Most people who end up successful did so through a business in some way. And in the modern age, few businesses are more prominent or ultimately successful than online businesses. But of course, the market is huge and the competition stiff, so if you are new to the whole world of online business and want to start building the blocks of your little empire, then you are in just the right place. Probably so if you are in Australia. Hopefully, after reading, you will have at least a working idea of what you need to start up on your own.Â
Market Research and Storage
First of all, you are going to want to know absolutely everything you can about what you are getting into. Things like direct competitors, who you are going to go against in a way, and how successful they may or may not be. Then comes storage. You cannot sell anything if you don’t have a place to store all your products, so you are going to want to organize a place for storage, which luckily we have covered if you just want to read more and have one item scratched off your list. With security and CCTV, you won’t have to be worried about anyone stealing your merchandise either. Also, you have to be aware of the general need or desire for the products you are looking to sell and whether the interest in them is high enough to warrant starting a business with them. Also, keep a lookout for any potential new challenges to your business, like new competitors, new rules, or the like.
Register and ABN
To legally operate in Australia, you need an ABN, or Australian Business Number, which is basically a unique 11-digit number that acts as an identification for your company. Once you have the ABN, you can register your business name, apply for any grants, claim taxes, secure the domain you are going to use for your online store, order goods from other companies or the like, and so on. So, you want an ABN to register your business.
SEO-Friendly Domain Name
The next step is to secure a domain name, so purchasing something like a.com.au that is related to your business is how you get started. Your domain name should make you instantly recognizable, easy to remember, and, very importantly, help you rank highly on search engines like Google, Bing, and so on. Choosing the right domain name is vital for the success of your efforts, so something like a misleading or overly-complicated name might really throw a wrench into your hard work.
Funding
The next major step is finding sources of funding, so unless you already have the required funds to cover all the expenses, which include any you might not be expecting right now, you might want to start thinking about alternative avenues of funding. But before you start taking out business loans, you should first browse the various government funding options available for start-ups. Some of the grants available to aid you in many areas of your business include sales and marketing, buying the necessary equipment, employment, importing and exporting, and so on.Â
Create Your Website
This step is huge and far too expansive a topic to fit into a simple paragraph, but now you are going to want to really start building and filling your website with content. Hiring a web developer is the simplest move for this, and working on search engine optimization to get seen out there is absolutely vital. You want your website to be clean, stylish, but also uncluttered and easy to navigate so the customer can inspect and order products without major obstacles, perhaps dissuading them from making a purchase.
Marketing Plan
You want to now start building a viable marketing plan. You have the store, now you want to start getting people in. This marketing plan can range from almost zero dollars to thousands, so yes, it’s a very big playing field. Inexpensive ways of getting noticed include things like email marketing and building long-term relationships with your subscribers. Just remember to not constantly spam them with emails, as that is going to backfire. Social media marketing can also be incredibly effective, with many companies starting out with nothing and ending up huge with one hit tweet, so utilize that gold mine effectively.
There is no real rulebook or guide for making a successful business, but there are guidelines you can follow to have a very good chance of striking figurative and perhaps even literal gold. Your instincts can be an invaluable tool for your online store instead of chasing trends or what is fashionable right now.
