What day of the week should I launch a website?

The moment you unveil your new website can have a big impact on its performance in the early days. It’s important to pick the right date to premiere your website, but choosing the right day is not always that straightforward. Here is some advice on how to choose the right date and day of the week to launch your site.

What is the best date?

The first question to ask is whether your business is a seasonal one. Is there a certain time when your target audience will most want to use your products/services? When is that time? For example, it wouldn’t be a great idea to launch your new skiing equipment store right at the end of the ski season, as nobody will be looking for new products at that time. Find out when your audience is likely to be most active online, and aim to put it out then.

What is the best day?

Days of the week, and times of day, make a difference for different audiences, but also for you…

For example, launching a site on a Friday is one of the worst things to do. This is because putting your website online is not going to be a smooth process; you want your web team, client, host, and the domain registrar all to be ready in case issues arise. These negatives hold true for launching your site on a Saturday or a Sunday, especially if your product is designed for a corporate audience. 

Tuesday is one of the best days to launch your site, as it’s likely that your potential clients are browsing online and haven’t yet been bogged down in so much work that they don’t have time to look at your site. Choosing Tuesday means that not only do you have Monday to properly prepare your team and tease out any loose ends when your brains are fresh, it also gives you the rest of the week to work with your team to deal with potential bug fixes or other problems as and when they arise.

The right day could be completely different for a different company though; make sure you know when your target audience is most online so that you can identify the best day and time to reach them with a new website. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but with the right work and attention to general trends and statistics, you can get an idea of what day might work best for you.

Be prepared and plan ahead

It is always a good idea to plan ahead to ensure a successful website launch. And, once your website goes live there is a whole new list of things you need to prepare for. For example, you need to plan who you are going to tell about the launch and what platforms to use on social media. Influencers and news sources that speak to your target audience are important too. You’ll also need to set aside some time to respond to people when they have queries about your business.

There are no real shortcuts when it comes to making a success of your website launch. You will need to do the research and plan accordingly to see the best results. You know your business, and this empowers you to understand who your target audience is. If you’re unsure, by downloading our free ‘A beginners guide to buyer personas’ will help you learn more about them, find out their habits, and launch your website at a time that they will be receptive to it.

Having a website is crucial for every business. If you haven’t created yours yet, why don’t you check out Go Sitebuilder? Create your website from anywhere without the need for any technical skills. Try Go Sitebuilder free for 14-days to see just how easy it is to get your business online.

What is AMP and who needs it?

Student men using mobile phone on a city street finding out what is AMP and who needs it

AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages, and is a way of speeding up the load time of a website on your phone. As 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if a page takes longer than three seconds to load, it’s clear that loading speed is a crucial factor for people visiting your website. 

But is AMP the right way to go for your website, and if it is, how can you implement it? We’re going to take a deeper look at the world of accelerated mobile pages. 

What is an AMP?

Ann accelerated mobile page is a page written in HTML (the standard language for web pages) that has been stripped down to make it as lightweight as possible. This means that it loads faster and is ideal for mobile devices, as using 3G or 4G can mean content-heavy websites take their time to load. 

AMPs were introduced in 2015 and were primarily used for publishers and news websites, so their breaking content could be read on the go without long page loading times. It works by applying limitations on the design aspects of your site to ensure that it is as light as possible, but it also speeds up loading time even more by pre-loading your page before you’ve even clicked on it. This means when a user does click on your page, it should load instantly. 

AMP websites take up a very small part of the internet (0.064% of the web) but they are growing exponentially; 70% in the last year according to statistics provided by W3Techs.

Does AMP help my website rank for SEO?

Although implementing accelerated mobile pages on your site won’t directly affect your SEO ranking, there are benefits to having a fast-loading site for mobiles. From 2016, Google has been implementing their mobile first index, meaning the search engine will index your mobile site url before your main site. 

For responsive websites that have the same url for both mobile and desktop, this isn’t an issue, but there are many sites that have a separate, more lightweight page for mobiles so that it loads faster. This mobile first index has forced websites to consolidate their two urls into one, while attempting to maintain a fast site-loading speed for mobile users. 

