by Tania Artemova | Feb 26, 2020 | Marketing
While startups are commonly associated with San Francisco and Palo Alto, other cities are emerging as hubs for new businesses to thrive in. Different cultures and environments shape their entrepreneurial ecosystem, with each one being unique and having something new to offer. If you’re looking to put up a new business and try your hand at entrepreneurship, consider these five cities to base your company in.
Atlanta, Georgia
Big companies like Home Depot, Coca Cola, Delta, and UPS have history finding their footing in Atlanta. Aside from these corporations, however, several tech startups have also found their place in the Atlanta Tech Village – a coworking and community space that was ahead of the game upon its founding in 2012. This city is known for its inclusivity, where women and POCs have found their niche. It’s become a preferred destination for international companies for its time zone and access to some of the world’s busiest airports.
Cincinnati, Ohio
In recent years, Cincinnati has seen the birth of startups like Lisnr, known for device connectivity through sound waves, which led the company to be ranked No. 22 in CNBC’s Disruptor 50 in 2018. Founder Rodney Williams claims that this is the place to go if you want access to every top investor in the community. Its smaller market also means that you have more opportunities for growth especially if your idea is novel and unique. It likewise attracts a number of Millennials and was placed in the top 15 US cities where they choose to live. Famous hiring platform Tilr was also launched in Cincinnati.
Miami, Florida
While Miami has a reputation as a go-to place for entertainment and a favorite spring break destination, with the likes of South Beach and Little Havana, it’s now recognized for its startup culture. One big reason for this is that it has become one of the top cities for coworking spaces, which have become the preferred working location for many startup entrepreneurs. In fact, the Miami Herald reports that even large corporations are turning to these spaces as they “promote collaboration, support various work styles, and infuse a sense of fun with features like a ping pong table and shared kitchen space”. With the city becoming such a dynamic place to work, Industrious explains how Miami is now home to many Fortune 500 companies, as well as serving as the Latin American headquarters for over a thousand multinational corporations. The increasing number of coworking spaces and multinational companies has made Miami one of the best places to launch a competitive startup. In fact, local startups recently managed to raise $808 million in the span of a year.
Charlotte, North Carolina
Business costs in Charlotte are one of the lowest among major US cities, with costs standing at 12% below the national average. Funding by VCs amounted to $881 million between 2015–2017, which was 590% higher than the previous three years. Unicorns like bills payment processor AvidXchange were also born in the Queen City. Entrepreneurs can also expect to receive support from the local government, as well as schools, and even nonprofits like the Carolina Fintech Hub.
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City has been nicknamed “Silicon Prairie” for its startup culture. Leading entrepreneurship and venture research community organization the Kauffman Foundation has become an arena for new tech companies like Google Fiber. Since Kansas has been known for its strong community, startups here have found a way to blend innovation and kindness in their pursuits. Freely Given Movement, for one, is an enterprise that tells stories and supports causes through their custom-designed apparel with these beneficiaries gaining a portion of the profit.
Conclusion
Once you’ve decided on where to launch your startup, you can now think about growing your team. Check out Secret Tips to Hiring the Right People for Your Startup for more advice on getting the right people on board.
![How To Start A Successful WordPress Blog [The Most Detailed Tutorial for Beginners]](https://istarthub.net/wp-content/uploads/how-to-start-a-successful-wordpress-blog.jpg)
by Tania Artemova | Jan 14, 2020 | Business Ideas
Blogging is a highly popular stream of income. Some years ago blogging was just a way to express thoughts and share recipes, but now blogging is a profitable business bringing tens of thousands of dollars a month. Additionally, this business model doesn’t have any age or gender restrictions, it doesn’t require special skills or a diploma. No one will tell you that you create the wrong content, no one will tell you which topics to cover. So why not to create a successful blog and start making money online? This is the most detailed guide about how to start a WordPress blog and I will try to highlight all the technical aspects as well as marketing and SEO.
- Blog niche
- Hosting and domain
- WordPress settings
- Blog post structure
- Content ideas
- How often should you post new content
- Google Analytics
- SEO
- Pinterest marketing
- Monetization tips
1. Start a successful Blog: Find a profitable blog niche
What does it mean to find a profitable blog niche and how could you understand which niche will be perfect for you?
