Developing an Online Business -Hurdles and Small Triumphs

byvintelisano

83 followers

6 years ago

When we look at starting a business of any kind, there are mixed feelings including excitement, determination, confusion and struggle. Developing an online business has its hurdles and triumphs.

1. Reading, Researching, Learning and more Reading

Truth be told, developing an online business is just this: reading, researching, learning and more reading. When you are learning from scratch the tasks involved between building a website, setting up all of your social media, understanding your website platform plugins, learning Google Analytics and AdSense, affiliate marketing etc, you can feel overwhelmed. (As stated before, there are many mixed feelings.) Understand this, learning an online business is like any other career you choose: if you want to be good at the craft, you have to keep up with its ever-changing information.

2. Building a Website and Choosing a Host

I did a lot of research when it came to this and started with Wix. Wix is a great platform but fail forward, right? I heard so many things about Wordpress and it is the better option because yo are truly in control of all of its properties. There is so much more you can be in charge of including SEO, customization, and making use of all of its many plugins.

3. Social Media

We are social beings, this is true. Making the choice to be on social media takes a lot of commitment and time. I learned that you do not want to have it takes up too much time though. 15 minute increments on all the platforms is important. Time will tell. Social media takes time to build. I took initiative to start mys social media accounts at least one year before my particular online business launch. I am on Instagram, Twitter, You Tube, Google +, Pinterest, Facebook, Tumblr and Wealthy Affiliate. (Wealthy Affiliate is so much more- I will touch on that in a moment.) Building a following takes time; that is the moral of the story. I am not into buying my following.

4. Analyzing Your Results and Optimizing Your Site for Financial Return

No if's, and's or but's, if you want to understand your online business's performance getting on Google Analytics is where it is at. I am still learning the power of this tool but anyone you talk to is going to suggest you get on Google Analytics. Another good piece of advice told to me early on was to get on Google AdSense. This is an option that might cause some clutter on your site but in the end, you could make money simply for signing up. I am early on in my endeavor so I am not seeing the cash just yet but I am trusting the process. (After all, if you are in focused on making money in your online business ONLY then you are not genuinely in it for the right reasons which preferably is to provide a service or help others.) On another note, getting into affiliate marketing is also another way to make money online. This brings me to my next point...

5. You Can Do It Alone But There is No Shame in Asking for Help

I am a part of the Wealthy Affiliate family and thus far the help has been outstanding. The education is comprehensive and the support staff, including the IT department and Kyle, one of the founders, is priceless. Kyle is hands-on and so are the other members at WA so finding answers, tips and tricks is of major value here. I tried starting my online business alone two years ago and I took a break; I got discouraged easily. Now I am actually DOING it and it is way easier to keep going when you have support.