It’s sad that most people are not happy with the jobs they are doing. In fact, some of my close friends hate their jobs. Are you one of them? Do you hate the concept of working from 9AM to 5PM too? If yes, then make sure you read this article to the end. Most of us want to escape this rat race and start our own businesses. The best way to start is with an online business. Here’s why.

5 Reasons Why You Should Start an Online Business:

The Start-up capital is small:

Most of the offline businesses require time and a good amount of capital to start, but if you run an online business such as affiliate marketing, you can start it right now. You do not have to wait too long or get a huge amount of money.

Even though it is not recommended, you can start your affiliate business with no money at all. All you have to do is make your own blog and put the products using the affiliate link from the buyer.

Once your blog starts to get good traffic, people will start clicking on your affiliate links and if they purchase the items using your affiliate link, you will get a commission. It’s hard to believe, but people are making millions every month through affiliate marketing.

World-Wide Customers:

The huge drawback of opening an offline store is that it will always have a defined audience no matter what. There will always be a common set of customers, maybe a 2-3km radius from your shop and that’s it.

You will never get worldwide audience no matter how much you advertise, but with online business, there is no restriction to marketing your product. You can sell your products worldwide. Once you find out your proper marketing strategy, an online business can simply open up its target and increase the budget to get bigger and bigger.

There is no restriction to the amount of money you can earn:

The whole online business thing has a system and you will need some time to experiment and find out what works best for you. You will have to use the trial and hit method. Once you figure out the system and what works best, you will realize what is earning you money and what is costing you money.
Online businesses like affiliate marketing have unlimited income potential, just figure out which strategy works best. You can just set things up and go to sleep, and when you wake up, you will see money getting deposited into your account.

Freedom to choose when to work:

Unlike with other jobs, online marketing does not require you to work from 9 to 5 every day. You can work whenever you want, how many hours a day you want, and how many days a week you want. Everything is just flexible. If you are one of the people who can focus more during the night, then work at night.

No need to wake up at 5 am and get ready to go to your office, but do not mistake this freedom for slack off. You should always remember that hard work always pays off. The more time you put into this, the more you will succeed.

Freedom to choose where to work:

You get to decide where you want to work. You can work from home, you can set up an office and work from there. You can travel to another country and work there. There is no limit to choosing your workplace.

This is what makes most people love online business more. Once you start making good amount of money, you can travel the whole world and at the same time work. All you need is your laptop and internet connection.

Conclusion:

We hope this article will help you realize the advantages of having a business online. Thus, stop waiting and start today! If you make money online already, then surely you have some more thoughts on this topic. Share with us what advantage you have experienced so far. Also, you can read this article for more information.

With a simple internet search, you can find a host of startup ideas for this year all claiming to be profitable. Somehow, the idea of “selfie drones” doesn’t seem all that great in lieu of their ability to deliver packages. If you’re looking for something that will really rake in the dough, take a look at these startup ideas.

HIIT Equipment
HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training, and the equipment that surrounds this fitness niche is vast. Weights, jump ropes, medicine balls, and more are all necessary to achieving the fitness goals of an HIIT workout. With a steadily increasing sales trend since 2012 and projected growth in the year of 2018, now is the time to hop on the fitness train. Keyword searches are simple, and this particular niche thrives on video content to show potential customers just how to use the equipment. Whether you start an online business or open a storefront, success is just around the corner in 2018. Smart Bands and Watches The expected revenue from smartwatches in 2018 is $19 billion, which is expected to grow to a gargantuan $50 million in 2019. You can cut yourself a slice of that pie by selling various watches or creating your own with the right tech and machined parts from a company like Weiss-Aug.

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The goal here is to offer variety. Fitness trackers with heart rate monitors appeal to a certain customer base, while the latest in GPS tracking and synced apps appeal to another. This allows you to create multiple marketing campaigns and reach a larger customer base.

Dash Cams
While interest in dash cams spikes then fizzles out in a cyclical fashion, sales have steadily increased over the past five years. However, insurance companies are now accepting dash cam footage in accident claims. That not only peaks interest but gives you an excellent marketing angle for a product. Utilizing video marketing, you can show potential customers the crazy things they can record on their cams, too. Marketing for this one is simple, and getting in on the ground floor is fairly cheap for a tech product.

