Recently a dear client of mine was telling me about her business and how her usual marketing methods were no longer satisfying her. She wanted to go bigger and get in front of more people but she felt like there wasn’t any way to do that without dancing around and pointing at things on video or paying for advertising.
I said to her that this was quite the story she was telling and I gave her the task of coming up with 20 different ways she could focus on growing her business that didn’t include prancing or paying. The next time we talked she had come back with THIRTY new ideas for growing her business, and many of them offline, and she realized that she had gotten stuck in the mindset of thinking that if she was going to go big, it would have to be on social media. But that’s not always the case and it would be a shame to pigeonhole yourself like that.
So, if you too have gotten stuck in this way of thinking, let me show you otherwise. Here are 50 different ways you can grow your online business.
Note: This post includes affiliate links.
50 Ways to Grow Your Online Business
1. Start A Blog: Blogs are a fantastic tool for publishing long-lasting content. It’s said that the lifespan of new content lasts 3 weeks on Youtube, 2 days on Instagram, 6 hours on Facebook, 15 minutes on Twitter and less than 5 minutes on TikTok, but with a blog your posts lifespan lasts for years. I published this post, this post and this post years ago and they STILL receive thousands of views each month which directs traffics to my other posts and offers. Even if you don’t want a blog as a priority, it’s a good idea to have content you’ve already created repurposed on one.
2. Create An Email List: The sooner you grow your list, the sooner you have true real estate in the market. Meaning, you own one of your databases. You don’t own any of them on social media. Never forget that. Safeguard yourself with a list (I recommend FloDesk for gorgeous layouts and inexpensive hosting), and you’ll always have a place to build rapport, establish authority and sell your products and services. How? Create a lead magnet that people can download for free when they sign up such as an ebook or email course. This has to be valuable, something they would want.
3. Promote on Pinterest: Remember how I shared the lifespan of your content in the first tip? Well, I left out Pinterest on purpose because it’s a massive contender. Alongside blog posts, Pinterest’s post lifespan also lasts years. There are blog posts I wrote back in 2016 that traffic STILL comes to my website from Pinterest. It is a platform like no other. I highly recommend you join Tailwind and start publishing your blog posts, youtube videos and idea pins on there. It’s a game changer.
4. Share on Your Facebook Page: I’m not gonna lie, Facebook’s reach over the years has massively dwindled so much that many have left the platform for greener pastures. However, it is still free and if you’re trying to grow your business, you’ve got to be everywhere. I’ve barely put any effort into my Facebook page, only reposting content I’ve published on Instagram, however my website receives a surprising number of traffic from Facebook and many customers and clients have purchased one of my programs and products as a result, so I won’t ever rule it out. Plus it’s the best platform to do livestreams.
5. Create a Facebook Group: If you’ve got the time and energy, a Facebook Group can be a great asset for your business. These are more intimate and they can grow quickly if you show up consistently in them. Before Sara Dann closed her group, she was making millions from her group alone. If you show up consistently, you can create an entirely new platform to market your products and services. Facebook Groups are also great companions alongside a podcast or youtube channel.
6. Add Your Link in Bio: All of your social media platforms have spots to add a URL. You can use this to add your website url or even the urls to a product or service or lead magnet. Utilize these features as much as you can.
7. Post on Instagram: Just like Facebook, Instagrams post reach drops with every algorithm update, this is because they’re prioritizing video over static images (which is annoying since IG was originally a photo platform). However, it doesn’t mean it’s impossible to grow. Posts are a great way to connect with your audience and grow your following, a lot of people on Instagram still prefer static images to videos. Start posting consistently and connecting with accounts you enjoy the people will show up.
8. Produce Instagram Reels: Reels are the flavour of the moment and if you incorporate them, you can grow FAST. I created this reel as a joke and it reached over 100,000 people!!! You might not be all that excited about getting on video and pointing or dancing around, but the truth is you don’t have to. There are a lot of different types of reels you can create, such as relating to your audience through your own personal quirks and traits, demonstrating with comedy how much you care about their success, selling your products and services in a relatable way and sharing teachable tips they can implement immediately. Don’t know where to start with reels? My FAVOURITE brand that teaches reel strategy is Elixir Media. Check them out!
