If you have a great business idea, then it’s important you find creative ways to bring it to life. This is the only way you’ll see your dreams come true so it’s time you need to take action immediately. With that said, I’m surprised at the amounts of women who have awesome ideas but don’t have the resources or know-how to take their idea to the next level.
Over the years, I’ve worked with many women helping them start a business, while also teaching them how to better show off their expertise and passion. For many women that were already in the workplace, but looking for a better job or position, it was also important to show them the importance of having a great online profile and personal resume. Sometimes it’s not just about the continued education and work experience, but also using the right action verbs and showing off your expertise in the right way.
Whether its through a traditional resume, a social profile or even an established business, it’s important to make sure you understand what your goals are and knowing how to attain them. and would love to share some of the advice with you. I believe if you have a clear path on what to do, you’ll be able to build your business and make your dream come true sooner than you think.
Today, we’ll be looking at the following:
- Research
- Getting started online
- Design
- Marketing
- Outreach
Research
For your idea to come to life, you need to know who your audience is so you know if you have an actual market. Many ideas fail because there simply isn’t a market for the idea of the audience is way too low. With no one reading your content or purchasing your product, you’re going to have a hard time engaging people and increasing sales. The good news is you have a free way of starting your research through Google search. I like to type in a keyword related to my idea and see what type of search results pop up. If you have several sites show up in the search results, then you know you have a popular idea and will be able to make money from it.
I know many of you get nervous when you see others already doing the same thing as you, but I love it because it gives me a chance to learn so much from them. By studying your competition, you’ll be able to find out about your audience, what marketing methods work, what you should focus on in terms of products and content. Once you have done your research and know you have an audience, you can move onto the next step.
Getting Started Online
It’s time you register a domain, and this can be done on sites like GoDaddy.com. I recommend choosing a domain which represents your brand and is no more than 8-12 characters. The shorter the domain, the easier it will be for people to remember, and this means they won’t have a problem coming back to your website.
Once you’ve registered your domain, you can purchase hosting so you can go live with your website when it’s time. The hosting package will depend on the type of business your running, but I would recommend starting with a simply shared plan. This is very affordable and allows you to upgrade as your business continues to grow. I know when starting a business, the costs can get very high so it’s better to always start with the lowest possible plan and upgrade after. With your hosting plan, you’ll be able to install WordPress which is a free platform used to build websites. There is an installation tutorial in the backend, and it doesn’t take more than a click of a button.
You have your domain, hosting and WordPress installed. Before you start thinking about a design, I would watch a few tutorials on using WordPress if this is your first time. There are a lot available online and on YouTube. You have access to many free themes but before designing think about the following –
- Your main colors
- Your purpose
- Layout (visit other websites to research)
- Font
- Navigation
Design
The design of your website will either increase or decrease engagement so it’s important you do your research to get it right. One way is to study your competition and see what they have done with their website. They’ve been around longer so I’m sure they know what works and what doesn’t.
Just like how we referenced the importance of creating a professional resume or online profile that can help you stand out from the crowd, the same can be said about your website or blog. It needs to look professional and grab the interest of the user, while also gaining their trust in the process.
Visit 2-3 competitor blogs and take some notes on their design before implementing them into your site. Here are a few things I know work very well –
- Font – make sure the font you are using is very easy on the eyes. The more readable, the more engagement you’ll get because visitors won’t leave.
- Color – use colors that are easy on your eyes because hard colors push people away. I’ve been on so many sites for only a few seconds because the colors would be too hard to look at.
- Right sidebar – this is the best location for the sidebar because people are used to it. Right sidebar has become accustomed for many bloggers and readers expect to see the sidebar there. This is a great place to add banners, recent posts, new products and services.
- Top navigation – have the menu at the top because this is the first thing you want people to see. They’ll be able to explore options and navigate to where they want to go.
Marketing
For any business to be successful, you need to find creative ways to market it. But, the internet has expanded your options greatly so start exploring what’s available. I recommend starting with social media marketing because you can increase brand awareness for very cheap. I’ve advertised on Facebook for a penny a “Like” and this has gone a long way to building brand awareness. To further increase your loyalty, you should create a brand page so people can join and follow.
You should also do a quick search on Google, and read resources on other marketing channels because there are a lot of good ones available. I would recommend the following which I have tried and tested –
- Social media (Facebook)
- Adwords.com
- Bing.com
- Media Buys
It’s all about trial and error because some will work better than others. Make sure you try each one for 30 days and keep track on the statistics. By doing this, you’ll know which traffic source has brought the best amount of traffic and what channels convert. Marketing can get expensive so make sure you set a monthly budget so you don’t overspend. I like to set a budget of $3.00-$5.00 per day, and I’ll let it run for 30-60 days.
Outreach
One of the best ways to build your brand quickly and it costs nothing. This requires a lot of effort because you need reach out to other bloggers within your niche. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship because you are both promoting each other’s business. Imagine reaching out to a fellow blogger who has 100,000 twitter followers? This can generate a lot of traffic in a very short time. Start by creating a list of blogs within your niche and getting in touch with the owner. It helps to interview them or create content based on their brand because this increases the likelihood of them sharing your website afterward. The key is to contact them genuinely and let them know what you are trying to do so you can work out an agreement helping each other.
The best way to do outreach is to not give up after contacting a blogger the first time. Sometimes, you’ll hear from the blogger right away, and other times you’ll have to do a quick follow-up.
Final Thoughts
If you have a great idea and you want to bring it to life, then follow the steps outlined above. These are proven steps and I’ve worked with women in the past setting up blogs, doing research and marketing. Try out different things and stick to what’s working for optimal success.
The post 5-Step Formula for Women to Bring their Business Ideas to Life appeared first on Zac Johnson.