As you begin learning the SEO ropes, you may feel like you’re learning a complex second language.

Don’t let that defeat you — you’ve got this, and SEO jargon doesn’t have to be a mystery. Use this glossary of SEO terminology to help orient yourself and understand the terms you need to know to succeed in search. 

Already a master of SEO lingo? Scroll down to the bottom for additional SEO resources, including a beginner’s and more advanced technical guides.

SEO Terms: A Glossary

A

Algorithm – A computer program used by search engines. This program allows them to retrieve data and deliver results for searches.

Algorithm Change – Refers to when search engines update or change the algorithms they use.

Authority – The signals search engines use to assess and “grade” sites and pages to determine rank in search engine results. 

B

Backlink – AKA inbound link. A link from another (3rd party) site to your site or one of your webpages.

Black Box – This term is used to describe Google’s esoteric programs. Google’s algorithm is a “black box” — we can observe it in action and see its effects, but can’t fully access the program itself or know everything about it. 

Black Hat SEO – Risky and ill-advised SEO tactics that Google frowns upon. These tactics are contrary to Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Engaging in black hat SEO tactics can result in penalization or removal from search rankings. 

Competitor – Your competition in the market. Generally, they fall into two categories:

• Direct – they sell similar goods and services to a similar target audience.
• SEO – competitors who bid on the same keywords as you and increase competition for the same organic traffic. 

C

Crawler – The program(s) a search engine uses to crawl the web. AKA: Bot, Spider.

D

Domain – Your website’s name. It follows the ‘www.’ in the URL, and also what follows the @ symbol in an email address. For example, in ‘www.Domain.com’ the ‘Domain.com’ is the actual domain name.

G

Google – The most popular search engine. Founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in September 1998. Google created a revolution in search — moving away from human-edited web directories and toward web crawling technology using an algorithm(s) to analyze and rank websites.

H

Heading – Also called H tags, they range from H1-H6. These tags designate sections of your content from the most important (H1) to the least (H6.) Heading tags, especially the H1, should always incorporate your target keywords.

Headline – An H1 tag. The most important of your headings, and should always include your keyword(s.)

Head Term – A keyword with high search volume (e.g. “email” with 1.2 million). Since head terms are popular search terms, it’s harder to rank for them. AKA: Head Keyword, Short-tail.

K

Keyword – The word or phrase you’re focusing on in your content. Keyword selection should be influenced by the terms your target audience is using in their online searches. Including keywords in your content helps search engines know what pages to surface in search results.

Keyword Research – A process of discovery. It helps you understand what keywords your audience uses in their searches and provides insight into the topics and themes most relevant to them. You also determine the keyword volume (frequency in search) and what competition exists for the term. All of this helps you determine the best keyword(s) to focus your efforts on.

Keyword Stuffing – Spam (Black hat SEO) tactic. It’s the practice of using a keyword too many times or using irrelevant keywords, in forced and unnatural ways. By doing this, spammers hope to rank higher in search results. It could result in page demotion or removal from search page rankings.

Knowledge Graph – Google’s database of knowledge. Contains data about keywords and search intent which is used to improve search results and surface relevant or related results. Displayed in a Knowledge Panel, or carousel, at the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP.)

Knowledge Panel – A specific section of results in the SERP. Appears as a box at the top of the first page of Google’s search results (or right side of the page on desktop.)

L

Link – A connection between two sites or web pages that are created with HTML code. They’re integral to how sites and pages are graded by search engines and pivotal to site navigation.

Long-Tail Keyword – Multiple-word search terms. Usually highly specific. People who use long-tail keywords are known to display greater purchase intent. These keywords are less popular and it is normally easier to rank for them. E.g. “Email marketing” with 18k in search volume instead of “Email” with 1.2m in search volume.

M

Manual Action – The term Google uses to describe a penalty. This happens after a human reviewer manually reviews a site to verify whether or not it complies with Google’s Webmaster guidelines. If not, pages or sites can be demoted or entirely removed from search results.

Meta Description – The short blurb that describes what a search result is about that appears below the title and link on the SERP. It’s a tag added to the head section of an HTML document, it succinctly illustrates what the content on a webpage or site is all about. The more accurate and engaging your meta description, the better your Click Through Rate (CTR) will be. Include keywords.

O

Off-page SEO – SEO boosting activities and tactics that do not occur on your website. E.g. — brand awareness campaigns, social media marketing, offline marketing, and link building all help improve SEO without occurring on your actual website.

On-page SEO – The SEO boosting activities that occur on your website. This can include optimizing the HTML code across your site (heading tag, H tags, meta descriptions, etc.), publishing good content that targets the right audience and keyword(s), intuitive site navigation, and more.

Organic Search – AKA unpaid or natural search results. Organic search results are ranked and displayed in order of most helpful and relevant. The ranking is done in accord with search engine-specific algorithms. You do not and cannot pay for organic search result placement.

Outbound Link – Links that direct away from the domain they’re found on, these links direct visitors to other (3rd party) websites.

P

Pagerank – This algorithm measures the importance of a page based on not just the volume of links leading to it, but also the quality of those links. Google says, “Not all links are equal.”

Page Speed – How much time elapses before a webpage completely loads. This factor affects your search results ranking.

Paid Search – Search results whose position is paid for. These pay-per-click ads are marked “Ads” in Google search results and are placed above and sometimes below organic search results.

R

Rank – The placement of a specific webpage in organic search results concerning a specific query.

Ranking Factor – Ranking factors are the various things deemed important (or not) that all influence search engines’ respective algorithms. They help search engines understand where to place a webpage in search results. You can directly influence many ranking factors on your webpages and site.

S

Search Engine – Computer programs that index websites, webpages, and countless documents and files on the Internet. They make it possible for users to input queries and receive results from the search engine’s index. They’re created and updated over time using crawlers and the information and data therein are analyzed by algorithms.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – The practice of optimizing a site and all of its content so that it’s highly visible and gets good placement in organic search results. Good SEO involves keyword research, understanding your audience, creating good and relevant content, and good website structure, navigation, and loading speed. A great SEO strategy addresses content and marketing, and technical elements, too.

Search Engine Results Page (SERP) – This page is full of the results provided by search engines after an online search is conducted. Results are sorted in order of relevance and helpfulness. SERPs normally include a list of no more than 10 links, but they can include other sections like:

• Ads
• Images
• Knowledge Panels
• Local Pack
• Shopping Results
• And more.

U

Uniform Resource Locator (URL) – This is the string of numbers and symbols located in the address bar at the top of your web browser, which includes all of the information your computer needs to find the right page, image, or document on a website. For example, “https://www.domain.com” is the URL for Domain.com.

Put these SEO terms to good use

It’s time now to build an SEO strategy that’ll help increase the visibility of your website and drive more traffic to it. As you do so, keep this glossary of SEO terms handy for use as a quick reference.

You don’t have to do it alone though. We’ve got the resources and tools you help you create that amazing SEO strategy of yours. 

SEO Resources

Check out these blog posts for more information, advice, and next steps:

A Guide to SEO Basics for Beginners

Achieving online success — whether that be launching a lucrative eCommerce business or hitting a milestone of 10k blog subscribers — is directly influenced by SEO. You can’t build a successful strategy on a shaky foundation, so start with this post if you’re new to search engine optimization. 

The Complete SEO Checklist for Blog Posts and Webpages

This helpful infographic lays out the 10 things you must have to achieve SEO perfection on your blog posts or webpages. Hang on to this one, you’ll come back to it as you create content for your site. 

For the Love of Your Business — SEO Strategies to Implement Now

When we wrote this post, we did so with your website’s best interests at heart. We consulted Mike, our resident SEO expert, and asked him for 10 elements that together, create an effective SEO strategy. Show your site how much you care about it by implementing the tactics covered here. 

SEO Audit Your Website in 2021 [Technical Guide]

Ready to level up your SEO game? This guide lays out your path. What does a website audit entail? What tools are available to you to conduct and track the audit? What should your goals be? We get into the minutiae in this post, but don’t let that deter you. Read this post, take action, and outperform your competitor in the SERPs.

How to Audit Your Online Presence in 2021

Not all SEO-boosting activities occur on your website (reference glossary above: Off-page SEO.) Not as technical as the previously mentioned resource, but just as thorough and equally as important. First, get your house in order with on-page SEO, and then, grow your off-site reputation with the strategies you learn about in this post. 

Keep this SEO Terms Glossary handy

Download this Glossary of SEO Terms to always have on-hand when you need it. 

Do you want to make the most out of your website — increase your conversion rate, improve your SEO, and have the most engaging content? Because to do so you’ll need to audit your site on a regular basis.

In this post, we’re covering ways you can perform a review of your site so you know what’s working and what needs improvement.

How to Perform a Website Audit

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

In order to successfully audit your site, you need to know three things:

1. What a website audit entails.
2. Who your ideal audience is.
3. What your goals are.

The first because, well, how can you perform an audit without knowing what it is? And the second because your site should be designed with your ideal audience in mind. Any improvements you make to your site based on your audit should make life easier for them, not harder. Finally, you need to have identified your website goals. The improvements you make to your site should support your goals (e.g. – increase conversions by 5% month over month.)

Many people and online resources will tell you that a website audit has everything to do with SEO. While that is a large part of it, your site is more than just an SEO machine and we have to look at the bigger picture.

We appreciate BluLeadz’s definition of a website audit. They say that “a good website audit takes into account all the factors that can influence your website’s success: From your perspective, your customer’s, and Google’s.” Considering Google held 88.47 percent of the search engine market as of 2019, their perspective and opinion of your site is absolutely crucial to your success. Your customers’ perspective is essential, so part of your audit will revolve around reviewing the user experience of your website. And of course, your perspective is vital. Who knows your goals and motivations better than yourself? Now is the time to make sure your website is aligned to support them.

Website Review and Audit Tools

It’s difficult to determine where you should begin working on your site if you don’t have a solid understanding of how it’s currently performing. It’s best to first perform your audit and then plan your improvements based on the results.   

