The pandemic has either pushed or convinced a lot of people to try their hand at starting and running a business online. Either out of necessity or a desire not to return to the 9-5 grind, more people than ever are starting businesses online. Some people come into online entrepreneurship equipped with many of the necessary hard and soft skills required to do well, while others start from the ground up. With that in mind, below are 5 digital skills that online entrepreneurs need to make it work.

SEO

One of the most significant roles you will have as an online entrepreneur and business owner is informing people that you exist in the vast digital universe. There will be a lot of traffic, and you will need to install road signage to direct your consumers to you. Few buyers will come upon your website by chance.

So, in addition to mastering marketing and sales methods, you’ll need to grasp digital marketing in the internet business environment, and especially SEO. SEO is time-consuming and involves considerable know-how. If you have the budget to outsource, consider performing a keyword search for something like “SEO Brisbane” and finding a professional SEO agency to lighten the load for you.

Writing for the Internet

Writing well and persuasively has never been more vital than in the digital age. To promote traffic, conversations, and sales, an online business requires content. Aside from generating keyword-optimized blog content, you’ll also need to publish a weekly or monthly newsletter to keep your clients updated and attract additional traffic to your website. Writing SEO web content and business correspondence will also play an important role in your online business operations.

Online Communication and Negotiation

It is crucial that you are able to communicate clearly with your customers, suppliers, and staff, whether on the phone, in person, by email and increasingly on social media platforms and webchat. Make an effort to be assertive in your speech. If you lack this soft talent, it will have an impact on the potential of your venture, therefore improve your skills in this area and start talking and managing with confidence.

Some people would urge you to fake it until you make it, and this is one soft talent that exemplifies this adage. Believe in yourself, and you will be believed. The same is true for negotiation abilities; some people are born with an innate aptitude to convince.

Problem Solving

The capacity to problem solve is arguably the most critical skill you’ll need as an entrepreneur. In fact, you’ll be dealing with issues left, right, and centre. Being able to figure out how to make things work against the odds will take up a substantial portion of your day.

You’ll be dealing with client issues, website issues, and employee issues – a deluge of problems at your feet! Some people are naturally problem solvers; if this isn’t you, you’ll need to practice. If it’s an interpersonal issue, utilize active listening to comprehend a problem that a client, employee, or supplier is experiencing, and be prepared to adapt and be creative in order to address the situation.

Digital Organizational Skills

The most significant reason to adopt good digital organizational skills for an online organization is to save time and reduce stress. As a business owner, you rapidly realize that time is a valuable commodity and that you cannot afford to take time off for stress relief. How you manage all of your digital communication becomes essential

Spend the first 10 minutes of your day organizing your desktop, emails, Slack communication channels, and Whatsapp. Begin with the five most critical, actionable items – and diarise everything, then add pop-up reminders. The last thing you want to spend time on on Monday morning is a disorganized mess of documents spread across your computer’s desktop and messages all over the place that need to be responded to.

Conclusion

There are plenty of skills that online entrepreneurs need to be successful in this highly competitive landscape. Some just require practice, while others require some form of formal or self-education to get the hang of. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that running an online business is somehow easier than a physical brick and mortar.

Both require constant attention, hard and soft skills, dedication and a willingness to experiment, sometimes fail, and always to pick yourself back up, dust yourself off and try again. Keep the above digital skills in mind and make sure you have all of the acumen required to start and run a successful online business.

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