9. Get Personal on Instagram Stories: If posts are for educating and reels are for entertaining, then stories are for connecting. Think of stories like a video diary. Share what you’re up to during the day (even if it’s the same shit, different day), take them along with you, share the tips, thoughts or downloads coming through you, tell them about your products and services and have fun with them.
10. Build Relationships on Twitter: I deleted my Twitter account a few years ago but I know it’s like a world of its own and it is still a powerful platform to build a relationship with your audience. If you’re on there, create tweetables for your content, share your new posts, videos or episodes, reply to the people who mention you, explore their feeds, read the articles they post and get to know them!
11. Get on TikTok: When I first joined TikTok, it was for a content challenge. We had 21 days to show up and grow our audiences. Well, my content went viral and I went from 0 to over 8000 followers in 21 days. It was INSANE. It brought me a ton of business but also a lot of headaches. At the time you had no way of targeting who your content went to and there were lots of people who were not my target demographic commenting pointless things. Ultimately I stopped posting because I wasn’t that interested in keeping it up. I will likely return in future but with a different focus and plan. If you like the short form video thing, then get on TikTok and teach, educate and entertain your butt off!
12. Start a Podcast: Prefer talking to writing and being on video? A podcast show could be the perfect solution for growing your business! If this is where your demographic hangs out, it’s time to start a podcast, it will grow your business with loving loyal fans who LOVE to buy everything you sell – no, really. Need help starting? Check out The Podcast Planners, particularly their Instagram page. Lots of very helpful info on there!
13. Start a Youtube Channel: Prefer being on camera instead of hiding behind it? Youtube is for you! Next to blogging and Pinterest, youtube has the capability for your content to last for years. Videos I created several years ago are still getting viewers and comments and because of that my subscribers keep growing. If you think youtube is where your people hang out, it’s time to press record and teach your truth. You don’t need fancy equipment to start off, you need consistency most of all. So what are you waiting for? Get started!
14. Use Bloglovin: Bloglovin’ is like a directory and a great way to keep up with your favourite blogs and websites in one neat tidy place. All you have to do is set up your account and then every time you publish a blog post, your followers will see a new update. It’s a very easy way to get seen somewhere new.
15. Comment on Blogs and Websites: Not only does commenting on others blogs and websites help you build a connection with other businesses, but it helps your website rank higher in the search because of the link-backs you’re getting from well established blogs. This is what I would do every time Marie Forleo published a new post each week and I would get hundreds of views each week. But also, I really loved her content so I always had a reason to comment.
16. Run A Giveaway: Giveaways are a great way to grow your following on all your platforms, build your email list and drive traffic to your website. The best platform to use for this is Kingsumo, which is also the platform I used for my giveaway. Make sure your prize is heavily related to your niche or products and services to make the right type of people enter the giveaway. But be careful, you can easily gain the wrong people if you promote it in the wrong places. Keep the promotion isolated to your email list and social media following and let them share it with their friends. Don’t submit it to giveaway directories unless you want a lot of misaligned people on your list that will never buy from you.
17. Create Lists or Round-Up Posts: Lists have been proven to be highly saved and shared content. You can create this in a blog post, a youtube video or a podcast, the choice is yours! Create a round-up or list several of your previous popular posts, your favourite products, your best tips on a specific topic in your niche. Here’s a few examples.
- 11 Questions to Help You Stand Out in Business
- 5 Easy Digital Products You Could Create This Weekend
- 11 of The BEST Money Mindset Books Ever
18. Guest Post On Other Websites: If you want your business to get some serious traffic, subscribers and sales start thinking about guest posting on other websites. This can be a great way to utilize other websites audiences and attract from them aligned potential customers and clients.
19. Guest Interview on Podcasts: You can massively grow your business and authority in your industry if you start interviewing on other creators podcasts. Denise Duffield-Thomas said she gets the majority of her new customers from the podcast interviews she does – and she usually does over 100 per year! Start pitching to podcast shows within your industry to start positioning yourself as a leader and expert in your niche.
20. Create A Sales Funnel: A sales funnel is a system designed to convert your subscriber into a customer. A great way to do this is by starting with a free email course that finishes off with pitching your product or service as the next step.
21. Start an Affiliate Program: One brilliant way to get your products and services (and name) out into the world is through starting your own affiliate program. Ask your current customers if they would like to be a referral for your offers and earn a commission in return. This is where your business can grow rather quickly if your affiliates have large audiences.