A good thing to do at the beginning of every website audit is use a tool built for that specific purpose. You can find both free and paid website audit tools by doing a quick Internet search. Many free tools require that you provide an email address in exchange for their services (it’s called lead generation), or you can pay for a tool to provide a more in-depth review of your site.  

Website Grader

HubSpot created a popular tool, Website Grader, that provides information on your site’s performance, mobile-friendliness, security, SEO, and more. Check out Domain.com’s grade below.

What isn’t pictured here is the plethora of information you’ll receive by starting your website audit with this beginner-friendly tool. You can use the insights from the audit to hone in on the areas where your site needs the most or immediate work. In fact, the last section, titled “What Should I Do Next?” lays it out for you.

Google’s Site Audit Tools

Google offers multiple tools to help you review and understand your website. Here are three of their resources that can best assist you with your audit.

PageSpeed Insights

The name, “PageSpeed Insights,” is pretty telling isn’t it? It’s a tool that “reports on the performance of a page on both mobile and desktop devices, and provides suggestions on how that page may be improved.”

Insights ranks your webpages using a numeric grade — 90+ is a fast page, 50-90 is middling, and anything below 50 is without a doubt a slow webpage.

Note that this tool only reviews the webpage URL that you supply, not your entire website at once. Depending on the size and complexity of your site, it may not be feasible to enter the unique URL for each and every one of your webpages.

Maximize the efficacy of this tool by identifying the most important pages on your site and reviewing those first. You can figure out what pages are most important and receive the most traffic by using heatmapping tools, or by utilizing the next Google tool in this list.

Google Analytics

Analytics provides an incredible amount of information and insight into your website. If you’ve never used it before, here’s a great beginner’s guide to Google Analytics to help you get started.

Now, some of you might be wondering why we’re focusing on this tool since it provides in-depth information on your site visitors’ behavior. But think about it: Your site visitors’ behavior, in large part, correlates to the quality and efficacy of your website and its content.

Have a slow loading site? You’re going to see some big bounce rates and small dwell times. People won’t hang around waiting for the page to load; instead, they’ll leave and find another faster loading website that suits their needs.

Google Analytics helps you identify your most popular and well-trafficked landing pages. These could be the pages that people are landing on from search results, other sites, etc. most often. Consider running these pages through the PageSpeed Insights tool to make them as good as can be before moving on to less trafficked pages.

Google Search Console

Once upon a time, Google Search Console was known as Google Webmaster Tools. We like the newer name, because it speaks to this tool’s purpose: to help you “…monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google Search results.”

If you have a website, you can benefit from Search Console. It’ll tell you things like:

• How often your site appears in Google search results.
• What terms and queries people search by that lead to your site in the results.
• Indicate any issues you may be experiencing with indexing.
• And more!

Google provides instruction on getting started with Search Console here. The information and insights you gather from this tool will be instrumental in improving your website’s SEO and overall success.

Questions to Ask During a Website Audit

Going into things blindly isn’t a great plan. This is especially true for your website audit.

Before spending a lot of time with the resources we mentioned in the last section, make sure you know what questions they’re supposed to be helping you answer.

Auditing Your Website for the User Experience

Your website’s user experience is integral to its success.

When you create a user-friendly website, you’re really inviting those users to stay longer, interact more, and hopefully, convert (that just means they take the action you want for them to take — purchase, sign up for email, etc.) on your site.

To audit your site for user experience, ask yourself the questions below. (Bonus: Many of the improvements you’ll end up making for user experience will directly improve your SEO!)

• Do I know my target audience?
• Are my CTAs (call-to-actions) and content geared toward my audience?
  • Good CTAs are effective. They are clear and deliberate in telling someone what action to take.
• Is my marketing funnel optimized for these users?
• Is my site’s load time too slow or experiencing any issues? (If so, it could mean the answer to the following question is “Yes.”)
• Are my site visitors bouncing?
  • Follow up by looking into their dwell time.  
• Is my site mobile responsive?
  • If your site doesn’t display well on mobile devices, you’re missing out. As of the end of 2019 mobile devices drove the most website traffic, coming in at 52.6%.
  • This is also important for SEO because Google uses mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal.
• Does your site navigation make sense?
  • Once someone lands on your site, will they be able to easily find what they’re looking for and move around?
  • Here’s an (admittedly extreme) example of a site with terrible navigation.

• Is your website design up to par?
  • If your site looks like it walked straight out of the 90s then you’re in trouble.
• Do you have a lot of broken links?
  • It’s a bad look, and your visitors won’t think of your site as reliable.
• Is your contact information easy to find?
  • We recommend making it available on every page, even if at the footer.
• Do you have any intrusive pop-up ads or is your site cluttered in ads?
  • Use a browser in incognito or private mode to get a sense of the ad experience for your visitors. 

Audit Your Website for Technical Issues

A technical audit helps get down to the nuts and bolts of your website: Are the systems and technologies working, or are they not?

• Is my website secure?
  • SSL is integral to the security of the information exchanged on your site.
    • Without SSL, information passed from an end-user (site visitor) to unsecure sites (like during a purchase or email sign up) and vice versa isn’t encrypted. This means it can be intercepted by lots of bad actors out there on the Internet.
  • Secure websites are favored by Google in search results.
  • Browsers display whether a site is secure or not, and that can make all the difference in a visitor’s trust (remember, they’re your potential customers.)
    • Below are examples of sites with and without SSL.

• Is your personal information protected from the Internet’s prying eyes with Domain Privacy + Protection?
  • Keep your site safe from both hackers and human error.
• How does your site display across the most popular browsers?
  • Test your site across all the major browsers so there are no surprises or bad experiences for your visitors. Make any necessary changes to improve how your site renders on these browsers.
  • Don’t forget to test the mobile versions of these browsers!
• Are you using a CMS (content management system) like WordPress?
  • If yes, are you using the most up-to-date and secure version?
  • Audit any plugins to make sure they’re running the newest versions and don’t pose security issues. Remove any no longer needed or used.  
• Is your site backed up?
  • Before making any big changes to your site, you should create a backup. Wouldn’t it be terrible if something went wrong while making updates to your site? Without a backup created of your site, that can equal lots of heartache, time, and lost revenue. 

Audit Your Website for SEO.

An SEO audit helps you optimize your website so that it performs well and ranks higher in SERPs, search engine result pages.

• Do you have a sitemap created so that Google and other search engines can easily crawl and index your site?
• Is your robots.txt file accurate?
• Are all the pages on your site optimized according to the various SEO ranking factors?
  • Moz provides a run-down of different On-Page SEO ranking factors here.
• Are you using appropriate and relevant SEO keywords across your site and content?
• Do all your pages have title tags and meta descriptions?
  • Title tags and meta descriptions are HTML elements that appear in the header on a web page. When a page shows as a search result, its title tag and meta description normally display right along with it on the SERP (search engine results page.) This is important because it can influence whether someone clicks through to your site from the SERPs.
• Is your website accessible?
  • Do your images have alt text?
• Do you have any broken or misdirected links?
  • Domain.com’s resident SEO expert, Mike, thinks SEO Minion, a free 3^rd party SEO tool, is good for checking broken links. Please note, this is not a Domain.com product or resource.
• How many backlinks do you have?
  • Backlinks are links created when one website links to another. You may also hear them referred to as “inbound links.”
  • Are they quality backlinks?
  • Moz created Link Explorer, a free tool to help you identify your backlinks and provide other link metrics, but it does require that you sign up for a free Moz account.
  • SEOquake is another 3^rd party tool (free plugin) that offers great insights into your SEO.
• Is your URL structure optimized?
  • URL structure matters to both search engines and the people visiting your site.
  • Here’s Search Engine Journal’s guide to an SEO-friendly URL structure.

Wrapping up Your Website Audit

Auditing your website can seem overwhelming at first. If that’s the case, break it out into smaller sections and complete them one by one. It could take a few days or a few weeks, but either way, audits are necessary for the success of your site.

You should plan on auditing your website at least a couple of times each year. For more complex websites, consider auditing them more frequently.

Reviewing and auditing your site will give you a leg up with search engines, your customers, and your competitors.

Did you have any other tips or recommendations for auditing sites? Let us know in the comments!

●  You’ve grown so much that you’re struggling to keep up with customer demands.

●  Your growth has plateaued.

Planning for future growth is crucial for any online business. In today’s time, entrepreneurs have to be prepared to face any unexpected challenges. That’s how you become a leader and stand out in your niche.

The only hiccup here is: preparing your exponential future growth demands a lot of time and patience.

But — it’s not as difficult as you think.

Having a vision for the future and making smart decisions from day one can help you build a scalable business model that can make a significant difference in the longevity of your business.

In this article, we explore five ways you can take your online business to the next level.

How to scale your online business

1. Get your foundation right

This involves two things — your domain name and your website. These form the foundation upon which your online business stands. Your domain name is your business’s online identity. It’s the address that you communicate in presentations, on your business cards, on your banner ads, in a podcast, and more. Registering your domain name is the sign that your idea is now a business.

When registering your domain name, think about how you can make your website more brandable. This doesn’t mean you www.stuffallthekeywordsinyourdomainname.com.

It means making use of new domain extensions that are more meaningful, industry-specific, category-defining, relevant, and most importantly, keyword-rich. For example, a technology startup could opt for a .TECH domain name, an e-commerce business could go for a .STORE domain name, a creative agency could choose .SPACE. And if you’re looking for a more versatile and open name then you could go with .ONLINE or .SITE.

These domain extensions give you a domain name that’s brandable and meaningful to your business. Add a well-made, fully-functional website to this concoction and you have a strong online foundation to build and scale your business.

2. Always plan for the future

Building a business and planning go parallel to each other. That’s because planning is vital to your business whether you’re on day one or year one.

A good way to plan ahead is to start by setting realistic goals for growth. These could be yearly goals that are further broken down into smaller quarterly goals. Doing a simple exercise such as this gives you time to prepare for the coming weeks.

As you start preparing for these goals, you’ll be able to outline the resources and features that you’ll need to move to the next level. Here are some components that you can factor into your plan:

●  Possible resources that you might need.

●  Digital marketing goals.

●  Customer acquisition plan.

All these components will all come down to one key factor: budget.

