I'm an 18-year-old with a dream of starting my own business, and I recently created my website using Square. I've made a few changes to it here and there, but I'm not entirely sure what to do next. Can anyone guide me by sending me some tips and advice to running a website for my business? If anyone needs it, I'll put down my website in the comments.
Hi @Ghost23. I always love seeing a young person pursue their dreams! (Speaking as a rather old Boomer who has pursued his and is thinking of retirement, soon…ha). Certainly, if you want to post your site URL here, I’ll look it over and see if I have any suggestions. Otherwise, here are a few
Getting your web site noticed by online search engines and moving it up in the results is your biggest challenge here, as it is for everyone trying to break into the world of online sales. No matter what you do, and how effective it ultimately is for you, it will take time, patience and trial-and-error.
The first thing, and probably the most important thing, I’m going to suggest is that you invest some time, thought and energy in working on your SEO — Search Engine Optimization. Do a web search on that acronym and you’ll find a wealth of information on what it is and why it is important to help you be seen. The Wiki definition is as good as any — “Search engine optimization is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines.”
Square has guides and tools for using the SEO capabilities built into it.
Verify a Site with Search Engines
Getting your SEO right (both for your online store and for your website in general) is the most important thing you can do because it gives search engines information they need to direct potential customers to your web site and store. If you don’t mind putting some more money into it, you probably should search for a reputable SEO professional to help you do this. But, that’s not required. Square gives you plenty of tools to do it yourself if you are willing to put in the time and research.
Besides SEO, there are other things that can help. When we first opened our ice cream shop, we had a goal of consistently being on the first page of search engine results. We did cross-site marketing with other local businesses, blogs and such. We contracted with a small, local marketing company that got us media exposure. We bought an online click-through ad with a local online news organization. It took a while for us to reach that goal, but we eventually did. These days we are consistently on that first page of search results when people look for us. But, we are obviously concentrating on a local market, and I don’t know who your intended market is just yet.
I wish you every success. If you have any other questions, feel free to post them.
I'd appreciate it, thank you so much! ^^
Here is my website down below
https://throwback-video.square.site/
I have also created some listings for different products, but I do not have sufficient inventory available yet.
@Ghost23 congrats on getting started! Would love to learn more about your business too.
@TheRealChipA added a lot of helpful advice below! I just wanted to share this awesome resource that Square put together on How to Start a Business: Steps to Start Up a Business which I recommend reading!
Looking forward to following your journey and congrats again, super exciting times!
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