DEBATING CREATING?
I was a Speech Therapist by trade. I knew how to teach young children to read and write. I then had my own children. I was determined to stay at home. I had so much to teach the world. Why not start an online business? How hard can it be? Fortunately, my husband believed in my business and he was able to fund my online building. 8 years later he is still funding my online building!
Speech Therapy is now a distant memory. I am now many things! To save a buck or two, one has to venture down roads, he never dreamed of venturing. Here are 5 areas that may be out of your comfort zone when creating your online business.
VIDEO CREATION AND SCRIPTING FOR YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS
How do you get your message across to the public? One powerful way is through video. This means that your message first needs to be scripted. It would be wonderful to outsource this but script after script, hour after is hour is not cheap! Personally, I have scripted my own material and then paid a professional scriptwriter to tweak it. The script then needs to be filmed.
The world out there is no longer easily satisfied and has an attention span of 2 minutes! The message needs to be extremely creative and fun for the world to attend to it and get a thumbs up! This makes the task at hand even more challenging. Video is a wonderful way to market your online business. To find out more about video software please refer to the following article,’7 Software Tools to Consider Before Creating Your Online Business’.
ARTICLE WRITING FOR YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS
Article writing falls under the area of content creation (please refer to the article 5 Reasons Why Content Creation is Important for Your Online Business). In order to get a presence out there on the World Wide Web and to get the search engines to trust you, you need to churn out interesting and valuable articles. Once again we are living in the digital age and article writing and structure has evolved. Please refer to the following article,’7 Software Tools to Consider Before Creating Your Online Business’, to find out more about software to aid you in article writing.
COLD CALLING FOR YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS
I never in my wildest dreams thought I would have to cold call! This is a form of marketing and depending on the type of online business it could become a necessary requirement in the marketing of your online business. According to the dictionary, cold calling is when one has to ‘make an unsolicited visit or phone call to (someone), in an attempt to sell goods or services.’ It is as torturous as it sounds. Or at least it is to me, who was a Speech Therapist! It can be very effective however and a few of our clients are as a result of a cold call.
BOOKLET/MANUAL DESIGN FOR YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS
The content of your product needs to be placed in a manual or a book. The world is visual and demanding and critical. A simple Word doc will no longer suffice. For a book or manual to be designed is once again not cheap and the hours clock up. Images are critical to keep the world’s attention. Some examples of stock image libraries are as follows:
- www.stockunlimited.com
- www.pexels.com
- www.shutterstock.com
There is also great software out there that can help you with your design layout. Please refer to the following article,’7 Software Tools to Consider Before Creating Your Online Business’.
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING/PRESENCE FOR YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS
Like it or not, a social media presence is extremely important for your online business. I never had a Facebook account nor an Instagram account. The time came when I had to create one so my clients could see who I was and what I stood for. A social media presence aids in building relationships with clients. The key is consistency! Keep posting and keep interacting with like-minded souls. Other social media marketing platforms include the following:
- www.linkedin.com
- www.twitter.com
- www.youtube.com
CONCLUSION
The above may sound daunting. Have no fear, the more you practice and learn, the more they will become a part of your comfort zone. The hard part is starting! There are so many wonderful software packages out there that can aid you in all the above. I would recommend investing in these before beginning your online business. Please read ‘7 Software Tools to Consider Before Creating Your Online Business’.