3. Arrange for funding and spend wisely

A great option here would be to get featured on Shark Tank and get the necessary funding, however, that’s not an approach most online businesses can take advantage of.

Most small business entrepreneurs have one big responsibility to run and scale their business: secure the right amount of funding and collateral.

One of the options here could be bootstrapping where you either dig into your personal savings, take a loan from family members and friends, or get crowdfunding through sources such as Kickstarter.

Another way for entrepreneurs to get funding is to pitch to investors. While investors can provide great value to your business in terms of funding, valuable advice, resources; they’ll also take part ownership of your company.

Most small businesses opt for the latter, however, if you’re unsure about partnering with an investor then you could consider other options such as scholarships and grants. Many large organizations offer scholarships to startups and small businesses. These can range from $5k and up to a larger sum to help you reach the next level.

A few that you could consider include:

●  Fundbox Small Business Funding Scholarship

●  FedEx Small Business Grant Contest

●  U.S. Small Business Administration Grants

4. Study your analytics

Monitoring your business performance gives you a clear insight into the speed of your growth. Sales performance is one of the first metrics you should be studying when your objective is to scale.

●  Is your sales trend healthy?

●  How fast are your sales growing?

●  During what period do you see a spike in sales?

●  What do you attribute that growth to?

Strong sales performance is a key indicator of the overall health of your online business. If your metrics are positive and growing, then you know your business is scaling.

Other important metrics that you could consider to measure business growth are:

●  Primary platforms – which platforms are bringing in the most sales / new customers?

●  Product performance – which products or plans (in case of a service) are your top sellers? Is there an opportunity to add another feature to your product/service?

●  Lifetime Value:Cost per Acquisition (LTV:CAC) – how effective is your marketing? Can you justify the cost per customer acquisition?

Having a strong grip on your analytics will give you confidence and a competitive advantage when pitching to investors. It’ll also give you enough data to justify any expenses on updated technology or tools.

5. Determine your resources

The more you grow, the more resources you’ll need to manage your online business. These resources could be human or technological.

Here are two instances where you might want to invest in human resources.

1. If you’re looking to build a strong content marketing strategy and build a strong company blog, you may want to consider hiring an experienced SEO professional, a content manager, and a few freelancers who can write good content that can help you lead the search results.

1. If you’re looking to build your community on social media, you may want to consider hiring a professional who understands the nitty-gritty of all the social platforms. Someone who can curate engaging posts, drive engagement, and target relevant audiences on different platforms.

For technical resources, let’s explore these two examples.

1. While you could hire an agency to manage your accounts and keep track of your expenses, you could save time by getting a simple accounting software that can do all this and more.

1. As your business grows, so will your customer queries. Instead of managing a customer line that receives an overwhelming amount of calls in a day, you could install a chatbot on your website that could resolve basic customer queries 24×7.

Identifying areas where you can be more productive will help you prioritize your investments. However, once you do invest in these resources, ensure to check their performance periodically to make sure that you’re getting value for your spend.

Ready to scale your online business?

Your next step from here is to get started!

Carve out a plan and list down all the resources that you might need to scale your business.

●  Create systems and processes.

●  Look for investment and other income streams.

●  Find new clients and collaborators.

●  Have the time to step back, relax, and work on your own development.

Author Bio

Alisha is a Senior Content Marketing & Communication Specialist at Radix, the registry behind some of the most successful new domain extensions, including .STORE and .TECH. You can connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

It’s the end of September, folks. Can you believe it?

Soon, we’ll need to put out the pumpkins, draw out the broomsticks and black cats, and prepare for the holidays to come. Do you know what to expect?

It’s one thing to deck the halls with boughs of holly, but another to prepare your website and marketing plan for the holiday season. Today, we’ll explore why you need to participate in the holiday cheer, how you can plan for holiday sales, and ways to engage your site visitors and customers. 

Create a holiday marketing plan for your website

According to Deloitte’s annual holiday retail forecast, holiday sales are projected to “result in sales between $1,147 billion and $1,152 billion during the November-January timeframe.” Of the $1.1+ trillion dollars in holiday sales, $182-$196 billion is expected from e-commerce alone. That’s a 25%-35% increase from last year! And the Pew Research Center states that “Today, 79% of Americans say they make purchases online.” So if you’ve been dragging your feet on creating an e-commerce website, or have been putting off giving your website a festive facelift, there’s no time like the present. 

As autumn proceeds and the days get shorter and darker, people are on the hunt for the best deals and gifts to complete their holiday shopping. Let’s discuss how you can identify your goals so you can finalize your holiday marketing plan and attract these online shoppers.

Holiday goals for your website

Stop and think through your goals before making any changes to your site. What outcomes do you most want to see from your holiday campaign? Are you looking to:

• Drive new business?
• Increase repeat business?
• Focus on sales of a specific product?
• Increase site traffic?
• Something else?

It’s important to remember that you can have multiple goals as they are not mutually exclusive. Once you’ve identified what’s most important to you, you can cater your holiday marketing plan to include campaigns that support your goals.

Building your holiday marketing plan

Your plan serves as the guide to moving prospects through your marketing funnel so they become customers.

A marketing funnel represents the pivotal steps prospects take on their journey to becoming customers. Funnels are broken down into different sections. People start at the top of the funnel, drawn in by your marketing materials (like blog and social media posts), and proceed through to the last step of your funnel which represents a conversion. A conversion happens when the prospect takes the action you want them to take on your site (like making a purchase or signing up for your email list) and becomes a customer or subscriber.

Keep in mind that not everyone makes it all the way through your funnel. There are fewer and fewer people, or prospects, the deeper they go into your funnel. This is why it’s important to make sure your marketing plan is well thought out. You want to encourage as many people as possible through all the steps in your funnel. 

Know what holidays to plan for

Can you make a holiday marketing plan without knowing the key dates this season?

We didn’t think so. 

Here are some holidays to consider planning for:

• Thanksgiving — Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020
• Black Friday — Friday, Nov. 27, 2020
• Small Business Saturday — Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020
• Cyber Monday — Monday, Nov. 30, 2020
• Giving Tuesday — Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020
• Hanukkah — Thursday, Dec. 10 – Friday, Dec. 18, 2020
• Christmas — Friday, Dec. 25, 2020
• Kwanzaa — Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020 – Friday, Jan. 1, 2021
• New Years Eve — Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020
• New Years Day — Friday, Jan. 1, 2021

Drafting your holiday marketing plan

Have you stopped to think about your goals? Are they strategic and measurable?

Good.

Know what dates to plan for?

Good.

Let’s think through a holiday marketing plan together so you understand how to build your own. 

What’s your first goal? For this example, we’re going to set a goal of increasing our revenue by $10,000 this December.

Now that we’ve decided on a goal our next step in creating our plan is to determine the strategy we need to reach our goal. This strategy can actually be comprised of various different methods that can all contribute toward reaching the goal.

If we really want to increase our revenue by $10,000 then a couple of things need to happen. We should:

1. Focus on what products to highlight to drive more revenue
2. Attract more visitors to our site in hopes of converting them into customers

Marketing tactics to include in your plan

Once you know the pivotal actions you need to drive (for us, we need to increase site visitors and decide on a product to focus on to drive the additional revenue) you can figure out the tactics to do so.

Consider the following:

• Blog posts
• Social media posts
• Email marketing
• Coupons and discounts
• Contests and giveaways

But here’s the thing — just listing out your tactics isn’t going to cut it. As you think through your tactics try setting smaller goals for them, like in the following example.

Instead of saying, “I’m going to run a social media promotion offering 20% off my top-selling product to new customers” try setting a more specific goal.

This goal could look something like, “I will use a coupon code for my top-selling product to drive 200 new customer acquisitions by XX/XX/XX date.” This is called a S.M.A.R.T. goal (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.) Go ahead and create S.M.A.R.T goals for all the tactics you’ll use in your holiday marketing plan.

Creating your offer

Once you have your S.M.A.R.T. goals for your marketing tactics identified you can get down to the business of creating your offer(s).

It’s vital that you have a good understanding of your ideal customer and the audience that you’re looking to attract. Sure, you could run a contest where the winner receives a free weekend getaway to the Poconos, but if you sell financial planning consultations then what’s the point? You’re likely to have folks across all spectrums enter your contest and there’s no telling if the person who wins will be your ideal customer and continue a business relationship with you post-getaway.

Your offer should be relevant to your audience. So if you do sell financial planning consultations on your site, consider running a contest where the winner receives a free planning session to help get their finances under control in the new year. This offer is more relevant to the people who are in your audience.

Make your offers look good

As a professional, we’re sure you want to be taken seriously. In that case, presentation matters. Instead of writing a normal Facebook post to announce your offer, consider creating materials specifically for your offers. There are many free tools you can use like Canva. You can “use Canva’s drag-and-drop feature and professional layouts to design consistently stunning graphics.”

Don’t miss out on getting new customers by using outdated graphics when you have free options that help make your business and offers look good.

Measuring your marketing success

In order for you to understand the success of your marketing campaign, you need to implement a way to measure it.

Google Analytics is a great way to measure your website’s performance and figure out what campaigns are working and what might need to be tweaked for better performance.

You can check out our guide to Google Analytics here.

Ready for the holidays?

We bet you are.

We wish you the best of luck in creating your holiday marketing plan and running your marketing campaigns. Let us know what has worked for you and what hasn’t in the comments below. And if you have any other tips or tricks for making the most of the holiday season on your site, let us know!

You’ve developed your stellar business idea, worked on your plan, but wait… what’s this? You still need funding?

You have a plethora of options when it comes to small business or startup funding: Traditional lenders, alternative lenders, grants, and then there’s another thoroughly modern way of getting funds — online crowdfunding.

As some loans are becoming harder and harder to acquire, crowdfunding sites are seeing an increase in usage and funding.

So, what is crowdfunding? How can it help you launch your small business? That’s what we’ll discuss in this blog post. Stick around to learn about crowdfunding, tips for crowdfunding success, and the top ten crowdfunding sites for small businesses and startups. 