22. Write a ‘Start Here’ page: Instead of losing people the second they find your website, give them a call-to-action immediately on your homepage. People like being told what to do and where to go, with a start here page you can it gives you the opportunity to show off your best content and create a connection with the visitor.
23. Create a FAQ & Resources page: Having a FAQ is a great way to save yourself some times while making yourself look credible. It’s a way to answer your readers questions, especially if you find yourself answering the same questions over and over again. If you really want to use your time wisely, create a resources page listing all the tools & resources you use to fund/build your blog.
24. Craft Attention Stealing Headlines: If you’re browsing for instagram photography tips, what headline is more likely going to steal your attention and make you click? “Snap happy” or “5 tips for better instagram photos” Headlines are a big deal. Make sure you’re consistently crafting attention stealing ones. Use these 74 headlines examples to get you started!
25. Write a Book: There’s nothing like a book to bring new people into your business. Books tend to legitimize you and your authority which makes more people want to learn more about you. Something that authors do is create a book specific page that readers can go to and access extra downloads, which can get them onto your email list. If you’ve got the patience to write a book, go for it.
26. Create A Feature: A feature is like a regular column, yet it doesn’t have to be as frequent as week-to-week. Your feature could be anything related to you or your industry but it does have to be interesting to your audience. A perfect example of this is Joanna Goddard’s Motherhood Mondays.
27. Post A Tutorial: Content like this is probably the most shareable/viral content you can create. It’s super useful to the reader, they’ll keep coming back to it for instructions and more than likely pin it to their Pinterest boards or share it on Facebook.
28. Repurpose Your Content: Instead of continuously producing new content, repurpose your old content in different ways. Share clips and snippets from your posts, videos or episodes on social media. Turn an old blog post into a youtube video or podcast episode. Re-write or edit old content that may be outdated now, or your opinion has changed on the topic, or you’ve got a lot more to share. Recycle old social media posts every year or so.
29. Add CTA’s to the Bottom of Posts: Prompt your readers, viewers or listeners to interact with you by giving them a call-to-action at the end of your content. Ask them a thought provoking question and encourage them to answer
30. Add a P.S to The End of Your Posts: The P.S. is a proven copywriting strategy and it’s a great way to integrate internal links to related content. If people enjoy your content, they want to know where to go next, P.S is a quick and easy way to keep them reading, watching or listening.
31. Place Share Buttons on Your Website: Give people the opportunity to share your work on their platforms by placing share buttons on your website. There’s a ton of plugins for this (if you’re on wordpress) such as Share This, Jetpack and Sumome. Give them a try!
32. Interview Someone in Your Industry: Is there someone in your industry whom you admire and think would be a great fit for your audience? Even someone outside of or adjacent to your industry. Reach out to them and ask if they would like to be interviewed on your blog, podcast or youtube channel. This will also give you exposure to their audience.
33. Collaborate With Another in Your Industry: Collaboration is another brilliant way to get in front of new audiences. If you have a youtube channel, you could collab with another youtuber in the same field and do a two part video series. You could do the same for blog posts or podcast episodes. If you like to do things a little less formally, try collaborating on Instagram live or via hold a zoom training together.
35. Do A Joint Venture: Remember how I shared you could start your own affiliate program? Another way to help your affiliates is to do joint ventures with them. That means you get on a webinar or zoom call with their audience and teach them some valuable info on your niche and at the end you both pitch your product and they receive a commission for the sales and you receive new customers and audience members.
36. Include Your Audience: If someone in your audience has left a comment, written an email or shared something lovely with you, give them a shout out. If you’re feeling generous, give them something for free as a thank you. Make your audience feel included and watch them like, follow and share what you post.
37. Use SEO: If you want to get your content featured in the top search results on google, SEO is what you need. Nail Patels Ultimate Beginner Guide to SEO is a great resource for you to dive head first into. It’s boring as hell, but if you get the boring stuff out of the way first, there’s more time for fun later, and you’ll happen to be miles ahead of competition.
38. Do A Links Round Up: Share links to your favourite content by other creators in your industry or otherwise. Things you love that you know your audience will also love and then mention or tag the source on social media. This can make them share your work or even better, bring you opportunities you wouldn’t have had otherwise.
