You finally managed to escape the 9-5 grind by starting an online business. You’re on your way to making an untethered living and leading a flexible lifestyle. But there’s one final hurdle before the business starts making you any serious money – how do you plan to market the business online? But first, for the uninitiated:
What’s an Online Business?
An online business refers to any business that handles all of its operations over the internet. They’re entirely internet-based. Goods and services are listed, marketed, viewed, and purchased over the internet, with delivery organised after the order has been confirmed. A typical example of an online business is dropshipping.
Why Start an Online Business?
Online business is profitable and straightforward. Plus, it can be comfortably done in the comfort of your home. Also, unlike offline, brick-and-mortar businesses, online businesses don’t necessarily require a huge investment.
10 Different Types of Online Businesses
Below are the different types of online businesses that you can start today if you haven’t started already. We’ve broken down these businesses into five levels, depending on their level of difficulty and the skills required to pull each one of them off. Here we go:
Level 1: Novice
This is an online business to try if you’re looking for some beer money – not ideal for eking a living with it. It includes things like:
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GetPaidTo
GetPaidTo is as precisely as the name suggests – you get paid for doing random stuff online.
These are random stuff that anyone with a pulse can do. You don’t need any particular skill or qualification to earn from this.
A typical example of GPT is earning from surveys (from survey sites such as Survey Junkie).
You can also earn from research studies (from a research studies site such as Respondents).
Pros and Cons of GPTs
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Are GPTs a Good Way to Make Money Online? GPTs are great for making some pocket change or if you have so much time on your hands and you’d rather use it to make a few coins on the side. However, they’re not anywhere close to what we’d recommend you to do for a living.
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Contests
This is another viable money-making scheme for novice entrepreneurs.
All you’ll be doing is competing with other online users for cash prizes.
Here’s how the contests work:
A client posts a task that several contestants are free to give a try. The client will then go through all the submissions made and pick a winner.
In which case, only the winner gets paid.
You do upfront work, and the client has to decide which one they want. If they like your work and pick you as the winner, you get paid for the job done.
Examples include a site such as SquadHelp, where you get paid for suggesting the right name for a business. And if the client settles for your suggestions, you become the winner, and you get paid for it.
The Pros and Cons of Contests
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Are Contests a Great Way to Earn a Living Online? The answer is no — they can make you some pocket money or bear money, but they’re not anywhere close to what we’d recommend you to do for a living –mostly because they cannot earn you a consistent living.
Level 2: Intermediate
Businesses that fall into the level two category require intermediate skills. They might still work with beginners, but they’re hard to scale. They include things like:
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Remote Jobs
You work for a company, but remotely (usually from your home).
You can either be employed as a full-time or part-time worker of a company, but you’ll be working from home.
Some remote jobs have flexible work schedules, whereas some have strict work hours that you have to adhere to.
Usually, you’re paid a salary, or on an hourly basis, depending on the company you’re working with.
Pros and Cons of Remote Jobs
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Are Remote Jobs a Good Way to Earn a Living Online? Of course, yes. A Remote job comes with so many advantages that you might want to take advantage of – starting with a steady income. Plus, there’s no commuting and responsibilities like managing your own business.
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Freelance
Working as a freelancer or contractor is like building and managing your own business.
You need a specific skill or qualification to operate as a freelancer. Agencies and clients would then pay you for your output and time.
Occasionally, you might hire other people or opt to do much of the work yourself.
Examples include signing up with iTalki, where you’re to work as a language tutor. The only requirement for this job role is social skills.
The Pros and Cons of a Freelancer
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Level 3: Advanced
This level of online business has a potentially higher earning. It, however, requires a significant investment of both your time and resources.
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Agency
An agency is what happens when you decide to take your freelancing career to the next level.
As an agency, you’ll still be working with clients. The only difference is that instead of doing all the work yourself, you’re to grow a team to help you out with everything.
An agency can also subcontract the work.