Beard Oil
The beard trend is dying out anytime soon. Sales show an average of $6 billion annually with expected growth in 2018. Considering the fact that over 40% of American men wear facial hair, why not market to this large demographic with the most important grooming product out there: beard oil? These startups work great as online marketplaces or storefronts and quickly become well-known brands when the product is marketed correctly. If you’re going all in and creating a new formula, skip the tedious office meetings and use Clockspot to track your employees. If you’re simply selling product, aim for a blend of manly scents and organic formulas.

Compression Socks
No product has grown as steadily as compression socks since 2008. They’re purchased by athletes and the average citizen alike, gaining appeal from their ability to treat and prevent disorders. When paired with running or orthopedic shoes, this startup has serious potential. Make sure not to use direct claims when selling compression socks. The trick is to market their medical benefits without outright saying that they are a cure. Targeted ads for specific benefits are also highly recommended.

So, in today’s world, many of us find bright ideas that we think could make a business of our own. Who wants to always work for the man? With the help of starting your own business, you can work for yourself and with clients. It’s nice to know that you can break free from the “customer is always right” trap and set the own rules for your own business.

However, the problem is that many of us have these great ideas but allow enthusiasm to evaporate when cold, hard reality kicks in. when you see that a business needs you to put together a comprehensive written business plan, we often lose the desire to keep going.

When we find out it might take more than a week to set it all up, we lose a lot of hope.

After all, you aren’t a financial advisor, or an economist. You aren’t a master of social demographics, or a property expert. How can you possibly put together the scale of detail needed in a business plan?

One of the best options is to use a business plan company. They can help you to put together a business plan in a short space of time, and could literally make that business go from idea to creation in a single week.

However, planning is the primary pathway to success, so don’t always assume that – even with a fully-fledged business plan writer on-board – that you can go from start to finish in a week. it is possible, though, if you are willing to put in the work and effort to get there. To make this as likely as possible, though, you need to be able to put the effort and the time into developing that plan.

Business Plan Services: Refining Your Plan

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The first thing that you should look to do is take out any kind of ideal planning. You don’t want to come across like a snake oil salesman. Any kind of leap of faith or express hope being expressed is likely to turn any kind of credible investor off your idea in a click of the fingers.

Instead, you should look to better refine your plan. You need to work with a business plan service to help create a refined plan involving financial sums, valid projections and data that helps to back up your hopes and aims for your business.

You simply cannot hand over a business plan that is all about “trust us – it’ll work” terminology. If you want to start a business in a week or as quickly as possible, it has to be a lot more refined than this. So, do yourself a favour and instead invest in a plan of action that involves writing a business plan with the right details.

Long-term projections, proven existence of your targeted demographic and various other related key details can be the difference between your business plan getting you started in a week, or the idea returning to the scrapheap.

Don’t try and start your business overnight if you don’t have a cast-iron business plan, though. A strong plan does a lot more for your ideal of a fast-start business than you would likely expect.

Are you looking to get a lot of socks for your store? Then a good idea is to get socks wholesale. Not only do you receive tons of socks at the same time, but the return on investment that you can get from this is nothing short of huge. It can certainly do wonders, and that’s exactly what you need to focus on at this particular time.

People love the idea of getting new socks. Some actually end up purchasing socks often as they don’t last for a really long time. That’s why wholesale socks are a good investment. Your store will always need these, and the overall ROI that you can receive is amazing in its own right.

How many socks should you get?

If you don’t overcharge too much, you will notice that socks tend to fly off the shelves really fast. You will need to find a reputable socks factory like ours to offer you socks on a continual basis. And yes, working with the socks manufacturer assures you that you receive the best quality and value for your money. It really helps you stay away from potential problems, so you do want to keep that in mind as much as possible.

What you have to realize is that most of the socks wholesale are delivering great value for money. The reason is that you can easily sell them for a profit. And that goes for oem socks and even custom socks too. Yes, you can get custom socks wholesale and earn a good income too. You just have to create the design and then you will receive the socks in no time. It really comes in handy and it offers amazing benefits and results without that much of a hassle.

Are socks wholesale expensive?

