When building an online business from scratch, where do you even begin? Right here, of course.

Here you’ll find the best wisdom gained through decades of business experience, plus up-to-date startup advice for the current online market, all condensed into one perfect guide. Read and apply these essential tips for creating an online business.

Step 1: Don’t Start Yet

Before you even get started, make sure there’s a reason to do so. That is, make sure the business you’re starting is filling a need within your chosen market.

Check the supply and demand of businesses and services you’re planning to offer in your target area. If you build a business around a service people aren’t interested in or already have enough of, you waste both time and money.

Instead, actively seek out a need that’s going unfilled. Then you can provide the services people are already begging for. It’s like having a line of paying customers already waiting for your Creating an Online Business to open its doors.

The best way to find unfulfilled needs is to scope out the competition in the markets you are considering. Find out from their websites the services they don’t provide. Check their customer forums for complaints to find out what their customers are often unsatisfied about.

Also, do keyword research to find words that get a lot of searches but few results.

Once you’ve found a service the customers have been missing, make that the primary function of your new business. Then advertise directly toward these unsatisfied customers. Every ad you produce should make it clear that providing this missing service is what you do.

Step 2: Hire Copywriters

In order to thrive, your business needs to produce a lot of copy for advertising, blogging, social media marketing, etc. And if this copy sucks, it’s not going to do you much good. So if you’re not a writer, just admit it.

With thousands of writers on the internet looking for gigs, you don’t have to handle that part of the business yourself. There are plenty of sites from which you can hire copywriters. But if you do choose to do it yourself, here’s your checklist for producing good copy.

Use an intriguing headline that piques curiosity. For content marketing articles, your title should create a mystery in the reader’s mind, a problem they can only solve by reading the full article. For ads, the title should clearly describe your irresistible offer.

All your copy must describe exactly how your business fills the customer’s need. Also, remind the customer how important and urgent it is to get this need filled.

Then, reassure the customer that you will take good care of them. Include testimonies of satisfied customers and guarantees of customer satisfaction.

Lastly, don’t ask them to buy: tell them to buy. Include call-to-action buttons that say, “Click to Buy,” or, “Order Now.”

Step 3: Design Your Website For Success

Designing your website need not be complicated. In fact, the most important rule is to make it simple. Below are the few essential things your business website needs.

First, your website needs to be responsive. Always have a desktop version and a mobile version of your site.

Next, your site must be easy to navigate. Categorize your website content into sections and put these sections into expandable, drop-down menus. Use either a bar menu or “hamburger” menu (the 3 horizontal lines that look like a hamburger).

With a bar menu, put your 3 or 4 main categories in a bar at the top of each page. Have them expand into subcategories when visitors click on or hover over them with the cursor. If you have more than 4 sections of your site, put the rest in a section labeled “More.”

For the hamburger menu, hide all sections and expandable subsections in a popup menu that expands when the menu symbol is clicked. It should pop up on the left side of the screen.

Your mobile site should use a hamburger menu. Also, list all the sections of your site in the footer of each page.

And make sure your website has all of these:

• A blog with new content posted regularly
• An About Us page
• A Contact page with correct information

These elements attract traffic and keep them on your site. They also increase your rank in search engine results.

Step 4: Use Google AdWords

Now advertise your site with pay-per-click advertising. This is the best way for a startup business to advertise because you don’t pay for an ad unless someone clicks on it.

Sign up with Google AdWords. Use the tools and information they provide to research keywords and create ads. Use the guidelines above to write good copy.

You can also research keywords using Google search engine.

Type in keywords related to your business and click the search button. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you’ll see the similar searches that people often search for. These similar searches are good keyword choices to display your AdWord ads with.

Also, even if your online business provides service to all locations, it’s a good idea to advertise locally. Find local markets that lack the service your business provides. Then, market your service to them directly.

Step 5: Guest Post

Guest posting is one of the best things you can do for your online business.

Find a website related to your niche that allows guest writers to post content. Write compelling content with expert information. Then, include a link back to your website.

These “backlinks” are a major factor of how search engines rank your website in search results. When other, quality websites include links that refer your website, it makes your website look more credible–both to internet users and search engines.

Step 6: YouTube Marketing

In today’s market, YouTube can no longer be ignored. Get a YouTube channel and add content weekly.

Make how-to videos, product comparisons, unboxing videos and other reviews of products and services. These are super-easy to make, easy to share and people love them. They also show off your products and services.

In addition, you can easily repurpose your website content with YouTube. Take any article from your website, turn it into a video and post it on YouTube. YouTube marketing is an easy way to reach over 1 billion viewers.

Step 7: Engage Your Audience With Social Media Marketing

In the business world, social media is more than just another advertising platform. Social media is your most direct link to your public.

You already advertise with your website, AdWords, and YouTube. Let Facebook be the 2-way communication link your audience needs.

Share funny stories and photos and tell how you’re involved in the community. Use keyword hashtags.

Social media is also the best place to get customer feedback. You can ask and answer questions and solve customer problems.

In addition, social media marketing also boosts SEO (search engine optimization). Learn more from our social media marketing guide.

Step 8: Use Email Marketing

Email marketing is uniquely helpful to Creating an Online Business. When your customers agree to receive your exclusive email offers, you get a customer who’s actually asking to be advertised to.

Plus it’s extremely easy to track your success with email marketing. Email marketing software records a variety of metrics that allow you to see exactly which marketing tactics are working and how well. They also help you accurately target relevant subscribers.

Start Creating an Online Business Today

Creating an online business takes time, so get started now! Use these tips to make your online startup thrive.

Get more online entrepreneur tips right here. Read our tips for using gig economy to get ahead your competition.