So You’re Starting a New Business? 5 Things To Be Successful

Congrats! Starting a business is a big step and a lot of work. We know because we’ve done it ourselves. We have lots of entrepreneurs and people who want to start a side hustle and contact us about services.

But before you can even think about hiring anyone to assist with your projects, you need to get your business off the ground first.

That’s why we aim to help you here today with some high-quality free advice to kickstart your new business or side hustle. Let’s get started.

1. Choose a Domain Name

If you’re starting a business, after you have a name, you need a domain name. A domain name is your address on the internet. It’s how people will find you online.

Your domain name should be short, easy to remember, and easy to spell. If you can get a .com domain, that’s ideal. But if your desired .com is taken, don’t worry – there are plenty of other options like .net, .io, or .co.

You can check the availability of domains using a service like Google Domains, Hover or GoDaddy.

godaddy

To learn more about where we suggest registering your domain name, read our article, Where should you register/transfer your domain name?

2. Logo Design

When you’re just starting out, you can probably throw something together to use for the short term for your logo. Again, it’s not your logo that is going to make or break your new venture. It’s going to be your hustle, marketing, and quality of your service/product.

Again, if you have some money to invest in a quality logo design, then plan to budget at least $2500 to have it done right.

To learn more, read Why great logo design costs more than $100.

3. Minimum viable product for website

When you’re starting out, it’s also not your website that is going to make or break your business, it’s your product or service. So don’t overthink it, or spend too much money on your website upfront.

You need a website to give your business credibility and to be able to sell online. But it doesn’t need to be perfect.

In fact, you don’t even need a website at all to start. You should actually focus on your product or service and get that right first. You can always add a website later.

There are plenty of DIY options for building a website on a budget like Wix, Squarespace, or Weebly, too, which is perfectly suitable for getting started.

wix

If you have a budget and are looking to invest some money to have it done right, you should budget at least $5-7k for a basic website and $10-15k for a basic eCommerce website.

Read on to see Why professional websites cost more than $1000.

Or, if you want to work with a pro, learn How to find a top-rated web designer.

4. Marketing Strategy

More important than your website is your marketing strategy. You can always start with a barebone logo or website, but seriously think through your marketing strategy. Because that is what’s going to make or break your business. Here are a few tips:

  • Make a plan. You need to put together a solid plan for how you’re going to reach your target market and get them interested in your product or service.
  • Tell a good story that resonates with your audience.
  • Include some key performance indicators or KPIs. This will help you measure your success and make necessary adjustments along the way.
  • Utilize content marketing. This is a great way to reach your target market without breaking the bank. You can start a blog, create infographics or helpful guides, or even record videos.

For some quick tips, read our articles on:

5. Marketing Ideas

Beyond strategy, you need to implement solid marketing ideas as well. But it’ll be made up of advertising and SEO, primarily.

Think of it this way, Google Ads are like a microwave and SEO is like a crockpot. Google Ads will give you instant results that SEO will take longer to heat up, but the results from SEO will be more sustainable over time.

You’ll want to utilize Google Ads for pay-per-click advertising as well as social media marketing consistently to build your online reputation

google ads

Use SEO to get your website ranked higher for important keywords. You’ll want to focus on both on-page SEO as well as off-page SEO.

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to SEO, but if you’re just getting started, here are some basics:

  • On-Page SEO: This is everything you can do ON your website to help improve your ranking, like using the right keywords, having quality content, and making sure your website is mobile-friendly.
  • Off-Page SEO: This is everything you can do OFF your website to help improve your ranking, like building backlinks, promoting your content, and getting social media shares.

Learn more about How to Write SEO Optimized Page Content.

Achieving New Business Success is Within Reach

If you have limited resources to get your business going, that’s okay. You just need to use some sweat equity to build a barebones logo and website and launch it that way to get started. Once you experience some success, you can always expand a bit. And if you have a budget to get your new business started, awesome! We’d love to work with you. Contact us or request a quote so we can get started today.

We focus on beautiful web design that delivers results for your organization. Our specialty is creating customized WordPress websites.

About Us

Johnny Flash Productions

Johnny Flash Productions is a creative agency based outside of Washington D.C. that focuses on digital strategy, web design and development, graphic design and event production that helps businesses get better results from their marketing.