The entire idea of buying wholesale socks is that you get to spend less money. And that’s the truth here. Buying wholesale is always amazing and it can help you stay away from all potential dangers. It’s definitely an important thing to focus on, and in the end it can be well worth it. In addition, the sheer fact that you get to save a lot of money will always be really important here. Granted, it’s not ideal, but it can offer you some tremendous benefits and results. Once you get socks wholesale, you can easily get a good profit from them.

And the best part is that you can opt for whatever type of socks you want. You are always in control, and the entire experience is well worth the effort. Just consider all of that and you will be more than impressed with the entire experience. Plus, the wholesale socks come in packages most of the time as well. This means you can just sell them in bulk and still get a good profit from that. This is one of the best business ideas that you can find out there and it’s actually worth your time. You should consider getting socks wholesale right now, and we are here to offer you exactly that at a really good price!

Building and preserving your business is not just a way to build wealth. It is also a way to go after your life’s dreams and reach your achievements. Of course, this path is certainly not an easy one, but it is one that all of the inspiring entrepreneurs have to follow.

Even though offsetting a business is much easier if you enough money within your means, it is possible to create a successful business from scratch, up with dedication, perseverance, and knowledge even without money. Lack of money is not an excuse for not starting a business.

So if you have a promising business idea, but don’t have the money to start it physically, don’t fret. You can start your way to creating a successful business by following the ways below.

Don’t Resign

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If possible, keep your current job. Don’t resign because you had an amazing business idea. It is very important to be practical, especially when dealing with the concept of building your line of business.

You still need a steady and stable source of income before you can physically start your business. So it is best to keep your present job. By doing so, you will feel safer when there is a need of taking risks.

As such, you will, and you must spend more working hours and work much harder. However, the shift from being an ordinary employee to a business owner will be much smoother and effortless as you will not have additional overheads to worry about in the future.

Determine the Amount of Money You Need

Of course, to be able to start a business, you need money or capital. But what amount of money do you need? If you still have no idea of how much money you need, you are on the verge of formulating an unrealistic assessment of your business, which for sure, will turn off potential investors and get your loan application rebuffed.

With that said, before you begin thinking about building your wealth, you should assess your capital needs first. Calculate the possible amount of money you need and determine where to use these funds.

Trial Run

If you want to be sure if your idea is indeed distinct, run a test and learn. A trial run will surely give you the assurance you need to take your business idea to another level and reduce risks.

You can run a trial or a pilot test on a small group of people by handing out some freebies in your target market to witness how they respond. This activity will give you new vision and wisdom to expand your business and determine opportunities that you might have missed.

Keep in mind that time is money. Hence, if you don’t have the financial means, you cannot waste time on faulty resources that no one wants. As such, run a test first before actually starting it.

Seek Advice

If you are thinking about starting a new business, getting a second opinion or gathering feedbacks is undoubtedly a big help, especially when it comes from the people who know the challenges of the market.

An idea that seems great on paper might not be appealing in the real world. So, a specialist’s opinion might help you see things from a whole new perspective and build more knowledge that you may lack.

Get a Small Business Loan

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If necessary, get a small business loan. There are tons of government loan programs specifically designed to help small businesses and startups. To be eligible for the loan, your line of business must fit the criteria such as your business should qualify as a small business, you must run for profit, and you must have a good credit score.

Takeaway

There are effective ways for which you can start a business even without money. You know, it starts with a plan and everything will follow through. You can pursue the ways above to start a business with no money. And don’t forget to seek advice from credible financial firms such as Ashe Morgan to make sure you’re on the right track.

No matter how much you plan when it comes to setting up a start-up, there are always scenarios where your business could be at risk. The first year of the business is the most important and is often the tell-tale sign of whether or not the business is likely to be successful. Here, we’re taking a closer look at the business risks your start-up needs to be aware of, prior to setting up.

Financial Risks

One of the biggest and most obvious risks for a start-up is maintaining strong finances throughout the first year of business. While it is unlikely that your business will breakeven in the first year, due to the extensive amount of costs when initially starting up, making sure that you are able to cope with the additional pressures on the financial side of your business is important. It is important that you protect your business from any additional financial risk too, such as loss of income, or the possibility of legal fees due to an accident caused by your business’ activities.

