Five Secrets to Growing an Online Business

Growing-a-Business

Whether it’s an e-commerce startup or an online gaming platform, it takes more than just a good idea for a digital business to succeed. Web startups are constantly rising and falling at a rate that’s almost impossible to keep track of. It’s clear that for the ones that do succeed, there’s a recipe to success.

In the disruptive and ever-changing digital realm, the standard rules of business do not apply. The most successful online businesses thrive because they’re driven by people who know the secrets to this success. Read on to find out what they are.

Waste No Time

One of the defining aspects of e-business is the breakneck pace. An online business can only be successful if growth is rapid and substantial in the early days of going live. A website that is still failing to grow or pull in an impressive amount of traffic after a year clearly just isn’t working. Your first 6 months of growth should tell you what you need to know.

Social Media is Everything

It’s hardly a secret weapon, but only online businesses truly know the value of social media. They use it to communicate with customers and build a strong brand identity that people can relate to. More importantly, they use it to drive traffic, knowing that a third of web traffic is via social media referral. Hugely successful online businesses, like William Hill’s online casino, use social media to advertise their bonus offers, such as their 100% buy-in bonus for up to £300, in order to pull in new players from Twitter. It’s this digital signposting that translates to success.

Invest in the Right Tools

Any successful digital CEO has an army of the latest web tools at their disposal. Forget Google Analytics, these days websites make use of at least a dozen different tools to help them boost their click-through rates and check on the competition. These include platforms like AHRefs, Slack, Moz, and SEMrush. These are vital for helping a business understand what works for their market and how to take advantage of search engines to boost your traffic.

Listen to Customers

Online businesses that succeed tend to have a much better ear for listening than your standard bricks-and-mortar industries. With so much of your business depending on ensuring a good user experience (UX), digital businesses are much more attuned to what their customers are saying and are much more willing to constantly adjust and change things up at a whim. Reluctance to change is generally a death-knell for even the most promising online businesses.

Be Prepared to Outsource

When you can access the entirety of your business from your laptop, it can be easy to think that you can do everything yourself. The most successful online businesses do the opposite; they know that their Google ranking or e-sales are better off in the hands of someone with years of experience, so they happily outsource their more specialised responsibilities to experts. It can big a big investment, but one that is almost certain to pay off.

Once you know the tricks of the trade, you’ll be able to build a successful online business in no time.