By having AMP on your website, it will load incredibly quickly regardless of whether it is on mobile or desktop, and a fast loading time on mobile is a ranking factor for Google and could help improve your SEO. 

How can I implement AMP on my website?

If you are a tech and coding expert, you would be able to custom design a website to be super-lightweight and fast loading, or you can apply a standardised AMP solution to get similar results. The latter still requires basic coding knowledge, but the AMP project page gives you extensive step-by-step instructions on how to create AMP websites, stories, ads or email.

Should I get AMP for my website?

According to Google, the average mobile web page takes 15.3 seconds to load, whereas an AMP can take under a second. From this data, getting AMP on your site seems like a no-brainer, but the information can be misleading.

Many sites are optimised for mobile without necessarily having AMP, and can load in around two seconds. If you’re not sure how long your site takes to load on mobile, you can use a free speed test defining where the user would be searching it and what kind of mobile device they have. 

If your site seems to take a long time to load, it could be to do with the size and quality of the images you’re using. Fortunately there are a few simple steps you can take to manage the images on your website – have a look at our blog to find out how to check your images and improve your page loading time.

In most cases, it is not necessary for you to implement AMP on your website, unless your industry is very fast-moving. News sites are a prime example of websites that definitely should have AMP, as they load almost instantly and they often get featured in SERP panels. 

For a standard website, it is probably more beneficial to carry out some basic mobile optimisation instead of moving your whole website over to AMP. 

With Go Sitebuilder, you don’t have to worry about your website not working on a mobile device as all our websites are 100% responsive and can be used across mobiles, tablets and desktop computers. 

We provide ready made templates that are specialised for your industry, so you just need to upload your images and content and you can have a ready to go website in moments. We know that you’re busy, so we’ve made sure that even our website builder is totally responsive – that means you can edit and make changes to your website wherever you are. Try our 14-day free trial today to see where your new website can take you and your business. 

What’s the difference between local and global web design?

Pleasant conversation. Pretty young woman holding her kid while having telephone talk about the difference between local and global web design

If you’re building a website for the first time, or want to improve the web design of your site, you’ll need to work out whether you want to target a local or global market. Whilst it might be tempting to create a web design that falls into both of these categories, if you’re building a website from scratch for a brand new business, then it might be a good idea to focus your web design on just one of these categories. 

Go Sitebuilder offers ready to go sites which are completely customisable, so that you can build your website with a web design that perfectly suits your business, whether you’re aiming to keep it local, or to make it global. We take a look at some of the differences between local and global web design to help you decide which is the right web design for you. 

Colour scheme 

The psychology behind the colour scheme of your website is more important than you might think. According to TrueList, 42% of shoppers base their opinions of a website on the overall web design, and colour is an incremental factor when it comes to forming these judgements. When selecting the colour scheme for your site, think about what emotions you want to evoke, and what emotions the colours might inspire. 

If you’re building a website with the aim of targeting local customers or clients within your area, consider if there are any colours you can use that resonate with your locality. For example, if your town or city has a renowned sports team, you may choose to select a colour scheme which slightly mirrors the colours of that team. However, you also want to have a distinctive colour that resonates with your own brand – see if you can incorporate a colour which is unique to your business into your web design. 

On the other hand, if you’re building a website with the purpose of selling your products or services globally, you’ll want to pick a colour scheme which is more general. For example, some colours have negative connotations: in South Africa red is the colour of mourning, so you might want to opt for a more neutral colour scheme to ensure your web design is appealing to your global audience. 

Images 

Images also play an important role in the aesthetic appeal of your web design, as they not only add to the overall appearance of your site, but they help to convey a message. Using images is one of the quickest ways to communicate with your target audience – according to MIT, the human brain can process images in 13 milliseconds. That means it’s crucial to choose the right image for your website, as it is a great way to capture the interest of site visitors. 

If you’ve created a web design targeted at a local audience, one of the best ways to boost your image as a trusty, local business is to use local images. This doesn’t mean uploading a few snaps of some local landmarks onto your site – try snapping images of your products being used in a local area, or maybe upload a picture of your business collaborating with another local business. 

