Running a Business with a Computer: Five Easy, Essential Skills & Tools

Being able to effectively communicate with clients, partners, and team members is crucial for any business. Learning how to use email and online messaging platforms, such as Skype, Discord, Telegram, Whatsapp, or Slack, can help you stay in touch and collaborate with others remotely. In today's digital age, emails and online messaging platforms have become the backbone of business communication. They allow you to exchange information, files, and feedback with your clients, partners, and team members in real-time. Emails offer a professional means of communication, while platforms like Slack allow for more informal and conversational interactions. With the right email and messaging etiquette, you can ensure that your communication is clear, concise, and professional, which can help to build trust and strengthen relationships.

Having a professional-looking website is essential for any business, and there are a variety of tools available that make it easy to create and manage a website, even for beginners. It's also equally important to have a space where you can broadcast the message and brand of your business consistently, so looking into digital real estate (web hosting) to keep your own business website is very important, even if you decide to use free web building software in your early stages.

A website can also serve as a platform for e-commerce, allowing you to sell products or services online. There are several e-commerce platforms available, such as Squarespace, Shopify, or Post Affect, that make it easy to set up an online store and manage transactions. By selling your products or services online, you can reach a wider audience, increase your revenue, and provide a more convenient shopping experience for your customers. With the right tools and strategies, your website can be an integral part of your business's success.

There are many different ways to market a business online, from social media and email campaigns to search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Learning the basics of these strategies can help you reach and engage potential customers. It's not just social media where you can digitally advertise your space, but search engines like Google, Bing, and YouTube as well. You can even advertise directly with companies like Hulu. Keep in mind, you don't need to be a consumer of these platforms in order to use their advertising features.

One of the most effective forms of online marketing is content marketing. By creating quality content, such as blog posts, infographics, and videos, you can attract potential customers to your website and establish yourself as an authority in your industry. Content marketing is a cost-effective way to reach a wide audience and can help to build long-term relationships with customers. With the right content marketing strategy, you can create content that resonates with your target audience, drives traffic to your website, and ultimately increases your revenue.

Another essential element of online marketing is analytics. By tracking your website's traffic, conversion rates, and other metrics, you can gain valuable insights into your audience and how they interact with your brand. Tools like Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics provide detailed data on your website's performance, allowing you to make data-driven decisions about your marketing strategy. By analyzing your data regularly, you can identify areas for improvement, optimize your marketing efforts, and ultimately drive more traffic and sales to your business.

Being able to accept payments from customers online is essential for any business. There are a variety of options available, such as PayPal, Venmo, CashApp, and Square, that make it easy to securely process payments.

It's also important to consider the fees associated with online payment processing. Different payment processors charge different fees for transactions, and these fees can vary depending on the volume of transactions and the type of payment being processed. It's important to do your research and choose a payment processor that offers competitive rates and meets the specific needs of your business. By choosing the right payment processing tools and gateway, you can provide a seamless and secure payment experience for your customers, which is essential for building trust and loyalty with your audience.

With remote work becoming popular in recent years, it's now far more common for businesses and companies to hold meetings and collaborate with others online. Tools like Zoom, Skype, and Google Meet make it easy to hold virtual meetings with team members and clients. With the growing interest in Virtual Reality, there are apps provided by Meta for holding VR meetings mixed with users that are using webcams are not wearing a VR headset. There are tons of hybrid ways of hosting meetings like using Twitter Spaces, Instagram live, or Clubhouse as well.

Virtual meetings can be a great way to save time and increase productivity, as they eliminate the need for travel and can be held from anywhere with an internet connection. These meetings can help reduce the environmental impact of business travel, which is an important consideration for many businesses that are looking to operate sustainably. By embracing virtual meetings, businesses can reduce costs and improve their bottom line, while also supporting a more sustainable way of doing business.