Crowdfunding your small business

Crowdfunding “is the use of small amounts of capital from a large number of individuals to finance a new business venture.” A big issue with traditional lending methods is that it can be incredibly hard to receive the capital you need to succeed. Unless you have proven success in business, positive cash flow, and great credit history, banks aren’t likely to approve your loan requests.

Crowdfunding is a great answer to this problem as it allows you to get backing from friends, family, established investors, and complete strangers who believe in your business. Crowdfunding has really democratized the world of small business and startup funding.

Before starting a crowdfunding campaign, it’s important to note that on many sites (but not all), if you don’t meet your crowdfunding goal you won’t receive the funding. That said, here’s how you can boost your chances of meeting your crowdfunding campaign goal. 

Tips for crowdfunding success

A great business idea alone won’t help you get the crowdfunding results you’re seeking. We’ve put together the following tips to increase your chances of running a successful crowdfunding campaign so you can fund your business. 

Preparation and planning

Crowdfunding isn’t a shortcut to launching a business, and people are wary of investing in half-cooked business ideas as they’re too risky.

If you haven’t already, now is the time to develop and vet your business idea and create a small business plan. 

Review successful crowdfunding campaigns

Time is money, don’t waste yours by reinventing the wheel. Instead of striking out alone, look to other crowdfunding campaigns to find what worked and what hasn’t, focusing on campaigns in an industry similar to yours.

Can you find any similar traits among successful campaigns? Perhaps they offered equity stakes in their small business or offered big rewards to initial investors. How did they present their campaign? Did they use lots of images and videos to convey their message and appeal? After reviewing these campaigns, you should start to notice common themes and elements. 

Familiarize yourself with the Terms & Conditions

It’s your responsibility and in your best interest to review different crowdfunding sites’ terms before utilizing them for your campaigns. Each site has its own billing policies or ways of collecting revenue, some sites may prohibit certain industries, and others may have certain age requirements in order to use their services. As you review, you may find one site’s terms more agreeable than another’s.

Be your own PR person

When it comes to crowdfunding, you are your biggest advocate. If people don’t know about your business and crowdfunding campaign, how are they going to invest in it? Here are a few ways you can work on your business and brand awareness:

• Create a website.
  • Where should people turn if they need more information about your business? Creating a website establishes your digital presence and not having a site is pretty inexcusable these days. If you don’t have a product or service to sell yet, focus on your “About” and “Contact us” pages. If you’re really serious, create a “Press” page that offers images and information that journalists and others can use in their features.  
• Your domain name should be relevant. 
  • Help motivate people to visit your site by making your domain name short, memorable, and relevant. If the .com you want isn’t available, don’t panic — there are multitudes of available TLDs for all sorts of industries. Can’t find the .com you want for your new yoga studio? Try the .yoga TLD. Is the domain you chose for your e-commerce store unavailable? Try .store or .online.
• Leverage the power of social media.
  • Social media is a form of social proof and helps you build your brand while keeping you in touch with potential investors and customers.
  • Encourage your friends, family, and followers to share news and posts about your business. It’s called social media for a reason — networking is essential!

You want people to know about your business so it can gain traction and get funding, so don’t be shy in promoting it and your crowdfunding campaign. 

Back your campaign before it goes online

Being the first person to do something can be nerve-wracking, and that includes being the first person to back your crowdfunding campaign. However, it’s easier to justify doing something when you see that others are doing it, too. Use this to your advantage by having some investors already lined up before your crowdfunding campaign goes live.

You don’t need professional angel investors — having some friends and family willing to donate at the beginning of your campaign works just as well to lend credibility to your business idea. 

Add a little character

Every good campaign uses facts to help support the appeal, but the great ones know that emotions matter, too. When a person finds your crowdfunding campaign, what do you want them to feel? What emotions should your campaign elicit? Excitement? Desire for your product? Write your crowdfunding appeal to influence the emotions you want someone to feel when reading it.

Show the people behind the scenes making it happen. Your investors want to know about the team that’s turning ideas into reality just as much as they want to know about your business. Ideas are great, but it’s the people that make them happen. 

What are the different types of crowdfunding campaigns?

Crowdfunding campaigns can be broken out into four main categories:

• Donation – when people donate money to your crowdfunding appeal and are promised nothing in return.
• Debt – any money pledged by your supporters is paid back (usually with interest) by a certain deadline. This is a lot like a traditional loan.
•  Rewards – in this scenario, you promise a certain reward based on the amount of money someone pledges to your crowdfunding campaign. You can offer services or products as rewards to entice people to donate funds. Consider offering different reward tiers with corresponding pledge tiers. For example, you can offer one reward to people who pledge between $10 – $100, a better reward for people who pledge $101 – $500, and so on.
• Equity – this is exactly what it sounds like. When you perform an equity crowdfunding campaign, you’re giving an investor a percentage of ownership in your business in return for funding. 

Top Crowdfunding Sites

GoFundMe

Since launching in 2010, GoFundMe is one of the most widely-used crowdfunding platforms. They describe themselves as the “world’s largest, free social fundraising platform.” However, one thing to note is that the platform is only free for campaigns in certain currencies and countries. Also, they apply standard transaction fees to debit and credit card transactions.

Unlike some other platforms that return funds to donors if you don’t meet your goal, GoFundMe allows you to keep whatever amount you raise. With “over $9 billion raised from more than 120 million donations,” you should take the time to review the platform to see if it’s a good fit for your needs. 

Kickstarter

Do you have an innovative product or service that you know will make a difference in your industry? Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform that helps “make ideas into reality.” Their mission is to “help bring creative projects to life.” This crowdfunding platform launched in 2009 and since then $5.3 billion has been raised for different projects with 188,101 of them being successful.

Kickstarter is all-or-nothing. If you don’t meet the funding goal for your project then your financial backers won’t be charged for their pledges and you do not receive any funds. Kickstarter charges a flat 5% fee from the funds your campaign collects, but only if it’s successful. If a project doesn’t reach its goal then no fees are charged. Also, they charge a standard payment processing fee of about 3%-5%. 

Indiegogo

According to their website, “Indiegogo is where early adopters and innovation seekers find lively, imaginative tech before it hits the mainstream.”

Indiegogo is both a crowdfunding platform and a marketplace. They help small businesses and entrepreneurs take their ideas from concepts to reality and even help you ship your products. They provide services and resources, including access to key partners for the duration of your project. Unlike some other crowdfunding sites, Indiegogo is there to support you for the lifecycle of your campaign and project. Since its launch in 2008 Indiegogo has successfully helped entrepreneurs bring over 800,000 ideas to life.

They charge a 5% platform fee, and that amount is based on the amount of funding you raise, not your ultimate project goal. They also charge a standard payment processing fee that’s dependent upon your location and currency, though it appears to hover around 3% for many currencies. 

Crowd Supply

Crowd Supply’s mission is to “bring original, useful, respectful hardware to life.” Like Indiegogo, Crowd Supply is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs from funding to delivery, and 100% of funded projects have been delivered to backers. They’ve got a great success rate, too — 70% of launched projects have achieved funding.

When you bring an idea or product to Crowd Supply for backing, you’ll see two “Launch Plan” options: Basic and Standard. Here’s how they differ:

Patreon

Patreon exists to “change the way art is valued.” Over 200,000 creators use Patreon to allow their “most passionate fans [to] support [their] creative work via monthly membership.”

To use Patreon you establish a monthly subscription rate (you can create tiers) for your fans and followers. When that amount is paid, they receive exclusive access to your content. Your supporters join a community that supports you and receive a behind-the-scenes look into your creative process. Patreon allows you to make recurring income — it’s not a one time backing or funding for your creative pursuits.

Like Crowd Supply, Patreon has different pricing based upon the plan you choose:

Crowdfunder

Crowdfunder is a place “where entrepreneurs and investors meet.” When you choose to use Crowdfunder you’re joining a community of over 200,000 members and 15,000 accredited investors.

This site is based around equity crowdfunding, meaning that you’ll need to offer an equity stake in your business in order to receive funding. Like most other crowdfunding sites, Crowdfunder offers resources to help you create the perfect crowdfunding appeal.

They also offer a few plans at different price points:

CircleUp

CircleUp allows you to create two types of crowdfunding campaigns: equity and credit. They are selective about the businesses they work with, but if you make it through their approval process then you’ll find an array of services available to you.

CircleUp focuses on helping small businesses find the right investor. Many traditional funding and loan opportunities aren’t made available to small businesses, and so they seek to fill the gap, primarily focusing on consumer brands.

Before you can start using their services, you have to apply here. 

Fundable

Fundable is designed around business crowdfunding, and they’re “dedicated exclusively to helping companies raise capital.”

The team at Fundable takes a hands-on approach to help customers, “from profile creation to marketing, [they’re] there at each step.” To date, people have committed $615 million in funding on their platform.  

It’s free to set up a company profile on Fundable, and a flat fee of $179 USD per month to fundraise. If you choose to run a rewards-type campaign on their platform then there’s a standard credit card processing fee charged by WePay, their payment processor. 

Republic

Republic recognizes that “many startups’ success depends on their ability to get funded.” They built Republic to address that, and their “funding portal and broker dealer are SEC-registered and members of FINRA.” And they support diversity. “25% of investments on Republic have gone to companies with underrepresented founders of color and 44% have gone to companies with a female founder.” The industry average is 1% and 13%, respectively.

As an SEC-registered business, their cost and pricing structure is a bit different from other crowdfunding sites. Find out more about how much it costs to raise money on Republic here.   

Wefunder

Wefunder has helped fund 451 startups and raised over $164.5 million. They’re the self-described “Kickstarter for investing,” the difference being that Wefunder lets people invest in your company with small ownership stakes whereas Kickstarter allows you to sell products. Right now, Wefunder is only available to businesses and startups located in the United States.

They don’t charge any up-front fees and offer to price match if you find a better offer elsewhere. Wefunder collects 7.5% of your total fundraised amount if your campaign is successful.

Ready to crowdfund your small business funding?

Crowdfunding is a great and thoroughly modern way to find and raise capital for your small business. 

There are a multitude of crowdfunding sites, many of which cater to specific industries and products, so don’t despair if you didn’t find a perfect solution in the list above. 

