In 2008, I founded and launched a website (DesignCrowd.com) with a laptop, $10,000 in savings and 3 credit cards (including an ANZ credit card).

Today, DesignCrowd is a leading global design service for small businesses and is approaching $20 million in revenue per year with customers in more than 100 countries and over 500,000 designers from around the world. Recently, we launched a second website BrandCrowd - an online design maker tool for small businesses - which is doubling in size each month.

While we started our business in Sydney, we always wanted it to be global. Since we launched, we have received over $12 million venture capital funding to help us scale the business internationally and today 85% of our revenues coming from outside of Australia.

Through the process of scaling DesignCrowd globally over the years, I've made plenty of mistakes but I've also learned plenty about growing a business online which I've tried to summarise in the blog below.

Here are my 9 tips on how to grow your business online...

1. Think big

When it comes to planning the launch or growth of your business, bigger is better. The bigger the market, the more opportunity for growth and as Steve Jobs said “We're here to put a dent in the universe.” Think Australia-wide, think global and go for it.

2. Understand your market

Before diving in, it's really important to understand the market. What do your potential customers want? What are other businesses offering online and what is working well for them?

Research what people are searching for online. Understand which products, services or phrases people are typing into Google (using a tool like Google trends).

3. Offer something awesome

Whether you're an ice cream shop or an ecommerce startup - the most important ingredient for online growth is to have an amazing product and constantly improve it.

If you have something great to offer, your business is going to grow AND it will grow faster and more easily than something that everyone else is offering.

4. Invest in great design

How your website looks and works is essential to maximizing growth.

Get a great logo design (I am biased but I would recommend using DesignCrowd's logo crowdsourcing service or try BrandCrowd's logo design maker) and get an awesome website design.

5. Never stop testing

Once your business or website is launched, you need to try to improve things constantly.

Whether it's your advertising or your website design or your prices - you need to be constantly testing and measuring the results.

Never stop testing, and your business will never stop growing.

6. Google is king

Most businesses trying to grow online are going to need to find customers through Google. Google is still king. Consider running ads on Google (at least test it to see if it will work for you) and make sure your website is SEO-friendly. You might also consider writing some blog posts that could help attract visitors to your website.

7. Word of mouth is key

If Google is king, then word of mouth is queen.

Work on improving your product and service and delighting your customers. Consider adding features that encourage a 'viral loop' or getting your customers to share their experience with their friends and colleagues.

8. Measure Everything

The following two things are true: 1) it is hard to improve something you're not measuring and 2) anything that is measured and watched will improve.

A beautiful aspect of online businesses is the amount of data you can get your hands on. Traffic, click through rate, conversion rate, leads, sales, average order value, revenue and so on. Figure out what your important metrics are and measure them.

9. Start immediately

Before you grow online you have to start! Get a domain name, get a business logo, get a website, write a business plan, create a Facebook page - JUST GET STARTED.

Alec Lynch is the Founder & CEO of DesignCrowd & BrandCrowd.

Written by DesignCrowd on Wednesday, December 12, 2018

DesignCrowd is an online marketplace providing logo, website, print and graphic design services by providing access to freelance graphic designers and design studios around the world.