Building your Online Business during Lockdown

*This is a collaborative post

We are now approaching our 6th week of lockdown here in the UK, and where ever you may be located across the globe, having this enforced time at home is a great opportunity to reflect upon life and the things you might look to change and improve. As a self employed Mom of two, the juggle of working from home whilst attempting to home educate two young children has been intense, but has also made me appreciate the flexibility of being self employed. With no boss to report to, no hours to try and negotiate and no restrictions as to where, when and how I complete my work; having an online business has proved to be a far more practical way to achieve the work life balance we so desperately need.

If you already have an online business of your own; here are some quick and easy ways to improve the performance of your online business during a national lockdown or period of unknown:

Review your kit – Are you still working on a laptop that takes over half an hour to load, creaks under the pressure of your photo downloads and has letters missing off the keyboard from over use? Maybe it’s time to upgrade your kit. Whether its a new laptop or a desktop to crate a fixed work station in a home office, get yourself to a desktop pc sale either online or in person and make sure your kit is fit for purpose!
Improve your socials – You can have the best concept for an online business in the world; but you won’t make any money unless people get to hear about it! Whilst you may not choose to be on social media personally, it is a great way to get your business exposed to your target market. A combination of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (and if you’re up for it TikTok!) with a mixture of natural engagement and sponsored (targeted) posts can be a great way to help your business reach more people.
Expand your network – Now more than ever, small business owners are willing to help other small businesses, by sharing and engaging with their channels and telling their friends. This small business solidarity is definitely a positive promotion method to explore. By expanding your network and supporting others, it is likely that you can recoup the benefit of shared support too.
Plan ahead – If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that you can’t plan too far in advance, however, not having any kind of plan means you can stay stagnant. Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can start doing today. Look at your business model and think about what you are trying to achieve. Small measurable targets and goals can be hugely motivating.
Focus on your SEO – You are writing excellent, helpful and informative content, so why is no one reading it? Improving your google rankings can be a great way to get the content you are writing seen by more people, and if you can increase your page views, you can also benefit from the increased affiliate / advertising income too. If you’re not comfortable improving your SEO yourself, get a quote from your local SEO Company Toronto and see what they can offer in terms of optimising your existing content.
Be patient – Rome wasn’t built in a day, but trust me when I say that long term hard work and effort will pay off!