In fact, there is only one factor you should consider while choosing a blog niche:
Your interests!
But how my interests can become a profitable niche?
And the answer is quite simple – any niche can be profitable. Any niche has its readers and it doesn’t matter whether you decided to create a travel blog, a financial blog or a mom blog.
This website istarthub.net was created as a blog for entrepreneurs because I love everything related to starting a business and people who are responsible for their life.
I have never thought about its profitability and cannot imagine if I could write about anything else.
Starting a niche website means to generate new content that is interesting to you. The topics you are writing about should inspire you. If you are a stay-at-home mom with homeschoolers why not write about your day-to-day challenges. There are thousands of other moms who are in the same situation and will find your content helpful.
If you are a traveler create a travel blog and share the places you visited.
If you think that your life is not so interesting to write about at least there are things that make your heart beat faster. Write about them. Say you are a coffee-addict, create a blog about coffee.
2. Start a successful Blog: Hosting and Domain Name
It is time to move to a technical part. But do not worry if you are not technically savvy, everything is quite simple even for your parents. Firstly, let’s make sure we understand what domain and hosting mean and them move on to the details.
What is a domain name?
Domain name means the actual blog address on the internet.
What is hosting?
In simple words, web hosting is storage on the internet for your website content.
How to choose the right domain name for your blog?
Here is some advice you should consider before domain name reservation:
- Your blog name should be somehow connected with your blog niche.
- Also, your domain shouldn’t be too long in order to be easily memorable by readers.
- I wouldn’t recommend using your personal name for your website domain, because it doesn’t give any associations with your niche.
How to choose a blog hosting?
There are key factors I took into account before choosing a web hosting for my blog:
- Easy to set up and use
- Reliability and protection
- Free SSL
- Low price
- Great support
So considering all the mentioned above I would like to recommend two variants of hosting providers – Bluehost and Siteground. Both are highly popular among bloggers, so I decided to compare them for you to have a better understanding and make the right choice:
Bluehost vs Siteground
| Characteristics |
Bluehost
|
Siteground
|
| Setup |
one-click WordPress setup |
easy to set up managed WordPress hosting |
| Price |
€3.59/month |
€3.95/month |
| Free SSL |
+ |
+ |
| Free Domain (1 year) |
+ |
– |
| Money-back guarantee |
30 days |
30 days |
| Support |
24/7 |
24/7 |
As far as you can see both variants are worthy of attention. Nevertheless, if you are searching for the cheapest WordPress hosting with a free domain name I recommend trying Bluehost. It offers a free domain name, which means that you will have everything in one place, and save some bucks.
3. Start a successful Blog: WordPress settings
You’ve probably heard about WordPress before as this platform is extremely popular among bloggers. So it is high time to set everything up correctly and start blogging.
Your work with WordPress starts after you receive an email from your hosting provider with a link to your website admin panel.
After you log in to your admin panel you will find the following important sections there:
Let’s dive into the details and analyze simple steps you should do before becoming an active blogger:
Step 1. Choose a WordPress theme
Go to Appearance – Themes – Add new and choose the theme you like. WordPress offers a variety of free themes for bloggers.
I also tried free themes but realized that they are not enough for me. I treat blogging as a business so I understand that I need to invest to get better features for my website. That was the reason I use the Divi theme.
Nevertheless, there are lots of themes that are fully customizable, optimized for SEO and mobile devices. Additionally, make sure your theme has a user-friendly website builder.
Step 2. Activate important WordPress plugins
How to add plugins? Click on the Plugins section and then click Add new. Once you find the necessary plugin in WordPress library just click Install and Activate.
What do I mean by “important” plugins? it is the plugins that will make your website optimized, speedy and protected. All the rest plugins can be added later if necessary.
- Yoast SEO – it will help you to optimize the website for SEO
- WP Fastest Cache – it will make your website faster
- Schema – it will help search engines to understand your content better
Step 3. Do some WordPress settings
Go to Settings and specify all the details about your future website, such as Site title, tagline, website address, administration email.
Read also: 7 low-investment Ideas for your business
Step 4. Create your first blog post
And the most interesting part is creating your very first blog post.
Click Posts – Add new.
Put the title and the body of your article.
