Secrets to growing your business quickly

April 2, 2024

By Kim Komando

I’m proud to say that I built my multimillion-dollar enterprise with no debt and no investors. It’s rewarding for me to help the many small business owners who call and need a hand getting their company off the ground or breaking past a big hurdle. I’ve been there myself.

Here’s my advice from the trenches.

1. Know your competition

Unless you’re going rogue with an all-new product or service, your customers already exist and spend their money elsewhere. Competitor research is one of the best ways to get a feel for what works and doesn’t work in your industry.

It’s also an intelligent way to understand your customer’s needs, including what they expect to pay and how much you can earn.

Find a handful of companies doing what you hope to do and be a student. “How much can I learn here?”

• Study their websites. What stands out and what isn’t so great? You can monitor website changes over time with Visualping. This free tool allows you to enter a website you want to track, and you’ll get email alerts any time that site changes. You’ll know if your competitor created an excellent new landing page copy or swapped out photos. Tap or click for a direct link to try it out.
• Follow your competitors on social media and subscribe to their newsletters. Take note of any posts that generate a high number of comments or shares.
• Sign up for Google Alerts for your business name, your competitors, and an industry term or two that makes sense. Tap or click here for steps to set up a Google Alert. I suggest you go with weekly alerts, as daily alerts can get overwhelming.

2. Brand yourself with a memorable domain

A strong web presence is essential; securing a great domain name is the first step. You want something easy to remember, clear, and concise. No one is going to remember a six-word URL.

Doctors, lawyers or other professionals who use their names for their businesses have an advantage. Hey, my website is Komando.com.

How much will a domain cost you? Let’s use GoDaddy as an example. For a .com address, you’ll spend about $25 annually, paying just a penny for your first year with a three-year purchase.

Of course, the best domain idea means nothing if it’s taken. Namechk shortcuts the process for you. Enter your idea and see if it is registered or open. We’re not talking just .com or .net, either. It checks for .us, .info, .biz and lots more.

It also scours social media sites to see if your preferred name is taken there. Consistency is vital because it helps people find you much more quickly. That’s why I’m @kimkomando on every social media platform, and I invite you to follow me on Instagram, X, YouTube and Facebook.

Tap or click here for pro tips on using Namechk.

3. Speaking of websites, make yours smart

Search engine optimization (SEO) is more than keywords that get you to the top of Google’s search results. An optimized site is lightweight, loads quickly, and is tight enough to prevent visitors from getting stuck in a glitchy dropdown menu.

When in doubt, hire a professional developer for a site audit. This may reveal frustrating flaws that turn customers off. You can also run these free online tests to see your site’s most significant issues.

A common issue is your website’s design. Remember that mobile performance is as important as your site’s appearance on a desktop monitor. Today’s website-building tools make creating a site that looks good and performs well on every device easy.

Weebly’s plans start at $12 a month. Wix begins at $36 monthly. Squarespace starts at $23 monthly or $27 to have no transaction fees on accepted payments.

It’s worth browsing what those monthly charges get you. Squarespace’s Business plan, for example, includes advanced site analytics and a year of professional email through Google. Wix gives you access to drop shipping inventory and 100 GB of storage space.

4. Make it easy to get paid

Traffic is increasing, but you’re not making more money. Your customers might be running into a wall.

Are they frustrated by an inconvenient payment method? Is there a technical bug preventing them from finalizing the sale? Go through the entire checkout process yourself, using a VPN or an Incognito window to see your site as a visitor does. Take note of anything that doesn’t go smoothly.

If your payment processing options aren’t up to snuff, consider these:

• Square: Pay a flat fee plus a percentage of the sale. Cost depends on the type of transaction. For example, a customer entering a card number online will cost you 3.5% of the sale plus 15 cents.
• PayPal: PayPal’s checkout works similarly. A standard credit card payment is 2.99% plus a 49-cent fee.
• Stripe: For card charges, pay 2.9% plus a 30-cent fee.

5. Only pay for what you need to

There’s no way around some expenses, but I bet I can save you a bit of money with this gem: There are free versions of some of the most popular paid software that are just as good.

• Instead of Microsoft Office, check out LibreOffice or Google Docs and Sheets.
• For editing photos, I like GIMP, Pixlr X and Canva. Tap or click here to see the pros and cons of each option.
• DaVinci Resolve is an excellent free video editing software option.
• Audacity is a free audio editing program the pros use.

That’s not all. Here are nine free software copycats that work better than the real programs.

6. Get advice from other pros

The federal Small Business Administration has more resources than you may realize. Use this link to find free or low-cost training or business advice. If you’re starting out, you can also find guides for creating a business plan, registering your company, and managing day-to-day operations.

SCORE can also connect you with business mentors who can help you start or grow your company — and it’s free. The nonprofit organization runs the nation’s largest network of volunteer business experts. You can get help via email, phone or video if there’s no local chapter where you live.

Bonus: Say goodbye to spreadsheets that slow you down

Are you fed up with QuickBooks? You’re not alone. I hear from listeners constantly looking for a better way to get their accounting done.

That’s where our sponsor, NetSuite, comes in. It’s the world’s No. 1 cloud business system for good reason. If you’re bogged down in spreadsheets stored locally on your computer, you’ll love that you can access all your data in one place whenever you want.

Plus, it’s so much more than just accounting software. NetSuite gives you visibility and control over your financials, HR, inventory, e-commerce and more — all in one place, instantaneously. Whether you’re doing a million or hundreds of millions in revenue, you can save time and money with NetSuite.

See it in action for yourself. Head to Netsuite.com/kim and get a free product tour.