Pros and Cons of an Agency
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Is an Agency a Good Way to Make Consistent Living? Sure – but that, for the most part, depends on your personality. How well can you manage a team, leave alone grow one? Many of the successful agencies you see started as freelance businesses that evolved to adopt the agency model following increased demand.
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Referral
Your job as a referral means you get to act as the middleman, the person to connect buyers and sellers.
You’re not the buyer. Nor do you provide the end products or services provider. Rather, you only get to act as the bridge between the two.
In return, you get to earn a finder’s fee or commission.
A typical example of a referral program is where you earn from affiliate marketing.
Another popular example of a referral program is Rank and Rent SEO.
Rank and Rent is a business model where you create a website and then work towards getting it ranked or until it becomes visible in the search engine result pages, after which you’re to rent it out.
The Pros and Cons of a Referral Business
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Are Referrals a Goodway to Create a Sustainable Source of Income? The right answer is, it depends. A referral does make a viable business opportunity, but we would not recommend it for the faint-hearted or beginners. Once you get to understand the fundamentals, referral businesses are one of the easiest to start. But tough to succeed if you’re kind of new to them.
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Resale
Resale businesses operate in the same way as referrals, considering you get to act as the middle person in both.
However, with resale, customers view you as the product owner and not a mere middleman.
Of course, you don’t produce or manufacture the products you sell. You simply buy and sell or even order and have it shipped directly to the consumer.
You earn from the profits you make.
The most common type of resale business is dropshipping.
Dropshipping may not be as profitable as it used to be a few years back, but many people have seen great success with it.
Another common type of resale business is Amazon FBA, where you buy products in bulk and have them shipped to Amazon’s warehouse. These goods will then be resold on Amazon, and the proceeds send to you.
Here are a few resale businesses you can do:
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- Website flipping
- Domain flipping
- Reselling on eBay
- Reselling digital products
Pros and Cons of Resale Business
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So, Can Resale Business Be a Reliable Source of Sustainable Income? Yes, it can be – but only if you attain a certain level of experience. Beginners will have to give it time as they try to learn and understand a few things first. If this is your first business, and you’re looking for an online business that will work for you right off the bat, we don’t recommend reading a business option.
Level 4: Superior
This line of online business requires mad skills. Such businesses are highly scalable, with higher income potential. The problem is that they can be complicated, high risk, demanding, and quite expensive to start.
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Authority Business
Authority businesses are dedicated to holding online authority or attention, which can be monetised as a sustainable income source.
It’s simply a business of followers or subscribers. Brands will reach out to you when they want exposure, or they want you to put out a positive word for their products, services, or brand.
Think of someone in the entertainment scene, an influencer, or someone inspirational enough to influence decisions.
The most common example of an Authority business is YouTubing. You can make a great deal of money as YouTuber. Think six-figure income should everything turn out successful.
Another notable example of authority business is podcasting.
Other types of authority business you can try:
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- Social media influencer
- Email newsletter
- Authority website
The Pros and Cons of Authority Business
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Is an authority business a great way to create a sustainable source of income? The correct answer to this question is, “it depends.” You have to be willing to put in the work and observe a lot of patience, persistence, and consistency for the effort to pay off. We’d suggest you give it a shot but lower your expectations. You also want to grow your income flow elsewhere as you steadily work on increasing your authority.
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Digital Product
Another viable online business idea is offering a digital product (and not as a service).
Think self-hosted software program or informational product.
Consumers can buy the product directly from you by either paying a one-time fee, donating or subscribing.
The video product can be anything, a PDF file, a video course, audio, and so on.
The most popular digital product people sell online is a digital course.
Other digital products you can sell include:
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- Mobile games
- Music or audio
- Photos or videos
- Plugins and add-ons
- Website themes and scripts
Pros and Cons of Setting up an Online Business for Digital Products
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Can starting a digital product business make a sustainable source of income? Of course, yes – but it’s certainly not going to be a comfortable ride for you. First, creating a digital product that you can sell is a task in itself. Your customers expect a perfect product from you, and you’re not about to let them down. You then have to work on the marketing and sales bit of it. This is the most critical step of the whole process.