Some bloggers write the text for their blog posts in a WordPress admin itself. I prefer using Google docs and then just copy-pasting proofread content.
4. Start a successful Blog: Blog Post Structure
Every well-structured and SEO optimized content should consist of the following parts:
- Article Title (H1)
- Article content:
In order to make your content user-friendly try to avoid long paragraphs, use no more than 300 words.
Focus on creating quality content with at least 1000-1500 words.
Use at least 7-10 keyword phrases in the content.
Make sure you put Meta description in the bottom of the page (Yoast SEO fields)
All the images used in the article should have alt text.
5. Start a successful Blog: Content Ideas
Starting a new blog everyone feels inspired and have lots of ideas to write about. But what happens after 10, 20, or 50 articles are written? Where should you take inspiration?
Here is the list of 10 blog topic ideas you can start using today:
- Tell about your job/business, what you love about it and what you don’t;
- Share the list of your favorite bloggers;
- Your productivity hacks, which helps you to be more productive;
- Create a video;
- Do a giveaway of your service or a favorite book;
- Share the list of movies that inspire you;
- Review a book that you’ve recently read;
- List your favorite quotes that inspire you;
- Blog about blogging – why you decided to start a blog and where you get inspiration for new content;
- Share success stories of other people who motivate you.
6. Start a successful Blog: Frequency
How many articles should you create every month in order to become a successful blogger? I’ve read hundreds of opinions from different bloggers and the right answer was not found.
Someone creates one article a day.
Someone creates one article a month.
My perfect strategy is one article a week, which is four articles a month. This gives an opportunity to update my website with new content on a regular basis.
In fact, it is up to you how often to post new content. The main thing here is to focus on quality.
7. Start a successful Blog: Google Analytics
After you published your very first blog post make sure to create a Google Analytics account in order to collect basic data from your blog.
Here is a step by step guide of how you can start using Google analytics:
Step 1. Create an account. It is totally free.
Step 2. Add your WordPress website to Google Analytics. To do this click Create Property and follow the instructions.
Step 3. Copy your Google Analytics tracking code and paste it into a website.
Note! Different themes offer different options for adding the analytics tracking code. Review your theme options. If you couldn’t find the way to paste the code, go to WordPress admin – Appearance – Theme editor – Functions.php (edit the file – paste the code – save).
Congratulations! You have your Google Analytics set up.
8. Start a successful Blog: SEO
SEO is a BIG topic that needs time to learn the details.
In this article, I’ll cover the main things you should do every time you publish a new article.
- Make sure your article has a proper structure (read Section 4).
- A new article should contain internal links to your previous articles.
- A new article should have at least one link to an external source.
- Build at least 10 backlinks to your new article (the more the better).
How to get free backlinks to a new article fast?
Here is a list of websites you can start using to share your article for free in order to get indexed by Google fast:
- Tumblr.com
- Mix.com
- Minds.com
- Reddit.com
- Playbuzz.com
- Plurk.com
- Medium.com
- Social media – Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest
Read also: How to start a drop-shipping business
9. Start a successful Blog: Pinterest Marketing
I am planning to create a post about Pinterest strategy since it gives huge traffic to my website.
Pinning is everything for today’s bloggers, so I would recommend you to
- Create several images for every article on your blog and post them on a regular basis;
- Use attractive titles for your pins. Here is a title-generating service that can give you some title ideas.
- Share pins of other bloggers to be an active pinner;
- Join group boards and share your pins there;
- Use Pins scheduler like Tailwind.
If you don’t use Pinterest for some reason, I would recommend you trying.
10. Start a successful Blog: Monetization
Conclusion
Blogging is a business that can be started by anyone. Starting a successful WordPress blog is simple but requires consistency. Some bloggers start making income during the first months of blogging while others cannot do this for years. Everything depends on the strategy you select and your desire to invest time and effort. I wish you happy blogging and will be ready to help with it when needed – just contact me and let’s talk.
Good luck!
by Tania Artemova | Apr 25, 2019 | Business Ideas
When I think about any new business idea the first question I ask myself is what is the problem that this business can actually solve. A fitness business solves a number of problems. It helps people so much. Extra weight, weak bones, heart diseases, problems with blood pressure, etc. – all these can be solved by doing regular fitness. So if you decided to start a fitness business from home do not hesitate and follow the guide developed personally for you.
