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6 Steps for Successful Business Ideas

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You have a business idea, but you don’t know if it has potential for success.  How do you go about determining if you might have a successful business idea?

I know that was one of my biggest questions when I started.  Will this business work?  Are there enough potential customers to make a living?

The First Step

Before you can know if you have a good idea, you need to do some basic market research.  If you are brick and mortar business, you probably did some research before you setup shop.  You should have looked at competition, potential customer base, location of business and you know your demographics.

If you hope to be successful with an online business, you need to do some basic market research as well.

Steps for Successful Business Ideas

Here are six steps to help you in your research determine if you have a potentially successful business idea.

1.  Pay-Per-Click campaigns from small businesses

Are you seeing small businesses actively participating in pay-per-click campaigns that are targeting goods and services?  When you do a search for products and/or services you offer, are you seeing large, mega-companies bidding on search results or do you see a good number of small businesses?

The fact that there are significant number of small businesses bidding on terms indicates that there is a competitive market and a good customer base.  Businesses are only going to engage in pay-per-click campaigns when there is a profitable return on the investment.  This is a good indicator of potentially successful business ideas.

2.  Niche publications with plenty of ads

Niche publications, like magazines, are good sources of market research.  Do you have several niche magazines in your area of business?  If you do not, this would be a good indication your business idea is more of a hobby.

If you do have plenty of magazines or publications, then do they have a thriving classified ad section?  Classified ads are often included by small business owners trying to market their products or training materials.  The presence of niche publications and thriving ad sections are good indicators of potentially successful business ideas.

3.  Search results shows training topics

A good indicator that a business idea has legs, is whether there are plenty of training or educational materials in search results.  The largest segment of a good business is the beginner and this affords ample opportunity for training and education.

If you find that your business idea has a significant amount of training or educational courses in your search results, you probably have an idea with a large beginner base.  Beginners are looking for knowledge and information and are often willing to pay for expert information.

4.  Popular authors have membership websites

Similar to the above idea, if the leaders in your niche are developing member only content areas, you may have a good business idea.  If there is an opportunity to increase revenue, an author is going to offer exclusive access to content behind their paid wall.

A paid members only area is an excellent indicator that there is money to be made in this niche.  Building your own business around this same niche could prove to be as successful for you as it has been for the author.

5.  Paid training courses in your niche

There are countless number of training facilities across this country offering courses for a wide range of topics.  If you can easily find training courses for your specific niche, you may have a potentially successful business idea.

Training facilities spend a lot of money to grow and develop their business.  In order for them to be profitable, there has to be a viable customer base to support the industry.  Their customers could also become your customers.

6. Direct response advertising

You get direct mailings for products or services similar to yours in the mail.  If you find that you see similar messages delivered via TV or radio or print, you know that you have an idea that has a good customer base.  Direct response advertising is not a cheap method to deliver you message.  And if businesses are spending their valuable resources, they must be able to identify a good ROI.

This would indicate that your business idea has a good chance at success.

Successful Business Ideas are NOT easy

You may be like me and seem to develop all kinds of “business” ideas.  The difference between an idea being a hobby and a business rest in the question of money.  Can you make enough money?  If you have a niche business idea you need to evaluate its potential for success.  If you can say yes to all of these steps, then you have a potentially successful business idea.

Now it becomes a matter of execution.  Can you deliver?  That is a topic for another day.

What other ideas do you have for evaluating the potential success of your business ideas?  Share them in the comments.

Bridges Learning Center Site Launch

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Bridges Learning CenterMedia317 is proud to announce our latest project.  We have redesigned the website for Bridges Learning Center in Columbus, GA.  The Learning Center offers education for children with autism.  The old site was simple and clean, but very difficult to manage and update.  The Learning Center does not have a webmaster to manage and maintain the site on a regular basis, so the site quickly became outdated.

Media317 was given the opportunity to redesign the site and provide a platform that would allow the staff of the Learning Center to manage and update the site.  We built the new site on the WordPress platform to meet their needs.  WordPress offers the flexibility they need while maintaining the professional look they deserve.

