If you currently own a brick-and-mortar business and fail to have an online presence, you are missing out on a huge avenue of finding new potential customers. At this point, most people spend time searching for companies online. They no longer drive around their neighbourhood looking for the perfect store. They perform research on the Internet ahead of time, and if you don’t have a presence online, you’ll fail to find customers actively looking for businesses just like yours.

We live in a convenient world and the Internet makes it simple to access information by typing a few words into a search engine. The world is also moving at a faster pace, so it’s in your best interest to keep up with the competition. The best way to do that is to transition your physical business online. We’ll show you how below.

Do I Really Need to Transition My Brick-And-Mortar Business Online?

For those who still aren’t convinced their brick-and-mortar business needs an online presence, we’d like you to consider the reasons why taking your company online is so valuable.

As an example, it’s much easier to make sales online because people are becoming more and more comfortable shopping from home. It’s also simple to share valuable information with potential customers and really craft a script that gets your message across. Sometimes it’s difficult to make the perfect sales pitch in person, so doing it online can result in even more sales.

Depending on your business model, you may even prefer selling your products online because it could reduce your expenses by a wide margin. If most of your sales happen over the Internet, you could potentially cut down on employees, move to a smaller location, cut down on electricity, heating and air-conditioning expenses, and lower your rent or lease payments, to name a few.

Finally, you have to focus on competing with other companies offering similar products and services. If the wide majority of your competition is selling online, you need to follow suit in order to stay relevant. You can keep your paid search efforts “in-house” for the website and online brand creation and determine how you are going to present your products to be available to purchase on your website.

All in all, more people are shopping online than ever before and the trend will only continue to get bigger as time goes on. You may as well face the inevitable and transition your physical business online before the competition forces you to close your doors forever.

How to Successfully Transition Your Brick-And-Mortar Business Online

At first, this transition phase could seem difficult and scary because it’s entirely new. Do not let intimidation prevent this transition from ever happening. Simply follow the steps below and you’ll have no trouble getting your brick-and-mortar company up and running online.

Make a Plan

Choose a date that you plan to begin transitioning your company online. Make sure you leave enough time to complete the project. As an example, give your company three months to make this transition from physical business to an online retailer.

Choose Your Transition Team

This is where the rubber meets the road. You’ll need a freelance designer, writers, and online marketers to help you get started. Read testimonials from potential candidates, check out their pricing, ask to see their previous work, and make your decision from here.

Develop Your Content Calendar

Create an outline highlighting all the content that needs to appear on your website at launch time. Scour the web and find relevant pictures – or take pictures yourself – and keep them in a folder as well.

Write Your Content

At this stage, you can either write the content yourself or hire a freelance copywriter to handle it for you. If you’ve never written copy before, it’s probably best to hire a freelance professional to ensure your website is filled with high-quality content.

Promote Your Website

Now that your website is designed and populated with relevant content, it’s time to let your online marketer get to work. Have them promote your website with SEO, paid advertising, social media, banner ads, and more.

Conclusion

Transitioning your physical business online may seem intimidating at first. Now that you have a plan in place, you can get started right away knowing that your online business is on its way to becoming a big success.