Launching a web-based startup these days is not quite difficult. You do have plenty of tools, most of them even for free. Social Web enables you to market your product or service for nothing, viral strategies can even put you far on top. Startups like Groupon, AirBnB and Facebook were not founded by more than a couple of people. Hence, if you do have a great idea just follow the below saving tips. You are not about to lose a bunch of money, but you’ll regret it if you’ve never tried it.
1.) Get inspired. Read, watch and take a walk to get some great ideas. Listen to interviews on sites like Mixergy to hear from some great entrepreneurs how they came up with their idea.
2.) Do write a business plan. You don’t need to write dozens of pages, just outline your idea, your business model and your marketing strategy. You’ll be very thankful as soon as your busy days are starting.
3.) Domain purchase. Buy a .com domain for less than $12 on GoDaddy. Try to plan your budget for approx. $150 to purchase similar domain addresses. This can save you a lot of money if you are going to be really big.
4.) Design. If you don’t have a great design background like the AirBnb guys, just have look on sites like 99designs, Logoworks or The Logo Company. Prices start at $149.
5.) Development. Well, now it’s your turn. At least you should do have a quite good understanding of HTML, CSS or frameworks like Ruby on Rails. If you are not planning to do the whole work from scratch, think about tools like WordPress, Socialengine or Drupal. Don’t forget that a site like Groupon was once just a free 5 minutes WordPress installation. RetailMeNot used socialengine (starts at $250) to become one of the leading coupon websites in the world.
6.) Marketing. Be creative, make use of great marketing platforms like Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, YouTube, Digg, reddit, tumblr, flickr, etc. Just come up with a great idea to attract your potential customer and try it out for free. If you still have some budget, how about a Faceebok ad campaign? Compared to Google Adwords it can be quite cheap and with the help of some great options you can perfectly reach your target group.
7.) PR. I call it the ‘a-bomb’ for getting really big. Use the (free!) force of journalists around the world spreading their words on your website. It doesn’t matter if they do criticize you harshly or even making fun of you. There is no such thing as bad publicity; there is just exposure you can benefit from. Start with presenting your idea to local blogs and regional newspapers. Sooner or later they will be covered by bigger and even nationwide media.
8.) Learn from the best. Have a look at discussion boards like Hacker News to get feedback from successful entrepreneurs.
9.) Accept failure. Each mistake you about to make is a great way to learn. Don’t forget that even in your darkest hour. If you still need some motivation read about the story of Morten Lund.
10.) Believe in yourself. Last but not least it’s all about believing. Dietrich Mateschitz (Red Bull) almost went bankrupt before selling one of the most successful drinks ever.