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This is especially important for businesses who work around the public, where health and safety can be compromised due to the work you’re carrying out. Each business is able to take out a specific type of insurance, most suitable for them. For example, a cleaning company would be able to take out specific cleaner insurance, and an electrician would be able to take out unique tradesman insurance best suited for them. Make sure you are prepared for every scenario in order to help minimise business risk.

Market Risk

No matter what you’re looking to sell, whether a service or a product, the market risk is one of the biggest considerations. If the market is slowing down and people aren’t purchasing your products, then you will need to ensure that you have some form of a back up plan. Make sure you have thoroughly researched all of your market opportunities prior to setting up, as this will provide you with a gateway into seamless transactions. Even if your initial customers are consistently purchasing from you, keeping an eye on upcoming competitors will help to ensure that you maintain your slice of the market share.

Legal Risks

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Alongside the possibility of having to deal with a member of the public making a legal claim against your business, there are a number of other rules and regulations that you will need to take into consideration. These will vary from industry to industry, with construction businesses, all companies will have to register under the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS). In addition to this, there are various internal regulations when it comes to hiring staff that you will need to keep in mind, labelling requirements, advertising rules and much more. Health and safety regulations are subject to change on a frequent basis also, so make sure that you keep this in mind.

With so many risks to consider, having a business plan which is thorough, but also flexible in order to encompass the changing legal and market landscapes, will help to ensure that your business is prepared for any event in order to succeed.

A decade ago, starting a business was not an easy thing to do, and certainly not as easy as today. Your family must have already been in business or you must have had cash stashed in your bank account. Plus, you needed owned place that can be converted into an office at least sufficient money to rent a place.

Fast forward to 2018, things have changed for the good. Literally anyone, by anyone we even those under the age of 25 can now start a business and reach their goals of becoming millionaires.

The Internet has made it possible. It has become a springboard of sorts for everyone who want to launch their own idea into a viable business model and earn revenue out of it.

If you have been smitten by the ‘i-want-to-launch-an-online-business’ bug, this post is for you. We have rounded up some solid business startup ideas from legends who have turned pioneers in their respective domains.

Steve Jobs, Apple

Passion trumps everything else. When Steve Jobs is hiring a person into Apple, there is one key trait he looks for. Does that person care about Apple? In Steve’s words, “the real issue for me is, are they going to fall in love with Apple? Because, if they fall in love with Apple; everything else will take care of itself.”

A passionate person who cares for the product or service that he works on is going to take care of everything else. So, hiring the right person is going to make or break your business. Most importantly, for startups, the early momentum is brought in by the first few hires. So make sure you are hiring people who are full of passion to take your business to great heights.

Elon Musk, Tesla

The Tesla Founder is the millennial entrepreneur generation’s poster child. And he feels collecting feedback from as many people as you can about whatever idea you have is critical to business success.

For an online business this is easily done. You can always set up star ratings and user review systems that help hear the voice of customers straight away. From Kiasu Print it is recommended using envelopes of the old fashion, in order to reign in reviews.  Listening to customers help you tweak your products and services the right way. Even the pricing can be made flexible to meet customer demands directly. Also, it is not necessary that you have to follow all opinions. But, collecting feedback does give an opportunity to collect feedback from people who are paying money for your product or service.

Bill Gates, Microsoft

Bill Gates who has won the title of the World’s Wealthiest Man many times is an open book on Entrepreneurship. Bill Gates has always put Microsoft ahead of competition and also as a company that delivered futuristic tech solutions.

‘Think Ahead’ is the business mantra that helped Bill Gates build Microsoft into a mega-billion business enterprise. If your business is doing what every other online business is doing, or offering a slightly varying version of existing options, your scope of growth is limited. You always have to think one step ahead in order to become a successful business, be it on the Internet, or otherwise.

Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk turned his father’s $3 Million wine business into a $60 Million enterprise in a span of 5 years. He is recognized as a true-blue entrepreneur who has harnessed the power of social media and visual marketing to the most.

And, he has a word of advice on the best marketing strategy ever: CARE.  Gary opines that businesses that care for its customers truly are bound to grow quickly than those which focus more on profits. In other words, if you take care of the people who pay you, profits would improve on their own.

