Advantages of Online Business

The advantages of online business are several. By online business I mean business conducted over the internet using the web or email – and although email plays a part, I’m assuming the main front for the business will be a web site. Looking at the advantages of online business, it becomes quite easy to see why this way of presenting a business is especially attractive if you’re in full time employment and taking – or wanting to take – you’re first steps into business.

• You don’t have the cost of a shop front or other trading premises. This can be a considerable saving which can be passed on to customers. A web site can be hosted for under £30/year. In fact, you can get hosting for less than that and you can even get it for free. However, while you don’t necessarily get what you pay for, you do have to pay for what you get. In my experience for just under £30/year you can get reliable and well supported hosting. Note that this does not include the cost of developing the site. However, assuming you pay for the site to be developed (rather than develop it yourself), as long as you ensure you can update the content yourself then at least the bulk of the development cost will be a one off. Having said that, for many, DIY web site development may well be an option. Many (most?) of the better hosting providers (see remarks about hosting costs) provide tools and templates to make developing a decent looking web site straight forward if you have a little knowledge of web site development, or are prepared to do a little learning
• Because of the low start up costs (particularly if you initially develop the web site yourself), then you can in a lot of cases start an online business without raising much initial capital. Considering the risks borrowing money can entail this must be appealing
• You don’t have to keep regular shop/office hours, but instead you have flexibility regarding when you attend to business – allowing you, for example, to fit business around family and/or other commitments. Note that I say flexibility: that is to say, I’m not saying you can necessarily work less hours (although you may be able to), I’m saying you get to choose when you put the hours in. Note that this is a bit double edged, simply because working from home and having such flexibility also requires discipline in order not to be complacent about work
• Finally, the payment infrastructure is already established and in place. Online services such as PayPal make it easy and safe to take payments by (for example) credit card

Those are the points I can think of, but I’m sure there are more. As always, please comment if you think (or know) I’ve missed anything out.

See also: What is Online Marketing?