If you’ve run crowdfunding campaigns before, share your best practices with us in the comments below!

Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

Today, we’re talking about grants. Receiving a grant is a lot like getting free money to start your business, but here’s the rub — they’re not easy to land.

Don’t let that deter you. If you like the idea of getting free money to start your business, then keep reading as we explain what you can do to improve your chances of getting a small business grant.  

In this post we’re learning about who can qualify for a grant, how to prepare and apply for a grant, exploring the different factors that can increase your odds of successfully getting a grant, and sharing a list of small business grants worthy of consideration.  

Small Business Grants

What is a small business grant?

We referred to grants as free money, here’s why: Unlike a traditional small business loan, you don’t have to pay back a grant. A grant doesn’t come with monthly payments and APRs — it’s money freely given to you for your business and startup costs.

Yet, that doesn’t mean you can use the funds however you’d like. Grants are awarded for specific purposes, so if you receive a grant to cover marketing and advertising costs, that money can’t be used toward payroll, products, your next vacation, or for anything other than it’s intended and stated purpose. 

If you use grant money inappropriately you’ll likely have to pay it back, and what’s worse, you could face legal issues and be guilty of fraud.

The agency that awards the grant will provide instructions on accounting and reporting, and you must meet these guidelines and report on your progress and use of funds.

Who awards small business grants?

Grant money is awarded by various government-approved agencies (not the government itself), nonprofits, and even individual persons and businesses.

Money and grants can be found in the unlikeliest of places, so do your homework.

If you have an established relationship with vendors and banks then call them. Ask if they offer any grants and what the qualifications are. Most banks employ someone called a “Trust Officer,” a person in charge of the trust department. Their role is to manage the accounts for individuals involved in philanthropy and money-giving.

American Express’s Small Business Economic Impact Study found that two-thirds of every dollar spent at a small business ($0.67) stays within the local community. Most cities and towns have an economic development agency and it behooves them to promote small businesses and entrepreneurs so they’ll often have public funds available. If they don’t, call your governor’s office and ask about state-level agencies that offer grants.

These opportunities are unlikely to be advertised, so put yourself out there and ask around.

How do I qualify for a grant?

Well, that depends on the grant. Some grants are awarded only to female entrepreneurs, others to minority-owned businesses, whereas others are awarded based on industry. There’s a multitude of grants available with varying qualifications, so there are sure to be some you qualify for.  

When an organization or business decides to create a grant, they will set aside the funds and determine the necessary qualifications and application process.

How do I apply for a grant?

After determining whether or not you qualify for a grant, you’ll want to apply. This process is known as grant writing.

Grant writing is notoriously detailed and requires diligence. In fact, many nonprofits seeking grants often hire out their grant writing to professional grant writers. If you can’t afford to do that, it’s okay, you can write an awesome grant proposal all on your own.

Tips for Grant Writing

Every grant appeal or application contains the following three elements:

1. A need statement that is in line with the grant-making organization’s stated purpose for the grant.
2. An explanation of how your small business or organization fits the grant-makers’ qualifications.
3. Illustration of your need for the grant.

Increase your chances of landing a grant by using the following tips. 

Don’t go rogue.

Every grant will offer different instructions on how to apply. Follow these instructions meticulously. If you can’t follow instructions on how to apply for the grant, why should someone take the time to entertain your request? 

Don’t reinvent the wheel.

Instead of striking out on your own, look to previously funded grant applications. You can write to government funding agencies and request copies of these applications (the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, gives you access to these documents.)

As you read these funded grant applications, do you notice any common threads or information they all made sure to include? Make a note of it and include similar ideas in your application, just make sure they’re relevant to your small business.  

Talk to others.

You are not the first person to seek a grant. Leverage the immense power of social media or your local chamber of commerce to connect with others who have received grants. Ask for their advice and listen to it. 

Keep it focused.

Tailor your proposal to the specific grant you’re applying for, don’t use a carbon copy of an application you created for another grant. Writing a compelling proposal means you have to cater your message and appeal to the funder and their vision. How does your proposal align with the funder’s goals and intents? Acknowledge the funder and show your gratitude and appreciation for the opportunity they can provide. Make clear how your future success can be attributed to and enhanced by them. A personal appeal can go a long way in influencing someone’s willingness to award you a grant.

Be prepared.

Before sitting down and writing, think about what you want to convey in your proposal. You can use your business plan as a starting point for inspiration. Create a framework and work to substantiate it. 

Don’t be pretentious.

Your reader must understand what you’re saying in your grant proposal. You’re more than encouraged to use a thesaurus to add variety to your vocabulary but don’t choose big, cumbersome words in your proposal just because they look impressive. The goal is to use the right word to convey your thoughts, not lose your reader in a sea of jargon. 

Make it clear.

Use short and to the point sentences. Don’t lose sight of the forest through the trees. Set up your main ideas and expound on them as needed, making the connections clear. Your proposal should seamlessly transition from one section to the next, not leave your reader wondering where on earth that last idea came from. 

Make room for white space.

Use different sized headers and include space between major ideas or shifts in thought. Leaving white space on the page helps your reader understand the break between ideas and makes your proposal easier to read. 

Make it memorable.

Use supporting details, graphs, and charts when necessary. And don’t underestimate the value of creating an emotional connection with your reader.

The person reading your proposal isn’t always the person who awards the grant. Oftentimes, the person reading your proposal will report back to the awarding organization’s board of trustees. They will present a condensed version of your proposal, boiling it down to the main ideas and the information that’s most important to the foundation. What information do you want them to share? Focus on supporting those ideas.

Appreciate the power of persuasion.

How do you persuade a reader to your cause? Grantsplus.com writes about three different “modes of persuasion”: Ethos, Logos, and Pathos.

• Ethos — this relates to ethics. Your writing should convey that you are credible and trustworthy. What credentials or qualifications do you have to support your trustworthiness?  
• Logos — this relates to logic. You should support any claims you make in your appeal with data and facts. Do you have any customer testimonials you can include? Give your reader a reason to believe what you say.
• Pathos — this relates to the heart and appeals to emotion. Use your business story to further your appeal, making sure to illustrate your points with words that evoke imagery and quotes, if you have them.

Proofread and edit. Then do it again.

It’s 4 o’clock in the morning and you’ve stayed up all night and finished writing your appeal, which means it’s time to submit it, right? Absolutely not!

Don’t even think about submitting your grant application if you haven’t proofread and edited it. Read it out loud so you can hear any mistakes in grammar or spelling and fix them accordingly. After you’ve done that, take it a step further and ask someone else to review your grant application. Sometimes, an impartial set of eyes can find issues that you’re otherwise blind to.  

Small Business Grants available in 2020.

Now that you know what a small business grant is, how to qualify, and how to write an appeal for a grant, it’s time to explore the small business grants available to you. The following list is by no means exhaustive — there exist grants for almost every niche and industry, but these resources can help jumpstart your search for the perfect grant. Keep in mind that the government itself doesn’t provide money to your business, but it does partner with numerous agencies that can help you seek grant funding.

Grants.gov

Here, you’ll find information on grants administered by government agencies. You can search through a wide variety of grants and filter your search and results. To access the full eligibility details of the grants listed, you’ll need to register an account with grants.gov.  

This site doesn’t just help you find a grant, it offers resources and guidance for both applicants and grantors. If you’re on-the-go and can’t sit down to peruse their site on your computer, download their app. 

Challenge.gov

Got a great idea? Check out this site to determine if it could be of use to the government. At Challenge.gov, “members of the public compete to help the U.S. government solve problems big and small. [They can] browse through challenges and submit [their] ideas for a chance to win.”

Most of the challenges offer a cash prize, so go ahead and take a gander to see if your small business or idea solves any of the problems listed there. 

The Minority Business Development Agency

This agency is dedicated to assisting minority-owned businesses find the grants and resources they need. It’s managed by the U.S. Department of Commerce. 

National Minority Supplier Development Council

The NMSDC “advances business opportunities for certified minority business enterprises and connects them to corporate members.” You can receive capital loans through the NMSDC and grant funding through the Business Consortium Fund, which is a network of suppliers and vendors that work with the NMSDC. 

Verizon Small Business Recovery Fund

Verizon recognized early on that the Coronavirus pandemic would greatly affect small businesses. They developed this fund to provide, “…grants of up to $10,000 to small businesses, particularly in historically underserved communities hit hard by the pandemic.” 

Small Business Innovation Research & Small Business Technology Transfer Programs

These programs are “highly competitive [and] encourage domestic small businesses to engage in Federal Research/Research and Development with the potential for commercialization.”

4.0

4.0 is an organization that “invests coaching, community, curriculum, and cash in promising leaders to test tomorrow’s learning models with students and families in their local communities.” You can apply for a fellowship on their site. 

The Small Business Administration

The SBA offers various grants and cooperative agreements to help fund your small business. Just as with every grant, there are specific requirements to apply, so check out their site for more information on specific grants and eligibility standards. 

GrantWatch

GrantWatch is a great site to use to locate your next funding opportunity. They list grants available in both local and international communities. They currently have over 25,000 grants listed on their site for your perusal.

If you didn’t find the right grant or solution for your needs in that list, here are a couple of things you can do:

• Google it.
  • There’s a vast amount of information online. Use search engines to find the right grant for you.
• Consider other forms of funding.
  • Have you thought about applying for a small business loan or alternative lending?

Apply for your grant and put it to work

We hope you found this guide to small business grants helpful.

If you have any grant-seeking suggestions for other small business owners and entrepreneurs, share them in the comments below! We’d love to hear from folks who have sought grants to learn what has and hasn’t worked for them.

Have you received a grant and are you ready to take your business to the next step? If so, don’t forget about your business’s digital presence.

Today, more than ever, having a digital presence for your business is essential. Start by claiming your domain name and then building a website where your customers and clients can interact and transact with you. You can start today at Domain.com.

First, you need a good idea that solves a problem, then you need to test your idea, and ultimately, you need a way to fund your business.

In our last post we looked at different funding options for your small business, and today, we’re going to dig into small business loans. Read on to learn what you need to apply for a small business loan, how to get a small business loan, and what can prevent you from receiving a small business loan.