For instance, you need to make your customers feel safe while dealing with your website, you will have to configure a cheap SSL certificate. Or a live chat support that gives customers real-time information about their package delivery status and so on. Whatever you do, make sure your customers feel safe and acknowledged for.

Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett started investing at the age of 11 (CNBC). Yet, he feels that he was late. The champion investor credits consistent performance review and admitting to mistakes as his critical traits in business success.

Entrepreneurs often have the tendency to overlook the flaws in their business model. They pour money into resources with heavy optimism, which sometimes does not yield returns. To avoid such backfires, you need to constantly review your performance against competition and industry benchmarks. When you spot a shortcoming, be quick to admit the mistake and take steps to rectify it.

Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos – the guy who went from being bookseller to world’s richest billionaire advices entrepreneurs to be missionaries than mercenaries. Bezos is a classic example of an “exponential entrepreneur” who sees what customers wants and plans for it in the long-term.

He says that a missionary is a person who loves the customers and builds a product or a service that makes things easy for them. Everybody else wants to flip the business and make money, which is not a foolproof plan for the long-term.

Final Words of Wisdom

Starting an online business has become fairly easy. However, running it successfully business is still a challenge. Mistakes are bound to creep in any form. These pioneers have learnt from mistakes and have shown the world how a business can be built from scratch.

If you are in the process of building a future, their words of startup wisdom might help you. To sum it up, pay attention to the product or service that your business provides. Hire the right kind of people and give first priority to people over profits.

That said, your online business should become successful like any offline business. What will differentiate you from an offline business is the pace and ease with which you will be able to capture the market.

A lot of things today have the letter e affixed to them. We have emails, ebooks, and ecommerce. This one-letter difference, to put it simply, identifies it as something online.

Technology has changed the course of the trade and business industry. Through the Internet, entrepreneurs can easily take their businesses online. Need a new house? Just go to a real estate website. Need to learn a new language? Take a course online. The same thing goes for buying and selling.

Because of the fact that online selling means paying less since, for one, the product goes directly to the consumer and does not have to go through distributors, people are now purchasing online.

Here are four other reasons to start selling things online.

Less Capital

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Before, selling would mean putting up a stall or kiosk on the sidewalk. In some cases, it entails getting a spot in a shopping mall or leasing a studio. These are physical forms of selling: people actually go to the store, try the clothes out, and then buy them. Sounds pretty fun, but the truth is, it’s too costly. Paying the lease is just one of the concerns. There are other things to be considered, like staffing and construction costs.

When you sell online, a physical store is not needed. What takes its place are a functioning computer, stable internet connection, a bank account or online payment method, and competitive marketing strategy. In online selling, lesser capital is needed, as compared to putting up a physical store.

Fewer People to Manage

Most of the time, opening up a physical store requires more than one person to operate it. It is also a known fact that manpower cost is high in all kinds of businesses. Not only that, paying someone does not necessarily translate to them contributing to business profit.

For startups, unless employees are micromanaged. Not all of them can deliver the desired output. In this fast-paced world, who has time to micromanage?

Reach More People

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The internet brings everyone in the world together. Through it, far does not seem too far anymore. Online sellers can reach far more people than those with physical stores. As more people discover an online store, it becomes viral, and soon after, sales more or less shoot up.

Accessibility and Convenience

With online shops, consumers no longer need to drive to the store to buy what they need. Instead, their items are delivered right at their doorstep. After all, who does not want hassle-free shopping?

In addition, selling online is not only convenient for the consumers but for business owners as well. Unlike putting up an actual physical store, creating an online shop only takes a few minutes thanks to various online platforms.

Remember

Just like everything, there are upsides and downsides to selling online. However, these won’t really matter as the pros will more likely outweigh the negative, especially if entrepreneurs equip themselves with online marketing skills and, of course,  knowledge in e-commerce.

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If you want to build your brand and get more people to click through to your website, then it’s important that your website is optimised for search engines. You may have heard about SEO before – but the truth is that you don’t need to know the ins and outs of the technique to make positive changes to your website and get more people to click through and buy from you. Below, we’ve rounded up four quick-wins for any SEO beginners.

