Ideas to grow your E-business

[agentsmith]

Let's say you're now an owner of a successful website, do you think your job is over?

I doubt it, the moment something new becomes hot, you'll start seeing competitors, new rivals, even copycats

so, to stay ahead, here's my 2 cents worth...

get innovative and connect with your customers to know what they want, that way, you'll be able to improve and get them what they want before your competitor does. do surveys, give them reward for answering surveys, free this free that, the basic principle is simple, when you can be a perfect "butler" to cater their needs, and they find you to be good and professional, they'll start talking to other people they know,

advertising by word of mouth will always be one of the best marketing tricks to master, and to do it right, you need to first serve your customers right,

if you can't cater to what they need alone, partner with companies who can, do it smart and you can prevent them from taking your customers away from you, so don't worry too much about it, the imporatant thing is that you must be able to deliver what your customer wants, to generate customer satisfaction, and better if they write you reviews or testimonials, and also telling their friends about it,

then, it sort of becomes viral marketing as well, a great method to grow a database, growing your database is the same as growing your potential customers in the future when you release a new product or service

so, one phrase i learn from an international speaker, to grow your business...

"up your service!"

basically it means pretty much whatever i've said earlier. cheers

[cloud9925]

Here is another idea that just might work if done properly. If you could somehow get in contact with your competitor and possibly set up some kind of sharing or joint venture with them to where you both are promoting eachothers site then I feel that you will have a better chance at making money while possibly providing added value to your customers. If the venture becomes lucrative for you and your now new partner then you might think of joining forces in what is known as a merger.

Merging can bring together people in many ways and will ultimately add a greater value to your customers. This added value should be your ultimate goal!!

[deankinton]

but in the idea above in UK law it is illegal to join forces on a large scale (more than 2 companys)

[athmane]

I find the best way of keeping your competition at bay is to position yourself as an authority in your field.

Let's say you sell coin collection software. Instead of viewing your business as a purely sell-oriented excercise, you should branch out into educating your audience and offering quality information. You could have a section in your website where you offer free information about starting your own coin collection, selling your existing one, a guide to coin values and prices etc. Launch a newsletter to offer tips, news and information about everything related to coin collection. Compile a free e-book about a topic related to coin collection - for instance, "how to start your own coin collection without spending a fortune" type of information product - and distribute it for free.
Your audience will come to view you as an "expert" in your subject, and will trust your judgement, recommendations and even sales pitch!

Remember that people are initially looking for *information* on the Internet. Giving them that information is the first step to gaining their trust and building a lasting and successful relationship with them.

[deankinton]

i agree with you on that but building a flashy website with all the above you still need the personal touch without the personal touch its hard for a person to do anything

[agentsmith]

Definitely! Making it personal give you some pretty good advantages.

In the offline world, this is called branding/positioning...

It's your branding and positioning that makes you different and stand out from your competitors. Position yourself wisely, and you're bound to get some good response. Improve and enhance your services, your branding and such. These are the initial steps every successful business need to take in order to grow their business bigger and bigger in the long run.

[deankinton]

i would personaly i would find out how you could improve the buisness by asking people who are on the forum and see what people think its normaly a good indication

[sourabhweb]

It is really an wise post.

Actually, with out proper knowledge & planning one should not start his venture to any type of e-business.

Anyways, it is always to be remembered that not to keep all eggs in the same busket.

Diversification should be the key in the field of e-business.

Thanx for all the fruitful posts so far.

Cheers!!

Sourabh.

[mini_0]

Owner of a successful website , yes in a way you can say that your job is over , why is say that is that if your website is successful do not overlook the hard work that might have gone into making it popular . so in a way , half the job is done in working for Search engine optimization , traffic , design etc. I don't think that is some less work . the only thing though that you need to do now is the maintainance and upgrading it to newer technologies as when required .