1. Pick a niche
The riches are in the niches. The fitness industry is quite huge and if you decided to start a successful business focus on finding your niche. For example, YAS Fitness company focuses on the combination of yoga and cycling activities. And such classes became very popular in California.
So, here are some niche ideas you can consider for your fitness business:
-
strength training – bodybuilding, powerlifting, body circuit training, isometric, etc.
-
weight loss – cardio workouts, aerobics, dancing, step, running, swimming, etc.
-
health healing – heart rate control exercises, back pain healing, etc.
-
stress and anxiety – yoga, meditation
-
any specific sport types – tennis, football, baseball, basketball, cricket, etc.
Remember that less is more. Do not try to cover several niches because of the fear to have a small market. The more niche your fitness business will be the more chances you have to become the “go-to” brand on the market and find your fans.
2. Identify your target audience
Once you identified your niche it is time to find out who are your clients. Are you targeting men or women? Or both?
The secret lies in narrowing your target audience as much as possible. Why? Because it will help you to make a killer marketing campaign targeting the right people and do not wasting your budget on everyone else who is not likely to buy your service.
Here is the list of clients characteristics you should consider describing the target audience for your business:
- male, female, or both
- location
- interests, hobbies
- problems, needs
- income, professional life
Such a detail description of the target audience means the description of the new markets that will open new opportunities for your fitness business.
I will show you an example of how it can look:
WRONG: Male and Female, the USA, work hard, do not have any sport in life
Solution: sport classes
CORRECT: Female, USA, LA, moms who work at home and have no time to visit the gym, need to cope with regular stresses
Solution: online power yoga classes with a flexible schedule and personal trainer support
Do you feel the difference? Now it’s your turn.
3. Decide on a business model
This step is crucial though it completely depends on your financial opportunities and business goals. The first question you should ask yourself is where you want to see your company in a year or two.
So here are the following types of business structures you can implement in your fitness business:
PHYSICAL (offline or traditional) business model means that you can open a gym or rent a space to run your regular fitness classes locally.
Pluses: your business can build more trust among the first clients because people will have a chance to come and see the real you and the type of service you provide; primary advertising cost is not very high;
Minuses: this model can be too costly from the start as you will need financial investment to book a space for your classes.
For example, 305 Fitness offers cardio dance classes with a DJ and this company has become extremely popular in New York with more centers in Boston, LA, and Washington.
If you have financial support from the start you can consider opening a training center locally to build trust and reputation.
But what if your money is not enough?
Here are the tips on how you can open a gym with almost no money:
-
Find a local sports club and rent a small space there
Find a local company that already provides similar service and rent a space for your regular classes. This will give an opportunity to show your expertise and attract first loyal clients before you grow.
-
Find a partner to share a space together
You can also search for entrepreneurs that are about to start their sports business but have similar problems with finances. It is better to partner with someone who is not your competitor. You should have different sports niches. For example, if you run powerlifting classes partner with an entrepreneur who shares yoga practice.
-
Start with Open Air fitness classes
There are many successful entrepreneurs who have started their business giving classes in the parks during the summer period. you don’t have to pay for space but you have a chance to show your expertise, get first clients and start growing as a business.
If you have an extremely unique idea for your fitness business try to attract investments. Prepare a pitch with a concept and send it to the list of potential investors. It is a great opportunity not only to get financial support but ask for feedback about your idea.
DIGITAL (online) business model is highly popular among starting entrepreneurs because it has no borders and limits in getting clients.
Pluses: no geographical limits, flexibility, easy to start, no investment required, more opportunities for scaling up
Minuses: high competitiveness, need time to build trust, easy to get lost through millions of opportunities online
Allie Van Fossen has started her company The Journey Junkie after she launched an online course that teaches yoga. Now she has thousands of students around the world. So you can do the same.
So which business model is more preferable for you – online or offline?
4. Plan marketing steps
No matter how awesome or unique your fitness business is you need to promote it. Each marketing campaign starts with setting the goals for your business.
Here are the most effective ways of how you can promote your fitness business:
-
- social media marketing (do not just inform about your business, but create entertaining activities, giveaways, engage with your audience and build a tribe)
- ads (run social media ads targeting your ideal customers and make a special limited time offer)
- collaborate with opinion leaders (find the influencers in your niche and create creative challenges promoting your business, for example, marathons, live streams, etc.)
