Are you in start-up mode or thinking about starting a new business? These days, even if you’re a “brick and mortar” business having an online presence is crucial to maximizing your success. Launching a new business can be daunting, and it’s very likely you will be wearing multiple hats and feeling overwhelmed at times. Don’t fret; just about every entrepreneur feels in over their head when they first start. There are simply so many things that need attention and it can feel like your “to-do” list is never ending. We know launching a business is an ever-evolving process and everyone’s journey is different, but here are 5 steps (in no particular order) for maximizing your online success and starting your business on the right foot.
Thank you, Name.Kitchen, for sponsoring this post!
1. Authenticity + Know Your Message
What does your business do? What is your mission and what makes your business different? Being authentic, unique, and having a clear idea of your mission and trajectory will help you relay your message effectively to your audience. Be consistent, passionate, and open to new ideas. The internet allows you to reach the masses unlike any other medium, so make sure your message is an accurate portrayal of your vision.
2. Build + Understand Social Media
If you don’t understand or use social media, it’s time to start. These days, social media has gone far beyond a “leisure” activity -it’s a serious business tool. If you’re not utilizing it and engaging your audience, you’re not maximizing your chances for success. Make sure you have properly set up Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram profiles at the very least. If you want to go further, we recommend Pinterest and Tumblr as well. Maintaining your business social media accounts can be time-consuming, so you may want to hire a social media manager if you have the budget. Either way, having an online social presence is vital to your business.
3. Listen To Your Audience
Pay attention to what is attracting your audience the most and be willing to make the adjustments necessary to meet demand. While maintaining the integrity of your mission is important, don’t be so inflexible that you’re not listening to what your audience wants. Many businesses go through multiple stages and evolutions on their way to, during, and after success, so always be open to criticism and making positive adjustments. If you find your audience engages with you more online when you post a certain kind of content or status update, think about how you can foster more of those actions. Your audience engagement has an uncanny way of telling you if what is and isn’t working.
4. Grit & Patience
It has been said numerous times, but we will say it again: Grit/perseverance is the #1 predictor for success. Patience follows right behind it. If you can master these two virtues, you are already on your way to success. When you combine grit and patience, you become a power house. Success doesn’t happen over night for most of us. It can take months, years, and sometimes decades to reach our goals. It’s the ones who tough it out that succeed. When it comes to building a presence online, you may find it takes a very, very long time to get traction. This is normal and no reason to get discouraged. Vince Lombardi once said, “It does not matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up.”
So the question is, how tough are you?
5. Pick The Right Business Name
Last, but certainly not least, choosing the right name for your business is crucial and can really contribute or detract from your success. When naming your business, it takes both originality and rationality. You need a name that is catchy, but not too quirky that people will be confused by it. Also, when naming your business, it’s crucial that you research if someone is already using the name. This includes checking for existing trademarks, corporations, domains and websites. Another issue you might run into is securing the domain for your business name. The internet is quite saturated these days and securing a domain for your business can be tricky.
However, before you get frustrated that you can’t find an available .com, we have great news. Name.Kitchen has completely revolutionized the internet with their “not-com” domains. Believe it or not, the domain industry was stagnant for 30 years until Name.Kitchen came along and added hundreds of domain endings that simply use your entire business name as the domain. For example, if your business is “Jane’s Cafe,” you could secure the domain janes.cafe. Isn’t that cool?!
Name.Kitchen is powered by Donuts, so it’s fun, interactive, and helps you with the naming process -offering advice, tips, and tools for picking the perfect business name. Get inspired and check out some of the cool, innovative business that are jumping on the “not-com” revolution here.
Ready to secure your own “not-com?” Let Name.Kitchen cook up a domain for you now!
This post was sponsored by Name.Kitchen. All opinions are our own.