39. Show Up Every Day: Consistency is key. It’s what will make your business grow quickly. The wonderful thing is that you get to choose how and where you will be consistent. Is it in weekly newsletters? Daily social media posts? Monthly youtube videos? Bi-weekly podcast episodes? What do you want to do that you can happily stick to doing. That’s the real key. Choosing something you can happily and consistently commit to.
40. Run a Livestream Party: When you’re trying to build momentum in your business, an amazing way to grow quickly is to do a livestream party. This is where you show up live for a number of days and share value to your audience. There’s no set structure, you just share what’s on your heart and mind and teach your audience things you find important or interesting for them. Back in 2019 I did 30 days of livestreams and it massively grew my business and sales.
41. Join a Summit: Summits are events where multiple entrepreneurs come to teach on specific topics and anyone can join and tune in for the duration of the event. If you’re treaching in a summit you can use the event to grow your own audience by offering viewers incentives and freebies.
42. Launch Your Product: There’s nothing that builds momentum like a launch. Your energy is hyper focused on marketing your product or service, you’re showing up everywhere and giving as much value as you can. So much audience growth can happen just from launching a product that if you’re thinking of doing a launch, don’t wait. You’ll grow your audience as a byproduct.
43. Show Your Prices: People want to know what it costs to work with you, so tell them. You lose so many potential customers and clients when you don’t show the prices simply because you’ve made it a hassle for them to find out. There is a market for every price point, don’t be afraid to declare them. And, if you’re looking at it from a statistics point of view, you want people clicking on the cart who are serious. Not just to view the price. That way you can calculate the average conversions by how many people viewed your checkout cart – if you’re into that sort of thing. 😛
44. Produce Pillar Content: Pillar content is a in-depth long-form piece of content on a given topic that’s packed with value. It’s highly shareable and search engines love to rank this kind of content. Here’s an example. Although this kind of content can take a long time to create, its longevity will last for years and if you optimize it well, you’ll have consistent new subscribers and purchases from this one piece of content.
45. Set Up a Waitlist: Whenever you close doors on your launch, instead of leaving the product available for purchase, set up a waitlist for it. That way you can grow your list with people who are genuinely interested in signing up for the product as well as promote it to them when it’s time to open doors again.
46. Run a Series: A series can run over several weeks where you produce a piece of high value content within a topic for your audience. Promote it on social media to your audience and ask them to subscribe to be the first to read, watch or listen to your new series piece when it gets published. This is what I did when I ran my Boss Babe Series and a huge amount of people opted in to my list for the series.
47. Participate in Bundles: A few years ago, I was asked to join in an all-inclusive bundle where over 50 entrepreneurs and business owners contributed one of their top resources, courses or products. It was sold for $99 and you receive 70% commission for every bundle you sold. But the number of purchases overall meant that I had thousands of new students coming into my business which meant a huge influx in subscribers and many went on to purchase other products from me. Look up bundle companies and request to contribute in the next one.
48. Email Your List Daily: I know this can be a terrifying thing to consider doing, but daily emails can help you build a stronger connection with your dream customers and clients AND make more sales. Because the truth is, the more you sell the more money you make. The guys over at Email Marketing Heroes teach how to do this in a really fun way and they’ve built their entire business model on sending emails every. single. day.
49. Sell Every Day: Speaking of selling every day, why not? You can seamlessly build this into your business without changing a thing. Instead of looking at everything you do as individual, blend it all together. Meaning, make your daily email or post or pillar content a place to give value AND ask for the sale. Get into the habit of always sharing about your products and services and why your audience 100% needs them.
50. Develop Your Mindset: Although it’s not a marketing strategy you can implement, mindset work is going to be 90% of your challenge in business. It’s what will stop you from taking steps towards your goals because of fear, doubt or unworthiness. It’s also what will take you to bigger and brighter heights in business (and life). The former must always win if you are to build a successful thriving business you are madly in love with. Make sure you continuously develop your mindset, it will serve you most in the long run.
So there you have it. It can be so easy to get stuck in the thinking that there’s only a few ways to do something, but really if you allow yourself the time and space to come up with ideas, you’ll find a lot more than you think.
Now, I’d love to hear from you: Which ideas from this list are you going to try? Let me know in the comments below!
