SIR THORNEY

With so many people beginning to launch a side-business, I thought I’d do a blog post detailing 5 growth tips for beginners. Advertising is a mountain of a subject, but here are some simple starting blocks for those new to the subject.

I’m going to avoid stating obvious things like “start a social media” page or “make a website” because I don’t want to assume my readers are completely oblivious.

1. Create a Google Maps profile 📍

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) has become progressively more difficult over the years. If you don’t know what this is, it’s essentially making it so your website reaches the top of Google search.

Much easier, though, is creating a Google Maps profile and trying to boost that’s ranking.

You create your profile through “Google Business”, and then boost its rank by getting friends and family to review it on Google, then add information & post content regularly. If done correctly you’ll begin to rank on Google without needing to do technical SEO website bullshit.

2. Utilise your friends and family 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

Friends and family are your best resource when launching a product or service. Not just as potential consumers, but also because their initial engagement can boost the reach of your brand and help draw in new customers.

Encouraging them to write a review for your business or product can make a huge difference and doesn’t require any financial commitment on their behalf.

Additionally, just small things like helping provide feedback on your website or social media is genuinely very beneficial for improving quality.

3. Use Typeform for lead generation 📩

Typeform is a tool for making website forms. The key difference between Typeform and other form building tools is that the forms can look pretty without needing extensive developer knowledge. Additionally, you have the option to have the form hosted on Typeform’s website (which you can share via a link), which is good if you don’t know how to embed form code onto your website.

Lead generation is a great way to grow almost every business type, and having a tool like Typeform available makes it simple to start.

4. Use Google Trends for product/service ideas 📈

Most industries have seasonal trends. Some are obvious (if it rains umbrella sales go up), some are less obvious; the less obvious trends are the best to capitalise on because your competition will miss the opportunity.

Google Trends is a simple tool for understanding the seasonal trends of an industry, and noticing growth in interest of a product/service. This can help inform product/service ideas, and reduce advertising costs as you learn to follow trends rather than trying to combat against them.

5. Shopify Lite for collecting payments 💰

Collecting payments can be hard, but Shopify Lite makes it easy. You just create a product/service, set an amount, send them a payment link and get your money.

Shopify Lite is $9 a month, but takes away the headache that other payment softwares require. Most importantly, it gives customers the option to pay using pretty much all major payment options (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Apple Pay, & more).

Additionally, Shopify are looking to add reoccurring payments (such as monthly subscription products), broadening the amount of businesses that you can utilise their systems.