For a global web design, images of your local area are much less important: you don’t need to use images to highlight the fact  that you are a local business targeting local audiences, so you have more freedom in choosing which images to add to your web design. Use more general photos: stock images are a good way to add a professional touch to your website, without the cost of hiring a photographer. At Go Sitebuilder, we offer a huge range of stock photos to choose from, helping you build a website perfect for a global market within a few clicks. 

Content 

When building a website, your content not only conveys a message to your audience, but it also plays a big role in SEO, which affects your ranking on Google. You’ll need to decide how you want to structure your content for your web design: if your aim is to build a website for the global market, then you might want to focus mainly on keywords referring to the the products or services you sell, so that Google’s algorithms rank you higher on its search page results when someone searches for a specific item or service. 

If you’re a local business, you’ll still want to use keywords for your product, but you can also capitalise on local keywords, as it is fantastic for SEO: if you incorporate your location within your content on multiple pages then Google will rank you higher when someone searches for your products or services within the area. 

Whether you’re building a website for a local or global market, it’s important to find a website builder that is easy to use, but also offers quality services; Go Sitebuilder offers ready to go sites with completely customisable web designs, so that you can build a site that’s perfect for you. Our 14-day free trial gives you all the freedom you need to try our services, completely free of charge – try it today!

What is the most important page of a website?

How to make sure your legal business's website is secure online

Although all pages of your website are important in showing information about your business, there are certain web pages that you need to get right. Using a website builder such as Go SiteBuilder you can create multiple pages for your website centred around different topics. 

Once you have the structure and web design of your website set up, the next phase is to consider which pages you need to optimise the most. Certain pages are more important than others due to factors such as ability to give visitors key information and SEO results. 

What are web pages?

So to start off this blog; a quick round up of what a web page is. If you are new to website building you may be feeling confused over the different terms for different aspects of a website. A web page refers to the different sections that a website may have, often to find these pages there is a menu which allows visitors to navigate around the website. 

The most important pages are:

  • Home page – generally this page shows what kind of website you have and gives an overview of the type of content 
  • About page – has content about your company or the kind of work you do. If you run a firm with multiple people this can be a good page to introduce your team. 
  • Contact/Key Information page – without this page visitors will not be able to use your services or engage with you 
  • Blog page – blogs can be a great way to boost SEO and give visitors more information. Check out our post on the benefits of a blog for SEO.

For some businesses/websites there will be pages that are more applicable to them. Such as:

  • Gallery page for a photography business 
  • E-commerce page for an online shop
  • Menu pages for a restaurant or bar 
  • List of services for a beauty salon or hair dressers 

Which page should you focus on?

When deciding your strategy on how to create the most effective website, regarding webpages, there are a few aspects to consider. Generally consider which web pages have:

High visitor numbers/interestwhich of your pages have the highest likelihood of creating interest? Is it your online shop or is there something unique on your blog page?

Strong first impressions which page shapes new visitors’ opinions on your website the most? Studies show that it takes visitors less than two tenths of a second to form an opinion of your brand once they enter your website, therefore creating a strong first impression is incredibly important. Generally this relates to your homepage. 

An ability to sell your brandany page which allows you to inform visitors what your brand is all about is incredibly important. Ensure that pages such as ‘About’ and ‘Contact Us’ are filled with key information. 

How do I optimise my web pages?

You may now have one or a few pages that you want to change to achieve better results. By following some of these tips you will create a more effective website that attracts a higher number of visitors. 

Homepage:

As your homepage is the first page visitors see, creating a good first impression is incredibly important. Consider the following:

  • Use a large header – this could be an image, text or video. But ensure that this is eye catching and shows your logo or brand name.
  • Do not overload with information – if your homepage is too content heavy visitors will be put off reading through all the text. Try and break it up with pictures or videos. 
  • Make a clear menu – your menu should be eye catching and easy to find to allow visitors to navigate your website easily. Read our blog on why navigation is so important to find out more. 

