‘Don’t get online just because your neighbour is’

Whoever wants to be an online entrepreneur should first make sure they have a very specific goal.

No matter how enthusiastic internet consultant and online entrepreneur Danny Mekić may be about online entrepreneurship, companies shouldn’t expect results too quickly.

Some entrepreneurs become active on the internet just because their competitors are too. “That’s making a tool into an end in itself. You won’t be successful that way,” he says.

Goal
An entrepreneur should be very clear in advance on what they hope to achieve with their website, their advertisement campaign or their company page on a social network site.

Social network sites can be useful for answering questions, finding potential customers and understanding their needs, among other things.

A suitable medium
Once its goals are clear, it also becomes easier for a company to decide what medium is suitable for its message. “What medium you should use entirely depends on your goals and your target audience,” he explains. Pinterest for example is very interesting to fashion companies, having a 72% female user base.
Nonetheless, entrepreneurs shouldn’t have too much of a pigeonhole mindset. It’s a major misconception that only young potential customers would use the internet from tablets and smartphones.

The fastest-growing group of mobile internet users is that of people between 65 and 75. “And there aren’t many service providers yet who cater to them.” Considering how rapidly this group is growing, he thinks this could be a major opportunity for companies.

Dependence
Entrepreneurs should be careful about what happens to their data. And that’s not just a matter of digital security. If a company creates a customer network on Facebook, for example, those data will not belong to the company itself. If Facebook would close down, companies like that would lose their valuable information.
Danny Mekić thinks it would be wise not to become dependent on just one service. “Because they are popping up one after the other more rapidly than ever.”
It would be a better idea to get to know the main niche websites on your particular subject. “Invest one afternoon into finding those pages, and ask them to link to you.” That would give your page more specifically interested visitors.

Every day
In order to be successful online, an entrepreneur should work on that every day. And that’s a matter of trying things. He advises entrepreneurs to do ‘A/B tests’. A company can create two versions of a website, an advertisement or an order button, and test which one does best.

And the budget doesn’t have to be an issue if competitors join forces to set up a joint online advertisement campaign for their field. Not to mention that many services are available for free. “Don’t be too quick to pay for something,” Mekić advises.

The best example of an online entrepreneur might actually be Danny Mekić himself. He goes around with a battery that can feed his laptop and smartphone for 30 hours, he has an online signature and he hires a postal service to print and post physical letters for him. “I actually don’t really have an office myself,” he admits with a chuckle.

(source: Nu Zakelijk)

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