedIn.

  • Have a visual product that people may want to comparison shop? Try Pinterest.

  • Offer sales or last-minute deals? Twitter excels at this.

  • Are you an expert at making catchy short videos or do you want to appeal to a younger crowd? Go with TikTok.

• Create a professional-looking business page on your chosen social media platform. Ensure your images are crisp, your branding is evident and consistent, and how to reach you is clear.

• Pick your focus. If you have several products or services, choose which ones would respond best to online marketing.

• Create your ad. Look at your local competitors and see what they are doing, or even better, look at similar businesses in other states to get more inspiration. Then invest in good graphics software that allows you to create a professional-looking ad. Remember that you have only about 1.7 seconds to capture a viewer’s attention, so don’t make it wordy. And most importantly, make sure everything looks great on mobile, as nearly 95% of all social media viewers are on their phones.

• Start with only one social media platform and learn as much as possible about it. Decide if you are going to try organic or paid advertising. Run some smaller test ads to see what resonates. Try different demographics, timelines, and budgets. Try single images, slideshow, and videos.

• Check your analytics after every attempt to determine what is working and what is not.

• Once you are comfortable with one platform, consider another. Facebook ads can be connected to Instagram. Once you have several platforms in play, you may consider scheduling software like Hootsuite or Later.

• Watch your quality score and user engagement for SEO. The quality score is a search engine ranking metric that evaluates your keywords and pay-for-click ads to rank it. The higher the score, the more impressions you should get at a lower cost per engagement. Besides keywords, watch for ad loading speeding, mobile friendliness, click-through rate, bounce rate, and conversion rate - all core factors for search engine rankings.

Additional Marketing

Online marketing should only be part of your overall marketing plan. Consider the following:

Find Local Networking Groups.

See if there are networking groups you can visit online or in person. Even if you are a new business and don’t have many contacts to share yourself, you will find that people who attend these meetings understand the concept of networking and want to help each other succeed. Eventually, you have the opportunity to pay it forward. Check out your local chamber, BNI.com, for a group near you, or look through Facebook groups to see if there any virtual groups that fit.

Consider Snail Mail Postcards if Your Business Fits the Criteria.

Depending on your business type and the targeted demographic, a postcard campaign may work for you. Check out EDDM (Every Day Direct Mail) offered by the USPS, which provides a 50% reduction in mail costs while choosing the exact routes in a specified town. Direct mail is still not cheap, but it may be worthwhile if you have a local business that only offers goods or services to a small area.

Printed Marketing Materials May Not be Needed.

Printed materials are not as popular as digital ads unless you happen to have a business that relies on a few large customers a year. In that case, printing a brochure or multipage flyer that can be mailed or hand-delivered may be worth it.

Look Into Press Releases and Local Ads.

It costs nothing to contact local publications (digital and print), magazines, news stations, social media influencers, etc., and send them a short blurb about why they should feature you in an article. If chosen, you will not pay a fee. If your article is not chosen, evaluate if buying ad space is worth it.

Are Paid Social Media Ads Worth It?

If you pay enough, Google ads may place you on the first page for specific search terms as long as you continue paying. All social media platforms also offer paid advertising. If you are doing it yourself, conduct your research and consider a training course to ensure you are not wasting your money on ads that do not work. If you are making the investment, consider going with a marketing firm specializing in paid ads, as they are more apt to have current certifications and know the latest techniques to get the most bang for your buck.

My choice is also organic ads. Reach out to learn more.

Need Help with Your Great Business Idea?

Hopefully, I’ve impressed upon you that while starting a business can be fun and exciting, it can be challenging to stand out from the rest unless you are willing to do the legwork. Not only do you have to be an expert in your field, but also at marketing yourself so potential clients or customers can find you.

With over 35 years of experience in technology, marketing, and design, Charlotte’s Web Designs, LLC offers exceptional services to help your business get started or take it to the next level, including branding, logo design, web design, SEO, custom graphics, and more. After working with over 100 small companies and never receiving anything less than a 5-star Google review, I am fast, small business budget-conscious, creative, and will be in your corner every step of the way.

Please contact me today for a free consultation.

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