Whenever you start a business, the odds are stacked against you. Most businesses will ultimately fail, even when their owners do everything right. If you want to maximize your chances of success, you need to launch your startup on the right foot. For any Arizona-based startup, here’s what that entails.
Build a Professional Website
Every modern business needs a modern website. If your business’ website feels outdated then this is the first impression that any visitors are going to form of your business as a whole. Your website is a digital storefront, a virtual window through which potential customers should see things they want to spend their money on. Just as a physical store will have a window display designed to entice people through their doors, your website should entice visitors to explore what you have to offer.
It’s hard to overstate just how important the design of your website is to how your business will be perceived by any viewers. If you landed on a website for a business that looked like it had been designed in the 90s, and not in a cool retro way, in a the-last-two-decades-of-web-design-advances-didn’t-happen, kind of way, would you use it? If you came across a business with the gall to build a homepage out of clip art, animated gifs, and Comic Sans, would you give them money?
Localize Your SEO
If you want to target the local Arizona market specifically, you need to invest in some local SEO. If you are going to be tackling the local market before you make a play for the nationwide audience, it makes sense to focus most or all of your resources into localized marketing. This should apply just as much to your SEO as to the ad campaigns you run through other mediums.
Come Up With Some Unique Branding
The distinction between a business and a brand is often underappreciated. Many businesses will go on to become brands – Google is now a subsidiary of Alphabet – and many businesses will come to be represented by a single standout brand. If your business sells a variety of products, you may have a number of brands to your name. If your business sells a particular service, your business name and brand name may be one and the same.
Whatever the scenario, you need to make your branding unique and personal. It shouldn’t just be different from other brands; it should also convey something about your business. Try and think of a way of incorporating something unique to you through your branding.
Consider an MBA
For quite some time now, the MBA has been the gold standard in business management – if you have an MBA, it is widely seen as proof of your competence in management-level roles. You can study an MBA online while you continue to work and earn money, meaning it’s possible to study for an MBA while you are launching your business.
In order to study an MBA in Canada online, you will need to already have some management experience under your belt. However, if you’re going to successfully juggle your studies with employment then some experience is definitely going to help.
Starting a business is always a challenge. However, if you can launch your startup the right way, you will massively increase your chances of success.