The 2 Crucial But Often Neglected Aspects Of Online Business
There are a number of reasons why most people are not successful with home based businesses
, but in my opinion there are two CRUCIAL areas that are often overlooked and taken for granted as not particularly important. Both of these areas are related to testing and measuring what works and what doesn't work to get a business working profitably.The first area is a fairly obvious one but it is amazing how many people are lazy and ignorant of it. Any successful business (online or offline) keeps proper records of both it's expenses and revenue in order for it to be able to accurately measure if the company is actually making a profit. The problem is that most people involved in online business have very little business experience, and tend to keep the entire cashflow pattern in their heads.
Even at its most basic level an Excel spreadsheet can keep track of what the business is spending it money on, how much the business is making in sales, and more importantly if there is actually a profit at the end of each month. It is recommended though to use a proper software package and to take this part of your business seriously. All expenses and revenue should be categorised to give you a better overall picture of how much money each area of the business is either generating or spending.
Another common mistake most people make is to mix their business and personal bank accounts into the same account. This is not a good idea as your business activities need to be kept completely separate to your personal financial records for both tax reasons, and also to be able to easily identify what is a personal expense or a business expense. A real business always has a separate bank account used only for business purposes.
The second overlooked area of online business is that most people don't bother to track their marketing efforts. Each marketing campaign that you launch needs to have 3 vital statistics to be able to identify if that campaign is working, and therefore is profitable. The three vital statistics are as follows:
a) Number of clicks (or hits) on the advertisement which actually takes the prospect to your landing page
b) The number of people that are providing their email addresses in your capture form. Or, more importantly the conversion rate of people that are visiting your landing page and then opting in with their contact details.
c) The number of sales that you are making from the campaign. Or, more importantly the conversion rate of people who have opted in to your list and have then gone on to become customers by buying your products.
You absolutely must track these statistics, and then from the statistics you need to determine your marketing strategy going forward. If you are not getting much traffic to your landing page you will need to work on smart and cost effective ways of getting people to your landing page. If you are getting a lot of traffic but not many leads, then that is telling you that your landing poor is poorly written or set up. If you are getting a lot of leads but not many sales then that is telling you that your sales funnel and your offer is not enticing enough to your prospects.
In some cases you may decide to pull out of a particular campaign and try something else, or you may decide to optimise your campaign to get better results. I guess the main point of this article is that people need to treat their businesses like a business, and in turn make the profits of a real business. Accurate financial records and marketing statistics will enable you to make smart well informed decisions to weed out things that are not working, and to improve on the things that are working.
The 2 Crucial But Often Neglected Aspects Of Online Business
By: Scott C Dudley How Important Is Setting Goals In Business? Directory Submission for Proliferating One's Online Business About Printing Business Cards How To Use Video Marketing To Promote Your Business The Various Phases of Business Proposal Analysis of Statement of Cash Flow - Vital Aspect In The Process Of Financial Planning Cash Gifting: What it Should Be Diverse Characteristics of Business Invoice Form Why Giving Your Salon A Makeover Will Do Wonders For Your Business Learn the Basics to Write Great Content for Legitimate Online Businesses Why do businesses find themselves in difficulty? How to Get Motivated in Freelancing Business Printer Ink Glossary: Printer Ink & Toner Terminology for the Small Business Owner