India is World's Most-Preferred Destination for Starting Business

India is a land of contradictions. While Indian government programmes like “Start-Up India” failed to support startup ventures in the country leading to more startup failure then success we see, a latest study has something otherwise to say. A latest study conducted by SEMrush, an online digital marketing suite, has revealed something opposite to the popular belief that India is not a perfect place for starting a venture.

According to the study, India happens to have become the most-preferred destination in the world for starting a business, if one goes by the number of people searching for the best place to set up shop.

India leads the Top 10 globally most searched countries online for ‘starting business in’, revealed the study. Moreover, the study has also established the fact that India is not just a preferred choice for Indians to do business in their homeland, but is also becoming a priority for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) from across the world, according to a SEMrush official.

The study showed India is followed by Singapore, the Philippines and Australia as top globally searched nations.

According to SEMrush’s research on the term “How to start a business in…”, the top 10 most globally searched countries online are:

1- India

2- Singapore

3- The Philippines

4- Australia

5- Canada

6- New Zealand

7- Pakistan

8- South Africa

9- United Arab Emirates

10- Malaysia

Rohan Ayyar, Regional Marketing Manager India, SEMrush, says the number of SMEs in India is 4.25 crore, registered and unregistered, with over 10 per cent average growth rate. He was quoting a report by EVOMA. “The GDP contribution by SMEs is estimated to be around 6.11 per cent from the manufacturing and 24.63 per cent from the service sectors,” he said. SEMrush analysed the global search pattern for the last 12 months and looked for certain key search terms such as ‘how to start a company in’, ‘opening business in’, ‘found a business in’ and other related search queries.



Though Singapore is famous for its wide entrepreneurial opportunities, and the National University of Singapore, the oldest and the largest university in the country, ranks in the global Top 30 for its entrepreneurship centre and international outlook, the nation was at second spot, according to the SEMrush study. Ayyar said unemployment rate of 2.1 per cent and per capita GDP of nearly $53,000 tend to make Singapore’s economy one of the strongest on the world arena, and almost 99 per cent of it is powered by SMEs. It is no surprise that Singapore tops the list of countries where people are eager to found a firm, he said.

Ayyar added the results of search queries analyses over 2017-18 were greatly commemorative. “The search volumes for India were much higher in comparison with countries such as Australia, Canada and the UAE. The developments in PPP model and progressive policies and plans have further helped start-ups and businesses to grow, giving a great boost to SMEs.”

~ Via BusinessLine

[Top Featured Image by Francisco Arnela on Unsplash]

How To Start Building a Successful Online Business

Figuring out how to start an online business is no small task. But if you break it down into small parts, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t succeed. Here are some steps that you should follow.

Define Your Product Or Service

Before beginning, have a clear idea of what your product or service is going to be. This is extremely important. Regardless of what kind of business you do, there’s going to be competitors. If you aren't well versed with your product/service, your competitors are going to race ahead of you.

• Here’s a few points to consider. What is your USP(unique selling point)?


• What can you offer that your competitors can’t?


• What problem does the customer face that you can solve?

Steps to Set Up

• Register your business -
  Once you have everything in place, you should register your business with the legal authorities. Get all tax registrations and filings done.



• Register a domain name -
  
  Registering a website is more or less the beginning of your business. Find an appropriate and available domain name. That’s going to be your brand name and identity. You should also create a logo for the brand.



• Get a web hosting service
  
  Getting your domain hosted is the next step of setting up your business. Some services like Shopify offer domain name generation, registration, and hosting all under one roof.



• Get required trademarks -
  
  Once you are set with all of the above, then you should focus on getting trademarks and copyright for your domain name. That prevents any illegal use of your identity.

Creating Your Online Store

Create a website that will sell your product/service is a first step towards starting any online business and go for Shopify if you are starting an online store or e-commerce business. Take care to ensure that your website is appealing to the target audience. Have a persona and design the website according to that. There are various self-hosted and hosted website builders available that you can take a look at. Make sure the features you’re choosing are compliant with your business model. Have an attractive and seamless landing page, catalogue pages, payment gateway, and POS (point of sale) software.

Set up support systems like logistics, IT support, and other services that you’ll need.

Selling Your Services

When all the setup is done, the most difficult part is conversion. Accumulating leads and converting them is the most important part of your business.

• Add catchy content to your site -
  
  Content marketing is inevitable for an online business. Make sure your website and blog have enough persuasive content. That generates leads and boosts conversion.



• Social media marketing -
  
  Social Media marketing is a major propeller for your business in the digital age. Have an online presence on all social media channels. You should also have a blog. Make sure you create a content calendar for your marketing strategy. Try to be as socially active as possible and make use of automation tools when you’re marketing through social media. Generally, images and videos have a higher CTR (click-through-rates) when compared to text. Stay up to date with current trends and capitalize on them.