Small Business Loans

Many business owners struggle with financing at some point during the life of their business. For one business owner, it could be needing funds to get started and for another, it’s about having enough money available to cover day-to-day expenses.

It isn’t necessarily easy to get a small business loan and that’s largely due to the restrictive lending rules most banks abide by. Let’s look at what you can do to help increase your odds of getting a small business loan.

Prepare for your small business loan application

Before applying for loans, you’ll want to work on a business plan. Lenders won’t entertain your request if you don’t have a business plan they can review. No one wants to lend their money to a risky venture, so take the time to flesh out your business plan before going any further. 

Clearly state why you’re looking for a small business loan

Banks want to know that their borrowers will use the money wisely. If you can’t tell them how you plan on using the funds they loan you, chances are, you won’t be getting that loan. 

As part of your business plan, consider why and where you need extra funding. Will you:

• Be using the money to get off the ground?
• Request funds to maintain payroll and other regular expenses?
• Need money to introduce a new product or service to your business?

Your ask and reasoning should be clear to the lender, don’t leave them guessing as to how their money will be used.  

Do your small business loan homework

Small business loans come in a great variety of types, not all of them being perfect solutions for everyone. For example, many banks won’t loan money to a new small business. This is because they want to know that you already have cash coming in the door (a positive cash flow) so they can rest assured that you’re able to pay back your small business loan. It’s a big risk to loan money to someone that doesn’t have proof of income to pay it back.

If that’s the case, new business owners may have better luck seeking funding through alternative lenders, like friends and family or crowdfunding.

If you’ve been in business for at least a year and can prove you’re making revenue, you’ll have an easier time receiving a traditional small business loan from a bank or a Small Business Administration approved lender. 

Review the Terms and Conditions 

Here’s a piece of advice that extends well beyond getting a small business loan: Don’t sign your name to something without reading any applicable terms and conditions first.

There are many places you can seek small business loans, but they all offer different terms. Some might offer deferred interest, and others might charge so much interest it makes the loan very unappealing. Do not sign and accept a loan without first understanding the terms of it, and if necessary, bring someone with you who can help explain the terms. 

Nerdwallet suggests that you, “Approach small-business-loan shopping just as you would shopping for a car. … Once you determine which type of lender and financing vehicle are right for you, compare two or three similar options based on annual percentage rate (total borrowing cost) and terms. Of the loans you qualify for, choose the one with the lowest APR, as long as you are able to handle the loan’s regular payments.”

Identifying the right lender

Small business lenders tend to fall into three categories: traditional banks, microlenders, and alternative lenders.

Traditional banks

Small businesses can have a tough time getting approved for a traditional loan through a bank. Banks often require that you have a good credit history, aren’t in desperate need of funds, and that you have enough collateral to make the loan less risky to them.

Bank loans tend to operate on a debt financing model, where you’ll need to pay back the loan, instead of an equity model where you can sell stock or ownership in your company for funds.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) partners with banks and lenders across the nation to provide small business loans. These loans range from $500 USD to $5.5 million USD, and “can be used for most business purposes.” Check out their site to find a lender that works for you. 

Microlenders

Bad credit? Fledgling business with no consistent revenue stream? These things can make a traditional bank turn their nose down at you and refuse to lend. However, that doesn’t mean you’re entirely out of luck when it comes to getting a loan.

If you’re not a good candidate for a traditional loan, look into microlenders. Microlenders are often nonprofits that issue smaller, short-term loans. While you may not receive as much funding from a microlender, it can be just enough to get you on your feet or launch that product you’ve been testing and are ready to release. 

Since microlenders work with people who are newly in business and those with poor credit, they often have a longer application process. Keep your business plan handy, because without one your chances of getting a microloan decrease. 

Alternative Lenders

If the term “alternative lender” intimidates you, relax. Alternative lending encompasses everything that isn’t a traditional bank loan, but that doesn’t mean it’s held in less regard than a traditional loan. If you don’t have the business tenure or credit score to land a bank loan, and you’re looking for more than what a microlender can offer, alternative lenders can be the perfect solution. 

Alternative lenders can take many forms: Friends and family, crowdfunding, and angel investors are just a few.

Instead of a debt financing model, many alternative lenders offer equity financing. This means that instead of having to pay back a debt according to specific terms, you offer the lender a stake or ownership in your company in exchange for the funding.

You can read more about various alternative lenders in this post.

What prevents you from getting a small business loan?

Competition in business is fierce, and not everyone will receive a small business loan to help them succeed.

Wondering if you’ve got what it takes to be approved for a small business loan? The following things can make or break your chances of securing a loan.

1. No Business Plan

Not having a business plan isn’t an option when applying for small business loans. Your business plan is your blueprint for success. Think of it as a road map that you and your lenders can follow to make sure you’re achieving your business goals.  

Why is a lender going to waste their time and money on your business if you haven’t bothered taking the time to create a plan? Not having a plan is risky business, and sets you up for failure.

Here’s where you can learn how to write a business plan.

2. Bad Credit History

Banks won’t offer a small business loan to someone with bad credit. In fact, most banks insist your credit be at least in the 680-700 range (if not higher) before they’ll consider you a viable candidate for a small business loan.

If you don’t know your credit score, the time to find out is now. TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian are three credit-reporting agencies that all offer a free yearly personal credit history report. You can apply to receive yours at annualcreditreport.com.

3. No collateral or cash flow

Banks want to be assured that you’re able to pay back your loan before they’ll approve you for it. They’ll be interested to know what collateral you have and what your cash flow is so that they can better assess their risk in lending to you.

It’s a good idea to regularly calculate your cash flow so you’re always prepared in case of emergencies, and so that you can approach lenders with confidence.

4. General apathy and disorganization

Banks aren’t lending to a nameless, faceless entity — they’re lending to you, a living, breathing human being.

When making your appeal for a loan, don’t forget to include some emotion and make a human connection. Lenders are constantly approached by people looking to get a small business loan, so come prepared with an organized plan and appeal, and let your personality shine through to set yourself apart from the rest.

Putting it into practice

Now that you know what lenders are looking for when you apply for a small business loan, and what to have prepared before you apply, it’s time to shop around for the right lender and get your small business loan.

We’d love to hear about what has and hasn’t worked for you when applying for small business loans, so let us know in the comments below!

And if you’re ready to take the next step and get your business online, we’re here to help. 

Get started with a domain name and web hosting at Domain.com, and check out our easy-to-use WebsiteBuilder to build a beautiful, customizable site in minutes.

As you plan for and start your business, it’ll be your job to figure out how to realize that potential. Many times, small business owners discover that in order to make their business dreams come true, they need to seek external funding and financing.

If you’ve never done that before, don’t worry, you’re not alone. As of 2019, there were 30.7 small businesses in the United States, making up 99.9% of all US businesses. Many of these small businesses sought or are seeking funding to help start and run their business.

In this post, we’re discussing why a small business might seek funding and the different types of small business funding options available to you. With this information, we hope you can make an informed choice in the future of the business.

Small Business Funding

Small business owners don’t have small dreams. Across the nation and world, small businesses are addressing vital issues and problems and coming up with solutions for them. Despite having big dreams and big goals, most small business owners don’t have access to big accounts with unlimited resources. Let’s look at some of the reasons why you might want to seek funding for your business.

Reasons to Seek Small Business Funding

Here are five reasons why your small business may seek funding.

• Startup Costs

Starting a business isn’t free — to do so, you need money to cover a variety of expenses. You’ll need funds to pay for your incorporation fees, insurance costs, office or retail space, taxes, website, and a variety of other common business startup costs.  

• Working Capital

Capital is another way of saying financial assets. Working capital, as defined by Investopedia, “is the difference between a company’s current assets, such as cash, accounts receivable (customers’ unpaid bills) and inventories of raw materials and finished goods, and its current liabilities, such as accounts payable.” If you have more in liabilities than assets, then you don’t have a positive working capital, which means it can be tough for you to pay back any existing loans and you can even risk bankruptcy.

• Business Growth

After you’ve started and established your business, you’ll want to grow it.  Maybe you’re looking to serve a new market, are buying assets, want to increase your sales, or hire additional help. Whatever your needs, growing a business costs money.

• Products and Services

From ideation to execution, product and service development cost money. You’ll need to validate the idea for your new product which could involve market testing, then cover the costs of production, inventory, and shipping. There’s nothing worse than identifying the perfect product or service for your market and not being able to fund it.

• Debt Consolidation and Restructuring

It may seem counterintuitive to receive funds or take out a loan to pay off your debts, but loan consolidation often helps to make your finances more manageable. Loan consolidation can increase your working capital by reducing the number and amount of your monthly payments.

Types of Small Business Funding

Just as everyone’s need for funding is different, so too are your financing and funding options. What may be a great fit for one business isn’t necessarily the solution for yours. Luckily, there are many types of funding to serve a variety of needs and types of business. But before you apply for funds, make sure you know how much funding you need.

Traditionally, there have been two main kinds of small business funding: debt financing and equity financing. Debt financing means that you’re funding your business by borrowing money, whether it be in the form of a traditional bank loan or borrowing from friends and family. Equity financing is a way to gain funds by selling stock or ownership in your company. This type of financing often means you establish a long-lasting relationship with the lender who may also serve as a business mentor.

Let’s explore different types of small business funding so that you can make the best decisions for your business.

Bootstrapping

When you decide to bootstrap your business, you’re not turning to external sources for help. Instead, you’re acting as your own investor. If you have a 401(k) or savings that you can tap into, and you want to maintain complete control over your business and finances, then bootstrapping may be the best fit for you.

Unfortunately, not everyone has money saved and invested, and that can be due to a variety of reasons outside of their control. If bootstrapping isn’t an option for you, don’t worry, that doesn’t mean you can’t start a small business.

Traditional Business Loans

What are traditional business loans? They’re bank loans, plain and simple. There are different types of bank loans and the terms of your financing can vary greatly depending on the lending institution.  

