Published on 01/08/2019 by Any Business.Com.Au

​5 Things I Learnt About Online Business at a Moment's Notice

How our Director of Operations took the reins of AnyBusiness.com.au overnight

Thanks to the huge demand for online services, online purchases of fast-moving consumer goods and retail items, and of course social media, making a living from the Internet is as popular now than it has ever been.

There's entrepreneurs, start-up smarties and so-called 'influencers' all peddling their wares, or those of others, all in a bid to earn a decent wage as their own boss...as a small business owner.

Much of online success can come overnight, and although AnyBusiness.com.au was far from an overnight creation, Director of Operations, Mary Tamvakologos, found herself at the helm of the fast-growing online classifieds business at a moment's notice.

Mary helped establish AnyBusiness.com.au as a dedicated business broking site, run by specialists from the business broking field.

With a Bachelor of Business from Monash University, plus over 20 years' experience in the online classified and business analytics field, Mary is well versed in the inner workings of online platforms and the small business industry as a whole...now, but when she was thrown the keys to AnyBusiness.com.au under some trying circumstances, she simply had to swim and not sink.

We asked Mary about the 5 things she learnt when she had to take over an already successful online business at short notice.

It takes time and effort

MT: It takes just as much time and effort to run an online business as it takes to run a bricks-and-mortar shop.

For an online business to succeed it needs to be analysed, researched, marketed and nurtured because you want your business to meet a niche and, therefore, stand out amongst your competitors.

Online businesses involve online marketing

MT: Many people think that running an online business is much easier than running a bricks-and-mortar shop.

Sure, there is the flexible schedule of working when, where and for how long you want; no commute to and from work as you can work from the comfort of your own home; and low start-up costs as there are no overhead charges such as shop rent and utilities expenses for a bricks-and-mortar shop.

With online business however, comes online marketing. In other words, how do you reach customers when you don't have a physical shopfront they can visit? That's when it's no longer enough to rely on the traditional form of marketing.

Learning, learning and learning some more

MT: It was Thomas Edison who said, "What is a college? An institute of learning. What is a business? An institute of learning. Life, itself, is an institute of learning."

Hence, the constant requirement for ongoing learning to grow your online business so as to stay ahead of the game and have an edge over your competitors.

Seek the advice of experts

MT: Ongoing learning includes learning the latest methods, such as SEO (search-engine optimization), to attract customers via the Internet. SEO is a well-known term in online marketing.

According to dictionary.com - it is the methods used to boost the ranking or frequency of a website in results returned by a search engine, in an effort to maximize user traffic to the site.

If you don't have the time or knowledge to do this yourself, there are SEO providers who are expert in ensuring that the right keywords are used to rank your business website on the first page of major search engines.

Know your clients

MT: Business.Victoria, an online resource owned by the State Government of Victoria, advises business owners to define and know their customers.

To do this, business owners have to understand what drives their customers, so that their business can satisfy their customers' needs; what is often referred to as "finding a niche market."

Mary's dedication as a mother, businesswoman and female entrepreneur has her at the top of her profession as she seeks to grow her knowledge, skills and business acumen while helping others do the same through her work with AnyBusiness.com.au and various networking engagements.

AnyBusiness.com.au

Curtis is a leading expert in the business-for-sale industry, serving as a senior content creator at anybusiness.com.au.

With a career spanning over fifteen years, Curtis has accumulated extensive knowledge in the domain of business sales, acquisitions, and valuations. His deep understanding of market dynamics and his ability to translate complex industry jargon into accessible insights make him a trusted resource for entrepreneurs and business owners looking to buy or sell businesses.

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