How to Grow Your Business Online: Five Important Things To Start Doing Right Now

The biggest business challenge clients have when they come to me is getting more leads, more clients and more money. They think a new website will help with this problem –and they’re not wrong, but a website is just the beginning.

You can have the most strategic, high-converting website in the world, but it can’t do it’s job if you’re not taking consistent action to grow your business online. Here’s are five things you can do to get started.

#1 Get a website

I know I just wrote that a website is just the beginning, but it’s a critical beginning! You absolutely need your own website if you’re planning to grow your business online. I know people can start their businesses, and gain quite a bit of traction using just a social media platform, but at some point you’ll need a digital home.

A website helps you do things like add people to your email list as well as help people get to know like and trust you (so they’ll be more likely to hire you).

Last but certainly not least, your website is a piece of digital real estate you own.

You’re not renting it from someone else as with social media. All of the major social media platforms can and do change their algorithms. Rightly or wrongly social media companies can throw you off their platforms, but your website is yours.

#2 Start a mailing list

Every smart person I’ve heard read, listened to or heard speak says the same thing. You need a mailing list. You know why they say this? Because it’s true!

This is the most direct connection you can have to your community.

I know it can feel daunting. You may be thinking: What should I write about in my email newsletter? Won’t sending people emails all the time feel spammy? Won’t I be bothering people?

You just have to get started here’s a post with some ideas for getting you started with with your email newsletter .

The key to email marketing that isn’t experienced as spam is having a solid understanding of your ideal client.

What are her problems? Her hopes and fears? If you address these feelings in your emails, with authenticity, personality and in a spirit of service, your mails won’t be spam and your people will be happy to see your newsletter arrives in their inboxes.

#3 Start creating content

This may be hard to hear, but if you’re a business owner and you want to grow it using the internet, you’re also a content marketer.

At first you may have to do this yourself. In fact I’d argue you should spend at least a year creating your own content. Once you get your brand voice and style nailed, you can start to think about outsourcing it, if you want to go that route.

However if you’re a business owner, I’d argue regular writing is a good business practice, not just marketing practice. Writing helps you clarify where you want to go with your business and that is almost always evolving.

But first and foremost, yes, writing is excellent for marketing.

“My own experience leads me to believe writing online is the single best way to accelerate your career.”
Nathan Barry, Founder ConvertKit

You’ll need to give your writing (or content creation efforts) a good chunk of time to see what kind of content resonates with your audience. My favorite way to create content is by blogging. There are a lot of very good reasons why blogging is good for business.

Personally I love the immediacy of publishing posts on my own blog, and I love to write.

If you think blogging might be right for you, a good place to start if you want to learn more and get better at it, is by taking the ‘Make Money With Your Blog’ * course from my friend Christy Price.

It’s billed as a guide to affiliate marketing with your blog – and it is, but it’s also a great starting point on how to blog effectively, especially if you’re blogging on Squarespace.

On the other hand, if blogging sounds awful to you, don’t do it. There are other regular ways to create content like a YouTube channel or Podcasting or even quarterly case studies.

The important this is to be consistent about creating your content, regardless of your chosen medium. Nothing says ‘dilettante’ more than an abandoned podcast or a blog that hasn’t been posted to in months or years.

Not creating content is not an option. If you choose you can eventually farm this task out, there is an entire industry of ghost content writers, but this isn’t cheap and it’s usually not an option for business owners in their first couple of years in business.

#4 Get offline

Sometimes to grow online you need to get offline. Two obvious ways to do this are networking and public speaking.

I’m writing in this in the early spring of 2022, so we’re not quite done with Covid. But global pandemics aside, meeting people face to face is still a great way to make contacts and get yourself and your business ‘out there’.

Networking doesn’t have to be tedious, find more intimate groups of people you resonate with. Reach out to people you find interesting and have a coffee chat. I found Dorie Clarks short guide, ’Stand Out Networking’ extraordinarily helpful for thinking about creative ways to network that felt right to me.

Pro tip: Carry business cards with a QR code that points to your website. Bonus points if it goes to a landing page where people can sign up for your mailing list.

If public speaking is something you’re interested, put together a talk that resonates with your target audience and give it anywhere you can. Meet-ups, Chamber of Commerce events and conferences are great for getting in front of people, and getting the word out about your business.

#5 Do something remarkable

What do I mean by remarkable? Just that, it’s noticeable enough that it gets other people to remark on it.

For example, my friend Keltie, launched her clarity coaching practice with something she called ‘100 days of Clarity’. She gave away 100 free 30 minute sessions of clarity coaching (and then cleverly turned her insights into a podcast!).

It was a great way to get her name out there when she was getting her coaching business off the ground. Sometimes you have to put a little ‘sweat equity’ into your business and offer things for free.

I offer ‘Ask Me Anything’ sessions - mostly because I enjoy doing them - but also because it keeps my name out there and invites people to an event where we can get to know one another and I’m offering something valuable (my time and expertise).

What can you do that will get people talking? Think of something that isn’t gimmicky. You want to make sure you’re offering or doing something that people might actually want that isn’t a sales pitch (make that explicit).

At a loss for ideas? check out Google Trends and see what’s trending in your niche.

Want to have a longer discussion with me on how to grow your business online?
The best way to start is with a fit call: