Planning for future growth is vital to the livelihood of your online business. Business owners who want to be successful need to always be prepared to face exponential growth head-on. If you are one of them, you should be aware that preparing your online business for exponential growth takes time and effort. Luckily, it’s completely doable and not as difficult as you might think.
In fact, scaling an online business can be much easier than trying to grow a brick-and-mortar operation. The fact that your business is mostly virtual offers an infinite level of potential. Let’s look at some ways to achieve this kind of growth.
1. Use Email Outreach
With the advancement of technologies and the onset of new ways of contact, many people believe that nobody really uses emails to run or grow their business anymore. Well, they couldn’t be more wrong. Email outreach is still an excellent way for you to establish contact and grow your business.
Cold email is an awesome tool for all businesses because it is effective, affordable, and scalable. In fact, nearly 90% of marketers say that email is their primary channel for lead generation. If used the right way, cold email can help you further your opportunities and expand your client base.
2. Expand Your Content Team
When you first start a blog, you will probably be the only one doing the writing. That’s okay in the beginning when you are working to establish your brand and your reputation as an expert in your industry. But with time, you might want to ramp up your content production, and you won’t be able to because you simply don’t have the time.
This is when you should start thinking about expanding your content team. The problem is, hiring good content writers can be really expensive. Well, not necessarily. If you’re wondering how to scale a business without breaking the bank, consider collaborating with remote writers. Content writers that work remotely are convenient, accessible, and might be the perfect solution to your problem.
3. Optimize for SEO
SEO can really help your online business succeed and grow by boosting traffic and giving you more opportunities to make sales. However, organic SEO traffic doesn’t happen overnight; in fact, it can take up months before your efforts start paying off. This means that if you are already running an online business, you need to put your SEO optimization plan in action right away. Here’s what your strategy should include:
- Researching and implementing relevant keywords
- Testing your site loading speed using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights
- Producing valuable, high-quality content on a regular basis
- Reviewing your on-site optimization including site structure, internal links, social media integration, and UX
- Building off-site links by submitting your products to online reviewers who will link back to your online store
4. Create a Buzz
As your brand continues attracting traffic, it is very important to remain engaged and create a buzz for your online business.
The best place to start creating a buzz is social media, but be careful and avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket. Depending on the nature and personality of your brand, you should also consider:
- Sharing your brand story on a landing page on your site
- Running an email marketing campaign to build up your subscriber list
- Hosting a webinar where you will share your expertise on specific topics
- Collaborating with industry influencers to leverage their audience
5. Maintain Consistent Branding
Social media is also a powerful branding tool, so make sure to have this in mind when setting up your social accounts. Use the same handle on every social platform to make it easy for your clients to connect with you across all channels they’re active on. This will also be useful for you as it will be easy to remember and available on all the networks you’ll be using.
You should also consider using social media for cross-promoting in order to get your target audience connected on as many networks as possible. For instance, somebody following you on Facebook may not be connected on Instagram, which could be their preferred social platform. A simple “Connect with us on Instagram” post might be enough to get people to follow you on the photo and video platform and then engage with your future IG posts, leading to another conversion.
6. Create an Affiliate Program
Simply put, affiliates are people who promote your products and take a percentage of every sale they make. The objective is to reach audiences outside of the audience you have already grown yourself and manage to convert them to follow you and, of course, sell to those audiences.
Once you launch your product, you can leave it up to your dedicated affiliates to work on boosting your sales. Eventually, it will feel like your products are selling themselves!
7. Invest in Technology
As you scale your online business, you will need technology to support your growth. Many online businesses start with a basic platform and once they reach the ceiling, they can be left overwhelmed. Luckily, there are many technological solutions you can look into upgrading as you scale, such as:
- Automated Email Marketing Software
- Content Management Systems (CMS)
- Payment solutions (e.g. Apple Pay, PayPal, credit cards)
- Shipping and Fulfillment Software
Final Thoughts
We all dream of owning a million-dollar business, but we also know it can’t happen overnight. Scaling your online business is possible, even without having to bury yourself in hours of additional work. By employing these 7 tips, you can scale your online business and earn more all while saving time.