The possibilities that come with an online business are extremely exciting.
It could be the chance to work from anywhere in the world. The huge potential for earning big money.
Hell, it could simply be the fact that you won’t have to work for anyone else ever again.
But it is always important to remember that getting to this point takes time.
In fact, if you have started an online business, you would know this.
You might be working another job to make ends meet. You might feel like you are putting in a lot of work with very little reward. Or, you might not have the flexibility and freedom you had hoped for when you first started.
For most of you, the goal is to have a self sufficient online business that makes money 24/7.
A business that gives you the freedom to travel the world, and guarantees that you never have to look at your bank balance ever again.
Well, using the right strategies you can — and it all comes down to scale.
By making some smart decisions, you can exponentially increase the growth of your online business while reducing the amount of time you work. You can follow here to increase Instagram followers and engagement.
You just need to do it right.
Pick the right e-commerce enterprise
An e-commerce platform is a type of website that allows you to sell your products or services online.
However, an e-commerce enterprise takes it to the next level.
This is a specific type of e-commerce website that has been designed to make scaling your online business easy by:
- Centralising all of your website needs into one location
- Making sales across multiple platforms (yes, that includes social media)
- Automating customer loyalty and reward systems
- Allowing you to make sales in foreign currencies
- Tracking purchases and stock automatically
- Recording customers previous purchases and recommending items
- Offering flexibility around your individual needs
In short, the right ecommerce enterprise helps scale your business for you — so they are a must.
Some of the best options on the market at the moment are Shopify Plus and BigCommerce. And while these will take a small portion of your profit, they help you expand your business quickly, exponentially increasing your potential for growth.
Create seriously good content
No matter your industry, you need to write content for your website.
Firstly, having more content on your website seriously improves your visibility on google. This helps attract new customers. Secondly, providing free, high-quality content demonstrates your expertise in the area, and shows that you are a trustworthy source of information.
This is how you become an authority in your area — which is integral if you want to attract customers, rather than chase them.
I recommend writing a combination of blog posts, short opinion pieces, and longer review articles every week to make sure your content ticks all of the boxes.
Get your SEO sorted
Above I mentioned that having content on your website is important because it makes you more likely to be seen by google — however, that is only half the battle.
And the other half?
Well, that’s where SEO enters the equation.
SEO stands for ‘search engine optimization’ and it dictates how visible your website is to search engines like google. In short, the better your SEO, the more likely you are going to come up on the first page of their search results.
Every page on your website should be designed with SEO in mind — otherwise, you might as well not write anything.
Don’t neglect email marketing
Since the rise of social media, people have started to forget about email — which is a shame, because it is one of the most effective ways to scale your business, period.
Email marketing builds good relationships with customers. It allows you to contact them when you are offering sales, have new products, or are running competitions. Additionally, you can also use it to send targeted messages.
This means that you can send people links to products based on their prior purchase history — which is a great way to get sales.
Now, obviously the way to get started with email marketing is to collect people’s emails.
You can do this at the checkout, or even via a pop-up while they are browsing. However, my favourite way to go about it is to offer something of value for free in exchange for their email address.
Things like an educational ebook or a webinar are great options — as long as they offer heaps of value, people won’t say “no.”
Get active on social media
Once you have a way to gather email, then social media is your next point of call.
This means creating profiles on facebook, instagram, and linkedin, and getting active. You want to post relevant and valuable pieces of information, comment on posts, and build a loyal group of followers who interact with your stuff.
Really, you want to create a small community.
With this in mind, you should aim to build a following of customers who are invested in your products and services, and who interact with your content. Once accomplished, you can start hosting competitions and personally engaging with your customers every day.
Over time you will be able to generate significant sales from your social media platforms — which is key when it comes to creating scale.
Build an affiliate program
Building an effective affiliate program is one of the best ways to start earning passive income 24/7.
Affiliate marketing describes the process where someone earns a commission by promoting another person’s product. In a practical sense, they find a product or service that they like and then they promote it — then, when people buy them, they earn a small profit.
With this in mind, you can get affiliates to promote your products for you.
And while they do take a small cut of every sale, most of the sales you make via affiliates are some that you wouldn’t have normally made. As a result, affiliates help you reach audiences that sit slightly outside your normal market — broadening your customer base in the process.
This ultimately means more money from sales and more people coming to your website — oh, and for no extra work.
Talk about scale.
Increase your prices
Last but not least, we have what I would consider to be one of the easiest (and most effective) ways of scaling your online business.
By simply charging a little more for your products or services, you will start earning more per sale without devoting any extra time.
I appreciate that this can be a little scary. I mean, what if people stop buying your products?
But the thing to remember is that this is rarely the case.
In fact, even if you do experience a small drop in sale quantity, it is never enough to impact your income.
Let me explain.
If you currently have 10 people paying $100 per month for a service, you will turn a profit of $1,000 that month. Even if you double the price of that product, you could still expect about 7 people to buy it — resulting in a nice profit of $1,400.
In short, you will be making more money for less work.
It is also important to note that those customers who are happier to pay a premium price for your products are often those who align closer with your target audience. This means that they will be more satisfied with your business, and more likely to leave a good review.
Talk about a win-win situation.
Take Away
When it comes to online business, the dream is to earn an income without having to work too much. This builds a life of freedom that allows you to spend your time how you see fit — and not in accordance to someone else.
And it starts with scale.
If you are strategic in your planning, you can scale your business in such a way that it will earn money with little time investment. In fact, if you do it right, it should even make money while you sleep.
So use the seven key tips outlined in this article and get started — you won’t regret it.