About page: 

This is the page visitors go to in order to find out more information about your business. Ensure you have:

  • Relevant information – readers do not want an essay, stick to the relevant information. 
  • Special commendations – do you possess any awards or glowing reviews? Consider including a few to make your business stand out.

Contact/Key information page:

  • Include links – where you can have links to Google Maps (for your address) and email links to make contacting you easier. 
  • Stick to the information – you do not need paragraphs on this page, just a simple layout.

If you are ready to start building your website, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder. With a wide range of features, our simple website builder design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. Try our 14-day free trial today!

Is it a good idea to have a personal website?

Smiling african american mother and kid daughter having fun with computer looking at her personal website

For many, the idea of creating an entire website dedicated to you and your achievements can seem unnecessary, even narcissistic. But it could be a great career move, or a way to consolidate your portfolio so your work is easy to find and share. With website builders like Go Sitebuilder, you can have a website up and running in just a few minutes, so now it’s just up to you to decide whether it is a good idea for you. 

A personal website gives you a competitive advantage when job hunting

If you’re job hunting, then a personal website can be an invaluable tool to help you stand out from other applicants. Whereas a CV, cover letter and Linkedin Profile are all restricted in their format, if you create your own website then you have full creative control over how you present yourself. Remember that your website speaks volumes about who you are as a person, so make it reflect your personality. 

All recruiters carry out some research on potential candidates, and if you have a website that comes up after a quick Google, you’re giving them more information in a more dynamic way. It may say on your CV that you grew a blog by 10,000 followers, but your website will have a link to the blog itself, making it more memorable and more believable. Including work samples and client testimonials is another way of proving that your work is valuable and of a high quality.

You can use your personal website to network

If you have expertise in a certain area, you can highlight this in your personal website. Writing blogs on topics in your industry and optimising them for SEO could get more people viewing your site and seeing you as a leader in your field. This will mean others in your industry will be aware of you and your work, and are likely to reach out, for collaboration, job offers or more!

Think of your website as a virtual business card that you can use when networking, and make sure it has all the information you think is necessary to show you in the best light. Don’t crowd it though – make sure all the information is relevant and useful for visitors to your site. 

Creating and optimising a personal website means you acquire new skills

Depending on which website builder you use, you can make your personal website as complicated or as simple as you like. Either way, you’ll gain a plethora of new skills, proving not only that you are tech-savvy, but also that you are capable of learning new things autonomously. 

You’ll learn how to customise a website for your personal use, show different styles of web design, and also prove your copywriting and content writing skills. If you spend some time optimising your site and promoting it on social media, then these are even more skills that are easily transferable to many different job roles. 

Personal websites lend credibility to freelancers

As a freelancer, you are only as good as your online image. There are so many thousands of freelancers on the internet offering work in a variety of sectors that it is extremely difficult for clients to choose which person to go to, especially on freelancer websites like Upwork or Fiverr. If you have a link to your personal website in your profile for these sites, then potential clients can visit your site and immediately see the work you’ve done, as well as testimonials from other clients who have worked with you. 

Having a personal website also means that you can develop a brand for yourself, rather than using a plain, uniform profile like those supplied by Linkedin or Upwork. Creating a brand means that you will become more memorable and your style will be more recognisable. This gives you a headstart against other freelancers who are struggling to stand out in a saturated market.

Personal websites are perfect for visual industries

Imagine you’re a designer, photographer or videographer. How are you going to showcase your work using just your CV and cover letter? If you’re a freelancer or looking for a job, the best way to show what you’re capable of is by publishing your work so others can see it. If you’re worried about people stealing your hard-earned work, check out our blog on protecting your images from being stolen by strangers. 

When done right, your personal website can be an instant portfolio that will be potential clients or recruiters’ first port of call when they want to find out about you and your work. 

If you think you’re ready to get stuck in and create your own personal website, why not choose Go Sitebuilder to do it? We provide hundreds of pre-designed templates that can easily be customised to your personal brand and style, all in a matter of minutes! We know you’re busy, so our streamlined web design services can be carried out from your laptop, tablet or smartphone, so you can control your website wherever you go. 

Why not try our free 14-day trial to find out what your personal website could look like? 

Do I need permission to run a business from home?

