5 steps to your online business. A guide for beginners

Do you dream of a profitable online business? Or maybe you already have it, but want to tighten all the screws in it to make it even better? In this article, you’ll learn how to get started and develop a profitable online business that aligns with your values and gives you satisfaction and fulfillment.

Learn the 5 steps to creating a profitable online business!

Create your online brand

Start with a brand plan – all the things that will define your brand’s voice and identification. Find a name, plan a logotype, develop its visual side preparing a brand book with:

• fonts;
• colors;
• communication way;
• nature of communication.

It is worth considering the target group represented by a specific persona right away. Describe him/her, his/her status, emotions, what motivates him/her, and what problems he/she has.

But an online business is not only visual identification. It is also a business. So, create a business plan where you plan your start-up budget, estimated revenues, and costs. On their basis, you will calculate the price of your products. 

All this so that you do not burn yourself financially at the start of your business. A not profitable company can frustrate you. Therefore, take care of its financial side from the very beginning.

Create your Website

In 2022, having your website is a must-have for an online business. The website is the center of the sales of your products.

When creating a website, think about:

• hosting;
• domain;
• the platform on which you will place your website.

Find the best hosting

There are many different types of hosting. It is not easy to choose the best hosting. 

Shared hosting is the cheapest. It is a suitable solution for small blogs and websites that do not require complicated solutions. 

If you expect more traffic or want to create a more advanced website, such as a social network, video platform, or online store, you should go for VPS hosting. It is a hosting based on virtual private servers. 

UltaHost VPS hosting packages are scalable. By choosing VPS hosting from UltaHost, you will have the opportunity to expand your small online store into a gigantic online store with thousands of products. 

When your business grows so much that our efficient VPS hosting won’t be enough for you, we can move to our exclusive type of hosting. Virtual Dedicated Server hosting is a solution for demanding customers who need the performance of a dedicated server at a low cost. 

The last type of server is a dedicated server. It is a solution for those who cannot compromise on security. If you run a financial company and store customer money or their sensitive data, use a dedicated server. Likewise, you will need a server dedicated to your company’s system, for example when you will want to build a CRM server. UltaHost offers a special CRM Hosting offer.

Find the best domain name

Choosing a domain is also not a simple matter. You have to consider both the domain name and the TLD very much. Fortunately, UltaHost has prepared a guide for you on how to choose the right domain name for your business. Also, check out our article on whether the .com domain is for you.

Choose the best platform

When it comes to the platform, most people will choose WordPress. WordPress is the best choice for a beginner. It is worth selecting the appropriate hosting for the platform. For WordPress, it will be WordPress hosting. 

However, there are different types of CMS. There are also platforms for extraordinary purposes. You can choose an eCommerce platform, a video platform, or create your social network.

Newsletter and SEO

Creating your Newsletter is the 3rd essential step in creating an online business. It is one of the better ways to increase your sales. Thanks to it, you can talk directly with your audience. 

1. Use the so-called lead magnet. This is free material that the recipient will get after subscribing to your mailing list.
2. Create a Landing Page, a page that has one goal – subscribing to the Newsletter.
3. Select a mailing system. Check the list of 7 of the best newsletter plugins for WordPress. 

You have to take care of increasing the ranges. The truth is, it’s a good idea to build a community first. The more people reach us, the better. Then it is crucial to take good care of people who are already our recipients and customers.

Start taking care of the SEO of your website. UltaHost prepared a lot of handy SEO tutorials to help you achieve good results in SERPs.

Online Store

Time to monetize your activities and set up an online store! It is a natural step in creating a business. You can sell digital or physical products in it. They even operate in a dropshipping system.

The best solution to start is a digital product – creating an e-book. It is the least costly solution:

1. Use the free Canva and its ready-made templates to assemble it,
2. Correct;
3. Consider whether your products will be on permanent sale or in sales campaigns (e.g. some courses work this way – they are organized 1-2 times a year). If you’re looking to scale your business, it’s important to choose the right hosting package that allows room for growth. Scaling your business is key to long-term success.

Online course and Webinars

Did you start with an e-book and save funds for further development? You can invest in creating an online course, containing online lessons and embracing the student platform. It is a good idea to complement the video material with text.

And finally, webinars. It is already a high level of online business. Often, unfortunately very stressful, but you can overcome any fear if you only want to.

Thanks to webinars you can:

• Show who you are,
• Show on what values you base your business,
• Build a relationship with your community,
• Establish direct contact with recipients through the “live chat” function,
• Sell your products more effectively.

Webinars can be made on paid platforms or for free on WordPress in conjunction with YouTube or your video platform.

An important thing to remember

In online business, optimize your time and money! At different stages of its creation, you have different needs and different possibilities. Choose what you need and what you want to invest in.

Don’t drug your knowledge! Just buying courses will not make you know everything. Once you do the courses, implement the ideas one by one into your business.

Create and make changes step by step! Tune in to smaller steps and focus on them.