Online Business 101 - Getting Started

When I started Koalatech, I had a strong background in marketing, web intelligence and even business planning. I wouldn’t say I was arrogant, but I didn’t realize how much I still had to learn. The business model seemed simple enough, so I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. That was until I met a long term businessman who also worked in the service industry. He presented me a new way to look at things, as well as invaluable advice on methods for budgeting, tracking and costing. The end result was that I learned from this person and strengthened my business model. Had I of not gotten that advice and help, I probably would have run Koalatech straight into the ground. Not everything he taught me was important to my business, but he did provide me with a new way of thinking and a new perspective, as well as a lot of very useful information. The main thing I learned from this experience is, no one has all the answers and no one can be an expert in every aspect of a business. It’s important to have advisors and mentors that specialize in key areas of your business model. No matter how well you know your business, someone knows some aspect better, and you can learn from them. So the first step to success is humility.

The purpose of this document is to get you started in a thought process that will propel you toward success. It definitely is not the end all be all of online business, but it does represent a starting point. This document is appropriate for anyone planning a website, website revision, or just getting started online. Whether you have a physical store or strictly an online business, my hope is that this guide will help you to consider new aspects and new concepts that will lead you to success.

Asking Yourself Questions

Every plan should start with questions. It is not likely you will just put up a website and all of a sudden it will be a haphazard success. Even if it does offer some success, how much are you missing out on? So, lets look at some the key questions you should ask yourself before you even write a single line of copy for your site.

What is the goal of my website?

Be general here, for some the goal is to bring new customers into the store, for others it might be to provide online sales, and some may just want visitors. There are a million possible goals for online business models, and this top level question will act as your focus point for the website. It is easy to become distracted, and a strong goal will help you to keep focus.

What are the key elements I need to achieve that goal?

This question should take some time to answer. Sit down, and have a brainstorming session, come up with ideas, figure out what it would take to achieve those ideas and create a priority list of those ideas. Which ones seem the most realistic and most successful to you? Look at what others have done, see what seems to work, and what doesn’t. Research is a key element here.

What is unique about my business?

The answer to this question will likely drive your content and navigation. Once you determine what is unique, you will want to share that with everyone. It will be a driving force and an important motivator.

Who is my target audience?

Very few successful websites pander to the general majority; instead they have a target audience. The target may be large or small, but that is who you need to gear everything toward. What are their interests, what entices them, what are your key selling points to them? Most importantly, how will they most likely find your site?

How will I close the transaction?

A good business website acts as a salesperson, it presents information in a way that entices and comforts the customer. The goal of your site should be to Attract, Inform, and Sell. Once the viewer feels they want to do business with you, how will they make the transition from your website to your product or service? This could be as simple as a phone number, or a contact form, or it could be one of many, more complex methods.

What tools are available to make my site stronger?

There are many tools available, some appropriate for your needs; some that look cool but may not work for you; and some that are utterly useless. It’s important to really explore those options and make educated assessments as to what you need and what you do not.

Building the Plan

Now that you have addressed the key questions, you are ready to begin building a plan. Your plan should start by determining what type of design and core system you want. Then, it should expand to include key elements of the site. Know what you want to say, and know the message you want to send, then, figure out how to relay that. The result should be a rough outline of the site. What pages you will want, what special elements you would like and what tools may be needed. Always keep your target audience in mind, what are they looking for and are you providing it.

Now that you have a rough idea of what you want visitors to experience, its time to consider how it will be presented to them. Start by making a list of pages you want to include in your site. Each page should be a solid concept and should contain a good amount of content. Pages with only one or two sentences can be frustrating to visitors, so combine concepts where appropriate. Balance navigation and content to find that perfect usefulness. Every page should include a base navigation, but it also can be a good idea to directly link one thought (or page) directly to another. Sometimes a simple “Find out more in our ### section” link can drastically change the traffic on your site, and yield tremendous results.

Finding Your Design

The next step is to determine design. Consider how detailed and customized your thoughts are right now. Consider how unique you want your presence to be. The success or failure of your site, no matter how effective the concept is, may be determined by the design of your site. So, lets look at some key elements to consider when planning a design.

Uniqueness – Many people ask me what is wrong with template sites, they are often pretty and sometimes cheaper than a custom site. The problem isn’t in that they aren’t pretty, or even well designed. Quite the contrary, there are some spectacular design templates out there. The problem is, they are used elsewhere. As a designer, it is hard to keep things unique and fresh for each customer when I have a full spectrum of design tools available to me. Limited to a template, it is impossible.

Presence – Consider the shopping chains you walk into normally. When you walk in, no matter where you go around the nation, for the most part each store of a single chain is similar. This provides a level of comfort to the customers. Walking into a certain chain is appealing, because even if you are 500 miles from home, you know you will have the same experience and similar layout.

Though each store of a single chain is very similar, the company presence is unique. Imagine, if you will, that all target’s looked and were laid out exactly like Walmarts. How would that affect your opinion of Target? Even if the products, prices and employees stayed the same, what would it convey to you? Your presence conveys a message to your customers. It should reflect a little of your personal taste, as well as a unique feeling. Your store is not the same as the next one in the list, and it should not look like it either.

Navigation – Often an afterthought with many designers, navigation plays a critical role in the success of your site. Are elements easy to find? Once I found a page, how easy is it to get back to it? Do I know what page I was looking at? Consider for a moment, that your sites navigation is a map, which tells people how to find what they are looking for. The quality of that map, the ease of using it, and the level of detail will determine what they can find. So, if a customer was looking for McDonald’s, but their GPS did not include any streets on which a McDonalds was located. How could they find McDonalds? The same is true with your site, Many people will be navigating and searching for a specific piece of information, or a specific product. They will not have the patience to read through your site, and will rely on the navigation to find it. If they do not, then they will assume it is not available and move on.

Different Users – Your design should cater to your audience, but should also be usable to different personality types. In web navigation, there are three key personality types that most businesses should focus on: the Searcher, the referral, and the interested party. Your site should be appealing to each of these visitors and attempt to offer them the experience they are looking for. Always remember the Google results list is only a click away, you can lose them fast.

In the end, a well thought out and custom design will give you a strong business presence. It will be unique and will have a personal element to it. It will comfort your visitors and introduce you to them.

If all this sounds too complicated or difficult, relax. That is the purpose of Koalatech, to help you build this plan, as well as to develop the site for you. Our main goal is to help you build the model and plan as well as the site. Even if you have a strong plan, sometimes a little advice or perspective can go a long way. Let’s work together and make your online business something spectacular. Contact Koalatech