- find brand ambassadors (you may think that only huge brands can attract ambassadors but it is not so; attract local micro-bloggers and people with active sport position to your brand promotion and pay them a commission from each sale)
- build loyalty (create a program for existing clients to build loyalty – it can be discounts, additional training, free visits for their friends or kids, etc.)
- plan a growth (create a marketing plan for the first few months to support your fitness business after the launch; set goals and sales plan; check the progress and be flexible to the market needs)
5. Be the brand
Building a personal brand is actually one of the most important steps for any business growth. People trust people, not companies. If you want to build trust and create a community that will follow you think about positioning yourself as an expert and main ambassador of your own brand.
- give free advice on your social media
- bring value by posting regular free content
- create an expert blog
- go live on Instagram and Facebook
- take part in local networking events
- become a public speaker
- create a YouTube channel and post regular videos from your classes
- help people
The role of personal branding cannot be underestimated and you should take it seriously because this long-term game will definitely bring the results to your business growth.
Final words
If you think about starting a fitness business from home do not hesitate any longer and do the first step. As you already know – everything is possible if you really want it.
by Jessica Smith | Jun 10, 2018 | Business Ideas
The world has indeed become a small place owing to online businesses. One can easily launch any business with a few clicks on the computer. Many people, these days, prefer to start a business from home instead of strutting it out in the daily grind of life. Or they prefer to do so from an online portal rather than setting up a shop and other necessities. And there is an equal number of people who prefer to order their goods from online marketing sites. These days, people also aspire to do more. Online businesses often become a source of second income for some. Or a place to showcase one creativity and get paid for it!
So what about you? Are you planning to do an online business? But then maybe you don’t know how to go ahead because you got low investment capital. Well, worry not! This article will give you some low-investment ideas to launch your very own online business!
Read on to find out more!
The following are 7 ideas to start your business in easy, no inventory, and low investment options:
1. Blogger / Vlogger
If you are good at writing content and have interests or skills in a particular area, try your hand at blogging. Perhaps your expertise lies in gym wear, fashion, makeup, skin care, and hair-care regimes or perhaps in cars, technology, food, travel. Well, you could blog or vlog it all down on your own blog. Vlogging would involve a few videos and also if you wish you could add written content to it. You could make money through advertising space and reviews of products on your platform.
2. Tutoring / Creating Courses
If you have a specialization in any subject, why not prepare courses on the subjects you know? It could be math, languages, social sciences, music or even DIY creative posts. These days, there is a high demand for virtual tutoring as many do not have the time or resources to go for tuition classes. You could start from school level subjects to higher education. It could be on any subject or topic your specialization lies in. Online sites have become a hub for learning. If you got the talent, then prepare courses and offer your services on online tutoring.
3. Design and sell ‘print-on-demand’ t-shirts and accessories
There is ample demand for customized t-shirts. And there is also much demand for merchandise like tote bags, mugs, phone cases, greeting cards, posters, kites etc. You can make these print-on-demand items at a very cheap price and make a profit by starting your online business. If you think you won’t be able to print the pictures, then have a look at the following sites and think twice! Freelance sites like Fiverr, Upwork, Dribble, or 99Designs can help you find designers who could work on various designs as per the need. And if you don’t want to engage in finding designers, you could even use t-shirt mock-up templates for an economic benefit. Here you can print some great designs to get your customized print-on-demand items going at an absolute fractional cost.
4. Write and publish a Book
Get creative! Pen down your thoughts and write a book and get your voice heard. Books can come in various themes – cookbooks, comic books, animation, study books, travelogues etc. Just like you would write a blog, you could do the same with writing books. An online platform such as Blurb is a great place to start with. There are multiple options wherein you could choose your type of writing and go step by step into putting in your knowledge and creativity. It is as easy as that! You could sell your books or journals or any other sort of writing individually or in bulk and also advertise your product for publicity.
5. Drop-shipping store
How about building a drop-shipping store wherein a third-party, stores and sells product on your behalf? Your job would be to make the sales but the third-party will handle all the products. You can maintain the website and when a customer orders any product on the list, the order is placed with the supplier who is also responsible for shipping the products to the customer. You will need to handle and maintain the website. This is one low investment option you would definitely like to think about.
