If you’re a business owner who runs your business completely online, you recognize the struggles of engaging and retaining your customers.
For eCommerce or Direct Sales businesses, it are often even more complex to take care of an internet site that has all the bells and whistles you would like without the technical training of a programmer.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a blogger, consultant or service-based business. If you’ve got a drag with engagement and getting your prospects and customers to stay returning to your site, i feel it’s time for you to rethink the way you build your website. No matter the sort of business you’ve got , there’s definitely a landing page platform out there for you. The leading platforms out there are Leadpages and ClickFunnel. Between the 2 , i might highly recommend ClickFunnel because, hey I said so. Actually, it really is that the better of the 2 and if you want to know then you must check the clickfunnels review by the Stephen Esketzis.
Online Business in Nigeria: How to Get Started in 2019
In this post, we take a look at how to start your online business in Nigeria in 2019.
1. Start a YouTube Channel
One of the ways of making money online is by leveraging on the existing social media platforms to generate an income.
Currently, YouTube which is very popular Video Production Company attracts over 5 billion views every day and it is one of the easiest ways of making money online in Nigeria. Video production is the art and service of videotaping, editing, and distributing a finished video product for television, commercial and corporate videos. It is increasing in popularity with the growth of the internet and the availability of modern equipment that makes producing a video easier for the lay person. It is a competitive business and requires a certain amount of skill. All it is organized into three steps: pre-production, production and post-production. Pre-production is the planning stage, production is the shooting stage and post-production is the editing and addition of special effects, music and color compositions. Corporate video production can be done for a number of purposes including marketing, training and sales. It can be viewed live at a conference where a live video feed from a speaker is shown, remote live where participants watch a web-cast of a live video stream and after the event in playback. You can read more here about Moffett Video Production Company. The use of video as a marketing tool can provide a unique and effective method of marketing your business and products to your customers and is fast becoming one of the more popular methods of marketing. The use of video marketing allows businesses to provide a wealth of information in a short time to their clients in a way that holds their attention and gets the point across effectively.
Whether for an interactive sales brochure, a collection of training advertising, video production requires an understanding of the processes and the methods to ensure a high quality product. A good knowledge of the up to date technologies as well as the newest editing techniques will provide a smooth production and work most effectively for the purpose for which it was produced.
It is recommended to make use of the services of professionals in for corporate promotional videos which are designed to enhance brand awareness of your company as they will provide the whole process including scripting, story boarding, filming, post production and music selection. Distribution of your video production through the internet has increased the demand for as well as decreased the cost of producing a video allowing businesses with smaller budgets to take advantage of this efficient method of marketing.
If you are thinking of doing it yourself, there is a wide range of modern equipment available on the market today that makes the job easier and does not always require a huge investment in all the extra gadgets. Modern video cameras do most of the work for you without the necessity for you to learn all the tricks used to make a camera take good shots. They provide all the necessary white balancing, stabilizers and focusing allowing you to record high quality video without any qualifications.
Launching a YouTube channel requires minimal startup investment. However, you will need to deliver brilliant content to get youtube views on your YouTube channel.
We have included some important tips that can make it easier for you to launch your YouTube channel
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Create a content plan
The first step you need to take even before you launch your YouTube channel is to create a content plan. In fact, you should have your video content prior to starting your YouTube channel.
When creating a plan, you should stick to a particular theme so that you can have a target audience that can relate to you. For instance, your content could revolve around travel, fashion, nutrition, etc.
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Find the right equipment
Many YouTubers start recording videos with their smartphone but there is certainly a limit to what you can do with a smartphone.
You will need to invest in the right equipment if you want to greatly improve the quality of your videos. The equipment you need includes DSLRs or mirrorless cameras, tripods, lenses, and studio lighting.
Also, you will need editing software for your videos. You can start with simple editing software such as Windows Movie Maker or Apple iMovie. These apps are user-friendly and can be downloaded for free.
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Upload regularly
It is also important that you upload videos regularly. You should also optimize your video content. Additionally, it is important that you write a description of at least 200 words. This summary should include your target keywords, synonyms, and long-tail keyword variations.
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Connect with your fans
As you gain followers over time, you should learn to respond to comments from these viewers. When you fail to respond, you will see your comments start to nosedive. You can also use your social media accounts as an extension of your YouTube channel. However, when responding to comments, you should, by all means, ignore negative comments while appreciating compliments from your fans.
Some of the most popular YouTube niches include:
- Vlogs: These are short videos published every day. Many YouTubers make money from vlogging about their fitness sessions, family life, school, etc.
- Tutorials: You can also set up a tutorial vlog where you teach your following how to cook, perform a DIY task and many more
- Product reviews: Another option is doing product reviews for companies. If you produce videos on product reviews you can get a lot of free items from the companies you partner with
- Comedy: The comedy skit is another fast-growing niche. If you are funny or you can curate hilarious content, you can start a comedy channel on YouTube.
2. Start a Blog
Apart from creating video content, you can also start a blog where you create or curate content. Blogging is one of the best ways of making money online. Some of the ways you can use your blog to earn an income include selling e-books on your blog, selling online courses, providing paid freelance services, affiliate marketing, Google ads, e-commerce. Our online marketing service are ideally suited for professional practice and small business looking to grow!
When you launch your blog, you can still keep your day’s job because blogging is very flexible.
1. Select Your Blog’s Name
This is the first step and it should reflect your brand. For instance, if you’re starting a photography blog, the name photo can be included in your blog name. You should also confirm that the name of your blog hasn’t been taken up by another blog. Your domain name provider will let you know if the name you intend to use is available.
