Why Location Still Matters When Building An Online Business

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If you have an online business, say, a life-coaching business or an eCommerce business, you probably think location doesn’t matter when it comes to the success of your business because location only applies to regular businesses that deal directly with the public.

In a way, this is partially true. As an eCommerce business owner, you can take orders from your website and use a fulfillment service to drop-ship products. Similarly, as a life-coach, you can use webinars to drum up a client base and Skype to coach them.

However, location still matters when it comes to your office and networking.

  • How location affects your office.

You probably run your online business from either a home office or a rented office space. Although this location does not affect your dealings with the public, it will affect you in terms of economics, ambiance, and productivity.

  • 1.  Economics: If you are fortunate enough to live in a deregulated energy state like Texas, you could then save money on your monthly electricity bills by doing an online search for electric rates TX providers. The city, state, county, and state you work in will also affect how much you pay for rent, business regulation fees, and local taxes.
  • 2.  Ambiance: the type of neighborhood your business is in will affect the quality of your work. It can be difficult to do things like host webinars or talk to clients via video-conferencing if you have a business office above a noisy street or a home office in a neighborhood where people make a racket with their power tools.
  • 3.  Productivity: The size of your office will make a huge difference to the quality of your work. If you work in a location where you can rent out a spacious office, you will be able to furnish it with basics like a high-capacity desktop computer, one or more monitors, high speed access, network router, and surge protector, and uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Your office will also benefit from a comfortable desk and chair, adequate lighting, telephone and VoIP, software disc collection, and multipurpose machine (scan, fax, and printer). In, your home office will feel more complete with a file cabinet, storage cabinets or shelving, a fire-safe box, and a paper shredder.
  • How location affects your networking opportunities.

While you can find customers online, location still matters for an online business when trying to get more customers. Your online business will benefit if you focus will be on networking. You can network by associating with other business owners, by talking to potential customers, and by attending business educational conferences. Here is an excellent definition of business networking: “Business networking is an effective low-cost marketing method for developing sales opportunities and contacts, based on referrals and introductions – either face-to-face at meetings and gatherings, or by other contact methods such as phone, email, and increasingly social and business networking websites.”

Here are 4 benefits to doing some offline marketing for your online business:

  1. You will be able to build rapport with people you meet in person via lead generating events organized by the Chamber of Commerce, Meetups, service club organizations and local businesses.
  2. You will learn a great deal about how to grow your business if you live in a city where you can attend conferences and seminars that teach practical business strategies.
  3. Since you will be meeting people in person, they are much more likely to recommend you to friends, business associates, and clients who might benefit from your services.
  4. If you should recruit any customers from your lead generation efforts and do an excellent job for you, they will be much more effusive in writing you glowing testimonials and providing warm leads to other potential customers.

In other words, you will be able to pump up the energy more in person than you can just through online communication when it comes to building relationships. As a result, you will be creating a new channel to connect with customers. In this instance, location matters if you live in a town or city where potential customers will be receptive to your online products or services. 

When you think about it, location can still makes a difference to the success of your online business.