Have a plan to start an online business? But, do you already know what things need to be avoided in running an online business?
Keep in mind, starting any business certainly requires careful preparation. No need to be grandiose, the important thing is to have a clear concept, implementation, and purpose.
Including in this case, you must avoid various things that might happen beyond your predictions when the business starts.
Of course, this preparation is done so that various aspects that have the potential to become risks/constraints can be minimized as much as possible.
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5 Big Mistakes of Running an Online Business
Then, what are the aspects that need and are very important to avoid in starting an online business?
Well, for that, there are several main points in starting a business, one of which is avoiding 5 mistakes that have the potential to become your obstacles in running an online business.
1. Not Making Financial Report
No need to wait for your business to be big, financial records or bookkeeping must be started when you start a business.
Bookkeeping in and out of funds like this is often overlooked by many novice businessmen. In fact, knowing the in and out of your business finances, will certainly provide a lot of information, including losses or gains.
At least, you have a book of income and expenses as a control where money is spent or how much total income.
For more details, the following is an example of online business income bookkeeping that is recorded in Microsoft Ecel format.
In addition, you also need to record regular expenses. For its own application, it is not much different from the format of income accounting.
The table above is an example of the application of income and expenditure records. You can also adjust it as needed.
Benefits of Financial Bookkeeping in Business
Money or funds are clearer for their use.
Expenditure control can be more easily monitored because you can control expenses so that they are not more than total income.
Can analyze where the source of income.
It is easier to find funds that may be forgotten to be recorded in the business books.
Apart from that, in running an online business, structured bookkeeping will also make it easier for you to determine policies or business decisions going forward.
The reason is, based on clear bookkeeping, of course you can also determine what steps you want to take.
In addition, there is clear bookkeeping, so if you invite partners to do business, of course they will be more easily interested in collaborating because there is openness, especially regarding finances.
2. Wrong Target Consumer
Selling online is easy. However, to get customers / potential consumers, it is not as easy as turning the palm of the hand.
Moreover, if you are a beginner, it is clear that you have to compete with competitors who dominate the market first.
Therefore, you must really understand your target market. In this case, who are the consumers who will need your goods?
However, unfortunately, this aspect of determining the target market/consumer is often underestimated by many people. Especially business people who are just starting an online business.
Therefore, ignorance of who the target consumer is, you need to avoid in starting a business.
Then, what is meant by the target consumer? And, how to determine it?
To make it clearer, you have to understand what consumers need and who the target audience is who will buy your merchandise.
How to Analyze Target Consumers
- Who will buy your product? (Target consumers).
- What is the age range of consumers that you are targeting to buy the product? (Who is the consumer).
- What kind of goods do consumers need? (Consumer needs).
- What attracts consumers to your product? (Product quality).
- How can consumers know your product and be interested in buying? (Marketing strategy).
Of the five questions, at least it can be a framework to build and determine who and what consumers want. So, your product will have more potential to sell in the market.
Therefore, not choosing the right target consumer is one of the important points that you must avoid so that the development of your online business can compete.
If you are still confused, you can study examples as below:
In this case, for example, you will run an online business in the form of an online private English course. This means that the product is in the form of private English lessons.
To target the market, it means that the specific targets are:
- Employees/students who want to learn English.
- Tour Guide who wants to speak fluent English.
- Students who wish to study abroad.
At this point, you have begun to understand who is the target consumer, right?
So, from that, you can recognize that your target market is those who want to learn English and want to benefit from taking private English lessons.
Based on these illustrations, of course you can clearly target or determine who will need an English course.
Not only that, by knowing and understanding the target market, the chances of getting to people who need private lessons will be much greater.
The important point is that the best target market is those who really need your product (goods/services) and can feel the benefits of the product, in this case the product is an English language training course.
3. Not Understanding Consumer Needs
Selling products so that consumers can demand, of course, must be in accordance with their needs. Because, if it doesn't meet your needs, your product will be difficult to sell, and consumers won't even notice it at all.
Therefore, you cannot immediately rule out understanding related to market/consumer needs analysis.
