If you are thinking about venturing into the online world and starting your own online business you are in a great position.  You have a blank slate and can literally do anything and can market yourself and your business in a way that is best for you.  Branding literally means making your business known and building up its respect in your specific industry so whilst you might want to just jump in head first, you might want to read on to make sure that you aren’t making any of the following branding mistakes.

1. Don’t Overextend Yourself

One of the main mistakes that many new online businesses make is overextending themselves.  Even Microsoft has fallen folly to this at some points in their history and if your brand isn’t well established this can end up sinking your online business.  You are better off just choosing a niche and sticking to it until you have perfected it before branching out into other areas.  Don’t promise your customers a specific product or service until you know that you can provide it, if you do you will only let them down and guess what… they won’t return.

2. Don’t Cut Costs to Compete

Many new online businesses believe that it is so hard to compete with the already established companies that the only way to get any business at all is by cutting costs.  This is a really bad idea as many of the ready established companies will cut their costs further (even if this means running at a loss for some time) until they have pushed you out of business.  If you continue on in the price-cutting war, you will only end up losing a large amount of money.  This may be something an established company can afford, but it’s unlikely that a business new to the online world will be able to.

3. Don’t Lie to Your Customers

Many new online businesses have owners that do not think of the bigger picture.  Many just think about making a quick pound online and they are not worried about the aftermath, or just don’t think towards the future.  If you want to have a successful online business you need to be honest with your customers, otherwise they are unlikely to return.  This includes special promotions that you may use to encourage people to work with you – if you say that only 20 people will receive a free gift, don’t change the offer at a later date.  Likewise if you say your prices are going to increase in two weeks, increase them; unless you want the customers who took you up on your promotion to feel conned.

4. Don’t Assume You Will Make Millions

This is the biggest mistake of all, and one that I have seen numerous times online.  Yes, it is possible to make a lot of money online but it doesn’t just happen overnight.  The internet millionaires that you have heard of have put a lot of time and effort into their brand and it has taken years for them to succeed.  There is no reason why you cannot do the same however you will need to differentiate yourself from everyone else who is trying to do the same thing.  Your business’s brand should be something completely unique and you should be willing to put the time and effort in.  Otherwise you will only become disappointed and disillusioned and end up falling at the first hurdle.

It is possible to build a very successful brand online, just make sure that you watch out for the above mistakes in the early days.