So you’ve decided to grow your email list, build a presence on social media, and establish a website. Congratulations! You’ve got a business—now what?

Creating content is only the beginning. Now you need to grow a business that can bring in the revenue you need to sustain yourself and allow for growth.

Fortunately, establishing a business is easier than you think. You just need to follow the right steps, and using the right tools can make the process simpler and more streamlined. In this article, we’ll teach you how to do just that. You’ll discover the key ingredients to a profitable business, including establishing your online presence, generating leads, and generating sales.

Step one: Set a marketing budget and stick to it.

You can’t afford not to have a marketing budget. Your business doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and you’ll need to spend money to attract potential customers and grow your business. Setting a budget doesn’t mean you need to limit your advertising efforts or neglect your business’ marketing. Rather, it simply means you’ll need to make trade-offs about how you’ll allocate your marketing dollars. You may decide to prioritise advertising on social media over print or online banner ads. Or you may decide that focusing on attracting new customers is more important than expanding your audience. It’s all about what you choose to do with the information at your disposal and what resources you have to spend on each form of marketing. You don’t want to take on too much at once and then find yourself struggling to keep up. You also don’t want to be wasting money on unproductive activities. Make sure you set a budget and stick to it. Not having enough money to properly market your business can damage your brand and turn off potential customers. Even if you have enough money, overspending on marketing without a clear plan can still leave you in a profitability crisis.

Step two: Use existing relationships to gain credibility with your audience.

Networking is extremely important in today’s world. It doesn’t matter if you’re a solo entrepreneur or operate a large business—establishing and maintaining strong, reliable networks is a must. As the owner of a business, you’ll be approached by many people who want to do business with you. Sometimes these overtures are pleasant, but sometimes they’re not. When someone tries to take advantage of your good nature, it’s a red flag that something isn’t right.

Instead of getting upset or defensive about these situations, acknowledge that you’re approached by a lot of people, and many of them are probably willing to do business with you. Realising that your customers, employees, and other stakeholders want to see you succeed is a good sign that you’re doing something right.

One way to establish credibility and trust with your audience is to reference other reputable companies or people that they may consider for business or professional relationships. If you’re asked to provide references, you can either provide an unqualified one or pick a quality business that you think will be a good match for their needs. Doing this regularly can help you build credibility and trust with your customers.

Step three: Customise your audience’s experience.

When someone visits your website, you want them to have a good experience. The type of experience you desire depends on how you intend on using the site. If you have a health-related website, you’ll want to create an environment that’s calming and informative. If you run a realty or property site, you may want to focus on presenting the most compelling information available. When selecting the type of content you’ll include on your website, remember that your audience will have different needs.

With each new website you create, you’ll have the opportunity to customise the experience for your audience. When you do so, you’ll need to follow the guidelines provided by the frameworks or platforms you’re using to establish your site. From the colours you choose to the layout of the site, everything is up to you.

Your website’s audience is your customers. You want to ensure that they have a positive experience when on your site, and you can do this by optimising the way content is displayed on your page. Whether you choose a car dealership’s website or a health blog, you can control the type of content and the way it’s presented through the use of design and layout tools.

Step four: Measure the success of your efforts.

Finally, you need to determine whether your efforts were successful. How does your email list look? How are your social media profiles performing? What was the result of your website visits?

The answers to these questions will form the basis of your next marketing plan. Depending on your available resources, you may choose to tackle one aspect of marketing first and wait to see the results of your actions. Alternatively, you may decide to jump in and see how your strategy is performing before devising a new one.

One of the most important measures of a business’ success is its ability to generate revenue. This is important because it means you have customers who are willing to pay for your product or service, and you want to continue providing value to these customers. Establishing a business is a big step, but it’s a necessary one. Without a business, you cannot grow a brand, you cannot generate revenue, and you cannot sustain yourself. As the saying goes, “It’s all about the money.”