6. Sell a service
How about building up a website that sells services?! Services like tutoring, tailoring, salons, babysitting, etc. need exposure and advertisement. You could build a website which promotes services and even do bookings and manage clientele for these services. You could even couple your service-based business with physical products which could give your income an additional boost-up.
7. Planner and Consultant
You could opt to become a virtual planner or consultant for various needs such as interior decorating, wedding, birthdays, trips, parties, events etc. There are many people who would love to organize parties or go on a long vacation but have no idea how to go about it. Offering services to plan and organize such needs is a great option for a low investment business idea! All you need is to set up a website and get going!
Final thoughts
Thus, online businesses with low capital investment are quite possible. All it takes is merging your passion with these low investment ideas! So think no more and get your business started!
by Tania Artemova | Feb 28, 2018 | Business Ideas
I cannot remember the time when a drop shipping model of business could be so popular among entrepreneurs as it is now. Browsing the internet and making research on the popularity of modern business niches I came across the fact that drop shipping causes great interest among starters. It is not surprising for me though, since I also have a successful experience with running a drop shipping business.
So, let’s dive into details about what is a drop shipping and how to start a drop shipping business today.
What is Drop Shipping?
So, what is drop shipping? Drop Shipping is a retail method when your partner, not you, is keeping the goods in stock. In simple words, it is a model of business when you act as an agent between business and customer. Here is the process of how it works:
- Find a business niche/goods you are interested in;
- Find a product manufacturer and agree with him on collaboration terms
- Sell your partner’s products
- Tell your partner order details and customer information
- The partner sends his product to a customer
- You earn your commission
Quite simple! Agree?
So, even if you are not an e-commerce expert, you have all the chances to get success in a short period of time. And that is the reason why so many entrepreneurs start with a dropshipping business.
What are the benefits of starting a drop shipping business:
- It is safe. You shouldn’t focus on goods in stock and their on-time delivery;
- It is fast to start. You don’t need to have deep knowledge of business, that is why this business model is just perfect for starters.
- It is flexible. If you see that your product demand is decreasing, just change the product.
- It is simple to run. You only need to concentrate on promoting your business.
But there are some tricks that impact on whether your dropshipping business will be successful or not.
Here is the step by step guide that will give you an understanding of how to start a drop shipping business that will allow you to start doing actions today.
1. Find a business niche
What I like the most about drop shipping, you have a variety of choices. You don’t need to select one niche and dive into its deep business and marketing analysis.
All you need to do here is to select the most popular and high-demand goods.
Make sure people search it on the internet:
Go to Ebay and search for the most wanted and most sold items
Go to Amazon and search for top selling items
Go to Google Keyword Planner and check trends and search volume for your business niche.
2. Find suppliers
When you are sure about types of goods to sell it is high time to search for reliable partners.
Actually, it is a key to success in a drop shipping business, because your future customers don’t care whose fault it is that the shipping is too slow or, for example, too expensive.
Also, you should know that not everyone is ready to dropship and it may take time to find a partner.
Start with creating a Google spreadsheet to manage the list of manufacturers and suppliers you find – their website, contact details, date of contacting and status.
Make sure to update the document every time you work with the list.
Where to search for drop shipping suppliers?
There are a lot of supplier directories where you can find a partner for drop shipping business.
Here is the list of the most popular and highly popular directories among the starters:
From my personal experience, you can find good manufacturers with beneficial collaboration terms quite easily if you pitch them correctly.
Remember you are building win-win relationships and you should show a manufacturer the benefits of working with you.
Advice! Phone calls work better. But emails are also fine.
To tell the truth, manufacturers are more likely to work with big companies that guarantee good sales volume in comparison with a starter who doesn’t have the experience, website traffic, and loyal customers.
But it is not so disappointing as it may sound.
A dropshipping business model is so popular among the starting entrepreneurs. And it means that this business can give you a good start in building something BIG.
How to write a drop shipping request email?
First of all, writing an email remembers that you are contacting a person. Try to sound natural and not spammy.
Your email should be brief and to the point. A person reading your email should understand who you are and why you are contacting them.
Also, it is better to make the final sentence a question.