Before accepting any loans, you’ll want to review two things: The loan terms and what collateral you’ll need to obtain it. Oftentimes, banks won’t issue loans for small amounts of funding, so you need to consider the longevity of your business and accept that you may be paying back your loan for a long time to come.

Here are some ways that banks traditionally lend money to businesses:

Revolving Loans

A revolving loan usually takes the form of a line of credit or business credit card. Instead of a fixed-term installment loan that starts on a specific date and must be paid back by a specific date, revolving loans give you access to funds as you need them. With a line of credit or credit card, you can access money up to a predetermined limit (your credit limit.) As you borrow and pay back the funds, that money again becomes available for use.  

Installment Loans

When you think of traditional business loans, installment loans are what first come to mind. In most cases, installment loans are secured, meaning that the lender requires some form of security, i.e. collateral, before they’re willing to lend funds. However, if you’re taking out a traditional installment loan for the purchase of a specific asset (like a company vehicle or building), that asset often acts as the collateral.

Installment loans have specific terms that are covered in something called an installment agreement and can include things like a repayment amount and schedule. Installment loans often take the form of commercial loans or equipment financing, and they fall into the category of debt financing.

Traditional lenders usually require that you have good credit before issuing any type of business loan. If that isn’t the case for you, you may want to seek alternate funding.

Alternative Loans and Lenders

Alternative lending is an umbrella term that describes loans and funding options outside of your traditional bank loans. We’ll list some common forms of alternative lending below.

Friend and Family Loans

There are pros and cons to borrowing money from friends and family, just as there are with every type of funding.

Borrowing money from your familiars can be a great way to save on interest and you already have an established relationship with your lender. However, keep in mind that the success of your business can greatly affect these relationships. If your business does well and your friends and family see a return on their investment then all is well. But what happens if your business is stagnant or fails? That can lead to a relationship turning sour, no matter your original relation to the lender.

Grants

A grant is money given to a person or business from the government, a private business, or a corporation. Unlike traditional loans, grants do not need to be paid back. Contrary to popular belief, the U.S. government doesn’t give grants to individuals looking to start a business. Instead, you can turn to private corporations or an entity like the Small Business Administration (SBA) to help with seeking a grant.

Business Cash Advance

A Business cash advance, also known as a merchant cash advance or an account receivables factoring, is when you receive a lump sum of money and in return, you promise the lender a percentage of your future revenue or sales.

Business cash advances are like the “payday loans” of the business world — they’re easy to come by, but the terms are often steep so stay alert and always review the terms and conditions. If you have bad credit but good sales projections, this may be a great solution to your small business funding needs.

Small Business Administration Loan

With a name like SBA Loan, you might think that the SBA lends money directly to businesses, but that’s not quite how it works.

Instead of lending money directly, the SBA has a network of lending partners that they work with to provide loans to small businesses. These partners include “community development organizations and micro-lending institutions.”

Depending on the SBA loan you qualify for, you may also receive education and support to run your business and benefits like lower down payments and no collateral. SBA loans can range anywhere from $500 USD to $5.5 million USD.

You must meet certain eligibility requirements to apply for and receive an SBA loan, so take a look here to get matched with a lender and see if an SBA loan is right for you.  

Private Investors

According to Biz2Credit’s July 2020 Small Business Lending Index, only 13.8% of small business loan applications were approved at big banks. That’s not a particularly comforting success rate, and if you can’t get a traditional bank loan, you may want to look for a private investor.

Private investors can be anyone — friends and family fall into this category, along with your professional network and business capital brokers. If you’re looking for a local private business investor, try speaking to your Chamber of Commerce or any relevant trade associations as they may be able to point you in the right direction.

Oftentimes, private investors (you may hear them referred to as angel investors) will give you a lump sum of money (known as venture capital) to invest in your business in return for ownership equity. Private investor terms vary from investor to investor, so do your homework and contact multiple investors to make sure you’re getting the best terms.

Invoice Financing

Invoice financing can be a great small business funding option for those already open and in business. It’s a way of improving your cash flow (so you can pay employees and stay on top of other expenditures) by borrowing against your open customer invoices.

Depending on your small business structure, you may find that you’re selling goods and services based on credit (invoicing your customers) instead of receiving the money up-front. In this situation, your client is given an invoice that tells them the total amount due and the due date. If you have unpaid invoices, you can approach an invoice financing lender and borrow against those open invoices. In this situation, your open invoices act as the collateral for the funding.

Crowdfunding

As you’ve perused social media you’ve no doubt seen people crowdfunding money to pay for surprise expenses, like medical bills or funeral costs. But have you ever given serious consideration to crowdfunding your business?

Crowdfunding is exactly what it sounds like — raising funds from a crowd. Instead of having one or two large investors, anyone can contribute a small (or large) amount to a crowdfunding campaign, thereby helping you raise the money you need to launch and maintain your small business.  

Crowdfunding campaigns fall into four main categories:

• Donation – when people donate money to your crowdfunding appeal and are promised nothing in return.
• Debt – any money pledged by your supporters is paid back (usually with interest) by a certain deadline. This is a lot like a traditional loan.
• Rewards – in this scenario, you promise a certain reward based on the amount of money someone pledges to your crowdfunding campaign. You can offer services or products as rewards to entice people to donate funds.
• Equity – this is exactly what it sounds like. When you perform an equity crowdfunding campaign, you’re pledging a percentage of ownership in your business in return for funding.

There are many different crowdfunding sites, all with different terms of use, so do your research before deciding on the best crowdfunding platform to raise your small business funds.  

Ready to fund and launch your small business?

We hope this post has helped you understand the different types of funding your small business can leverage. If you have any questions or comments, post them below!

As you prepare to launch your small business, don’t neglect your digital presence. Your customers are online and you should be, too. Your online presence starts with your domain name and website, and we offer the perfect solutions for both. 

Get started today at Domain.com.

Yet, that’s exactly what will happen if you rush headlong into opening a business without first creating a small business plan.

Think about it: You wouldn’t decide to build a house without a blueprint or take a road trip without a map. Your business plan serves as the blueprint and map for your business. It’s a foundational document that entrepreneurs and small business owners can’t risk ignoring. Once you’ve worked on validating your business idea, it’s time to create a plan.

In this post, we’re going to explore why you should create a business plan for your small business, different types of business plans, how to create a business plan, and provide sample business plans.

Creating a small business plan.

Why do I need a plan for my small business?

Your small business plan is an essential document that helps you plan and start your business. It assists you with:

• Testing the practicality and feasibility of your business idea.
• Making it easier to secure funding and investors.
• Growing your business.

You might think of a business plan as a static document, something that once it’s written, you don’t have to touch again. Yet, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Think of your small business plan as a living document, one that grows and changes with your business. Many business owners find that they need multiple business plans as their business objectives change over time.

Your business plan allows you to formulate and plan out your goals in a way that’s both intelligible and trackable. As your business grows, you can refer back to it to make sure you’re hitting the milestones that you need to be achieving. Investors will also look to your business plan to determine if your business is achieving its stated goals and worthy of their investments.

How do I create a small business plan?

Different types of small business plans.

Before creating a business plan, you’ll need to identify the type of business plan that best suits your needs.

The US Small Business Association describes two different types of business plans: traditional or lean startup. The difference is that “traditional business plans are more common, use a standard structure, and encourage you to go into detail in each section. A lean startup business plan is “less common … They focus on summarizing only the most important points of key elements of your plan.”

It’s a good idea to create both types of business plans. A more traditional business plan acts as a working, living document, it’s something you refer to throughout the life of your business for guidance as you work toward your business goals. Lean startup business plans are a fantastic tool to have in your business arsenal, too. They can be used to determine potential interest in your business — share them while doing market testing to determine the viability of your idea or with investors when seeking funding.

What’s included in a traditional small business plan?

The SBA recommends that a traditional business plan include the following elements:

• Executive Summary.
• Company Description.
• Market Analysis.
• Organization and Management.
• Service or Product Line.
• Marketing and Sales.
• Funding Request.
• Financial Projections.
• An Appendix.

We know, that seems like a lot of information, but trust us when we say that this document is vital to the success of your business. The work you put in now to create a business plan will save you from unnecessary mistakes and risks in the long run.

Let’s look at the individual components of the traditional small business plan as described by the SBA so you know exactly what each section entails.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary is the first part of your business plan because it summarizes the essence of your business.

This is a brief section that doesn’t mince words: Describe what your company is about and why it will succeed. This is a great time to rely on your mission statement or unique value proposition.

Include basic information about your company like who leads it, your product or service, and high-level financial information if you intend on seeking financing. But keep in mind that brevity is the soul of your executive summary, so don’t get lost in the weeds.

Company Description

This section allows you to go into more depth about your business and requires specificity. Describe the problem(s) that your business solves and your competitive advantages. And remember that it’s not just your business idea and viability that’ll attract interest, it’s also the people behind the scenes making things come together. Use this section to detail your team or the team that you will hire, the legal status of your business (if you’re up and running), and where you’re located.

This section is your time to shine so go ahead and tout the benefits of your business.

Market Analysis

 A market analysis is integral to any small business plan.

Your business isn’t operating in a bubble sealed off from the rest of the world. Unless your business idea is truly original, you’ll be competing in a crowded marketplace.

This section is your chance to explain the opportunities in your market and necessitates some competitive research. The SBA recommends expounding on market trends, and answering the following questions:

• What do successful competitors do?
• Why does it work?
• Can you do better? How so?

Organization and Management

Here’s your chance to go into detail about the people who are going to make this business idea a reality and the structure your business will take.

Investors and others will want to know about the legal status of your business — are you a registered LLC or do you plan on becoming one? Is it a partnership or are you the sole proprietor? If you don’t have a legal status yet, this is an opportunity to lay out what the plans are for gaining one and the type of legal status you’ll establish.

As we’ve mentioned, it’s not just about the type of business you’re starting, it’s also about the people making it happen. Think about including a chart of your organization detailing people’s responsibilities and what they bring to the table. You can even choose to include (or link to) the resumes or CVs of integral team members.

Service or Product Line

What are you selling? Here’s your chance to regale us with all the details about your products and/or services. In this section, be sure to answer the following questions and include the following information:

• What benefits do your products or services provide?
• Describe your product or service lifecycle.
• How will you manage your intellectual property (copyrights, trademarks, patents)?
• What’s your research & development (R&D) look like?