Level 5: Distinguished
This is the most expensive, complicated, and challenging type of online business, but has massive rewards.
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Physical Products
It’s simple: you’re to produce the physical products you decide to sell. You can then sell these products on your online store or any marketplace.
Your product doesn’t have to be 100% based online, but let’s not ignore the online component and how much potential it has.
For instance, you can make handmade jewellery that you can sell on Etsy.
Other examples of physical products you can sell:
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- Print-on-demand business
- Licensing your idea of physical products
- Private label products
Pros and Cons of Setting up an Online Business for Physical Products
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Is selling physical products a viable way to create a sustainable source of income? Yes, but it’s tough and one that could easily backfire on you. That’s because producing a physical product is more challenging and a bit of a headache compared to digital products. Plus, you still have the marketing and sales process to figure out.
20 Ways to Market an Online Business
So, after working on your idea of online business and setting everything up, how do you plan to market it online and reach the right audience. Here are 20 creative ways you can market your business online:
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Create a Website
This is where your journey begins. If you haven’t already, you should consider creating a professionally done website for your business. Think of your website as an online representation of your business, a place where users can find you every time they go online to search for you. It should, therefore, be user-friendly and welcoming to the visitors that come to check you out.
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Capture Email Data
Your goal should be to get your site’s visitors to do two things when they land on your website. First, you’re to get them to place an order.
And secondly, you’re to capture their emails and add them to your customer database. There are so many ways to use this data. The first one is by sending your subscribers a series of marketing incentives. The emails you collect will also be useful when creating Facebook lookalikes, and so on.
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Email Marketing
After collecting the emails, the next thing you want to work on is how to run an effective email marketing campaign. You can start by signing up for a free Mailchimp account and start sending your customers those emails.
While at it, you want to avoid sending overly promotional email messages. Instead, try sending something useful. You’re to send them regular emails but in moderation (not bombarding them). Failure to do this will result in many of your subscribers hitting the unsubscribe button.
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Video Marketing
Videos are one of the fastest rising marketing tools at the time of this publication.
You can start by creating a YouTube channel and setting up a simple vlog. After that, you’re to sit in front of your camera and say whatever you can, as long as it’s useful or entertaining to your YouTube users.
Make it shareable, relatable, and marketable. After creating the content and publishing it on YouTube, you can also embed or upload it on your website and proceed to push it on social media.
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Post to Facebook
Your social media presence can either make or break your online business.
Plus, it’s free.
We’re not suggesting that you sign up with almost any social media platform out there. Instead, choose a few that really matters and focus on them.
Facebook is one of the social media networks that you cannot afford to ignore. And even though their algorithms have changed to the point that it’s now hard to gain organic visibility on the platform. Maintaining an active presence on Facebook by regularly updating your posts and engaging with followers should be enough to grow a connection with some of your prospects and get them to take action.
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Connect with Your Industry Expert on Twitter
Twitter is an excellent platform for growing your connection. Not everyone can pull this one-off. But it’s a great platform to market your business or brand once you get to figure out a few things.
First, Twitter allows you to connect and engage with anyone, as long as they have an active presence on the platform.
You can reach out to industry experts and engage them. While at it, you want to respond to your customers’ feedback, retweet user-generated content and offer useful insights to industry discussions. In other words, your presence on the platform must be felt.
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Create an Instagram Account
There’s a lot your business can gain from Instagram.
First, it’s the visual presence. Second, it’s the ever-increasing Instagram userbase.
While at it, you want to keep in mind that Instagram is a visual platform. For this, you want to be careful with how you create your Instagram content. In the end, you want to make sure everything looks amazing, unless otherwise.
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Generate Traffic with Pinterest
Pinterest only works with specific types of websites.
It’s your job to figure out if your website is one of them.
Pinterest has one of the highest conversion rates. In addition to generating significant amounts of website traffic, you can use it to find out what your audience loves.
