Technology today has made it more possible for women at home with their children to also run successful online businesses. With the help of the internet, many stay-at-home mums start their businesses selling products, joining affiliate marketing, or even go on to sell services from their acquired skills.  

If you’re a stay-at-home mum, or a mum on maternity leave looking for other options, and want to learn how to start an online business while in the comforts of your home, then this article is for you. Below is a simple guide on how you can begin your business venture. 

Step 1: Create A Business Plan 

Before you spend money on materials or build a website, first, you need to create a business plan. A business plan for an online business establishes what the company is about and how you can make money from your business.  

The importance of a business plan for entrepreneurship is how effectively it crystallises what type of support you require to establish your brand, who your competitors are, how you’ll market your products, and who you’re planning to sell your goods or services to. Your business plan will also help you know what you need to spend on for your business. Things you should spend on may include the cost of manufacturing your products, eco-friendly packaging, logistics, website building, maintenance, and advertising.  

If you’re planning to loan money to start your business, you should also have a business plan in place. For lenders, a good business plan can help them make larger loans or provide greater financing terms. These terms are typically long-term and related to the amount of capital that they plan to lend. Also, you should think about types of loans you’re going to offer. This will help you better understand the needs and pain points of your potential borrowers. Are you going to provide emergency cash for single moms, issue regular personal loans, or offer revolving lines of credit? Your answer will affect your further business strategy.

Step 2: Build A Website 

When you hear the word online business, you automatically think of having an e-commerce website. An e-commerce website, as you can define it, is a website that enables you to purchase and sell physical goods, digital goods, or services online. 

Good e-commerce websites must be designed around the business model of the site. This means that you will need a good e-commerce website design, combined with content that is well-written, informative, and easy to navigate. If you’re unsure of the basics of website design and don’t know where to begin, then you can click here to view several online tutorials to help get you started. It’s also essential to take a close look at the customer service that will be provided. If your services are fast, friendly, and knowledgeable, it’ll give your businesses a huge advantage over your competitors. 

Step 3: Drive Traffic To Your Site 

After building your website, you need to drive traffic, so many people will see the products or services you’re selling. There are many ways to market your business, and one of the most popular ways of driving traffic to your site is through social media marketing. The benefit of using social media to promote your site is by creating a free account and joining communities or groups where you can share with other people the details about your business. 

Social media includes Facebook, Twitter, and various other social sites that allow you to build relationships with others. Some of these social media outlets will allow you to post links to your products online. Others will allow you to post comments and interact with others in a very targeted way. This is by far one of the best methods on how to start an online business because you can reach thousands of people in a short period. 

Step 4: Build Customer Relationships 

Once you have a substantial traffic volume to your site, you should start building and maintaining customer relationships. One of the ways to build relationships with your customers is to build a customer loyalty program.  

A customer loyalty program is an advertising strategy designed to encourage consumers to continue using or shopping at a company related to the program. It’s a type of reward program that offers an incentive for purchases made by a customer. It may come in the form of cash, gift cards, or discounts on purchases. This can be a great way to encourage repeat business as well as build brand awareness. As with many aspects of customer experience, there are a few things that you can use that can help you measure the effectiveness of your loyalty program (you can go here to learn about some of them) so that you can work out what has been successful, and what you may wish to adjust for the future. Many companies believe that a customer loyalty program can be very effective for increasing sales and profits.

Summary 

As a stay-at-home mum, there are many ways you can earn money online and run a successful business whilst also caring for your children, this doesn’t mean it’s easy. Before you can start working on your business, you need to create a business plan to see what you need to do and what are the things that you need to spend on for your business to thrive. Next, you need to build an e-commerce website if your plan involves selling products or services.  

Once you’ve built your website, you need to drive traffic to it and increase your brand visibility through different marketing methods like social media marketing. Lastly, it would help if you built relationships with your customers to have a loyal following and benefit from getting positive reviews from them.  

Would you like to start your own business from home? I’d love to hear more about it.