  1. Write content

One of the most important things that you can do as a small business owner is write quality content. The benefits of content marketing for small businesses are endless, and one of the biggest benefits is SEO. If you write good quality posts that answer questions and provide your customers with value, you’ll be rewarded by featuring on search engine results pages (SERPs), and you’ll be able to convert readers into customers by adding them to your newsletter and giving them discount coupons and regular product reminders.

  1. Install a plugin

The chances are that your website is powered by the self-hosted version of WordPress, and if it is, then you’re in luck. Plugins like Yoast SEO can help make your site more accessible to search engines like Google and Bing, and ensure that you rank higher for terms related to your industry and niche. With the Yoast plugin, you can choose a keyword that you’d like to rank for, and then optimise your content for it through writing content and improving your page’s meta description and title. It’s a sure-fire way to optimise your site – and it’s free!

  1. Get links

Links are one of the biggest SEO ranking signals, so the more you have, the more likely search engines are to see your website as an authority figure in your niche. See where you can get links for your business – it could be in directories, on your supplier’s and customer’s websites, or by guest blogging on other people’s sites. There are a whole host of ways that you can get links for your website, and every extra link will help your site in the long-term.

  1. Read content

The basics of SEO don’t take long to learn, and having that knowledge can really help you in the long-term. The more you know about how to rank for competitive terms, and the more onsite work you do to optimise your content and get people to click through to your site, the more likely you are to find success online. Nobody said that SEO was easy or that you’d be able to rank at number one overnight, but by making changes to your website on a regular basis, you’ll be able to increase your chances of ranking highly in the future.

If you’re still looking for help with your SEO campaign, check out the SEO for small businesses page on the Muffin Marketing website, where you’ll find valuable tips and affordable packages.

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A lot of people hate their jobs, and want to do something different with their lives. Maybe you don’t even hate your job, but you have a hobby, which you really love to do daily, something that you’re truly passionate about.

Did you know that it is possible to turn most hobbies into sustainable income? That’s right, you can make a living doing something that you love, rather than working a 9-to-5 to make your boss’ dreams come true.

Your hobby can really be anything. It could be painting, it could be writing, even taking photography. If you can do it, and you have the necessary skills – you can turn it into a full-fledged career path.

This article will give you the basics that you need to know to get started.

Is Your Hobby Career Worthy?

Now, there is a big difference between a hobby and a past-time. For example, gardening is somewhat a past-time. Granted, you could open up your own service to care for other homeowners gardens, but it might be harder to make work than a lot of other options.

As any successful entrepreneur knows, the first step to turning your hobby into a fully-fledged career path is determining the feasibility of the idea.

Are there other individuals who make a living doing the same hobby you’re passionate about? If you’re a writer at heart, do you see other people making money writing?

There are dozens of blogs starting up every day. Some make it, some fail. It is important to do your research, figure out everything that you need to know to turn your hobby into your career path. It is not easy to build the foundation. But, is it better to work a 9-5, or earn money doing something that you love?

Transforming Your Hobby Into A Career Path

Great, so you have done your due diligence, and guess what? It is indeed possible to turn your hobby into your dream career. But how can you do this?

Well, the first step is building your brand image. This includes creating social media accounts for your new business and posting consistently on these platforms to build your audience. But the most important part is creating a website, which portrays what you offer, and why potential customers want your service or product.

What To Consider When Building A Website

The biggest expense that you have when starting up is building up your website. Well, not in the way that you are thinking. Thanks to WordPress, you no longer need to dump thousands of dollars to get an elegant website designed. But you do need to find a suitable domain and the fastest WordPress hosting service you can locate to improve user experience.

These two services ensure that your customers can enter a digital address to actually find your website and that your website is accessible. After all, you could offer the greatest service out there – but if no one knows about you, how are you going to bring in those clients?

One way to do it to build up your on-site content. Answer relevant questions and gain readers on a blog, and find ways to convert them. It’s super simple to do as long as you go after customers where it makes sense. For example, it makes sense that a financial automation software company describes electronic invoicing or that a bankruptcy lawyer writes about bankruptcy. It also makes sense to describe your products. A company that makes a disaster recovery tool should describe how it works. A disability attorney should lay out who qualifies for Social Security benefits.

Too many businesses get cute with their content, when they should be focusing on cornerstone pieces that describe what they actually do. If  you “trick” people into landing on your page for non-relevant topics, it only plummets your conversion rate.

