How To Start A Successful Online Business In Nigeria
Starting an online business is definitely one of the best choices you’d make in 2021. With the massive hit of the coronavirus pandemic, it was reported that there was massive job loss, and subsequently, the rate of unemployment increased.
Starting an online business would therefore seem to be the right thing to do. Perhaps you might want to start an online business as a means of getting residual income. It has been proven that people with just one stream of income tend to remain poor compared to those with multiple income streams.
Another great feature of starting an online business is the flexibility and freedom it gives. With an online business, you can be flexible with your time and schedules.
Unlike our everyday remote offline businesses where your presence is always needed. With these features in place, it is no news that many people have made a huge amount of money from their online business, which has given the online industry a lot of attention, with a lot of people trying to start an online business.
Therefore in this post, we will share ten steps you need to follow to start your online business today.
How to start a successful online business in Nigeria
Let start with step one:
1. Identify A Problem You Want To Solve
Am sure we’ve heard this a lot of times. The fact is, no matter how much you hear it, it is still the basic truth.
The first step to starting your online business is to sit and identify the problems people face every day. It literally could be anything.
You need to sit and think strategically. The problem could be from any area of our lives. Many successful businesses across Nigeria and the world at large all identified a problem, created solutions, and were paid for their solution.
2. Write Your Business Plan
You have identified the problem, and now it is time to write out a business plan. Planning basically involves deciding in advance what to do and how to do it. Planning helps give you a direction you would like to follow.
You can decide to hire a professional to draft a business plan for you, or you can do it on your own. The important thing is making sure you have a well-drafted business plan before moving to the next step.
3. Register Your Business
This is where you need to visit the corporate bodies responsible for registering businesses in Nigeria. You need to choose a name for your business and register your business. This gives you the license you need to operate adequately.
It also gives you credibility, as people will likely want to do business with a registered online business compared to the one not registered.
4. Get A Domain Name
Your business domain name is exactly the name you used in registering your business. Avoid using a different name for both.
That’s why it is advisable you find out if the name you are going to use is available before registration. Your domain name should also be straightforward to remember.
You don’t want to get a domain name that is complicated and not easy to remember. Popular domain names include; www.Facebook.com, www.jumia.com, www.jiji.com.
5. Get A Website
The next thing you need to do is to create a website for your online business. Your website will perform the same function a physical store would perform to an offline business.
Your website will therefore serve as a point where you can transact your business. If it would be a store, you can consider creating an eCommerce site using WordPress.
If you can’t handle the technicality of creating a website, you should hire a professional. People will search for your business on Google, and that is why having a website is important.
It allows your business to appear on Google, and that builds your online credibility.
6. Get Web Hosting
Next, you need to host your website. This will enable your domain name to be accessible online. Your website is hosted online gives you the credibility your business needs to transact business online.
There are many hosting companies that you can choose from online with great services and customer care services. You can choose foreign hosting companies or Nigerian hosting companies. Some include Bluehost, GoDaddy, DomainKing, and much more.
7. Set up A Payment System
Next, you need to find a way to set up a payment system where you will receive payment for the transaction made on your website.
First, you need to register on a payment platform that is fast and reliable. Once you’ve registered, you need to hire a web developer who will integrate the payment system on your website.
Do make sure whichever payment system you choose is fast and reliable. You don’t want to make it hard for customers to pay you, or you will likely lose them.
Some payment gateways like Paystack and Flutterwave are some examples of good options to choose from.
8. Set up Your Social Media Outlet
Social media has millions of people on it, interacting daily. You possibly won’t want to miss out on the opportunities it provides.
You need to hire a social media manager who will create and oversee all your social media outlets. This will give your business more credibility, as people will likely trust you more since you have a wide social media presence.
Having your business on different social media outlets is very Paramount to the success of your online business.
9. Consistently Post High-Quality Content
Since your business will be online, you need to have a good content marketing strategy. You need to unload valuable and informative content on your website always consistently.
If you run an eCommerce store, you need to make sure you list your products with a short informative description.
If you run a blog, make sure you upload high-quality blog posts at least twice a week. Making your content rich in quality will make your content rank on Google search, and that means more traffic to your website, which equals more sales.
10. Strategies Money Making Means
The whole idea of running a business is to make a profit. Therefore while you’ve set up your business, you need to strategize means to make money from your business.
If you run a store, you can make money through sales, affiliate marketing, putting up ads, and many more. If you run a blog, you can make money through Google AdSense, affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, and direct advertising.
Making money online will largely depend on the niche you are in. Once you’ve discovered your niche, you need to find means through which you can make money.
In Conclusion
Starting an online business might not come so easy. We have been used to reading success stories of people making it big online, but no one really knows the number of times these guys failed.
That being said, you must understand that having an online business will require a lot of time and hard work before you hit the bullseyes.
You must, therefore, also understand that failing is part of the process. When you fail to achieve your goals, you should not give up but keep pushing, and surely you’d hit the group running with your online business.