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Build a LinkedIn Network
Your next stop should be LinkedIn.
You need a strong LinkedIn presence. This should help you with building your network.
Plus, nothing changes – look around for the industry experts and connect with them. Spend much of your time engaging with them and offering genuine insight on their contributions and some of the discussions they have.
- Publish Using Google Posts for a Little of Extra Exposure
You’re to publish regularly via Google posts. This allows you to share relevant content to what people are querying into Google’s search bar.
It’s also a great way to gain a little bit of extra exposure.
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Encourage User-generated Content
User-generated content refers to the content that your fans generate for your business (for free). When customers are excited by the experience they get from using your product or interacting with your brand, most of them can’t help sharing the experience on any online platforms and review sites.
Typically, UGC content occurs naturally. But it always helps to give users a little nudging or more reasons to do it. You can begin by asking them directly to do it. Another approach would be to highlight the best user-generated content and feature it on one of your social media channels, say, once a week.
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Social Media Giveaways
Social media giveaways are a great way to generate new followers and increase engagement. Think of it as a nice way of thanking your customers and fans for staying loyal to your brand.
It’s also an excellent way for your brand to reach new customers.
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Engage with Social Media
Identify the influencers in your industry and make a point to reach out to them.
Here’s how this works:
You find an influential figure (particularly those with a huge following and high engagement rate on social media) and offer to pay them to promote your brand or products.
The influencer will then share your marketing message or product on their newsfeed or timeline, thus exposing your business to an even bigger audience.
Keep in mind that popular influencers have astronomical charges.
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Set Up Google’s Search Console (Bing’s Webmaster Tools, too)
Google Search Console is an excellent tool for finding out what search terms people use to find your site on Google search pages.
It’s also a great tool for indexing new pages. This allows your web pages to show up in the search engine’s result pages even quicker.
You also have to submit an SEO-boosting XML sitemap of each page on your website to help search engines to crawl your website.
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List Your Business on Google My Business
List your business on Google My Business if you haven’t done so already.
You also want to go through your GMB information and update everything. Make sure your information is accurate.
Do the same with other local listings as well, including Yahoo and Bing. Remember to also work on your Google reviews as they also help to boost your ranking.
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Ask Your Customers to Review Your Products and Write Your Business Some Testimonials
The point is to make sure your business has as many testimonials and reviews as possible.
Single out all the available testimonials and review sites, including TrustPilot and Google Reviews, and make sure customers have something positive to say about your business or products.
There’s no harm in asking them to do this. Often, customers do this naturally. But some of the users could use gentle prompting.
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Review Google AdWords
Running an effective PPC campaign (especially here in Singapore) is not easy.
There’s a lot to learn on the subject and perfect on.
If you’re already running the campaign, then you might want to take some time to review everything and make the necessary adjustments.
Just sparing a few minutes to review your campaign and make necessary adjustments could save you from wasting a lot of your campaign money
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Optimise Your Metadata
You’re to optimise the SEO titles and metadata of every single page and post on your website.
Remember: this information should be exciting and enticing to the user since it’s what search engines display in the result pages.
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Mark-up Your Site with Schema
Mark-up allows you to label your site content so that search engines can easily understand it. It also helps search engines in providing more detailed results pages.
There’s no evidence on whether schema mark-up improves your ranking. But it does make your listing more attractive and clickable.
Steps You Need to Consider Before and During the Launching of your Business
One of the things Singapore investors find comfortable to start is a business online. We can all agree that operating an online business has a fantastic experience. But if the correct start-up procedures are not well observed, this experience can turn to become overwhelming.
For care of such situations, there is a need to conduct different research and considerations before the launching of the intended online business.
If you plan to start an online business in Singapore, however, you need to worry no more. In this article, we discuss steps you need to consider before and during the launching of your business.
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Identify your Service or Product to Sell
One way to make your online store successful is by selecting the right products or services to sell. In Singapore, however, most businesses are facing stiff competition daily. Therefore, there is a need to select a product that you care about. Dealing with something that you have a passion for will be an advantage for you. Therefore, you need to take time during the research phase to decide on the product you want to sell.
