Are you about to let another summer go by without starting on your business plans? What are you waiting for!? It’s not like businesses start themselves. Everyone has great ideas, and the ones that become billion-dollar enterprises had to be acted upon.

Boldgrid is here and we have compiled a list of five summer tips for starting a business. It won’t get you a billion dollars right away, but they will get you started on your journey. If these tips do get you a billion dollars, let us know. 😉

1. Get Your Goals in Order

You’ve probably heard the expression that business is all about location, location, and location.

But even before location comes planning. If you’ve already got a team, get everyone together and throw ideas around. Set proper business goals that are attainable and measurable. You’re bound to make mistakes, but you’ll find that aiming and missing will teach you a whole lot more about your target than not aiming at all out of fear and procrastination. Put a proper plan in action so that you can feel confident moving ahead.

2. Pick a Great Name and Domain for Your Business

Think of domains you recognize instantly. They might represent a brand or something way out that resonates with people in a deeper way.

When scouting out a great domain from your domain registrar, remember the acronym DREK:

• Difficult to ignore
• Reflective of your brand (or service or content)
• Easy to remember
• Kind on the keys (easy to type out)

It’s incredibly difficult to get all of these qualities in one domain (though not impossible), but you should try to hit at least two. Remember, just because your first choice or the .COM you wanted is already in use, it doesn’t mean there aren’t other great options for you. Explore all the unique and niche versus generic or country code extensions that domain registrars like Hover offer.

Make sure to trademark your business name and register your business officially. That way, your brand and name is protected.

3. Set up a Landing Page

Often, you might get a great idea for a business domain name, but you’re not quite ready to get all the gears in motion. 

You don’t have to have your entire business plan in order to register a domain and park it. This means you’ve officially earmarked an important business asset for a low cost. If you have an idea for a competitive domain name, you’ll want to snag it before somebody else does.

When you register a domain name, it’s yours. Done deal. When people visit the domain they’ll see it’s already registered and displaying a landing page. You can keep the default landing page that domain registrars display or get creative.

If you want to do something more advanced like display a “Coming Soon” page or monetize the domain with ads or have a sign up form for people to add their names and emails to a list to try your beta product. Putting your own custom landing page gets potential customers, investors, or whoever is interested in your business excited about what you’re doing. Rest assured that it’s safe to sit back because you’ve secured yourself a great domain name. If you go this route, you’ll need to set up hosting.

4. Pick a Web Builder and Host

You won’t want to park that domain forever. At some point you’ll need to point that domain to a website. But when does the website come into the picture?

This depends on your business. If you’re launching a blog or online store, the website planning comes in relatively early. But if you’re developing a product, you might want to focus on the product first (but a landing page is a great way to collect interested customers’ emails so you can let them know when it’s ready!).

No matter what you choose, you’ll eventually need a web builder or someone to build a site for you. If you’d like to do it yourself, there are many great builders out there. If you’re looking to use WordPress, and want speed and convenience when creating your site, you should pick a builder that works easily with the WordPress platform, like Boldgrid.

5. Get a Professional Email Address

Getting any kind of business going requires a lot of coordination between different parties, and this means a lot of emails flying back and forth.

Since you have already picked a domain you can immediately associate email accounts with it. This means that your professional contacts will associate you with your business domain instantly. You’ll get an instant air of professionalism right out of the starting gate.

Summer is going quick… don’t wait!

We’re not far away from the cool breezes and changing leaves of another Autumn. Time is ticking! Don’t let another season pass without moving on your business project. If you don’t, someone else will. You have a great idea, let’s turn it into a company.