How to start an online business
Do you want to start a small business online? When starting an online business, you’re entering a whole new world, with a new set of rules and procedures. While you may have plenty of experience working as a business owner or employee, it’s hard to know where to start and end when it comes to setting yourself up for online success. You’ll soon discover not only do you need to have good knowledge of your industry, but also a decent understanding of how to market your business effectively (and legally) online.
In my experience working online, these are the common areas where a business owner needs to focus in order to protect you, your business and your clients:
Below are two of our legal templates, popular among those starting online business:
Considerations for how to start an online business
Websites
Having a website gives your business credibility. This is because the first thing clients do when they hear about you is go to Google and see if they can find information about you and your business. If you have no website, they’re likely to wonder if your business is legitimate or not.
Your website becomes your virtual shop or office space, so it needs to be visually appealing and also informative. But in doing so, you've also got to protect yourself by making it clear that you are sharing information and not giving out advice. Which is why you need to ensure you have a terms of use, disclaimer and privacy policy page on your website.
Once you have a website, it is a marketing tool designed to entice people to work with you. That’s why it is important to make sure the information you share is current and you consider including a picture of you. This helps to build trust with your audience, which is important when offering an online service.
Your website needs to be clear for clients to understand that you will see them virtually online or via a phone or zoom call. You also need to make sure it is easy for clients to book an appointment with you. Because if it’s too hard they are likely to go elsewhere.
While these things are not all legal requirements, they will help to improve your chance of converting website visitors into clients. Here at The Remote Expert we do website, branding and social media audits to help you make sure your branding is legally protected. We also help with trademarks and your website’s terms and conditions.
Lead magnets
When taking your business online, it is a good idea to create a lead magnet as a way to help build up potential clients on your email list. Whether you opt for a downloadable checklist, an eBook or a fact sheet, you must make sure you have the appropriate disclaimers to state that you are only sharing information and not giving specific advice to the person that has accessed your free lead magnet. As well, this ensures that you convey effectively that you don’t guarantee results or outcomes based on implementing any of the information or suggested actions in your lead magnet.
If you are collecting people’s email addresses in exchange for your lead magnet, then you will also need to have a privacy policy in place to show:
how you are going to use that email address;
stating that you’re not going to abuse their email address and sell it to third parties; and
that you will ensure, to the best of your ability, that you keep their information safe.
A privacy policy gives your business credibility and signals to your clients or potential clients that you have the right systems in place to protect them.
One-to-many services
One of the benefits of taking your business online is that it gives you the ability to offer one-to-many services such as workshops or webinars. Just like any in-person workshop, you will need registration forms and disclaimers and be clear with people that sign up what platform you’ll be using to deliver the online services.
Zoom is a popular software to use for this kind of service. But you need to be asking yourself, are there confidentiality issues? It’s important to make it clear that even though it’s a private Zoom call, it’s still a public forum. So what attendees say could go further than that call.
It is important to make the boundaries clear about whether or not you will be recording the sessions and if they’ll be made available to people who cannot make the live time. It is also helpful to be clear about your refund policy because if people cannot make the session for whatever reason, it is not easy to reschedule a webinar.
If you offer a mix of one-on-one and group calls, a client agreement is what you need. But if it’s a group call, then perhaps you will only require a disclaimer, through an online waiver and disclaimer registration form. It is always best to check to ensure that you are legally covered in the correct way given your offerings.
Partnerships
To grow your business and reach other people’s clients, you may decide to partner with someone to do a Zoom workshop or an online event. If you do go down this path, you will need to be clear about the obligations of each party. A partnership should always be a win-win for both parties, so think carefully about what you are going to need to do to commit to it and what you will get in return.
Take into consideration whether the other person or business is aligned to yours, and think about what it will take to have a good return on investment in exchange for the time and money you put into the partnership. Not all offers to collaborate are equal and sometimes there is power in saying no if there is not enough alignment between you and your potential partner.
You will also need to take into account whether a cost is involved and how that money will be paid and distributed to each partner. If there are a number of tasks involved, you’ll need to sort out who does what and what the timelines are. It’s also important to have a plan if things don’t work out and you have a plan for how you can end the partnership. Be sure to think about potential possibilities that could go wrong, and look to reduce the risk of something happening or at least be prepared for what could go wrong.
Partnerships can be hard at the best of times, so it is important to consider all aspects and have a collaboration agreement between yourself and the other party.
One-on-one appointments
For online business owners running a service business, such as an accounting practice, you have to consider what you need to have in place for effective booking and delivery of one-on-one client appointments.
When starting your virtual business, it’s vital to have an online booking system.
It will quite literally save you hours a week and it means if someone wants to book with you, they don’t have to wait until business hours to get in touch. They also don’t have to hunt around for an email address. Instead, they can just click a time that suits, book an appointment and it will appear in your calendar. It makes it much easier for you and your clients. And you won’t lose people in the process of booking.
You’ll want to consider when someone books an appointment with you, when and how do they pay? More importantly, do they know much they have to pay? If they have to pay upfront, then it’s a great idea to take the payment along with the booking and have a link to your Client Agreement at the time of quoting or booking. That way they will know what it’s like to work with you, including the fee and other key aspects of the relationship.
The Client Agreement should also outline your procedures should they need to cancel or reschedule an appointment. For example, do you allow rescheduling with reasonable notice or do you charge for no-shows?
Another important aspect is ensuring you are clear about the packages you offer. You will need to specify what you do but also be clear about what you do not do (ie, what is excluded from your scope). This manages expectations and ensures there is no room for dispute later. It can also cover what the client needs to know including what information they will need to bring to the appointment. Also consider providing them with an online form to fill out, making it easy for you and is also client-friendly.
In business we can easily become caught up in having to manage issues that could have been avoided. The most successful online businesses have legal documents like these to ensure they can maintain momentum. You may require only one legal document to cover yourself but it is always wise to minimise risk (and the headaches too!)
Related article: The top 5 avoidable problems podcasters face
For more information about taking your business online, including what you might and might not need, you can book an obligation free chat with me here. Or you can send me an email at hello@theremoteexpert.com to enquire further. We can also help you with writing terms of use, policies and disclaimers.