To come up with the best line for you, consider paying attention to the following question;
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- What products would you love selling?
- What is the market gap you want to serve in the Singapore market?
- In which industries do you have knowledge or experience?
- What are the pain points in the current market?
- Do the services you sell provide practical solutions to the target customers?
By answering such questions, you’re able to make lists of items or market gaps that you can serve in a better way. And this will help you identify the existing markets in Singapore, and therefore you will be able to fix yourself in the market correctly.
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Do a Proper Research on your Market
After identifying your market area, you will be able to understand who your competitors are. As a result, you need to do better research on companies that are selling similar products. Identify why their approaches are unique, through which ways they do marketing and the way they talk with the target customers. Consider making a list of your business’s top competitors as well as how they carry on with these three things.
After doing this, you will understand the process of marketing and selling your products. Also, you will realise the part of the market that is hungry for your items. It is good too that you understand your buyers better. In this way, you will be able to make your marketing processes simple to handle.
Answering the following questions will help you achieve this quickly.
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- Which ages do you target to be your customers?
- Where do they live and what is their gender?
- What are their earnings and what are their occupation?
- What are their interests and in which ways do they spend their time?
- What are their beliefs about the world?
- Why do you think they will buy your products?
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Decide on your mode of Delivery
Having realised what products to sell, the potential market gap, and your buyers’ preferences, now you need to decide on how you will make the deliveries. The first step will be to hire manufacturers to produce your goods. By employing a manufacturer, more custom products of high quality get created at a lower cost. However, you need to invest more time in manufacturing your product, solving your manufactures issue, and finding out which are the necessary shipping procedures.
You can also rely on dropshipping. Here, you will be buying other people’s products than selling them on your business online. The selected drop shipper attends to the delivery orders on behalf of your company. In this approach, a lower overhead cost gets incurred with less work needed. However, you will need to manage the business on slim margins and have minimal control over the quality of the final products.
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Building an Online Store
After you select your shipping line, you need to design your online store. You can use WordPress and tools such as WooCommerce for this purpose. You can also use an existing platform like Amazon to sell your products. You can also decide to build your website store through an eCommerce website builder where you can manage all your products.
You can also consider website builders as an option that gives you the freedom to customise your site, and manages all technical details on your behalf. With eCommerce site builders, you need to select themes, tailor them to your link using the drag and drop builder, then upload the products and finally press the publish tab. It will also help you easily handle your inventory, shipping rates, and tax. You will also be able to integrate payment processors within the store.
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Crafting the Marketing Strategy
If you thought publishing your online store is all that you have to do, you are wrong. You need to create awareness for your site. Therefore, crafting a perfect marketing strategy is a must.
To make sure that you are moving along the right path with your strategy selection, you need to answer the following questions:
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- What marketing approaches will you take? Via social media? Paid advertising? The SEO or the SEM marketing? Is it influencer outreach? Or guest blogging?
- How will you manipulate customers to purchase from your store again? A royalty programme? Subscriber discounts?
- How will you facilitate the conversion of traffic into buyers? Is it through regular promotions or product upsell suggestions?
- In what ways will you make your strategies a success? Is it through raising traffic, conversions, or email growth? There are a lot of things you need to pay attention to when it comes to marketing your online business and making it a success over a long time.
You can also visit MediaOne agency for all your marketing needs. This agency has experts in SEO and SEM marketing strategies and will help to increase conversions rates on your website.
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Launching and Executing the Store
After crafting your store online and creating a marketing strategy, it’s now time you begin the store and start selling your products. Continue and execute the intended marketing strategy while optimising your site on basis of user feedback, analytic data, as well as the kinds of items customers, are buying.
In conclusion, selling your goods and services online is one of the best decisions you will have as an investor. If you are planning to join thousands of Singapore online store entrepreneurs today, consider paying attention to all of the above-discussed steps. By doing this, you will see your business move to the next level
