Discover Your Passion
You might think you don’t have any interests that would spark the creation of a business. Online marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk in his book Crush It! encourages audiences to find their passion by starting small. It is completely feasible to spend time after your regular work hours, on a project of personal interest to you that has real market potential. Using social media and personal branding, the average online user is perfectly capable of transforming a lifelong passion into a money-making enterprise.
The Social Media Revolution
At lower costs, and higher speeds, sites like Facebook and Twitter allows a company to target potential customers who have already signaled an interest in their product or services. Recording a hilarious, entertaining or even disturbing YouTube video and posting it on your blog is a powerful way to generate a buzz and build site traffic. Social media is here to stay, and it is time for you to start taking advantage of the tremendous opportunities it has to offer the average online user.
Free Marketing Tools
To get started on your own labor of love, you’ll need to make a website. Wix offers the full package of design elements needed by any small to mid-sized business owner looking to build a powerful online presence. You can start small, and create a simple, 1-page site with just your company logo, and your e-mail address. As your ideas develop and you learn more about the world of online marketing, grow your website to include pages devoted to your products or services. Add a page of customer testimonials to add credibility and gain trust.
Advanced Marketing Tools
Wix lets you scale your site according to your business needs. All of the items below can be easily added to a free website and require absolutely no “insider knowledge” about computers:
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Product Showcase
Upload pictures of your products and arrange them in customized photo galleries
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PayPal Button
Accept donations from your site visitors directly into your account
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Customized Social Media Icons
Link to your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn accounts & more
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Live Twitter & RSS Feeds
Show visitors your latest Tweets and blog posts the moment you post them
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Google Calendar
Offer a schedule of classes or events users can integrate with their own calendars
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Polls & Survey Forms
Gather information from your visitors to better target their needs
Money-Earning Marketing Tools
You can actually set up a fully functioning online shop right inside your Wix website. By upgrading to the eCommerce premium package, you have the ability to make money directly through your site, and Wix takes absolutely no portion of your sales. With the Shopping Cart widget found inside the widgets section, make a personalized product gallery with images and descriptions of your different items. Connect a Checkout button to your PayPal account, and voila! Your site visitors can pick and choose which items they want to purchase from you, place them in a shopping cart and when ready, can complete the transaction by submitting payment directly to your PayPal. The amount you pay for the premium upgrade can easily be offset with just one sale of a product.
Some Inspiration to Get Started
OK so if you’re still reading, we’ve convinced you to put your entrepreneurial thinking cap on. Breeze through some examples of other brilliant websites designed by small business owners in the Explore section at Wix.com. Click on the eCommerce category to see samples of sites with the Shopping Cart widget.
Or, get started right away on your own site. There are tons of free website templates to choose from, perfect for all sorts of industries – creative, professional and in between. Whether you’re selling cookies from your garage, starting your own business consultancy or opening up a fitness center, you’ll find useful templates built for your needs.
Turn your passion into a business – with Wix’ free website tools!
