Starting any business in these tough financial times requires a great amount of pre planning, none more so than when delving into a online business. There are many financial considerations that need to be made for your online business, that don’t necessarily fall under the traditional business finances. However, one great thing is that, in general, starting an online business is less expensive than paying for renting offices and the furnishings that they need - you are already halfway to saving yourself some extra money.
The online world can certainly be a confusing place and knowing how to distribute your business budget is something that requires a lot of research; marketing, promotion, website design and build are just some of the areas that you will need to spread out your money before even considering insurance and staffing.
So, to help you to take the first step towards the launch of your new business, here are some great ways to save some money when you are starting out.
Look at your credit options first
The first and maybe most important thing to do is to look at all the financial options available to you. Business credit options are important, especially if you don’t have initial capital behind you. Unlike bricks and mortar businesses, online businesses need a great push as they are competing against millions of sites for those spots on Google. This of course costs money, but without it you would really struggle to get your site noticed.
There are certain things that you will need in place before you decide upon a business account. You will need to have an idea of what your credit report is like, like any form of credit you will need to have a fairly good credit score and you should also have all your business documentation to hand if any is needed. Once you have all this information, then you should start comparing your options. There are many sites available that can help you to do this and you are also best looking for low interest credit cards at creditcard.com.au when you are starting out.
Set out your marketing budget first
Once you have decided upon credit and finance options, you will have a much clearer idea of how much budget you will have left. This is where you need to look at how you are going to promote your new business from day one. As you will struggle to get organic traffic initially, you may want to consider PPC and Link Building campaigns. These campaigns will help to drive traffic to your website/products, but they will also help you to move up on Google's rankings, which is the point really.
In order to do this effectively, you will need to set aside an amount for each campaign. To get an idea over how much money you will need to spend you are best to start by looking at your competitors keywords and adverts. You will then be able to get an idea of how much they are spending each month, what keywords you should be pushing and what services they offer that you may not.
Research is the key
The most important part of setting up your online business is to make sure you have done your homework. There are many options for hosting, web design and promotion of your site, that you will need to have a basic understanding of each in order to keep your budget down.
Look for any separate parts to your website that you can get for free. Google Analytics is a great example of this, it is free to use and it gives you as much information as you will need when starting out. This form of software can save you money each month that you can then be dispersed throughout other areas. Also, if you are running a site that sells products, either through Ecommerce or a service, then there are easy payment gateways, such as paypal, that cost far less than other forms and are used widely across the world.
Having the knowledge of the best and latest software available will certainly help you to get your site seen and working for a small amount of money.
Author: Janice Thompson
Source: http://tiny.cc/fuvn0w
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