Starting an online business can seem like a daunting job. With so many elements to consider, it can be overwhelming and confusing. Here are some online business tips to help you begin your online business effectively, without worrying about all the hassles.

Any entrepreneur is going to be open to suggestions for better, more time-efficient ways to complete their tasks. Growing a business takes its toll, which is why working more effectively can help to grow your business in a more organised manner. This will ultimately result in you reaching your goals a lot sooner.

Online business tips

1. Set up a separate working space 

It doesn’t matter where you decide to work, at home, a cafe or a co-working space, it is important for you to separate your living space, especially your bedroom, from your working space. This can help put you in the right mindset to get you in the working zone.  

Of course, not everyone has enough space at home to be able to have a home office. Even just setting up a desk in the corner of your room or a part of the garage could be great. The important thing is to have some space that you can be in and when you’re there, your brain will know that it is time to work.

2. Stock up on your favourite stationery

This sounds simple, but one underlying element of success is for you to have easy access to the tools, materials, and other resources you need. Having your favourite stationery, books, sticky notes, notebooks, folders would help you get organised. 

If you have a look at stationaries on Amazon, you will find a lot of beautiful pens, notebooks, folders and a lot more to help you start stocking up!

3. Time blocking

If you didn’t know about time blocking, it is a technique of blocking out time slots and designating certain tasks for those times. Not just meetings, but block out the times that you will be working on specific tasks. Decide what days and hours you will work, when you will do your calls and meetings, and don’t forget to add in some buffer times. 

If you find it hard to close all the open tabs and struggle with focusing, then check out these tools to help you:

• OneTab– a free Google Chrome plugin to help you put your tabs into different folders in one place
• StayFocused– a free Google Chrome plugin that limits the amount of time that you can spend on certain websites
• Freedom– an app and website blocker used by over a million users for Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, and Chrome so you’ll be more focused and productive
• Rescue Time– a multi-platform solution that monitors your usage of apps and websites, for OS, Chrome, Firefox, Android and iOS

4. Plan before acting

One of the most common pitfalls to successful entrepreneurship is getting too caught up in action without enough planning. A lot of entrepreneurs get caught up in the moment by “being busy” with “working on important projects”. The best approach is to plan your goals and then work backwards to create step-by-step action plans to reach them. Once you have the plan, then it’s time to take the action.

If everything seems very overwhelming and you don’t know where to start, check out Brendon Burchard’s HighPerformance Habits and Atomic Habits by James Clear. They are great books to help set your mindset up to the right place.

5. Network like crazy

One of the fastest ways to grow any online business is to make connections with other people. Be sure to share your passion and enthusiasm with others at every opportunity. Let people know who you are and what you offer. Remember, people don’t know you unless you actively put yourself out there. 

You can find entrepreneurs online through Facebook groups, Instagram and Linkedin. Check out our Facebook group to find other entrepreneurs to connect with, along with a lot of free and discounted resources.

6. Treat your business professionally

If you want to be treated professionally, you have to treat your business professionally. Set up a separate bank account for your business and manage your finances separately. Create professional marketing materials. Be professional with your clients and customers. 

7. Automate your online business as much as possible

Granted, you are just one person (right now) and might have time to take care of all the details. It is good for you to learn about the ins and outs of the business. However, it is important to start setting up automatic systems and processes right from the start. This will help free up your time to concentrate on the most profitable activities.

Here are some amazing tools to get you started with automating your systems. Take these productivity tips in mind to help you save time and money, while working towards your success.

• Tailwind– an amazing Pinterest and Instagram tool, helping you schedule photos & videos with auto-post, with incredible hashtag suggestions and analytics tools. One amazing tool is the Tailwind Tribes, a great way to grow your reach quickly and find collaboration opportunities.
• MeetEdgar– MeetEdgar saves you time by managing the content on all of your networks. Edgar uses machine learning to read through your content and generate quotes for your social media updates, including your Facebook page, Facebook group, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts.
• MailerLite– A lot of small business owners, entrepreneurs and solopreneurs start with Mailchimp but I would highly recommend MailerLite. Mailchimp might also be free but a lot of my clients and other marketers find their emails get stuck in their audience’s spam box. MailerLite helps to create advanced email marketing campaigns with features like automation, landing pages and surveys. You can start for free with their free forever plan.
• Convertkit– You can easily create email automation, along with tagging and segmentation with your list. Convertkit allows you to create forms that you can embed on your website and standalone landing pages. One of the best things about Convertkit is, they have just released a new plan, which is completely free. They also have a new eCommerce feature, where people can buy directly through the landing pages.

