5 tips for working on your online business while stuck at home

Due to recent measures put in place by governments across the world to help combat the spread of coronavirus, many of us are forced to stay at home. While this may be a good time to do odd jobs around the house and give it a good clean, you could consider spending this time improving your online business. Here are some suggestions on how you can optimise your online presence.

1. Redesign your website

Don’t get us wrong; this can be a time-consuming and tedious task, very easy to keep pushing back. However, now that you’ve got more time on your hands, there’s never been a better time to make your website mobile-friendly, or redesign to fit your branding or maybe even just add clearer call-to-action (CTA) buttons.

If you want to take things a step further, you can work on search engine optimisation (SEO) for your website or your “Google My Business” page. If you aren’t sure where to start, there are plenty of free online courses and YouTube tutorials to learn from.

If you are using an agency or freelancer for your website, now is a great time to have those video meetings about where you want to take your brand and make plans for the future. Let’s face it, they aren’t going anywhere soon either.

2. Improve your texts

In terms of content, the text is the most fundamental part of your website. Using this time at home to go over your website's tag lines, call-to-actions, company history and profile texts will certainly be beneficial. Keep in mind your current vision for your business and make sure your content’s text reflects that.

Another constructive exercise is to research some keywords and re-writing content on your website to include them. This can be very advantageous for SEO and requires little time to do so.

3. Prepare an editorial plan for your blog and social accounts

Trying to keep up with your businesses' social media can be arduous and time-consuming, which can lead to irregular posts and a weak social media presence. So, maybe it's time to make a comprehensive plan for your social media strategy. Ask yourself, am I still on the right platforms? What do I need to improve or change? Look at your numbers and plan for the future.

As the world goes into lockdown, you will find that, now more than ever, customers are keeping up with you on social media. Make sure your online presence is as effective as can be by using different platforms’ analytics to gain useful insights, such as what time your audience mainly views your content and when to post. Use these insights to create an editorial plan and remember to be consistent!

4. Improve your contracts and legal documents

Are you bored? Well, nothing puts things in perspective like engaging in an even more mundane but important job: legal admin. Does your website adhere to the latest legislation in privacy and security? When did you last go over your privacy policy statement or terms and conditions? Is your website protected by an SSL security certificate?

Last but definitely not least, make sure your contracts are in order. Make an inventory of all suppliers and, if you work on a contract basis, go over all current and pending contracts and ensure everything is up-to-date. You might even find the need to reach out and extend a few contracts.

5. Launch an online shop

From Shopify drop shipping to a fully-fledged e-commerce site; if you aren’t selling online then you risk falling behind. So, get online and start selling! If you are in services, start offering online and offline courses, sell a whitepaper, grow your mailing list and give the online component of your business the attention it deserves!

Working on your business from home

I am an online entrepreneur and owner of Webfriendly, a small hosting and maintenance company. In the last 8 years, I have worked with a lot of online entrepreneurs and start-ups and I know how fast a week can fly by.

Now that the world is slowing down, the online presence of your audience is bigger than ever. Now that I am stuck at home, I am putting the tips above into practice. Quarantine and lockdowns are not reasons to slack off; rather, they actually provide an opportunity to focus on those business practices that require attention.

I would love to hear any of your tips for keeping busy in these uncertain times. Stay home & stay safe!