Marketing and Sales

Your marketing strategy isn’t going to be static. This section of your business plan will change and evolve as your business does. However, you’ll always want to include the following information in this part of your plan:

• How will you create and engender customer interest?
• How do you plan on retaining your customers?
• What is your sales process?
• Have you thought about your marketing funnel?

This section will inform how you make your financial projections and decisions, so don’t skimp on your market and sales research. Try making market research a continuous habit so you always have your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the market and can adapt accordingly.

Funding Request

Will you seek funding for your business? If so, make sure this section of your business plan is thorough. Details and specificity will help you make your appeal.

Detail your funding requests and requirements:

• How much will you need over the next few years? Think of this as a five-year funding plan.
• How will you use the funding you receive (salaries, equipment, materials, marketing, etc.)?
• What are the terms under which you seek funding?
• The type of funding you’re seeking, i.e. debt or equity.
• How you plan to pay back the funds you receive.

Financial Projections

This section of your business plan is meant to back your funding requests but is essential to your plan even if you aren’t seeking funding.

Your goal: “Convince the reader that your business is financially stable and will be a financial success.”

If you don’t have an established business you should include what you believe your prospective financial outlook to be. This means including (data-driven) income forecasts, big expenditures, and balance sheets. If you have an existing business, this is information you should have available. If that’s the case, include your actual cash flow, income, balance sheets, and expenditures.

If you’re seeking funding, this information should support and match your requests. Don’t forget to mention any collateral that can help make your case for receiving a loan.

If possible, use graphs and images to help support the information you include in your financial projections.

Appendix

Your business plan appendix should include any information that supports your small business plan and funding requests. Here are some things to think about including:

• Resumes and/or CVs.
• References and letters of reference.
• Credit history(ies).
• Licenses, permits, or patents that you have.
• Legal contracts.
• Examples of your product — photos or links to digital demonstrations should suffice.

And there you have it — a thought-through and effective guide to creating your traditional business plan!

Now, let’s see what a leaner, startup business plan looks like.

What’s included in a lean startup small business plan?

Why would you consider creating a leaner business plan for your small business? A lean business plan is perfect for you if your business idea is simple, you plan on changing your business model, you’d like to start your business quickly, or if you want a shorter, condensed business plan to share with others.

Once again, we’re going to look to the SBA, a trusted institute, to help us understand what a lean business plan looks like and what type of information should reside therein. Keep in mind that since this is a lean startup plan, it should be kept succinct and to the point.

The SBA recommends that your lean startup business plan include the following elements:

• Key Partnerships.
• Key Activities.
• Key Resources.
• Value Proposition.
• Customer Relationships.
• Customer Segments.
• Channels.
• Cost Structure.
• Revenue Streams.

We understand that this might not appear to be leaner than a traditional small business plan, but you’d be surprised — stick with us as we dive into it to learn what it entails.

Key Partnerships

Who is going to help you achieve success with your business? Think strategically: Will you have partners? Who are your manufacturers and suppliers? Succinctly explain these partnerships in this section.

Key Activities

How is your business going to gain a competitive advantage over other businesses in the same market? Is it your sales model? Your technical expertise and tools? Those who read your business plan will want to know what your plan is for gaining an advantage over the competition —no one wants to support or invest in a risky business.  

Key Resources

What resources will you use to create value for your customers and your business? Whether it’s your team, available funds or capital, patents and trademarks, or third-party business resources, list them here. 

Value Proposition

Your unique value proposition should describe what differentiates you from other competitors in your market. What value does your business bring to the table that others don’t? Describe it clearly and concisely.

Customer Relationships

What will your interactions with customers look like? Will you offer personalized services or automated? Think about the first touchpoint someone will have with your business through to the last. You can use your marketing funnel to help inform this section of your business plan. 

Customer Segments

You can’t please everybody. That’s as true in business as it is in everyday life. Use this section to describe your ideal customer and target market as that’s who your business will be designed to help.

Channels

Where will you promote and market your business? Where will you have a business presence and communicate with customers? (Hint: it should be where your customers are.)

Cost Structure

What is your business or company going to focus on: reducing your overall cost of operations or maximizing your business value? After thinking through your business strategy, detail it here, and don’t forget to include any significant costs you’ll encounter along the way. 

Revenue Streams

How is your business going to make real, tangible revenue? If you’re a retail business then you’ll likely be making direct in-person or online sales. If you’re opening a gym or yoga studio you may charge subscription fees. Either way, potential investors want to know how you plan on making money so they can rest assured their investment isn’t a waste.

And there you have it, folks — a succinct guide to creating a lean startup business plan.

Example Small Business Plan Templates

It’s one thing to read about creating a business plan and another to see what one looks like in practice. If you’re intimidated at the thought of creating a business plan from scratch, don’t worry, there are plenty of templates to help.

Here are two business plan examples provided by the Small Business Association that’ll guide and assist you as you start writing your own plan:

• Business Plan A.
• Business Plan B.

What happens after you create a small business plan?

First off, congratulations on completing your small business plan!

Now that you’ve created your plan and laid the foundation for your business, it’s time to put it into practice. As your business evolves and grows, make sure to revisit your business plan. This plan is a living document and a great guide to helping you understand what business goals you’re achieving and where you may need to improve your performance.

Don’t forget to revisit your business plan regularly to make sure it’s updated as your business changes and adapts to the market.

We wish you the best of luck with your business and don’t forget that we’re here to help! If your business is ready to get online and create a digital presence, we’ve got you covered. Let us know if you have any questions or comments below!

While hair grows back and you can recover from a bad idea like that pretty quickly, it’s another matter to invest in and proceed with a bad business idea. That always guarantees a loss of time and money. 

The best business ideas solve problems. We’ll say it again for the people in the back — the best business ideas solve problems.

So how do you know if you have a great business idea or a dud? In today’s post, we’re going to discuss the process of business idea validation and you’ll learn how and why you should validate your business idea.

Validating your business idea

The worst thing you can do when making business decisions is guess. Guessing is not a good strategy when it comes to your business, your livelihood, and your income.

Idea validation is the process of testing and validating your idea with feedback and data before you start developing a new product or service, or starting a business. This process is essential to developing a business or product that people actually want. If your idea is self-serving and doesn’t help solve the problems of others, it won’t go far.  

Large companies and corporations call this process “Research & Development,” and while you won’t need to do anything at such large a scale, there are a few things you can do right now to validate your idea.

By validating your business idea you’re going to save yourself from a future headache and loss of money. So, let’s dig in and figure out how to validate your idea.

The business idea validation process

Identify your ideal customer

Do you know who your ideal customer is? That’s as good a place to start as any when you’re trying to validate your business idea. If you don’t know who your ideal customer is, who are you supposed to ask for feedback and validation? Sure, you can ask your friends and family, but let’s be honest: They’re likely to sugarcoat things so as not to offend.

Your ideal customer is the person whose needs are met by what you’re offering. To identify those people, you’ll need to know your products and services from your customer’s point of view. Think from their perspective: What sets you apart from competitors? What problems of theirs does your business solve?

Identifying your ideal customer isn’t about identifying who you want as a customer, it’s about identifying who benefits most from your product or business as it is.

Think about what you’ll ask when validating your idea

In order to validate your business idea, you’re going to have to present it to people to get their honest feedback. You don’t want to inundate them with a massive presentation; instead think about how you can present a handful of ideas, the best ideas and solutions your business aims to provide.

If you start with your life story and amble into a presentation about your business, you’re going to lose your interviewees’ attention (yes, interviewing is part of the process.) You’ll want to keep your presentation short so that it doesn’t get confusing and focus on the core of your business or products.

Reach out for interviews and feedback

Once you’ve identified what your ideal customer looks like and know what you’ll be asking, it’s time to do some reachout. Make a list of potential customers or clients that you think fit your ideal customer profile and ask for their time. You’ll want to set expectations with them: Let them know you aren’t trying to sell anything, why you’ve contacted them, and that it won’t take much of their time.

As we said earlier, friends and family are likely not great candidates for interviews. They’re personally vested in you and may gloss over issues they see in your product or business idea. It’s not because they’re trying to be unhelpful, but more often than not, they won’t want to hurt your feelings.

The business idea validation interview

When you start your interview, remember that these people are giving up their time to try and help you succeed. So, say “Thank you” and let them know how much you appreciate their time. Explain that their feedback is essential to you designing and creating something people will actually benefit from. People like to know that they’re important and valued, and assuring them of their importance during this process can help them open up to you.

Give them a brief rundown of your business, but don’t get lost in the weeds or use technical terms that they’re unlikely to understand. Then, launch into the core aspects of your business idea that you need their opinion on. Present these ideas individually and allow people to give you their thoughts on one of them before proceeding into the next. The interview is a back-and-forth between you and the other person, not a one-sided soliloquy.

Once you’ve completed the interview, thank them for their time and again reinforce the importance of their opinion and insights. You may find that you’ve just earned yourself a future customer or client.

Review your feedback and optimize your business idea accordingly

After your interviews, sit down and review what people had to say. Look for common themes and patterns in your feedback — is there anything everyone was excited about? What negative things did they highlight?

This process of validating your business idea isn’t designed to deflate anyone’s confidence, it’s designed to help you create the best and most effective business to suit your customers’ needs and wants.

Take what you’ve learned from the interview feedback and use it to modify and improve your business idea. Always keep the customers’ point of view in mind as you move through this exercise as they’re the ones who will be keeping you in business once you launch.

What happens after you validate your business idea?

After validating your business idea and making any necessary changes, it’s time to create a business plan and launch your business.

Keep in mind that it’s essential for businesses to have a digital presence these days. Online business has boomed throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, and we don’t see it going away any time soon. If you want to be competitive, be where your customers are — online.

Creating an online presence for your business starts with a domain name. Your domain name is your online address and will lead people to your site. You can easily create a beautiful website using a website builder once you’re ready to go live.

If you need help or have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us or comment below. We wish you the best as you launch your business!