Check them out at http://bridgeslearningcenter.org

Littlebranch Farm site launch

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http://littlebranchfarm.com
http://littlebranchfarm.com

Media317 was given the opportunity to redesign the website of Littlebranch Farm, a small business in Hamilton, Georgia that makes rustic log furniture.  They are master craftsmen and have had furniture highlighted and displayed all across the country.  They came to Media317 with the goal to freshen and redesign their site to better reflect their core business and all for easier content management.

We provided Littlebranch Farm with easy content management by building the site on the WordPress platform.  By providing them with a stable, simple to use platform that is easy to expand and develop as the business grows, Media317 was able to provide Littlebranch Farm with the perfect solution.  They are now able to manage their content, upload images and provide real time information about their products without having to incur monthly maintenance charges.

If you have any web design needs, please contact Media317 at 706.888.8659 or via email at asmith(at)media317.net.

Header Redesign for Calvary Baptist Church

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Calvary Baptist Church HeaderMedia317 was contacted to redesign the header of Calvary Baptist Church of Columbus, Georgia.  They were preparing to do some changes to the overall look and feel of the web and felt that a new header was necessary for the change.  The objective was to create a simple design that reflected the look and feel of the church and provided them with a way to highlight different people or ministries within the church.

So, Media317 designed the header with a contemporary blue color scheme.  We added a light texture to the background to provide some depth and layering.  We took photographic images of the worship center and the bell tower and cut the images out of their respective backgrounds, enhanced the color and tone of the images, and layered them on either side of the header.

The church is using the terms Connecting, Growing and Serving as keywords for various aspects of their ministry.  We used those words as labels to “Polaroid” style photos that will rotate via a script when the page is reloaded.  This allows the church to keep several photos on the site as well as keep them current.

Overall the header brings a new and contemporary look that is more graphical in nature to the site.  If you would like Media317 to redesign your website banner or build you a complete site, please contact us at media317@media317.net or visit the support portal and submit a question using our ticketing system.  We look forward to serving you.

Putting the “Service” back in “Customer Service” – Part 2 of 4

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ApathyCustomer Service is just as important today in a technology driven world as it ever was in a brick and mortar world.  Just because we do most of our business in virtual stores we are dealing with real customers who want and deserve REAL service and support.

In the first installment of this series we discussed the value of giving each customer a personal response.  Even if we are using the company line and standard messages, we can add an opening and closing to make the message personal.

STEP TWO: Be clear, But Sincere

The second important aspect of bringing back Customer Service in a digital age is to be clear and sincere in your message.  When you take the time to respond to a customer’s email, be sincere and to the point in what you say.  Before you hit the send button, turn the tables and play the part of the customer.  Ask yourself this question, “Would this answer satisfy ME if I were the customer?”

If you answer yes, the send the message and move on to the next.  If, however, you answer no, then take the time to give the customer the help they deserve.  It might mean the difference between a satisfied and loyal customer and a credit card charge back!

Putting the “Service” back in “Customer Service” – Part 1 of 4

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customerserviceIt used to be that if you did not have high quality customer service, you were doomed to fail.  Now you can go into stores, whether it be brick and mortar or virtual, and you are fortunate if you even get your questions answered.  Today, technology is making it easier for businesses to provide a high quality, real time customer support and service better than ever.  The danger with the use of technology, however, is you run the risk of impersonal, automated, general assistance that is cold and impersonal.

Offering stand-out customer service over the Internet isn’t as hard is one may think, it is however rare.  This series of articles is to provide four simple steps  to provide old-style service in a new-age environment.

STEP ONE: Give each customer a personal response

When a customer or client sits down and takes the time to send your company an email, it’s because they truly have a need or an significant issue.  They have chosen to use email because it is quick and easy, but their request still warrants a personal and meaningful response!  Just because it is email does not make it any less important.

Companies who are eager to provide quality customer support and service recognize that automated email responses to their customers emails is not really customer service.  It saves time and money, but each customer has a unique question or concern and deserve a unique and specific answer.  Even if you chose to use your companies stock response, take the time to alter the opening and closing so the message does not sound as robotic.  Include their name and reference their email.

Small amounts of time spent making each response personal and unique, will send the message that we care about our customers.