The web changes the way we think about business every day. If you look at some strategies that companies used in the past, they can’t work again in this new world. However, there are some important things to consider before starting a business online. Just understand how big companies like Google and Facebook are successful now when others fail.
The key to a successful project is not money or investment, even, the idea is not a problem, the only thing that can be a problem is how to realize that idea and make it work. Today, I’ll help you with a few tips that Google can teach you about the online business. Just follow them and compare things together to find your best way.
Tips and lessons for building online businesses
Keep things secrets
Before thinking about your project and how you can realize things, make sure that your work in the dark, by the meaning of the world. The last thing that you need is to lose your idea or plan. Google, for example, started their business as a simple indexing project that no one thought can be important. At the same time, they still keep their algorithm a secret.
Start with completely free services
Actually, Google is one of the 3 biggest companies in the World. It comes just after Apple and Exxon Mobil, and soon it will be in the first place if it continues its growth as now. However, the company started with nothing as revenue in the last century. It was an algorithm and a simple server. But, with big innovation and energy.
If you really want to start a business that makes millions of dollars, you need to offer free services. The reason is simple, people love free things and if Google started with ads, their actual situation will be different because millions of web searchers loved their fast site without ads or any promotional method.
Just, build your business by attracting more people and build an audience or future customers. That never means to play with your project because it’s free at that time. Instead, think about the future, and works hard to win the people’s trust first, then, you can monetize, or sell products later.
Build your platform first
The more services that you offer for free, the bigger your business will be in the future. But remember to focus on one or two main services. That will focus on the power of entrepreneurship and it’s better to work harder on one thing rather than working hard on dozens of services, at the same time. You need to save your energy for the next steps.
Google used the web search as the first service, then, they added their mail and other services. The platform here is the service that you build, Gmail, for example, receives millions of web visitors every day, and it’s a huge source of income for Google.
Gmail started as a free service, then, they added those ads when the site becomes popular. So, find a way to attract more people to your free services, and that can take time and cost money. But, the result will be amazing.
Work globally
Don’t limit yourself to your actual country, there are hundreds of countries and you can find big opportunities there. To back again to Google as an example, they have a country domain name and servers on each county.
That means more power to understand what other people want by working directly on the ground. The web search result depends on the country and that’s what gives more flexibility and specific results. Apply the same thing to your company and start a worldwide service.
Facebook is another example, they started in the U.S first, then, they become present in every country.
Speed is everything
One of the few differences that make Google successful is the speed that they take as a strategy. They have the fastest search engine and the homage load better than any other competitor, especially, Yahoo which loads with unwanted ads, images, and details that no one needs.
The online presence is not an option now, and you need to have an optimized website for speed and SEO, at the same time. Never forget that your users are the base to work on it hard. Makes them happy when they browse your site, and the easiest way to achieve that goal is fast web hosting with a light page that loads fast.
Broke the rules when it comes to your employees
Forget those rules from the ice age that limit your imagination and make your employees limited on everything. The Headquarters of big companies becomes attractive and uses amazing architect that helps. Just look at the below example from Google.
Give your employees what they need, no matter what are the limits, but if someone wants to play as a child while he works, give him or her what they want. That’s, of course, in your resource limits. But the more you give, the more you will get later, and the result talks about that clearly. Google employees are the most productive in the world.
Security as a strategy
Google is the only search engine that works fully on the SSL or secure connection between the server and the web browser. At the same time, that’s not an option to keep things safe, but, a complete strategy to follow and work on it hard.
There is no way to protect your business without a great team of security who takes care of the full business. So, use SSL for your websites and keep your data safe in your own servers, and don’t just use the cloud as your main data center.
There is no safe cloud computing as people think, it’s just a commercial term to market the business. Save your business data in your own servers as the Google example.
Testing as a growth strategy
If you’re following the web every day, or at least uses blogs, you might find that Google tested lots of things and features from the authorship in the SERP to the new SSL strategy. The best thing about that is not the test itself, but, the courage to work for better services.
Even, if Google removed an option in their search page, that means that they’ve studied it carefully, and found a reason to do that. That will make things better, stronger, and smarter and that’s what makes the Google business different.
These are some tips that you can learn from Google and their business that makes millions of dollars. You can follow them one by one, and never worry if they still applicable or not, they still work for any time and location.
These are the basics of online business success. Start offers free service, build your audience, secure your project, and work with the right people who do exactly what they want. You will build the next big company with lots of work and patience.