Attractive young woman holding a tablet at home reading up on permissions to run a business from home

With the rise of technology, running a business from home is becoming more and more manageable. You can build your own website using a site builder to advertise your services or sell products on your ecommerce store, and with sites such as Google Hangouts or Zoom you’re only a few clicks away from talking with customers or clients. However, if you’re running a business from home, you need to have permission to do so.

This can depend on the type of business you’re running – if, for example, you’re using a website to advertise your services as a yoga instructor and you rent out a studio from a third party then you probably won’t need permission from your landlord or mortgage provider. However, if you’re planning on holding your yoga sessions at home then you may need to be granted permission before you can do this. 

Are you self employed?

If you’re not sure if you’re self employed, then there are guidelines to help you decide. You are self employed if you: 

  • take responsibility for your business’ successes or failures
  • have a number of customers at the same time
  • make decisions over how, when and where you work
  • hire staff for help
  • provide your own equipment
  • charge a fixed price for your work
  • sell goods or services to make a profit (including through websites and apps)

Who do you need permission from?

This depends on what type of residency you live in and what type of business you’re planning to run: if you rent or own a house then you’ll need to be granted permission from your landlord or mortgage provider. You might be refused permission if they think the let for your proposed business should be commercial rather than residential, meaning you’ll need to rent a corporate space instead of working from home. They may also refuse if they believe your business could damage the house, or lead to excessive noise which acts as a nuisance to neighbours.

If you’re planning on making large alterations to your home for the purposes of your business, you may need to seek planning permission from your local planning office. Or, if you’re going to get a lot of customers or deliveries to your door for your ecommerce store then you will need to contact your local council to be granted permission to do so. 

Health and safety 

If you have employees working in your home for your business then you’ll need to manage health and safety just as you would in any other business, and you may also need to pay business rates. As an employer, you will be expected to carry out all duties expected of you: this means you meet employment law requirements, write out contracts for your employees, carry out health and safety risk assessments regularly and make sure you have building insurance. 

Tax allowances

If you’re a sole trader or part of a business partnership then you can include business costs in your Self Assessment tax return. You can claim on certain additional costs such as heating, broadband and electricity so that working from home doesn’t put you at a financial disadvantage. Although this might seem tricky to record, you can use a flat rate to calculate your simplified allowable expenses so you know exactly what to claim on.  

If you’re running your business from home, you’ll need a website to advertise your services, or products if you own an ecommerce store. You’ll probably be pushed for time starting up a business from home, so don’t make life harder for yourself by trying to build a website from scratch. Go Sitebuilder has stunning ready to go site designs, and we include an ecommerce platform as part of our package, making us one of the cheapest website builders for those who need an ecommerce section on their site. Try us today – our 14-day free trial gives you all the flexibility you need to build your dream website for your business!

Why is it Important For a Beautician to Have a Website in the UK?

Woman using mobile phone in beauty salon receiving a manicure by a beautician.

As a beautician, your client list is potentially endless. The analytics firm GlobalData has revealed that the health and beauty sector will be worth £26.7bn by 2022, and it is predicted to be the fastest-growing sector in the upcoming years. That means more clients, but also more competition on the market.

Whilst hairdressing and beauty salons could once rely on word of mouth to grow their customer base, the internet has now become a tool to draw in new clients. It is therefore important that you brush up on your tech skills so that your business can excel, both online and in person.

Have a well-designed website

A well-designed, easily navigable website is of paramount importance if you want to grow your beauty business. Having an appealing, aesthetic web design gives off the impression to users that your business is professional and of high quality – somewhere where they would want to go for their treatment.

Uploading high-quality photos of your work onto your website is also key: by showcasing what skills you have to offer, a client is much more likely to trust you to take care of their beauty qualms. You can even put these images into a gallery, enabling the site user to browse a selection of the different looks that you can create. 

As mentioned previously, word of mouth is no longer a reliable option if you want to expand your client list. In the digital world, reviews left by customers can be the deciding factor for those considering your services. By publishing the best reviews on your website, you can show visitors to your site that you have a great customer track record.