8. Clear Branding

Branding can be the trick to success, or failure, with any kind of online businesses, or any businesses. Make sure you have a clear brand image so you can build a strong, positive brand name credibility by defining what it is your business represents. The simplest way to get started is to have a clear brand logo, brand colours and brand font.

Think about what you want to promote and represent, what is driving your company and what you want to achieve. Make use of these to develop a clear set of values or principles, or perhaps a full objective statement, that can be communicated to possible customers.

Find out more about branding here and watch the free branding masterclass here.

9. Define your target audience

Consider your niche, your target audience and define what they look like. How old are they? Where are they from? Are they a particular gender? Do they have certain passions? The more in-depth you understand your target market, the more helpful it will be as you start to construct your brand name as well as advertising and marketing methods.

10. Get to know your competitors and what they offer

Make sure to research your competitors to better understand the market. What’s currently available? Who’s offering similar services or products to you? How much do they charge? This will help you establish your place in the market and also determine what is important to your target audience. 

11. Learn about Search Engine Optimisation

Getting your website in front of your potential customer starts with optimizing your website for online traffic. Search engine optimisation refers to the science of using relevant industry keywords on your website to appear before your potential customer through online searches. It may sound simple, but it requires balancing on-site and off-site optimisation.

Here are some amazing tools that can help optimise your website right away.

• SEO Yoast– SEO Yoast is one of the most popular plugins to optimise SEO for your website. You can use SEO Yoast to help you optimize your keywords, keyphrases, synonyms, related keywords and provide powerful analysis for the readability of the pages and tell you how to improve your website.
• RankMath– Rank Math is a powerful WordPress SEO tool that is completely free. It helps optimise your Search Engine rankings. It is easy to use for anyone to optimise the content with built-in suggestions. You can easily customise SEO settings and how you want your website to appear in search engines.
• SEMRush– It is one of the most powerful tools to use to improve your SEO performance. SEMRush offers a lot of different tools and features. You can get insights into your competitors’ strategies in display advertising, organic and paid search, conduct a deep link analysis, understand referring domains’ authority and a lot more. It is on the expensive end and you can start with the free trial first.
• Ubersuggest– Ubersuggest is a great tool, created by Neil Patel. You can use it for free with a limited number of searches a day, which should be enough for a new business. Ubersuggest is great to help you find the right keywords you can target for, allowing you to get insight into the strategies that are working for others in your market so you can adopt them, improve them and gain an edge.

12. Create a Blog and Share Valuable Content

Does your website have a blog? Or do you have a podcast or share videos on places like Youtube?

If you answered no, you should create one as soon as you can.

A blog will turn you into the go-to expert in your industry. You may think it’s too complicated to share the right content, but it’s easier than you think. What are the issues your target audience face? Focus on writing blogs and creating content to solve their problems related to your niche and answer their questions.

If you don’t like creating content or don’t have time, check out this done-for-you platform, where you can download blog posts and use them on your website. You can get 10 extra credits today!

13. Use Videos in Your Content Strategy

Written content is only one way to get your business online. You should also consider creating videos to teach your customers. You can create video tutorials to solve their problems. If you are unsure how to use videos, you can start with using Camtasia, a great software that is used by many entrepreneurs to record your screen with effects. You can also use Lumen5, which can help you easily turn your written content into videos.

14. Create and grow Social Media Pages

Social media has made online marketing even easier for business owners. Create business pages on popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. At first, you should try to only focus on the social media platforms you use the most. Don’t forget to share visual, video, and written content on all your pages.

Canva is absolutely my favourite tool to use for creating beautiful and professional designs. You can use Canva to design social media images, banners, promotional images, flyers, book covers and a lot more. Canva continues to change and evolve and there are new incredible features that get rolled out regularly, like adding animations to your content, making a website straight from Canva, one-click function to remove the image background. You can get started for free and it covers a lot of the functions you would need.

15. Build Your Business Reputation Using Review Sites

Let’s face it, customers use services and products they trust. Believe it or not, building trust can be as easy as managing your business profiles on review sites. It may be intimidating to answer customer reviews, but you should answer all reviews. When replying to negative reviews, you should try your best to solve your customer’s problems.