Never Stop Learning

Now, as we mentioned starting up your own business is not “easy”. It takes time, it takes determination, and it removes the sense of security that you get in your 9-to-5 job. But once you make it, it will be worth it.

The important thing to remember is that there are always others offering the same service, but better. There is always room for improvement regardless of the hobby. That is why it is important to hone your craft. If you consistently get better at doing something you love, your business only stands to benefit from it.

Find Mentors To Learn From

Unless you are the spark of a storm, there will be others that decided to take the same leap of faith that you are thinking about. There are probably a bunch of individuals who have already turned your hobby into their careers. Why not make them your mentors? Get in touch with them, learn how they got to where they are today.

Remember, everyone started with nothing. Learning from others in the same, or similar fields will help you pivot your newfound career path into a sustainable, profitable enterprise. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Most of the time, people enjoy helping others.

So, what are you waiting for? The choice to transform your mundane life into a life where you earn money doing what you love. It’s merely a matter of putting your foot in the door before it closes.

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Wondering how your competitors are using Social Media? Discover how much time marketers spend on social media channels, what social media channels they use for marketing their products and services to get the maximum returns and much more. This article provides detailed information on the various ways small and mid-level organizations and startups can use the social media channels for business advertising.

It’s the best feeling, isn’t it? The thought of monetizing your startup business in just a few days?

You earn substantial subscribers, viewers, which may run into potential revenues and millions of dollars. As most people recognize the power of social media, they want to see more engaging and stimulating branding and advertising efforts from you. Without a doubt, today’s audience is smart and to cater to this intelligent audience, brilliant marketing strategies need to be identified. And social media is the best pick here.

If you dig deep into the latest stats on how much businesses can benefit from social media marketing channels and strategies, you’ll be surprised to know that:

  • There are around 2.80 billion global social media users in 2017, equaling 37% penetration
  • Facebook is reaching 2 billion monthly active users
  • More than 50 million small businesses are now using Facebook Pages to connect with their audience
  • There is a total of 328 million active users on Twitter
  • There are 1.5 billion logged-in YouTube monthly active users
  • Global social media advertising budgets have doubled over the past two years- from $16 billion U.S. in 2014 to $31 billion in 2016
  • A Cisco study estimated that mobile video traffic will account for 75% of total mobile traffic by 2020
  • 56% of B2C marketers have indicated that Facebook ads have helped them in generating revenue for their business, as per a report by MarketingProfs.

Now that the figures absolutely favor the social media channels becoming the driving force for all businesses in this digital world, it’s time to create a space for your consumers and users to feel special. However, as easy as it may seem to use digital media platforms for marketing and advertising your products and services, it requires a game plan. A right foot forward at the right time is the key to capturing the biggest market out there on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest, SlideShare.

The major reason behind all this is that rather than the advertiser promoting the brand or service, if your family or friend or colleague has shared the content with you, it provides an implied endorsement. And that’s what the social media advertising is all about; thus, it’s winning everywhere.

We have gathered data from the various sources on the internet and from various business interviews of social media experts, business leaders and entrepreneurs who have in real achieved the little and more success through social media marketing. Rather than just expert’s sayings, we’ve focused on real-time successes- includingnew businesses- who have now become brands. Here’s the advice from them.

Influencer Marketing

As social media has around 2.80 billion active users, 70% of them prefer brands that are extensively visible to them whenever they are online from desktop, laptop or their mobile. It’s simple, post illustrative and relating content in the form of blogs, images, videos, infographics, slideshows to share fresh information about your brand or services. One thing that has to be kept in mind while advertising your product on social media channels is that millennials hold brands more accountable on social media. That said, develop campaigns that attract the teenagers and millennials.

L’Oréal Paris signed up five influencers to create its own ‘fashion squad,’ in an attempt to maintain a different relationship with influencers and simultaneously reach out to the large audiences. If you haven’t heard of it yet, Influencer Marketing is like recognizing individuals who can influence the potential buyers. It’s like finding and targeting those people who have been following the brand with no break.

Earlier, brands used celebrity marketing but now they are moving to ‘everyday customers’ who are present on social media and influence a massive audience present on the platforms.

