Top mistakes to avoid when starting a web business

When starting an online business it’s always good to know the mistakes that are the most common, once warned hopefully we can avoid these errors. Most of us make mistakes when we start, which is normal. Just having a website doesn’t mean that you’re going to be successful online. There’s a lot of things to learn before you become good at internet marketing.

While people who try may be respected and we can all learn lessons from failing, we never set out with the intention of failing.

Here’s my list of mistakes to avoid

Not enough knowledge about internet marketing.

Educating yourself is vital. One of the biggest and most common mistakes is not having enough training. You will need to learn lots of new material. You will need to learn how to choose your niche, keyword research, different traffic techniques, creating a website, social marketing, hosting and many other things that can help you run your internet business effectively. Learning can be very enjoyable, especially when it’s something that you are passionate about, but you must also take action. A great place that I’ve found for learning about internet marketing at all levels is Wealthy Affiliate.

Concentrating on money rather than helping your visitors.

Although our aim is to make money, to be successful we have to understand that we have to help our visitors solve their problems. After all, they arrive on our sites looking for a solution to their initial search term.

Starting multiple niches

When you start it is better to select one niche and devote all your time and energy to this niche. Newbies often try to start several niches at the same time, but all this will lead to is failure. After a while, once you have found success then you can start another niche.

Choosing a niche or business subject that you don’t really care about.

Remember when you choose your niche or business subject, you aim to inspire your readers or customers. If you aren’t passionate about the topic yourself it will be harder to influence your potential customers. Choosing a topic you don’t care about will make things harder, but not impossible. If you are passionate about your topic you will be more creative and it will be easier to build trust.

Not staying healthy and active.

Although you may be busy, don’t forget to take care of your body. Eat correctly and take regular exercise. You’re likely to feel calmer, better able to focus and maybe more creative — after exercise. Exercise can also help you cope better with stress. So make sure you take the time to exercise correctly.

Believing your online business will work automatically.

There are no shortcuts. Unfortunately you cannot just put your site out there and expect to have a large number of visitors. To create success you have to work. You are of course lead to believe by the scammers that if you buy their products you will become a millionaire overnight, this is just not possible. If anyone tells you it’s easy don’t believe them!

Having unrealistic expectations

Although the internet marketplace can be prosperous you must not expect success to come overnight. It’s rare that income comes as fast as you would hope. First, you have to attract customers to your site and then convert those customers to sales. Therefore, do not set unrealistic goals, you will only become discouraged, disappointed, disillusioned and you risk to abandon your efforts.

Trying to give solutions to unimportant problem

Your website should aim at solving a problem for your readers and if the problem you solve is very important, then you will have plenty of customers. At the other end of the scale if you try to solve a problem that no one or very few care about you will struggle to get people to your site.

Not enough attention to keywords

When you start your internet business and set up your website, it is important to research your keywords. Finding the right keywords takes time and effort, but a good keyword research tool makes the process much faster and easier. Keywords are vital when it comes to making sure your business is visible in the search results when people search for a topic related to your website. My favorite keyword tool is Jaaxy.

Lack of Commitment

An online business requires nearly as much time and effort to get up and running as a traditional brick-and-mortar business. So you should be ready and willing to work all the hours required on your website. You must have time and energy to commit to your online project.

Being afraid to get help.

It may be hard to do everything yourself. Know your limits. If you don’t know anything about designing graphics hire someone. If you have trouble writing original content hire someone. With sites like Fivver it is possible to hire someone for very little. Thus you can run the parts of your business of which you are more capable. By doing too much yourself you risk getting exhausted, discouraged, frustrated and  in the end you may throw in the towel.

Not having support

When starting a business there will be moments when you need support from other entrepreneurs. This may be possible with your personal acquaintances or there are also online communities which can be very useful.

Believing you can work only when you want.

When you start your business you must be ready to work all the hours necessary. Before you can choose the hours you work, you must have a business that is successful. In the beginning you will probably work longer hours than in a traditional job.

Not having adequate capital

Before starting your online business, make sure you have enough capital. Although starting an internet based business is not too costly, the main expenses are purchasing your domain name, web hosting and marketing your online business. If you don’t have any other income you will have to support yourself and your family for several weeks or months before you will see any income from your online efforts. For this reason, make sure you have the necessary finances.

Final thoughts

If you have ever set up a traditional bricks and mortar business, you probably found it took longer than you thought originally, cost more and there were other unexpected problems? An online business is the same so be prepared!

Online success comes as a result of investing in a lot of work, time and effort. Don’t believe anyone who says it can be done overnight with little effort. This is just is not true!

As with most things we do there will be highs and lows, but don’t give up. Keep working and eventually you will have success.

Is there anything you would add to this list?
If you started your own business again are there some things you would do differently?
Feel free to share your experiences, you may be able to stop someone making a mistake.

I started with Wealthy Affiliate, a site where you get online training that is first rate, there is an excellent community for support,  web hosting is included and you also are taught how to use the best online keyword research tool. If you also decide to start with Wealthy Affiliate you will avoid many of the mistakes in the list.

Here’s to your success.

Peter