So You’re Starting a New Business? 5 Things To Be Successful
Congrats! Starting a business is a big step and a lot of work. We know because we’ve done it ourselves. We have lots of entrepreneurs and people who want to start a side hustle and contact us about services.
But before you can even think about hiring anyone to assist with your projects, you need to get your business off the ground first.
That’s why we aim to help you here today with some high-quality free advice to kickstart your new business or side hustle. Let’s get started.
1. Choose a Domain Name
If you’re starting a business, after you have a name, you need a domain name. A domain name is your address on the internet. It’s how people will find you online.
Your domain name should be short, easy to remember, and easy to spell. If you can get a .com domain, that’s ideal. But if your desired .com is taken, don’t worry – there are plenty of other options like .net, .io, or .co.
You can check the availability of domains using a service like Google Domains, Hover or GoDaddy.
To learn more about where we suggest registering your domain name, read our article, Where should you register/transfer your domain name?
2. Logo Design
When you’re just starting out, you can probably throw something together to use for the short term for your logo. Again, it’s not your logo that is going to make or break your new venture. It’s going to be your hustle, marketing, and quality of your service/product.
Again, if you have some money to invest in a quality logo design, then plan to budget at least $2500 to have it done right.
To learn more, read Why great logo design costs more than $100.
3. Minimum viable product for website
When you’re starting out, it’s also not your website that is going to make or break your business, it’s your product or service. So don’t overthink it, or spend too much money on your website upfront.
You need a website to give your business credibility and to be able to sell online. But it doesn’t need to be perfect.
In fact, you don’t even need a website at all to start. You should actually focus on your product or service and get that right first. You can always add a website later.
There are plenty of DIY options for building a website on a budget like Wix, Squarespace, or Weebly, too, which is perfectly suitable for getting started.
If you have a budget and are looking to invest some money to have it done right, you should budget at least $5-7k for a basic website and $10-15k for a basic eCommerce website.
Read on to see Why professional websites cost more than $1000.
Or, if you want to work with a pro, learn How to find a top-rated web designer.
4. Marketing Strategy
More important than your website is your marketing strategy. You can always start with a barebone logo or website, but seriously think through your marketing strategy. Because that is what’s going to make or break your business. Here are a few tips:
- Make a plan. You need to put together a solid plan for how you’re going to reach your target market and get them interested in your product or service.
- Tell a good story that resonates with your audience.
- Include some key performance indicators or KPIs. This will help you measure your success and make necessary adjustments along the way.
- Utilize content marketing. This is a great way to reach your target market without breaking the bank. You can start a blog, create infographics or helpful guides, or even record videos.
For some quick tips, read our articles on:
- How to consider using the StoryBrand framework for your website to hone your messaging.
- Learn how to dominate your competition online
- Read How to Maximize Your Impact Online in 2022
5. Marketing Ideas
Beyond strategy, you need to implement solid marketing ideas as well. But it’ll be made up of advertising and SEO, primarily.
Think of it this way, Google Ads are like a microwave and SEO is like a crockpot. Google Ads will give you instant results that SEO will take longer to heat up, but the results from SEO will be more sustainable over time.
You’ll want to utilize Google Ads for pay-per-click advertising as well as social media marketing consistently to build your online reputation
Use SEO to get your website ranked higher for important keywords. You’ll want to focus on both on-page SEO as well as off-page SEO.
There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to SEO, but if you’re just getting started, here are some basics:
- On-Page SEO: This is everything you can do ON your website to help improve your ranking, like using the right keywords, having quality content, and making sure your website is mobile-friendly.
- Off-Page SEO: This is everything you can do OFF your website to help improve your ranking, like building backlinks, promoting your content, and getting social media shares.
Learn more about How to Write SEO Optimized Page Content.
Achieving New Business Success is Within Reach
If you have limited resources to get your business going, that’s okay. You just need to use some sweat equity to build a barebones logo and website and launch it that way to get started. Once you experience some success, you can always expand a bit. And if you have a budget to get your new business started, awesome! We’d love to work with you. Contact us or request a quote so we can get started today.
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We focus on beautiful web design that delivers results for your organization. Our specialty is creating customized WordPress websites.
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About Us
Johnny Flash Productions
Johnny Flash Productions is a creative agency based outside of Washington D.C. that focuses on digital strategy, web design and development, graphic design and event production that helps businesses get better results from their marketing.
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I must admit that I was not crazy about revamping our website, primarily due to the time commitment and cost. However, in looking through the updated content this morning, the new website looks terrific and was well worth the time and expense.
Thanks to you and your team for all of your hard work.
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We look forward to continuing our long business relationship as he continues to stay on top and ahead of visual marketing trends without losing it’s classic appeal.
Johnny Flash Productions is a company that truly cares about their clients, this is obvious by not only their work ethic but they also the way they put their heart into every project they complete.
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The experience of building home remodeling company’s website was nothing short of excellent! John and his team are extremely professional, responsive, and efficient at what they do. Their process is clear and they stick to it every step of the way. The weekly production meetings were very helpful and kept the project moving forward at record speed!
My favorite part about working with Johny Flash Productions is that John and his team truly care about their work and they were unwilling to settle on anything less than perfect. We have already had a significant influx of home remodeling leads and they are far more qualified! We highly recommend Johny Flash Productions!
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Johnny Flash Productions was a joy to work with! They helped our church completely re-do our website. They also helped us refresh our look and logo. We have had many people comment on how much they love our new website and how much easier it is to navigate.
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Excellent WordPress Web Designer, we are so lucky to have them design our website we were very satisfied with the results!
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Such an amazing service. A beautiful website that has already gotten the practice new business. John kept us on track so that our website was up and running in the time allotted. Thanks so much. Highly recommend.
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More importantly, their Storybrand mindset opened us up to a whole new world for our website presence, business development and even our own client communication.
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We are now able to register preschool students online (especially important during COVID). Parents are very happy that now they have the option to pay by credit card. I would highly recommend this company!
We have a fabulous website thanks to their excellent process.
I was looking for a web designer who was not only talented, but could deliver - and keep delivering what I needed month after month. The team at Johnny Flash Productions brought ideas to the table that complemented what I wanted to do with my website and their design exceeded my expectations.
I was willing to pay more for their continuing monthly service than I had paid previously because they laid out what I could expect from their team. So far, they have under promised and over delivered.
John and his team are great to work with. We have worked with them on a broad range of projects including logo development, campaign materials and website design. They are a great partner!
John, Joli and Team provided the path forward for us on how to take our desire to have a brand new website to getting it launched and live. We started at a high level of who we were and what we wanted to accomplish with our website.
John provided an up front schedule of what tasks would be completed by when from their team.
There were tweaks along the way that we would make and feedback given, and it was always well received with the changes being made in a timely manner. Thanks John and Joli.