2. Choose a Hosting Provider
Once the name of your blog is sorted, the next step is to select your preferred hosting provider. It is always best to check reviews before making your choice. These reviews will give you an idea of what to expect from the hosting company.
3. Select a Blogging Platform
The most popular blogging platform is WordPress and you can launch your blog on WordPress. But if you’d explore other options, you can do that as well. For instance, you can blog on Medium, Tumbler or Blogger. You can also use these platforms to test things out prior to starting properly
Other steps include choosing a theme and design for the blog, creating the necessary page, developing your content strategy, committing to a regular publishing schedule as well as publishing and promoting your posts.
3. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is another lucrative online business. This type of business is performance-based marketing. Typically, you are rewarded with a commission for each product bought by the customers who were referred by your affiliate marketing effort.
There is a simple 5 step process below to starting your affiliate marketing business:
Step 1: Find the product you want to promote
Step 2: Search for the “product name” affiliate program
Step 3: Sign up for their affiliate program
Step 4: Get a special link that allows the merchant to track the people who clicked your link
Step 5: Receive a commission anytime someone buys the product.
Often times, people ask, how does affiliate marketing really work especially when it comes to tracking the affiliates.
Well, there are several ways to track affiliates but the most common way is to via a cookie. In this case, when the affiliate link is clicked, there is a small file called a cookie that indicates to the merchant that the buyer found the product on your website.
Even if you’re just starting out affiliate marketing is pretty straightforward. And as you grow, you will get better in handling your affiliate scheme.
Generally, the amount of money you make is dependent on how much traffic you get to your site. However, the most important factor is to ensure that the product you are marketing is relevant to your target audience. For instance, if you own a cycling blog, your products should bicycles and not automobiles.
You can use the questions to determine if the product is the right fit for your audience
- Do I use this product?
- Will my readers really benefit from using this product?
- Is the process of buying relatively easy?
- Is there a good affiliate commission rate?
- If I answer yes to each of these questions, then you can go ahead and get started.
Also, there are different types of affiliate products that you can promote. These include Physical Products, Information Products, and Services.
These products have their pros and cons and we’ve highlighted them below:
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Physical Products
These products are actually the simplest to promote and the reason is that it can be done on Amazon. In fact, Amazon is said to have the largest affiliate program in the world.
However, the commission rates on physical products are quite low. This is due to the factors that go into selling them (manufacturing, wholesaling, shipping, etc). You can earn as little as 4% commission on most products. But when it comes to luxury and fashion item, you can earn as high as 10% on these items. Video games are the worst with as little as 1% commission on sales.
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Information Products
This type of product is usually created by a blogger, marketer or author that teaches you how to do something.
Typically, these products are higher priced hence attracting a higher affiliate commission. But most times, it can be a lot more difficult to become an affiliate for these products because the creator tends to be protective and quite selective of who they allow marketing their products.
The commission on information products is higher than physical products ranging from 30-50% because the costs of production are so much smaller.
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Service Products
Service products include hosting, themes, email software, etc. The good thing about service products is the fact that the sales of the product come with recurring commissions. For instance, you can make 20% a month every time you refer someone to use particular software, them or hosting service.
4. Publish a Kindle eBook
If you know how to write interesting stories, you can publish e-books online. You can choose to write the ebook on just about any topic from travel guides, how-to manuals, mystery, romance, science fiction, self-help, technology, etc.
Once you have written your book you can publish on Kindle where you can earn money from the sales of these books. However, you will sell more books if you have an in-depth knowledge of the topic because your audience will value your information more than that provided by a Jack of all trade.
5. Sell websites on Flippa
Another means of making money online is by building/buying websites and selling it on Flippa. It is a well-known fact that Flippa has generated over 140 million in sales since its launch in 2009.
If you are a website designer, you can build a website, open it up to the public and once you start generating a huge amount of traffic, you can sell the website to potential buyers on Flippa.
6. Sell a video course on Udemy
Selling video courses on Udemy is another way to make money online. Udemy is an online repository of courses where teachers and students meet in order to learn new things.
The platform has over 6 million students across 190 countries and offers courses in 100 languages including English. The top 10 instructors on Udemy have earned more than $17 million to date.
Interestingly, anyone can create a course on Udemy on any subject in which they are knowledgeable, and can offer it to millions of students.
The platform has over 6 million students in close to 200 countries. It also offers courses in over 100 languages including English. You don’t have to pay any fee to create a course on Udemy. The course can be created in text, video or audio formats.
7. Digital Marketing
With a platform like Facebook having over 1.7 billion active monthly users and 3.5 billion searches on Google daily, the internet has become a viable means of reaching your target audience with your products.
The method of reaching this online audience is known as digital marketing. There are different aspects of digital marketing. These include email marketing, content marketing, search engine marketing and pay per click (PPC) marketing.
You can learn digital marketing by taking online courses then offering your service to companies for a fee. Google also provides free digital marketing courses where you can get a certificate at the end of your course.
Over the years, digital marketing has grown to become one of the most lucrative online businesses in the world.
8. Start copywriting
Copywriting is an important aspect of online marketing. The essence of great web copy is to attract customers to a product or service. And copywriting enables a brand to deliver words strategically to a target audience in order for them to take action.
Because of the ability of a good web copy to attract customers and drive sales, copywriters are some of the highest-paid writers in the world.
You can learn to copywrite online by taking courses. Interestingly, there are many free copywriting courses online that you can leverage on.
9. Sell stock photos
Our last online business is selling photos. This is another lucrative niche especially when you consider the fact that many stock images don’t feature Africans or African settings.
You can partner with a photographer or you can learn the art of photography and use your acquired skills to capture great photos and sell on sites like Shutterstock and iStockPhoto.