As we are now more than one year since the start of the global pandemic, the way we do business has fundamentally changed – possibly forever. Main Street small businesses suffered greatly during the pandemic. Many had to shut down for good, while others were open, but at limited capacities. A lesson we can all learn from this is that a Main Street storefront no longer depends solely on foot traffic coming in to physical stores. Rather all businesses now understand that building and expanding their presence online is essential.
Finding the Right Business Name
At first, it sounds a bit crazy to start a business during a pandemic. But is it? If you have a great business idea, it may be your time to shine. Before you run off and get your business name registered with state and federal entities, it’s essential to also pick the right domain name that matches your business name. Using a domain name generator should help you figure out which domains and domain suffixes are still available on the internet. Wherever possible, try to land a .com domain name for your business, even if you need to buy a domain that already exists from the third party. Other suffixes such as .org are great, and there are even some new ones coming out, like .marketing, that may be of interest to you.
How to Pick the Right Hosting Provider
Now that you have your domain name picked out, it’s time to find the best hosting provider for your business. Not all web hosting companies are created equal and speed is everything. In fact, Google’s (News - Alert) guidelines say that your website should load in 3 seconds or less. A large percentage of many modern websites these days are running on Wordpress (learn how to find the best Wordpress hosting provider for your business). Remember that you’ll get what you pay for here, so if you are more technically inclined, you may do ok when it comes to lower end hosting packages, but if you need tech help, it is better to get a more fully managed solution to put yourself at ease.
Email: Far From Dead
While many pundits have declared email dead, it is alive and well. By the year 2024, more than 361 billion emails will be sent every day. Having an email list to your addressable audience and making sure that your messages are delivered reliably are essential in today’s market. Picking the best email marketing services for your business is of key importance. When trying to evaluate the right platform for you consider the integrations, mobile optimization, automation, and list segmentations, to name a few things to look out for.
Putting it all Together
Now that you’ve found the perfect fit for your online business – everything from the right domain name, to hosting, to email marketing – here are a few additional tools to help propel your business into the digital age:
Edited by Erik Linask
