In a competitive job market, highly-qualified students are finding themselves felt by the wayside, unemployed for some time, in their quest to start a career. Even after graduating with an impressive degree, you’ll still find that the market for jobs isn’t as easy to penetrate as you might have hoped – especially since the COVID-19 crisis. As such, this guide aims to show you how you can be successful online and start to build a business that will bring you the income you need.
Step One: Learn Key Skills
If you’re not already proficient in the sorts of skills that you’ll need to build a business and sell online, this is the time to devote some time and energy to make yourself employable and impressive in the digital domain. This can mean anything from building websites for friends and family to using your knowledge of software and code to create an app. The skills you’ll need to rely on most of all are problem-solved skills and the all-important coding skills upon which much of your digital work will rely.
Step Two: Draft Projects
Now it’s time to start with a few easy projects to see how you fare in the digital world of online commerce. Use your new-found skills in coding to create a website, and ensure that there are product pages upon which you’re able to sell. One of the best ways to trial your website-building and e-commerce skills is to create an online t-shirt business. You can make t-shirts through an online provider, and sell them on through your own website for a profit. If you manage to do this well, you’ll be able to draw in a considerable amount of consumers to trade with your online business.
Step Three: Converting Sales
Continuing with the t-shirt business example – though you can use any product you feel comfortable creating and selling – once you have made sales, it’s time to convert them into marketing opportunities. You need to grow your base of sales in order to build an audience and grow your profits. You can do this in a number of ways, like reaching out to influencers to wear your products, or by asking buyers to share your website with their friends and family. If you can multiply your sales in the first few weeks of business, you’ll be on course to make higher profits in the future.
Step Four: Consider the Use of E-Commerce Sites
Your other option when selling online is to use some of the established websites to trade your wares. Of course, the likes of Amazon and eBay are replete with buying options, and buyers, which makes the marketplace a wonderful touchstone to compare against your own website in terms of performance. But remember: you’re competing for prices with other small retailers and independent sellers when you use e-commerce platforms, and you’ll also have to give a percentage of your profits to these large organizations, too.
There you have it: a quick guide to help you formulate some ideas as to how you can make a success of your online ventures in the near future.
Featured image by talha khalil from Pixabay.