16. Utilise Software Which Will Help You Get the Job Done

Working single-handedly as an entrepreneur trying to build your business can be a lot of pressure on you. That’s why anything you can do by using software to improve your business processes is a worthy investment. 

Besides the tools that I have mentioned above, you can also use these tools to help you get more done in less time.

• Designrr– Designrr helps you create Leadmagnets and products easily by transforming your Blog posts, Podcasts, Videos and PDFs into eBooks, Show Notes, Dynamic Flipbooks, Transcripts, PDFs and Web pages. It is an intuitive software that can help beautifully transform your content. They have amazingly great deals all the time for you to check out.
• PLR.me– Done-For-You PLR Content For Coaches That You Can Brand As Your Own, from courses, articles, products, worksheets, and content. Get 10 FREE download credits (that do not expire) PLUS 2 download credits each month (but these ones expire each month, i.e. they do not roll over).
• SmartMockups– Smart Mockups helps you generate professional and stunning mockups, from technology mockups, social media mockups, print mockups and packaging mockups. You can easily customise the mockup on Smart Mockups platform.
• Styled Stock Society– Styled Stock Society is a brand library and designed specifically to help entrepreneurs make your business look amazing and cut down on the time and money you spend trying to make your brand look and feel like you want. Besides the images, you also get workshops, mockups, ideas, templates and they can help your entrepreneur save time.
• Basil and Bark– Basil and Bark has incredibly gorgeous photoshop and Canva templates for you to use for every occasion you can think of. I love their templates to help you with your webinars, presentations, social media and a lot more

17. Have a Good Business Plan and Stick to It

The most effective way to work more efficiently is to know what you’re working towards, and the steps you need to take to get there. 

Having a structured business plan can help you to understand how to achieve your milestones, meet deadlines and know what the important next steps are in building your business. Without having a business plan, you’re risking operating blindly and wasting time. 

18. Be Prepared in case Finances Don’t Go According to Plan

You should have a budget for your business and understand your expenses, but what if the unexpected happens? Are you relying solely on a scheduled budget, or do you have the means to set aside some emergency fund for unexpected surprises? 

As an entrepreneur, it can be very difficult to find a good deal of money to begin with, before your business is seeing any return on your investment. It is important to take any measures you can to have extra money to fall back on.

19. Take care for Yourself as Much as Your Business

The only way you’re going to continue working at an optimum level is if you take care of yourself. Don’t neglect your own health and wellbeing in order to put every ounce of your energy into your business. While your working routine as an entrepreneur won’t be set to a firm schedule and may require some overtime, you should still pay attention to signs that you’re overworking yourself or becoming exhausted.

20. Always Look for New Resources and Guidances

Make sure that you’re not too quick to dismiss any help or guidance offered to you, especially from business professionals who have previously been in the same position that you’re in now. 

If you feel as though you are struggling or that you’ve hit a brick wall, take the time to look for guides and resources shared by other business professionals, whether it’s through social media, books, courses, workshops or networking events. 

21. Save Money

You may want to invest in the best softwares, the most popular tools and the most well-known resources that money can buy when you’re setting up your new business. From office appliances, technology, equipment, you might want to have them all. However, until your business is on its feet and seeing returns, you should maintain frugality at all costs. 

If you can afford to work from home whilst building your business, with just you and your computer, then start with that and grow from there.

22. Protect Everything You Do

You’re putting your heart and soul, and your money, into your new business venture. Make sure to take great care with all aspects of it. Make sure to always backup your work and your progress to ensure that you never lose any of your hard work. Make sure to follow the legal and privacy policies and follow the guidelines, like the GDPR guidelines. 

Here is a great free legal course for you to check out!

23. Sleep on it and avoid shiny object syndrome 

This is a big one. There is so much information out there. Everyone is making money doing something new and it is difficult not to get distracted. If an idea comes around, make sure to sleep on it and think about it thoroughly. Talk to your co-workers, friends and family and run your ideas before jumping into a new business area.

Remember your online business should be treated as an actual company. This is your new baby. You are the one who makes the decisions for now on. Make sure to think about the different aspects and elements when it comes to your online business before diving in.

Conclusion

There might be different online business tips out there but mastering these 23 Online business tips will be able to get you started on your entrepreneurial journey. Implement these tips to help you start your business on the right track and set your business up for success. Which ones of these online business tips are most important to you? Let me know in the comment section down below and write them down to remind yourself that, you are just steps away from your successful journey.

Check out our Facebook group to find other entrepreneurs to connect with, and weekly free and discounted resources.