• Email marketing -
  
  E-mail marketing has one of the highest conversion rates. Use automation tools to send out regular marketing emails to your existing and potential customers. Let them know about current offers and newly launched products. Remind them about incomplete checkouts or replenished stocks of products that they’re interested in.

Use Marketing Tools

• Add Google AdSense -
  
  Use Google Adsense and find the right keyword for content that works best for you. Optimize the pay-per-click rates, and make sure the ad is placed correctly.



• Google Analytics -
  
  Set up Google Analytics to track your traffic. Record all the feedback and improvise based on the data you have.



• SEO(Search Engine Optimization)
  
  Search Engine Optimization is critical when you’re running a business online. When your target customer looks for products, they’re going to search for it online. That’s why you should ensure that your rank is high and you can get to the top of the search results. Good SEO directly influences conversion rate.

Selling online successfully is a combination of a number of factors. On a high-level, make sure you have a well-hosted website with proper search engine optimization. Make sure your website is attractive and user-friendly. Market it to the right audience with the right content on a variety of channels. Keep track of feedback using automation tools and improve on them. Finally, provide a quality product/service that satisfies your customer.

8 Essential Rules To Start Your Dream Business On A Shoestring Budget

The Internet age has made the process of turning your startup dream into a reality a fairly easy process. Nowadays, you don't require tons of money with you in order to kickstart your own venture. All you require is passion and a full proof plan and you might end up becoming the next Bansal or Agrawal of the Indian startup industry. In order to help those passionate few who are still contemplating about starting on their dream venture thinking about the financial problems that they might face, we at IndianWeb2 present to you 8 things you can keep in mind to start your journey towards your dream within a limited budget.

1) Incorporate a company, but try keeping it simple -

A limited liability corporation (LLC) can be started in various parts of the world for less than $100. This can be done directly through the Internet and that too without any legal assistance. Following this you will be able to keep your financial and legal liabilities away from your personal assets, and it won’t cost you the big initial cost and ongoing time and fees of a C-corporation.

Tools & Resources - How to Register a Company/Startup in India, Ministry of Corporate Affairs - Company Registration

2) Start building your plan online and don't wait for funding -

You're the entrepreneur and it's your own business. So, take control and don't just wait for everything to happen on its own. Start making your own plans, goals and start achieving them one by one. You don't necessarily need an investor to be successful. Don't wait for good things to happen to you, make them happen happen yourself.

Tools & Resources - LivePlan, BPlans

3) Cut back on expenses as much as possible -

Since you're a startup, you can afford to splurge. There's no need to have a huge office to start a business or hire an accountant to track expenses and assets. There are several easy-to-use accounting packages available which run nicely on your existing small desktop or laptop.

Tools & Resources - QuickBooks

4) DIY -

You don't need to spend truckloads of money or someone else help to change your dream into a prototype. You can do that yourself nowadays. Start searching for free help at a local university/institute or look for one of those new maker spaces, such as IKP Knowledge Park, where one can easily rent time and equipment to do the job themselves. Take the matters in your own hand.

Tools & Resources - NutsandBoltz, Mackerspaces in India

5) Register your Intellectual property online -

Being a startup, the only important things or the valuable things that you have of your own are your intellectual property, the technology, software, hardware or anything else that you have developed yourself. Seeing the cut throat competition in the startup industry, we would recommend you to register and safeguard your these intellectual property right away and maintain your uniqueness from others. Don't worry. You won't have to shed lots of money in doing this especially if you're in the U.S. In the United States, trademarks, copyrights and even patents can be registered online for a few thousands rupees.

Tools & Resources - Govt. of India -e-Patent Filing, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

6) Use the assistance of virtual assistants -

In the initial few months, avoid employing an army of people as that could add a lot of money pressure on the startup. Go for low-cost freelancers available online or remote contract services. They provide excellent results and you even have the flexibility to decrease or increase the resources as per your needs.

Tools & Resources - Freelancer.in, UpWork

7) Explore low-cost software subscription and cloud computing -

Don't spend money on having an elaborate IT department. Use Google cloud services and Amazon web services to have all the application storage and computing power you need to have without shedding out big bucks on an IT staff and big up-front costs for computer servers and applications.

Tools & Resources - 10 Best Free CDN Services

8) Make Social Media your best friend -

Nowadays with all the free tools available online, you don't need to spend a single new penny in building your own website. Use tools like shopfiy etc. to give your business an online presence. Further, exploit free social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google Plus etc. to make people aware about your business's existence.