The One Thing That Will Make The Biggest Difference to Your Business
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If you are struggling to get traction in your business there are always steps you can take to move you forward.
Often we want there to be one magical solution that will suddenly propel us to success. We believe there’s a ‘secret’ everyone else knows about that we are missing; or we hope that one video or piece of content will suddenly go viral and we will have people beating down our door.
That’s a nice idea, but it happens to relatively few people. Even if it did happen, you would only be able to make the most of those potential customers if your business was set up to deal with them.
If you want long term success you need to build an online presence that will stand the test of time.
Here are my tips for how to achieve this:
Get a Website
You can try to build a business on social media or on a free website hosted on an online platform but this is not going to serve you over the long term. Your most important presence, whatever type of business you have, is your online real estate – namely your website. You can get someone to design one for you or you can learn to build one yourself. The only other costs involved are the domain and hosting and for that I recommend Siteground.
You don’t have to spend thousands on a website, you can get started for relatively little money – but do get started and then your website can evolve as your business grows.
My choice for WordPress hosting - great speed, reliability, customer service and security. Plus free SSL Certificate and email addresses.
Build an Email List
Over the lifetime of your business, your email list is where you are ultimately going to make the most sales – so it’s never too early to start building this valuable resource.
You can get set up for free if you use a service like Convertkit. The most important thing is to get started – today!
The most flexible way to build your email list and build a lasting connection with your audience.
Get Blogging
Blogging has so many advantages. It helps you rank your website in the search engines – namely Google and Bing. It builds trust in your audience as they see you as providing great content and it helps draw people back to your site where they can learn about your products and services.
You can write the posts yourself or if you are lacking in time there’s no harm in outsourcing that part of your business.
Be Social
Social media is a vital element of any business but that doesn’t mean you have to be on every platform there is. Choose 2 or 3 platforms and then post to them consistently. Add a mix of your own content and curated content (that is blog posts and info from others in your niche). Think visual and always add great images to your posts – the good news is that today you can find these for free on sites like Unsplash and Pixabay.
Once you have these 4 pillars of your business in place then you can explore other areas. You can write a book for Kindle or create your first online course. The trick is not to worry about doing everything at once and instead focus on what you can do today to move you forward – and there is always something.
You may think that what I have outlined here is not rocket science – you have heard it all before. You have probably heard it all from me on more than one occasion 🙂
But this is the question I want to ask you.
Are you actually doing it?
Sometimes I think we hear something so many times that we almost become immune it – and don’t worry I am just as guilty of this. We know we need to be on social media and so we set up our Facebook page, but then we fail to do anything meaningful with it.
Don’t fall into that trap. The four pillars of your business I have outlined above are not going to change any time soon. They are the same things that the large blue chip companies do – they just do them on a much bigger scale.
You might not be able to afford advertising right now but the amazing thing about the internet – and it is amazing – is that it gives everyone the ability to gain visibility and to build a business.
Will it be easy? Um, no!
Will everyone succeed? No again.
Do you have what it takes? I can’t answer that, but the very fact that you are reading this and taking steps forward tells me that you are giving yourself the best chance possible.
Finally, do you know the one thing that will make the BIGGEST difference in your business?
Your mindset.
“Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.” Henry Ford
Do you think you can?
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