We have rejigged our investment from traditional media to social media and influencers and we are seeing a positive impact, especially when it comes to make-up,” said Adrien Koskas, L’Oréal Paris’ General Manager for the UK.

Through their influencer marketing campaign, they’ve pushed the common beauty bloggers as selected from across the globe who could share trend advice, write product recommendation, share video content on makeup tips and run their own YouTube channel on using L’Oréal Paris products. The brand had witnessed amazing response as a result of influencer marketing. It had hit 100 million impressions.

It’s just that these advocates need to be genuine. You don’t need to pay them for endorsing your brand because paid influencers are more like advertising banners- that the audience is not interested to believe in. Consumers know it when you’ve used a paid influencer for your marketing initiatives. This is also why  we sometimes use free video downloaders from ytmp3 to get the latest YouTube videos for free, as we like how the site works.

Opt for Paid Packages by Advertising Channels

A wonderful example is of teenagers in Macedonia, who during this year’s presidential election in the US, started a fake news channel and popularized it among the US audience via Facebook. They had made a substantial living from Facebook advertising. See what they did:

Goran (not his real name) is one among hundreds of Macedonian teenagers who are working to develop a cottage industry in the small city of Veles that tossed up the fake pro-Trump news after the US election campaign. He began to put sensational stories that were usually plagiarized- where he actually copy-pasted various articles from news or magazines, gave them a catchy headline of his own, paid Facebook to share it with the US (target) audience that was crazy for Trump news.

Once those readers started reading, liking and sharing the news on Facebook, Goran began earning revenues from this advertising trick. Goran shared the details and said he could make about 1800 Euros from this in one month.

Though this fake thing may not sound lawful to some of you (but the peddling of false news on lookalike American news sites is not illegal by law) but if we just focus on the marketing technique, that’s what can really help you.

Go for paid advertising packages of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter because that’ll give you the most concentrated audience. Choose engaging and catchy content that will pull readers to your post.

And yes, if your kid had made 20,000 euros a month with this fake news campaign, would it hurt you?

Find the Right Groups to Post

As per Chris Brogan, the Group Function is where the magic begins. Because it’s like building communities and bringing all the people together on one platform, who share similar interests and preferences. Chris Brogan’s tip, “The business value is to help people see where they belong. It’s a big value indeed. And the one that companies can tap into.”

Be it Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, a group methodology works well everywhere. Companies can definitely highlight their brand and show that they care about their consumers by providing a close-knit community or forum of their loyal and potential customers. They can actually exchange valuable insights with each other and at the same time, gain popularity as a brand name on the most popular social media channels, that too from genuine consumers.

One thing that’s important to note here is that you should always find the right groups to post in. Irrelevant grouping and promotion of your brand lead to no leads. You need to ensure that your post is seen and liked by thousands of people who will be interested- and thus, they will share it with their friends.

Move forward with a more emotional campaign

If you’re from this world, it doesn’t really matter that you live in America, Asia, Dubai or London, the audience out there on social media is emotional and sentimental. They love videos that leave an ‘aww’ expression in the end. Nothing is quite acceptable as an emotion that people share on an everyday basis, with their friends, children, parents, grandparents or neighbors.

Pampers, the world’s famous diapers brand, did nothing but focused on the compelling aspect of caring for a newborn. Realizing that diaper changing is not an appealing activity to the audience, especially on social media where people look for glamorous, attractive and wondrous services, products and news, the company’s marketing team nailed it by pinning down the emotions of a mother/father while they give the best care to their bundle of joy.

As a part of their social media campaign, Pampers created heartwarming videos and posted on all digital channels, with a message that baby-poop is not a headache but is the time to develop and nurture a special bond between the baby and the parents.

Likewise, many X and Y brands and small-sized enterprises have surfaced social media platforms with excellent social media strategies. And they’ve earned positive results and higher returns. Having said that, some of them monetized through social media a lot quicker than others

If you have a marketing story to share with us, please write to us in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you.

Reshape your relationships with your customers using social media marketing. It’s time for you to learn how your favorite brands have taken the toll in social media marketing.

Social Media Marketing has become an essential component of modern-day marketing strategy as it lets the marketers to connect with their users personally and build a more emotional brand identity. Follow my blog with Bloglovin