Here is a simple example of a drop shipping request email:
“Hello [managers name],
My name is [Your Name] and I represent the company [Your Company Name]. We are about to launch our new e-commerce website [yourwebsite.com] and we are looking for suppliers to collaborate with on a drop-ship basis.
Our team has developed a marketing strategy based on the target market analysis that will help us to promote effectively and increase sales once we launch.
Could you please tell me how we can apply for an account to collaborate with you?
Best regards,
Once you get a reply, give a prompt response to show your interest in collaboration. In most cases, you’ll be asked to provide information about you by completing simple forms.
3. Create an e-commerce website
Actually, this step should be done together with the previous step. Even if you are still in search for your partners, you can start working on developing a website.
Nowadays there is a number of popular tools allowing you to create a professionally looking website without special knowledge.
I recommend considering the following e-commerce platforms:
But if you want to make your business look professional from the start one simple website is not enough.
You need a BRAND.
Think about your future brand style: how it will look, what your customers and business partners will associate your brand with.
Having your own branding will help to stand out among competitors.
I always start with a competitive analysis before creating a new brand style.
Branding shows that a business is not a one-day-company. It shows how business cares about its style and strives to impress.
4. Promote your website
When you found a partner, launched a website with uploaded items and updated information about your company, it is time to start a promotion campaign.
What are the best marketing strategies for promoting a drop shipping business:
-
- Social networks. Best for sales and drop-shipping business promotion are Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook.
- Product reviews. Add reviews to your website to make it more trusty for new customers.
- Influencers. Find popular bloggers and influencers to promote your products. This strategy
- Giveaways. Attract more clients by giving away a product and promoting it on Facebook and Instagram.
- Start a blog. Write about your business niche, create product reviews and inform shoppers about new products through your blog. It will help to attract organic traffic and more returning customers.
SUM UP
As you can see the process of starting a drop shipping business is not very complicated. It is easy to start and grow following the steps described above.
And remember, you can achieve everything if you really want it.
Time to take the first step!
by Tania Art | Apr 10, 2017 | Inspiration
To be an entrepreneur is a kind of art because you should develop your project with creativity, passion, and love regardless of any difficulties and days of extreme laziness (I am sure, there are such days in your life). So, the only secret to success is a big desire and patience.
Starting any startup is a process of step-by-step actions everyone should follow to see the results. I will describe basic components you should take into account at the very beginning of your wonderful entrepreneurial journey.
Let’s start:
1. Idea
Everything starts with a dream. Business starts with an idea. If you have one, it is great! The first step is done. But what if you don’t have it?
Try to think about your own interests or problems you would like to solve. Remember that you should be a number one customer for your business.
For example, you cannot launch a successful project for vegans, if you are not a vegan yourself, or it will take you much more time for research and analysis. Think about things you really enjoy, understand and would like to devote your life to.
I started my company because I love art and design, though I am not a designer myself. I worked at marketing agencies for more than 5 years and managed projects for many huge companies. But I have always wanted to work with starters, creators, and people who are inspired by what they do. So, I decided to create my own company with my dream team and best design services for startups.
2. Analysis
Don’t be afraid of this step and try not to avoid it. The analysis is your tool for understanding the market and its needs. You can ask your family and friends if your idea is interesting to them. Googling can also help to learn about competitors, their pluses and minuses to being used in your own startup.
3. Development
It is high time to develop your idea and implement everything you planned. It is cool if you have a team or at least a partner because at this step any support really matters. But if you are starting alone, ask people to help with steps they are more skilled at. It will help you to save time and avoid mistakes.
4. Launch
Never think that you should go to the market only when your product is perfect. There is a technique called MVP (minimum viable product). It is a product with enough features to see the world and satisfy early users. Do the first version of your product and launch. Such a strategy will help you to minimize cost losses and get customers’ feedback.
5. Improvement
When your project is launched to start working with clients asking them about their feedback. This step is one of the most important because only now you can understand if you are on the right way or your project requires considerable changes. Sometimes it happens that you need to transform your initial idea in order to create a cool product.
6. Growth
This step has no endpoint. There is always room for development and place for growth. My key advice is to go in pace with time and customers’ needs even if it requires to transform your project.
And one more thing! Remember, that one day you will be at the place you always wanted to be and keep on working.
