What does it take to be successful online? Thousands of people try doing this every year, but many fail at the attempt. What makes some businesses succeed and then falter, while others continue their success? Is there a magic formula for success as an entrepreneur? No.
There are plenty of ideas from writers, business managers, and CEO’s but no one knows all the answers. It’s a challenge every day.
Identifying the Common Factors
There is no magic formula, no perfect factors that will produce success every time. But some common elements seem to be in place when it comes to successful entrepreneurs. Below you will find some of the most relevant factors that you can consider and see how well you stack up.
Knowing what you do well and what you don’t is one of the best ways to control the outcome.
What is a Digital Entrepreneur?
You’ll notice from our title that we are talking about the digital entrepreneur. What is a digital entrepreneur? It can be defined in different ways. Some people may view a digital entrepreneur as anyone who works in the digital media space and who makes a living selling digital media or downloads. Other people consider a digital entrepreneur as anyone who works online in the digital environment.
For purposes of this post, we will assume that the digital entrepreneur is any online entrepreneur who has digital assets such as websites, blogs, videos, and other content that they use to promote their brand.
Setting up Shop in a Virtual Environment
If you are going to be successful in the online environment, you have to change the way that you think of your storefront. Unlike the real world in which you have access to a brick and mortar building, an actual door, and other physical assets, a digital or online entrepreneur have only virtual assets. An online shop replaces the brick and mortar building. Your landing page replaces the real-world door. And the handshake and smile is amended by replacing your web assets.
When you consider how different the physical and digital worlds are, it takes some planning to make the transition. The ways that you win trust in the reality are far different than the ways you establish trust and credibility online.
The Key to Success?
So what is the key to success? This must come from within yourself, your talents, and your efforts. But there are plenty of tools out there to help you achieve your goals. Managing your time wisely is one skill you must master well if you are going to succeed. You have to learn to arm yourself with tools and techniques that can create a similar scenario to the real world where customers feel comfortable doing business with you.
This is achieved by creating strong digital assets such as videos, user-friendly navigation, and a friendly customer-based payment system that gives the customer priority.
When creating your online store and website, you should always consider things from the user’s perspective. Making a point to try to improve the user experience at all times will keep you moving toward a successful business model.
Characteristics of a Successful Online Entrepreneur
Now, here are our tips for being a successful online entrepreneur that will improve your relations with your clients, increase your credibility, and start you on the road to success.
1. Create a user-friendly environment. As we discussed above, you should always work on the establishment of an online environment that puts the user first. Some people refer to this as positive UX. This includes the technical design, as well as the way that it functions on the client’s behalf. Make sure all payment systems work properly, then check your navigation for both desktops and mobile devices to ensure they work the way they should.
2. Make it fun and friendly.– Since you don’t have the materials or circumstances you have in the real world, you have to create this environment using digital components such as a friendly interface, contact forms, and other assets that encourage positive interactions. One way to do this is to create coupons that people can find online in various locations to turn in for cash or a discount on some of your products.
3.Encourage engagement from interactions of customers.– Active online entrepreneurs use their blogs and social media as a way to increase the level of interactivity with their clients. By opening the way to discussion among customers, it is similar to having a real-world discussion with their clients in a physical store and allows the interchange of ideas that give you insight into what they are thinking.
4. Work on increasing your ROI.– As with any business, you should always be conscious of your return on investment. When you create digital assets such as videos, podcasts, or pay-per-click ads, always look at the total cost that you will pay for the creation of the assets, then subtract this from the income you generate to get your ROI.
Keeping your expenses at bay and only investing in things that bring you a profit is one of the most important aspects of business, whether you work in the online environment or the real world.
5. Be present everywhere. Branding is about being present everywhere. Creating Facebook profiles, YouTube videos, and blogs all contribute to your complete online presence. The more places your brand can be found, the more saturation you will have with your target audience.
6.Create brand evangelists. One of the most successful techniques that are used by successful online entrepreneurs is by having thousands of salespeople do their job for them. You can do this in some ways, including asking customers to promote your brand on social media and other locations online.
The Power of Customer Testimonials
If you have some clients who are willing to say a positive word about your brand, make sure and use them. When people see that others love your brand, they will want to find out why and they will be more likely to take in your content and websites. You need to increase your shared content if you are going to make a serious impact online with your brand. By creating incentives for sharing your content, your customers can become brand evangelists.
If you look at some of the most successful online entrepreneurs, you will see that they have developed a strong network of others who are out there preaching about their brand to increase interest in their products and services.
Creating a Sustainable Business
One of the biggest challenges that online entrepreneurs face today is in building a sustainable business. The most important thing you should do is to maintain your success and create a system that works time and time again.
Creating a successful business is not enough. You have to figure out how to keep it fresh by always adding new digital content and connecting with your target audience over and over again.
You may have to outsource some of this to others. You can do some of it yourself. But if you can achieve sustainability, you will continue to enjoy success for a long time.
Just remember that there is no secret formula for continued success, just as there is no secret formula for immediate success. You have to learn from your mistakes, adjust to the changes, and go with the flow.
Because, when it comes to entrepreneurship, anything can happen. This is true whether you work in the “real world” or the online environment. The thrill of excitement at charting your course and defining your future is too much to resist. For the entrepreneur, it’s a challenge that they cannot refuse. After all, that’s why you got into this in the first place.
The risk can be great. The mountains are insurmountable.
But when it pays off, it pays off big! Enjoy the ride.