Write blogs 

This seems slightly odd – after all, you’re a beautician, not a writer. However, many famous beauticians grew their beauty empire from the once humble blog: influencers such as PixiWoo and Fleur de Force started up posting online content offering advice on different beauty products, and then were gradually able to expand and grow their business to an international scale. 

Of course, you may not get to be a worldwide brand by posting a few blog posts once a week, but it is a good way to attract new customers onto your site, thus increasing awareness around your business. For example, if a person googles a certain beauty query, and your blog offers the answer, then you give off the impression that you are knowledgeable in the field, and thus can be trusted.

Blogs are also an important tool to up your SEO – search engine optimisation. By using keywords that rank highly in Google search engines when writing your blog, you are more likely to rank higher on the search engine, and thus become more visible to those who are seeking out a beautician.

Social media 

Social media is a more personal way to market your business. By linking your social media to your website, you are creating a direct link between your different online profiles. Perhaps you choose to create a Pinterest account, uploading photos of high-quality content to showcase what you have to offer.

Another fantastic way to upload images is Instagram: it is incredibly popular, reaching 1 billion monthly users in 2018. Not only does this allow you to display your expertise in the beauty industry, but it also allows you to market any deals or discounts that you may want to offer. Everyone loves a bargain, so this is a fantastic way to reel in new clients, as if they like your treatment then they are likely to come back. 

You could decide to upload makeup tutorials or beauty tips onto Youtube, linking your Youtube account to your website. Whilst you shouldn’t rely on Youtube alone to market your skills, it’s still a great way to advertise yourself, completely free of charge and can be a great way to direct your fans back to your website.

Freedom

If you don’t want to be tied down to a salon, and want the freedom to control your own business, then working for yourself as a freelancer is a perfect solution, as you have complete flexibility over the clients you want to take.

Being your own boss is also great if you are new to the industry – you can carry on your day job, and work out of hours to test the waters, easing you into the beauty sector instead of plunging you in headfirst.

However, the issue with working for yourself is that you start from scratch. Unless you have already grown a reputation amongst the community via working at a beauty salon, it could be tricky getting in clients who have no idea what you can offer. This is why building a website is paramount – by improving your online presence, you are sure to bring in more customers. 

How do I build a website?

Nowadays, you don’t need to be a coding genius to build a great website. Go Sitebuilder is one of the best website builders in the UK: we have extensive knowledge in the area, ensuring that you can build your website stress-free. We offer all of the aforementioned and more – why not see for yourself, with our 14-day free trial.

Do I need to know Photoshop to build a website?

Female's hands resting on the edge of a desk editing images for her Go Sitebuilder website. A coffee is also on the desk

You’re probably aware that Adobe Photoshop is commonly used to touch up pictures of celebs in magazines or selfies for social media. However, Photoshop isn’t just a tool for vanity, it can also play a role in building your website’s design. Photoshop is a graphics editor, and it can also be used to optimise images and construct page layouts.

However, Adobe Photoshop is both an expensive tool and a daunting prospect if you’re new to editing images. Best of all – you don’t need it! A successful website can be created without Photoshop. Read on to discover how!

Photoshop is used for complex website developing tasks

Photoshop is used by web developers for a variety of reasons. They can use it to create a mock-up of a web design so that they can send PDFs to their clients for approval, or to integrate different ideas into one design. You can create a beautiful website design in Photoshop, but it is complicated, time-consuming and difficult to export if you’re inexperienced. 

Even now, Photoshop for professional web development is falling by the wayside as modern website design and creation is written directly in code. 

There are easier ways to edit your images

Photoshop is mainly used to edit photos, and it’s no secret that good images are paramount when they are to be used on your website. If you’re worried about your pictures not standing out, worry not – nowadays, there are much easier ways to edit your photos; countless apps offer similar services to Photoshop.

Online photo editors such as Fotor and Canva are a great alternative to Photoshop, and you can also download free image editing software to be able to edit offline. Another huge plus is that they are completely free, whereas Photoshop comes with a fairly steep price tag. 

