Have a good business idea and dislike working for someone else? It’s a position that many employees find themselves in, which is why starting your own online business is becoming an increasingly popular option. There are many ways you can take advantage of online platforms to make your entrepreneurial dream come true, and here are five ways you can do so.
Set up A Company
When setting up a company, it is important to consider the different types of company you can form, each with its own benefits and tax implications. The most common types of companies are Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Limited Liability Company (LLC), and Corporation.
A Sole Proprietorship is the simplest and most straightforward type of company, where the owner is the company and is personally responsible for all debts and liabilities. This type of company is not taxed as a separate entity and the owner reports all business income and expenses on their personal tax return.
A Partnership is similar to a Sole Proprietorship, but it involves two or more owners. Each partner is personally responsible for the company’s debts and liabilities, and they report their share of business income and expenses on their personal tax return.
An LLC is a type of company that provides limited liability protection for its owners, known as members. The members of an LLC report business income and expenses on their personal tax returns, but the company is taxed as a separate entity.
A Corporation is a separate legal entity from its owners, and it is taxed as a separate entity. The owners of a corporation, known as shareholders, are not personally responsible for the company’s debts and liabilities.
Regardless of the type of company you choose to set up, each company must obtain a unique Company UTR Number from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for tax purposes. This number is used by HMRC to identify the company and its tax obligations.
In conclusion, it is important to consider the type of company you want to set up, the tax implications, and the unique Company UTR Number when starting a business.
Start your own business website
Anything is possible in today’s digital age. Starting your own business doesn’t have to involve a physical office, you can now work from the comforts of your own home. Start by creating a website, and you don’t have to be an expert in website design or hire a developer to do this.
Through other websites such as WordPress or Wix, you can easily create your own website using pre-made themes suitable for the type of business you want to start. Once you have designed the basic skeleton, you can even buy the domain name and achieve that professional .com website. The domain name must be short and relevant, so it is easy to remember.
In addition to simply having the website, you need to make sure it’s a well-kept and functioning website. If a potential customer happens to find your website online and tries to access it, only to be bombarded by ads, unreadable fonts, and inaccessible links, they will quickly leave your website and try another. That’s a potential customer lost that can easily be remedied by having a mobile-optimised website. This means that your website can be viewed using a phone or tablet in the best quality it can be. By increasing customer experience, you can keep the customer browsing through your website long enough to buy a product or service, and perhaps even keep them coming back.
Use social media to increase your customer reach
Another way to attract more customers is by having a strong online presence and brand awareness. You can do this by creating business accounts on social media platforms to further increase your website’s reach. There are many different social media platforms and new ones are being released every day, so research and find out where best you can reach your target audience and focus on those platforms. By having a consistent brand image, colour and style, you can increase brand awareness and further promote your business.
Quick payment process equals happier customers
Convenience and speed are key when it comes to an online business. Whether this is a quick-loading website, quick delivery, or convenient payment processes, the quicker we get something, the better.
When it comes to designing a website the team over at ALT Agency recommends you think of your website as a work in progress. That doesn’t mean to get a bad baseline and build on it, but to build something very reasonable based on market research and user Experience testing. Once you have a website that looks good and works for your audience you can begin to run split tests and start to improve your conversion rate to generate more sales through your website.
Engage with your customers
It’s all well and good if you have a well-functioning website and an up-to-date social media platform, but this will all be for nothing if you have no engagement with your followers and potential customers. It will be as if you are merely sending messages into the void; the key is to engage your audience and interact with them. Maybe hold polls or competitions for discounts on your services, or simply throw out a question to your followers on what they’d like to see more from your business or what they’d like to improve.
The use of social media is an effective way of gaining insight into the customer experience and a more casual way for customers to relay their feedback. Fast response time may also increase your brand’s reliability, and by being an approachable and human company, it may further increase your reach and accessibility to your target audience.
Collaborate and participate
With a growing online society, it has become easier to get in touch with other companies and potential investors.
If you are trying to produce content to entice customers into buying your services or products, one way of increasing your customer base while creating original content is by working with other companies and organisations.
Find out which companies are compatible with your business, whether this means that you have similar objectives, and ideas or simply that you like what they produce. You may want to invite them to write guest articles for your website linking back to theirs and vice versa.
Alternatively, you may even consider producing a limited-edition collaborative product or service. Through this partnership, not only will you be releasing original products, but you can also attract new customers. These might be new customers attracted to the new product or those who are regular at the other company. Either way, collaboration might be one way for you to increase engagement in an online world and can, perhaps, reap benefits in the long run.
With these in mind, you can easily take advantage of the current developments in a constantly changing digital world. The key is to be flexible and open to change, and with this mindset, you will get ahead of your competitors.