Leaving the military and making your way into the civilian labor market is one of the most daunting things you will do as a veteran. While the statistics on unemployment and post-military salaries aren’t all doom and gloom for vets, many recently retired ex-military men and women are increasingly venturing out on their own online, trying their hand at online entrepreneurship in the digital economy. While there is money to be made, there are some essential skills you need to succeed if you want to do business online. Below are 5 online entrepreneurship skills all vets should have.
Basic Web Design
Your technological talents will be put to the test in online business. It is simple to register domains and purchase hosting plans, and many hosting providers even allow you to install WordPress with a single click.
However, things can quickly become difficult the more customization you would like to do to your website. It is also highly useful to be able to do things like restoring your site if it is hacked or making a change to a field in your MySQL database. It is incredibly useful to be able to use things like page builders to create the website you want and how to tweak your design for responsiveness so that people on different-sized screens and using a variety of browsers can easily use your site.
While you can always outsource and employ freelancers to handle some or all of your web design and maintenance, it’s important to understand how things function in case of serious problems or crises and, most importantly, so that you save yourself money in the long run.
SEO
Organic search is the most important source of traffic for the majority of websites. Your firm will not be able to compete in the online environment unless you conduct keyword research, create optimized content, and regularly update your website to improve its
Keyword research is only the first step. You’ll want to learn about Page Authority and Domain Authority, responsive design, backlink development, clean coding, load speeds, and a variety of other topics.
However, your primary focus should be on ranking your content in search results, as there are many technical facets to the ever-changing world of
Content Writing
In today’s online climate, the ability to develop quality, value-added, and search-engine-optimized content is critical to running a successful online business. Content increases traffic, fosters trust, and draws new leads and consumers to your company.
This frequently entails producing articles and blog entries, which may be time-consuming. Audio podcasts and videos are also quite useful, but they can be much more time, money, and effort consuming.
Keeping this in mind, don’t underestimate the importance of content, since it will most likely be the major driver of traffic to your site. You’ll need to design and maintain an editorial calendar, keep to a publication schedule, and generate meaningful content that answers your target audience’s queries.
Visitors to your website gain credibility as a result of your material, and customers are more likely to trust businesses that give excellent content. Don’t forget to include strategies.
Paid Advertising
While content may bring a significant amount of organic traffic, purchased traffic is also quite beneficial. Most advertising networks include significant targeting and filtering capabilities, allowing you to reach your target client more effectively. You may also use them to assess the performance of your landing pages and product or service offers.
However, it’s crucial to remember that advertising isn’t always a one-and-done answer. Unless you have prior expertise, creating effective advertising and fine-tuning your targeting might be difficult. When you invest money to get customers to your website, conversion optimization becomes even more critical.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is one of the most stress-free and profitable digital marketing tools for increasing your company’s visibility. You can begin by creating social media profiles for your business and begin networking with others to get started. By using a social media strategy, you can greatly improve brand recognition over time and establish relationships with your customers.
Social media initiatives can have a large positive effect on brand awareness and heightened user experience while only requiring a few hours each week. Having a social media presence for your brand can undoubtedly assist your business, and with consistent usage, it may also build a large audience for your business in no time.
Conclusion
Making a go of online entrepreneurship involves many of the same skills you would need to run a successful offline business, in addition to some much more obvious digital-era skills as well. Many of these are marketing-related, and they are crucial if you want to grow your brand, drive traffic to your website and social media pages and, ultimately, succeed online. Keep the above competencies and skills in mind and make your transition into post-military entrepreneurship a successful one.
