Getting your offline business online can feel like a monumental task. If you’ve never done it before, it’s easy to spend months or even years reading blog posts and ebooks and joining webinars to make sure you’re prepared with all the best practices and information you need to succeed.
You read success stories and tell yourself that one day soon, you will become one of them. Just not today because you’re busy keeping your physical business alive and that’s always more important.
Maybe on Monday. Or better yet, next month. Yes. The 1st of next month is when you’ll get started on this massive project.
You know what this is called, right? Procrastination and it’s the enemy of all dreams and successful projects.
Here are a few of the most effective ways to stop procrastination and motivate you to get your business online today. No tomorrow, not next Monday or next month. Today.
But first…
Why you may be procrastinating
You’re not the only one putting off tasks, especially if they involve a huge project like getting your first business website online. It happens to everyone. In fact, according to a study at UCLA, our brains are programmed to procrastinate when we’re dealing with tasks that take a long time to complete.
Instead, our brains react much better to things that take little time to accomplish and give an immediate reward. In simple words, the best way to stop procrastinating without much effort is to give your brain quick tasks that give you an immediate reward.
Here’s how you can put that into practice so you take action now and accomplish your biggest goal of getting your website online.
1. Start by registering your domain name today
This is the smallest first step you can take today to get your business online. If you already have a business name, check to see if it’s available as a domain name.
Run a quick domain name search on 123 Reg to see if you can register and lock your domain now before anyone else gets a chance to.
If you find it’s already been registered by someone else, no need to panic. There are other options to get a domain name that’s a great match for your business.
For example, you might consider rebranding. It’s a major step, but it can help your business grow, especially if you’re offering services in new areas. If you choose to go down this route then you’ll end up with a list of names to pick from, just as you would if you were starting a new business.
Another option would be to go with a new domain extension where you incorporate your location such as .London or .Scot or your industry such as .cab or .accountants. There are literally hundreds of domain extensions available, making it easier to grab a suitable domain name.
As a bonus, once you’ve registered a domain name with 123 Reg you’ll get the chance to launch a website for just £1 a month using Website Builder Starter. Check out section five of this article for more details.
The blog posts provide more tips and advice on how to get the perfect domain name for your business:
2. Break down your project into small manageable tasks
To stop procrastinating, you need to break down your one big goal into small manageable tasks that take a few hours or days to complete.
You can write down your tasks on a piece of paper or use a free visual board like Trello. This is one of the most popular and easy to use tools for getting organised.
Sign up for an account and create a big project (called “board” on Trello) for your new business website. Then break down this huge, overwhelming task into smaller chunks or tasks, which Trello calls “cards”.
You can then arrange those cards into different columns, which represent different phases of the project. You can drag and drop tasks in the order of their priority, set deadlines and add checklists. You can also add other team members to assign tasks to, if you’re maybe working with a VA, a designer or a writer.
As tasks get completed, you can easily drag the cards from your to-do list to the completed column, for example. Of course, it’s up to you how you name your board, cards, tasks and everything else.
Here’s a template of how your board could look:
This is useful not just because it can make your goals actionable, but it can also help you manage your own psychology and minimise anxiety.
3. Create a routine
Aristotle is credited with saying these 15 famous words: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
In other words, if you want to get started on this big project that is your website and stick to it, you need to establish a daily routine. This will help you to establish priorities, limit procrastination and keep track of your milestones and goals.
Sure, this can be a challenge, especially when you’re already running a physical business. But if you don’t put in the work, you’ll never get started or succeed.
So, make a schedule that works for you. For example, take an hour or two in the morning or evening where you only work on your website. Avoid checking your inbox or social media or phone. Just focus on completing the tasks to help get your website online.
Need more advice and inspiration? Check out these two great resources to learn about:
4. Start telling everyone about the launch of your new website
You know what else can motivate you to take action? Telling other people about your plans to launch your business website.
So put the word out there. Tell your family, friends and customers in person, via email, or in a social media post that you are working to get your website online.
Nothing acts as a better incentive than when your reputation is on the line.
5. Take action now
You don’t need months or years to get your website up and running. It also doesn’t need to be perfect to be ready to receive visitors. You can always tweak and improve as you go.
What it needs is to be online so your prospects and customers can find you online.
If you’ve bought, or buy, a domain from 123 Reg then you’ll get access to our Website Builder Starter package, which can help you get a one-page website up in minutes.
If you have a domain with us, simply add the Website Builder Starter package through your control panel and you’re good to go. Alternatively, you can register a domain with 123 Reg and a Website Builder Starter trial will be added on.
Website Builder Starter costs just £1 a month.
You can learn how to use Website Builder Starter in this guide.
Wrapping up
As we all know, getting started is the hardest part. It’s a little bit like going to the gym. The thought of it exhausts you so much that you keep postponing it.
But here’s the thing: once you get started, you’ll realise that getting your business online is not as scary or as difficult as you initially imagined it to be. So, take the leap today by making a plan, breaking it down into smaller, manageable tasks, creating a routine and sticking to it.