Today is the last day of 2009. That means we’re moving into the first new decade of the 2000s. 2009 was not a very good year for startups considering the recession and economic downturn. It was also a rough year on the Venture Capital front. But, there are promising signs that VCs are preparing to ramp up their investment by injecting much needed cash flow into startups in 2010. So that’s good news on the VC investment front but startups also need to make and keep certain resolutions to be successful in the coming year. Here are a few important ones:
1. Simplicity and Stability – reduce unnecessary components and be consistently excellent.
2. Set realistic deadlines and meet them
3. Value your team and their commitment – have a collective vision
4. Be receptive and open to the market – ready to absorb and change accordingly
5. Release Early - Release Often – a balance between perfection and speed
6. Internet Marketing will be indispensable in 2010. A Website design or Website redesign will help your startup keep pace in the competitive market
Happy New Year from the Bhopu Team!
Marketing is a very important aspect of business which startups usually tend to ignore at the launching stage. It is true that startups have budget constraints and they can’t really concentrate on marketing at this stage. But there are some low cost tactics a startup can use for promotion and relationship maintenance – all online. Start by choosing a name that works; something simple, memorable and unambiguous. Then probably kick off a blog and not to forget keep checking the website traffic through some analytics. These tactics and suggestions are explained in further detail by the Startup Guru Dharmesh Shah:
http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/9008/Startup-Marketing-Tactical-Tips-From-The-Trenches.aspx
Probably the tactical steps don’t do much individually, but in aggregate they do start laying the foundation for much bigger things.
Find three closest competitors. Pretend like someone is paying you $10,000 for locating each competitor. Really try hard. Barely managed to find three? Take a lot of effort? Great. Now find 3 more.
As a startup business, building a website is requisite to promote your business online, drive in the targeted traffic and not to mention, make profits. People usually have different perspectives when it comes to building a website for their startup business.
Firstly, there are people who believe in having online presence as the flagship of their company. Secondly, for others it is the first impression maker that will tempt potential customers to contact them for quotation and further discussion.
Steve Pick of Startup Nation has narrated a few steps for building a starup website:
Getting started building a website
You can hire someone to create a website, or you can roll up your sleeves and do it yourself. If you’re starting out on a tight budget, and/or the website will serve primarily as a source of information for your customers - and provided you have at least a modicum of computer savvy - then creating an attractive and functional website from scratch is well within your abilities.
To build a website for your startup business you need to register for a domain name, web hosting services, web authoring software and a perfect website design. For more information about building a startup website, traverse through the below link: http://www.startupnation.com/articles/1260/1/building-website-basics-business.asp
