Online business is one of the most popular nowadays. All of this cannot be separated from technology that is increasingly sophisticated and provides convenience in every line of life, including shopping.
How to start an online business is actually easy, you just have to adjust it to each person and what is the main goal.
However, for students and students, starting an online business is not easy. The reason is, these two groups have minimal capital, making it difficult to develop the business they run.
The strength is only from the enthusiasm and creativity that is possessed, although not all of it.
There are quite a lot of advantages of online business than conventional business. You don’t need a special space to run it.
The point is a store if you run an online business in the field of sales. In addition, the reach is wider and even reaches the international level. In contrast to conventional businesses that only reach the surrounding area.
How to Start an Online Business from Scratch
Actually, an online business does not require large capital like a conventional one. Capital reductions can be seen from not needing a special place and cheap promotion costs.
But of course you have to know how to start an online business from scratch for these students and students!
1. Set Business Goals
Everyone certainly has different goals regarding every thing that is done. This also applies to online business activists who are just starting their business.
Some people do business because it’s just a hobby, there are also those who want to fill their spare time instead of having nothing to do at home.
But most people who struggle to start a business have a goal of wanting to succeed.
This is the question, what kind of success do you want to be? Is having a lot of money and getting rich? Having goals is very important to motivate and encourage business people to move and work hard.
2. Willing to Learn and Confident
The next way to start an online business from scratch is to be willing to learn and be confident. No need to feel that you are smart and fully understand the business being run.
Assume that you are new and need to learn from others. It’s not difficult to study business today, many sites provide useful tips that can be used as references.
Apart from that, it is also important to feel confident that you can run and be successful from an online business that is being run.
Low self-esteem results in businesses breaking up in the middle of the road. Even though it is said to be easy, the fact is that there are many obstacles that might hinder your successful journey.
3. Find Trending Ideas
After you are sure of the two things above, continue to find ideas that are trending. There are separate reasons why it has to be a trend, because not all business ideas are valid forever.
There are times when it sinks due to time consuming and also the emergence of other new ideas. The idea in question does not have to invent new products, but also the idea of offering services.
In today’s digital era, of course, it’s not too difficult to find a suitable idea to turn into a business.
An example is that it was trending some time ago regarding the offer of caption writing services on social media. Simple and simple, but still has the opportunity to make a profit.
4. Observe Market Needs
Observing market integrity is one of the most important ways to start an online business from scratch. You’ll never know what the market needs at that time if you don’t look at it first.
Say if you are promoting a beverage product, but it turns out that what the market needs at that time is food.
Because you are currently running an online business, research can also be done online. Use a search engine for research purposes, or you can also use social media.
Make sure you enter the right keywords according to the online business idea you have. If you are still unsure, do a market survey using social media.
5. Understand Product Characteristics
After you have a business idea that will be marketed, whether in the form of a product or service, proceed with understanding it first.
For all sellers, understanding the characteristics of the product is obligatory to answer questions about prospective buyers. Understand every detail of the product, especially the advantages.
Every answer to potential consumers try to make them interested. To learn about it, please read the flyer that is on the packaging if you are selling goods.
In addition, try to find references on the internet regarding the product in question. The best way to understand the characteristics of a product is to try it first.
6. Competitor Identification
Next is identifying competitors as a way to start an online business from scratch. It’s okay to be confident in the products being marketed, but you still have to know who your competitors are and what strategies are being implemented.
Find out what their strengths and weaknesses are, whether there is an opportunity to become a competitor or a threat.
Please imitate what are the advantages, make it an opportunity to seize consumers from their shortcomings. For example, they excel in terms of service, please emulate them by providing good service too.
Likewise in terms of discounts, you should imitate it to compete for consumers. However, don’t just copy it exactly, a little modification is needed as a characteristic of the business you are running.
7. Build Branding
Building a brand is very important in the business world to gain customer loyalty. Everyone will know your product by themselves if the brand has been formed, even though they are no longer promoting.
A simple example is a mineral water product which is still called Aqua even though the brand is different.
It’s not easy and it takes a long time to do this. But at least you try while running your online business. One of the easiest ways is to have a website according to the products offered.
Prices for website creation also vary, depending on the domain and hosting package chosen.
8. Maintain Product Quality
The next way to start an online business from scratch is to maintain product quality. Do not let consumers be disappointed with the products you offer.
Quality is important to attract and gain consumer loyalty. Even with quality that is always maintained, your product gets free promotion by word of mouth.
Many large companies are unable to maintain consistency in the quality of their products. Surely you have known several products that have different tastes or benefits from the first time they appeared.
Do not let you make these mistakes which result in decreased old customer loyalty and difficulty getting new customers.
9. Promotion on Social Media
The biggest difficulty for online businesses for students and students is in terms of promotion.
This relates to the capital mentioned earlier in that these two groups mostly have minimal capital. But that doesn’t mean you have to ignore it, because promotion is very important in introducing your product or service.
Promotion is the heart of a company, which is certain to die without doing it. As a solution, please take advantage of each social media that you have.
If necessary, there’s nothing wrong with a little advertising to help increase sales. The price of advertising on social media is not too expensive, usually calculated for each conversion or every click.
Recommended Online Business Ideas for Students and Students
To make it easier to practice after learning how to start an online business from scratch above, we next provide some online business ideas for students and students.
You don’t have to take the ideas we provide, just use them as inspiration or modify them with other ideas.
✦ Dropshippers
A trending and interesting online business idea to try is to become a Dropshipper.
Almost no capital is required if you cultivate it. One important thing that is needed is promotion. You can take advantage of social media in this regard. Dropshipper is a method of selling other people’s goods with an agreed percentage of profits.
That is, you do not need to buy the product beforehand. Simply promote the goods after you have done market research, then contact the seller if there are consumers who buy.
Like the tips mentioned above, please do market research first to choose the right product.
✦ Resellers
Many people misunderstand what is meant by a reseller. Most of them think that resellers are the same as dropship sales systems, even though they are very different. If the dropship didn’t require you to have the product first, this time it’s the opposite.
How to start an online business from scratch with a reseller is actually the same as the method mentioned above.
The essence of the reseller itself is to sell goods obtained from other sellers who are referred to as suppliers. A few additional tips, try to find suppliers who provide lots of discounts to reduce capital and get lots of benefits.
✦ Design Services
Online business doesn’t have to be related to products, right? Online business ideas in the form of services also promise big profits, one of which is design services.
The capital needed is only a set of computers equipped with supporting software to make the design in question.
✦ Translation Services
If you master a foreign language, there’s nothing wrong with opening a translation service. Many parties need this service for certain purposes. Usually those in need are used for website or blog posts.
You can set your own rate terms, whether per sheet or per hundred words. But before that, make sure you have identified your competitors.
After knowing several ways to start an online business from scratch for students and students above, are you ready to start it now? Actually there are other tips, but the above is the most important as a first step.
In starting an online business, always pay attention to the intention and willingness to always learn.
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