It seems quite impossible to have a business and not have a website these days. For the younger population, it is quite natural to set up a web and e-shop even before the company is fully operational. They are aware of how things work. For the business owners who are not “internet native,” i.e., they grew up in the era before the internet and web expansion, these things are not coming so naturally. There are still many high-class specialists and kick-ass experts who operate solely in the offline world. They did not move online for one of many reasons. They could have felt intimidated by the technology or do not respond well to social media. Some might not know where to start.

The gurus recommend going online with the web

It takes courage and determination to decide finally to move online, but here comes the paradox and the first misconception. Entrepreneurs are recommended by different gurus and online experts to start their online existence with a new web. It is expected to become their only or the essential source of new online clients. As a result, the kick-ass experts feel even more intimidated with the whole process. They are expected to decide on hosting providers, domains, web architecture, and millions of other topics they have no clue about. From their perspective, it seems only smart to put their online company existence in the hands of the web developer and trust all will be all right. That produces much additional stress on both sides.

Developing the web takes an enormous amount of time

Building a website is a process that requires a strategic approach, focus, some expert-kind of knowledge, and for sure calls for lots of energy. The extensive development might take several months, in some cases, even a year. The web developer can physically do this job within a few weeks, but the truth is that the kick-ass expert/entrepreneur will not be ready with all the materials. It appears that the creation of the relevant content, writing all the texts, searching for all the photos, designing all the questionnaires – takes time. Especially when you do this for the first time in your life.

Here comes the solution

The frustration starts to build up usually after 3-4 months when the web is still not ready, but the expert’s initial determination to move online starts slowly fading. The energy invested until now in the online activity that is supposed to generate clients (but does not because it is not ready yet) seems to reach its limit. Imagine another three to four months like that. Imagine expenses that do not turn into clients. For well-established offline businesses, it might not be an issue, but for a one-person company, it can turn into a disaster.Thank goodness there are at least two solutions to avoid that. There is absolutely no reason to stay invisible online during your web development process.

Option 1 You are not clear about your personal branding and future expert positioning

This option seems to resonate with entrepreneurs who did not start their branding and positioning work. At that point, they do not have a personal brand and did not decide to have one. They are, however, extraordinary in what they do and have plenty to share with the world. The best solution for them will be to start slowly by building their online presence via social media. The first steps would be establishing strong and standing out profiles for the most relevant social media channels. I would recommend selecting not more than one or two for the first year. It is much more efficient to concentrate strategically on one channel and become good at it than trying to dominate the whole social media scene and struggle with the content relevant for each channel. Unfortunately, the social media scene is not about the copy-paste approach. You will have to produce genuine content for each of your channels. With time you will learn how to twist and repurpose your materials. It will become easy to adapt to your audience. However, in the first months, you will have to stick to the original content strategy.After a few weeks or months, you will be able to start selling online with confidence. You can easily use the social media channels which are perfectly suited for this.

Within about one year, you will get the grip of your audience and the ways you would like to work with them online and sell your genius online. It will create an abundance of ideas and materials to create your web effortlessly.

Option 2 You know exactly how you want to claim online your expert position

This option appeals to all kick-ass experts having a great understanding of their online audience and their online positioning. They seem to be clear on how they would like to interact with their tribe. In such a case, I would recommend acting simultaneously on the web structure and social media channels. The synergy effect will be highly reachable. Such an approach allows claiming expert position faster and building it on the go. So the moment when the web is ready becomes the moment of natural transition and building up the company online.

By the moment the web is ready you are already selling online via landing pages or social channels and leverage their impact on your web.

Which option will be selected depends on the individual personality and the way of working. Some people will be more comfortable, becoming visible online. For some, it will be quite an uncomfortable but necessary experience. It took me a while to adjust to the social media channels format and comfortably show off several times a week. I still stick to a small number of them. However, my confidence increases exponentially with every Facebook live, every podcast I record, and each masterclass I share. My clients energize me and make me do wonders. I hope your clients will do the same for you!