For example, if you want to sell hijab then you need to know what most women want when buying a hijab.
It can be from the model, the material, or the price that fits their budget.
You need to know the needs of consumers like this by analyzing the growing market.
That is, you must be able to do research related to hijab products that are often the target of buyers.
You can see in various marketplaces or hijab stores, which types or types of hijabs are the most in demand.
From this research, as a beginner hijab seller, of course you have an idea to determine the type of hijab that really fits the market.
You can analogize the online hijab business illustration or apply it to the product you want to sell.
Not only that, you also have to learn how consumers buy. Because, it is related to the ease of potential buyers in accessing your products.
For example, continuing the hijab business, you have to analyze how consumers buy online. Is it through the marketplace, social media (fb/Instagram) or through the official website.
From the aspect of consumer direction in buying products, you also have a gap to make it easier for consumers to buy them.
To make it easier for you to identify consumer needs, you can determine them by answering some analytical questions as follows:
- What products do consumers want? (market wants/needs).
- What is the main attraction of your product? (suitability of the product to the market).
- How do consumers buy? (sales strategy).
Reviewing some of these questions, you can assemble each answer to determine market needs, starting from what consumers often want, how to make products suitable for the market, and consumer behavior/how to buy.
Furthermore, in practice, you can map the problems that are often faced by consumers.
In this case, an example is the sale of beauty products. Of course, you have to map out specifically who will need these beauty products.
Examples of targets are as follows:
- Women aged 18-30 years.
- Women who have problems with facial skin (acne/oily).
- Women who want to whiten facial skin.
To analyze the needs they experience, for example as follows:
- Want to get safe beauty products (because there are many unsafe products circulating).
- Competitive prices (because most products are expensive).
- Proven to be able to provide maximum results (because it often does not match expectations).
From the target market, they can automatically determine the problems they face. So, from this problem, of course it is appropriate that the beauty products that are about to be sold can be the answer to the doubts that are their problems.
That way, it will certainly make those who want to get beauty products will be interested in buying the products you offer. Because, you have offered a solution for them.
4. Slow Response to Consumers
One aspect that you need to avoid is the slow response to any consumer comments or questions.
Usually, for online sales, such as in the marketplace, of course there will be many questions or chats from consumers.
Whatever the question and whether the consumer buys or not, you still have to respond as quickly as possible.
Not without reason, because in general, if potential customers have started to be interested in the products you sell, they tend to want to get product information quickly and clearly.
For example, it could be from yourself if you are looking for a product, of course you will prefer if the seller is always responsive in answering any of your questions.
So, a detailed explanation from a responsive seller will certainly strengthen your interest in the product.
Likewise when you sell, obviously slow response is not something that consumers like. Remembering, they prefer sellers who are able to provide related explanations for various questions that customers may ask.
For that reason, it is clear that in this case it is very important to pay attention to responsive customer service. In terms of service that is responsive, fast, and friendly.
To maximize your responsiveness in responding to each prospective buyer's questions, in your online business you can provide a contact in the form of a special WA number to answer consumer questions.
This method will make it easier for you to distinguish between chats from consumers and private chats on your smartphone.
It's even better if you use two smartphones at once. One is used for business and the other as a smartphone for personal activities.
This is one of the surefire tips to improve your ease of communicating with potential customers.
5. Not Building Effective Content Marketing
You need to know that one of the keys to getting potential buyers is to build quality content.
This is a mistake that you need to avoid so that later in finding potential customers, you will have a greater chance.
Then, what is content marketing?
The point is a content in the form of articles that can be a marketing weapon so that consumers are interested in buying the products you sell.
Therefore, you must have content that can break the market to compete with your competitors.
As one aspect of the sales strategy that is important and very influential, the content here also needs a blog as a medium as well as to attract consumers to provoke their curiosity about the product.
For that, it is highly recommended that you build a blog that contains content even if you sell on the marketplace.
Of course, this method of building product content for marketing through blogs is very useful in bringing traffic to visitors who are present on your website or sales blog.
Then, how do you create the right content to support visitor traffic?