There are website builders that already have the answers

If you want to build a website but don’t think you’ve got the technical know-how – we’ve got you covered! Go Sitebuilder has ready to go, customisable websites at your fingertips. Don’t let a lack of Photoshop or coding knowledge put you off building an online business – Go Sitebuilder also has an image editor to help you build the best website. Our 14-day free trial gives you all the freedom needed to create the perfect online business.

What kind of online business is the most profitable?

Female relaxing on a grey sofa whilst using her mobile phone to run her business from home

Whilst starting up an online business seems daunting, it is not as difficult as you may think. People from all backgrounds can create a successful online business, and not all online businesses demand a vast amount of time or money for them to be profitable. As long as your content is of real value then there is a market out there for you.

Online home rentals

This first example doesn’t require any special skills; anyone can rent out their home. Although sites such as AirBnB or HomeAway may suggest the market is overly-crowded, InvitedHome or Luxury Retreats show that there is always potential to market your property to a certain crowd. Creating a niche category in the market means you can create a steady and reliable source of income, and make it more likely that those who use your site will return. 

SEO consultancy

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a market of endless opportunity. If you are already confident in SEO strategy, then you can create profit by marketing your skills to online businesses who are looking to rank higher on Google. This will help them gain visibility, and will improve your reputation as a leader in the field. Don’t be deterred if you have limited knowledge; there are loads of resources online to help you understand SEO – check out Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO to get you started. 

Managing advertisements

If you understand the methodology behind paid advertising, then advising businesses on how to manage their ads – or doing it for them – can boost your income dramatically. Considering that online business giants such as Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook and Twitter rely on ads for their growth, ad management could be your ticket to success. It is still a relatively modern market with huge potential for growth – eMarketer has reported that, for the first time in America, online advertising spending exceeds that of traditional ads.

What next?

If you are interested in pursuing any of the above then it is vital to have a website to boost your credibility and to provide a platform to market your skills. Check out our 14-week free trial which gives you all the flexibility you need to begin your online business journey – why not give it a go today?

What’s the best online business to start in 2020?

A male and a female business owners stood in a shop looking at a tablet device. Both are wearing aprons and smiling

This is the year you start your own successful online business! You’re looking for freedom, cash flow and an escape from the 9-5 commuter grind – but first, you need to decide on a business idea. 

Start a blog and monetise it

What could you talk about for hours on end? Try starting a blog on a subject you’re interested in. It’s not quite as easy as it sounds though, as you’ll have to consistently publish content that engages users to develop a solid following. Once you’ve got this though, you can start earning money through affiliate marketing or advertising. 

Affiliate marketing is where you earn a commission by promoting products through your blog. It’s useful to have a basic knowledge of SEO and copywriting for this (here’s a good beginner’s guide from SEO Moz), and you’ll get better results promoting content that is similar to your blog to start with. Amazon’s affiliate program has a list of products you can advertise if you’re stuck for ideas. 

You can also make money by selling advert space on your blog, but to get a decent income you have to have millions of viewers. It’s a good side hustle, but don’t expect it to become your main form of income. 

Coaching and online courses

If you have a good level of expertise in a certain subject, you can monetise it! You will have to promote it yourself through a website, social media and email lists, and it’s often useful to have a blog related to your subject of expertise to give yourself more credibility. 

Online coaching involves few clients, but at a high hourly rate. It’s a quick way to start earning money fast, and you can charge premium prices – but make sure to do some market research to set your price. 

Online courses are low risk, high reward ventures. They are easily scalable and can reach a global audience, and as they don’t have a sell-by date, they can make money over time with minimal input from you. 

Ecommerce

You’ll need to do your research to find a profitable market first, with steady growth, and it’s best to keep your idea specific rather than general to give yourself an edge. 

There are lots of costs involved in ecommerce, so make sure your product costs at least £50, if not more, otherwise you might find you aren’t making any profit at all! A cheaper option is to use dropshipping, where the products are held and sent by the supplier rather than you. 

To set up a profitable and successful online business, go into something you care about and you have a good level of knowledge on. And for each of these options, a website is paramount. Try Go Sitebuilder’s simple website creator with our free 14-day trial and start your online business today!