Five Keys To A Successful Online Business

If you are going to be successful in any area of life, including business, there are two basic ways to achieve what you’re after…

Do the right things.

Don’t do the wrong things.

In other words, you want to do those things that will make a way to a successful outcome, and you don’t want to do those things that get in the way of a successful outcome.

So, let’s take a look at five keys to a successful online business…

Get The Right Mindset

You’re not an employee anymore – you’re a business owner. And that means you need to start thinking like one.

Keep these tips in mind:

The buck stops with you. No matter what happens, you’re ultimately responsible. Don’t blame business partners, freelancers, or anyone else. You’re in charge now.

For example, if your business is going to generate revenue by serving your audience well, you’re going to need to personally make sure that things get done well.

The day doesn’t end at 5:00pm. This doesn’t mean that YOU need to be sitting at your desk monitoring your business 24/7. However, it does mean that you need to put systems and staff in place to take care of things when you’re not able.

For example, install an app on your website to let you know if it goes down so that you can get it back up and running ASAP.

Work smarter, not harder. You’re not trading time for dollars anymore. That’s why you need to plan a business that lets your income grow even when you’re not sitting at your desk.

For example, installing an evergreen autoresponder series lets you make sales the hands-free way.

Next…

Prioritize Customer Service

Just read a few Yelp reviews, and you’ll quickly realize the reason people either stick with a business or leave it boils down to customer service.

You can have the best products in the world… but if your customer service stinks, your customers are going to vow to never do business with you again. Not only that, but they’re going to tell their friends too.

That’s why it’s so important to make customer service a priority.

Here’s how:

Be sure your website is user-friendly. A good customer service experience begins with a good experience on your website.
Make your customer service easily accessible. Don’t make people jump through hoops (such as registering for a help desk) in order to contact you.
Answer all customer service inquiries promptly and professionally. And if you have customer service staff, train them to do the same.

TIP: Create a “knowledge base” with a set of professional, pre-written responses to common inquiries (I.E., frequently asked questions) that is posted at your website. This will allow for instant, hands-free customer service in many cases so your audience doesn’t even need to contact you.

Next…

Build A Strong Brand

A brand isn’t just a logo and a slogan.

Instead, it’s a driving force for your entire business. It’s the FEELING you want your customers to experience when they use your products or think about your business. It’s how you set yourself apart from your competitors.

And it’s the way you create “top of mind” awareness, so that your prospects and customers think about your business even when they’re not directly looking at one of your ads.

How do you build this kind of powerful brand? Follow these best practices:

Create a brand around a feeling. Then be sure every part of your brand (from the colors to the slogan) are designed to generate this feeling. Think about the following brands: Disney, FedEx, Coca Cola, Nike and Compassion. What feelings come to mind? Things like happiness, empowerment and empathy among others.
Design a slogan that sets you apart from your competitors. This unique selling proposition may flow directly from your mission statement and should be aligned with the feeling that you want your audience to experience when they think about your brand. E.G., “We try harder.” (Avis rental car company.)
Integrate your brand thoroughly. This includes on your website, in your sales letters, within your product packaging, and in all content. Be sure your customer service staff is trained on how to reflect your brand in their replies.

Next…

Grow Your Business Every Day

Building a business is a marathon, not a sprint. And that means that taking small, consistent steps every day tends to produce big results. As such, make it a habit to do something each and every day to grow your business such as:

Find a new place to purchase an advertisement.
Create a blog post.
Post on social media.
Develop a new lead magnet.
Send an email to your list.
Develop a relationship with a new joint venture partner.
Create a limited time offer.
Craft a rebrandable report for your affiliates to give away.
Post a video on YouTube.com.
Develop a free webinar.

And similar tasks. If you take these sorts of steps consistently, you’ll see your business grow consistently.

Test Everything

A truly successful business isn’t built on gut feelings and guesswork.

If you want to create a higher return on investment with everything you do, then you need to start testing the various parts of your business.

This includes:

Testing your ideas. For example, before you create a big paid product, you might start by creating a free offer on the same topic. If the freebie generates a lot of interest, then it’s safer to invest your time and money in developing the larger paid product.
Testing your ad campaigns. Many platforms (such as Facebook or Google AdWords) include built-in statistics so that you can determine which ads and which keywords deliver the best results.
Testing your emails. Most of the bigger autoresponder services tend to include built-in statistics, which makes it easy for you to track and test your emails. Pay particular attention to your subject lines, the overall offer, and your calls to action. You’ll also want to do some testing to find out what days and times of the day work best for sending offers.
Testing your sales letters. Factors such as the headline, overall offer (including price) and call to action tend to have the biggest impact, so focus on testing these items first. You can use a tool like SplitTestMonkey to start testing your sales letters.

Now let’s wrap things up for now…

Conclusion

Creating products, building lists and driving traffic are three important pieces of a profitable business – but they’re not the only things that will drive your success.

If you want to grow a truly successful business, then you’ll also want to be sure you have the right mindset, you prioritize customer service, you develop your brand, grow your business every day, and test everything.

And, of course, never lose sight of this…

You’re in business to serve your audience well.

Ultimately, you want to generate benefits for your audience and profits for your business.

This will happen as you dedicate yourself in every area of your business to helping others…

Solve their problems,
Reach their goals and
Enjoy their interests.

Once you do these things, then you’ll be able to take your business to the next level to provide even more help and earn even more income.

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