You need to know that generally, people who sell products will offer their products in various ways.
You can explain the advantages, uses, or even a more affordable price.
Now, for online sales, this kind of marketing method is less effective in boosting product sales.
Instead of bothering to explain at length, here you can learn an example like this.
For example, you want to increase sales of weight loss products via your personal website. So, it will be more effective if you are looking for target people who want to get a slim body.
People who want a slim body, if on the internet generally will be searching about:
- How to lose weight.
- Tips on the right diet to get a slim body.
- Healthy food for weight loss.
Some of these sentences have a higher chance of bringing in traffic.
Because, referring to their needs or desires. Not looking for “weight loss products” or “natural slimming remedies”.
Why?
Because, if people are targeting products or drugs, usually when searching on Google, a marketplace site will appear.
If you sell goods on a web marketplace like that, of course it doesn't matter. However, if you have your own website, competing with these marketplace sites is not an easy thing.
The reason, they have mastered the first page of Google. Therefore, you too in this case should look for other alternatives. That is, by targeting consumers who want to achieve their goals/wants through practical solutions.
One of them is creating content. Where, what is meant by content in this matter is article content.
Of course the content / practical guide articles to their liking. Like a weight loss guide or it could be the right diet tips.
Up here, to implement the online product marketing strategy, this is where content plays a role. Namely, content provides solutions to the problems they face.
Here are the determinants of quality content:
Different and Much Better Than Other Content
A quality content, must have its own characteristics. This means that it must have a different appeal with benefits that can be directly practiced by the visitor.
Apart from being different, of course, the content of your content must also be better, complete, but not complicated.
It means that your content must be more complete, no-nonsense, informative and able to give a positive impression to visitors with a complete explanation in a shorter sentence summary.
Providing Practical Solutions With Guidance
Content that can increase visitors is a practical solution. In other words, it can be practiced directly.
For example, how to lose weight. You can provide concrete steps that can be put into practice. Such as how to exercise regularly, what are healthy foods, causes that must be avoided so that the weight is not over.
By providing practical solutions, your content will be interesting in their eyes so that it can trigger them to continue looking for the content you create. This is very effective for attracting website visitors.
The contents are complete and not boring
Content must be interesting to read and have a "selling point". Which in another sense, in the content must have:
- Human friendly language, aka easy for readers to understand.
- Simple but able to encourage visitors to do it.
- Contains more complete and accurate information with valid data as support.
- Accompanied by relevant images to complement the content.
If these four indicators are in your content, it will certainly be able to increase the number of visitors to your website. Thus, it is expected that the percentage of the possibility of your product being sold is also higher.
Surely you understand now, right?
Furthermore, if these guidelines are implemented, it is very likely that in the future the content you create will bring in traffic so that it will encourage increased product sales.
And don't forget, promotions. Always do promotions or advertisements on a regular basis. Rarely or not doing promotions will cause your business to fall.
Conclusion
With some explanations regarding the things to avoid in running an online business above, of course you can already sort and choose which things need to be done and which ones to avoid in starting an online business.
Not only that, various examples as well as the application formula of the opposite 5 things that you must leave in running an online business, at least you better understand the right strategy in building a business.
The most important thing is to avoid having no financial records and not being able to identify the target consumer. Because, these two aspects are very influential in triggering risk or profit.
Moreover, if you do not know anything about what consumers need and how to market it. Obviously this will harm you, it can even make you bored because the products sold are empty of customers.
Therefore, it is undeniable that these five aspects are an important part of running an online business and must be avoided, especially for beginners.
In addition, building a website is also necessary to introduce your product to potential buyers.
Namely, by filling out article content as interesting as possible, which is usually this is often overlooked by novice businessmen.
In fact, through the right and effective website component mechanism, of course, it will be more capable of boosting your web visitors.
So, in the future it will automatically be able to increase the potential for product sales which will be selling well.
So, are you ready to run an online business? Of course, don't forget to understand these 5 things as factors you should avoid in starting or growing your business. Source >>> 5 Kesalahan Yang Sering Dilakukan Di Bisnis Online.