Growing your small business in the right direction

Small businesses are the backbone of economies worldwide, playing a crucial role in driving innovation, job creation, and overall economic growth. But running a small business is no picnic, even for solopreneurs who don’t have any employees. In a small business, the person (or people) in charge need to master multiple disciplines. 

Running a small business means that one day the owner has to set up a reliable and secure payment system on a website, and the next, figure out how to build a social media following or manage stock levels. 

With so much to keep on top of, and so many inconsistent resources online, having a reliable and comprehensive learning platform, designed especially for small businesses, would be an amazing tool.

Imagine how much easier it would be to take care of your business tasks if you had a well-researched and trustworthy platform that covers almost every topic — from the everyday to the more technical. That’s where Namecheap’s re-vamped Guru Guides come in.

But can’t you just hire someone?

Professionals come at an obvious financial cost. We aren’t suggesting small business owners learn to plumb a bathroom or fix a leaky roof (unless that’s your trade, of course). There are trades that require mastery, or skills difficult to obtain, where it’s still necessary to hire professionals.

But when it comes to making basic inroads into SEO, setting your business up correctly in WooCommerce/Shopify, or learning the best way to talk about your business on Social, we’re not talking rocket science. In fact, not only are these fairly uncomplicated, with plenty of guides you can use; systems like WordPress were literally built to make it so that anyone can compete online at almost no cost. It’s become an essential part of e-commerce — almost a way to ensure there is ample competition for the big players.

And yes, when it comes to tasks like the above, you may very well end up paying someone to learn something that you could have learned yourself with a little perseverance — or by knowing where to go for the answers you need. After all, if there’s even a chance you can undertake the task yourself, it’s worth attempting before opening your wallet. 

Learning at the right level

We’ve all been put off learning something new by sheer overwhelm or decision paralysis when we’ve typed it into Google, to be met with a squillion articles that don’t quite nail what we’re after. 

A big part of your confidence when it comes to learning new things will come from the learning platform you choose. Can you trust it? Is it at the right level for you? Does it have the specificity you need, or is it too generalistic? All these things must be considered. A business just starting out will need more comprehensive explanations than those who are already trading, and have picked up a lot about business online. So what if there was a learning platform built specifically for small business owners, with hundreds of articles designed to make life easier, and potentially make you a more valuable asset to your business?

‘DIY and save’

You may already know that, for some time now, we’ve been encouraging you to ‘DIY and save‘ as part of our mission to help you ‘make more online, for less’. 

Well, it might not surprise you to learn we’ve taken the same approach to learning with Namecheap. Whether it’s making it easier to manage your social media and moderate reviews, or encouraging you to bring design elements in-house, Namecheap’s revamped Guru Guides will answer your questions in short, easy-to-understand articles — whatever your current level.

What is a Guru Guide? 

Guru Guides focus on common problems and answer common questions faced by small businesses, to guide small business owners through in a way they can easily understand. What sets Guru Guides apart from other platforms (even on Namecheap) is that we cater both to those starting out, as well as those that have been up and running for a while, with two clearly defined pathways.

Articles are subdivided into categories and subcategories, and you’ll be presented with a selection of these after you choose your business level (as shown above). The screenshot above shows one of many featured sections about web design and branding, aimed at those just starting out in business. 

As you can see, the featured articles cover the basics of how to make a functional homepage, what UX design is, and go into more detail about specific kinds of blogs — but by clicking ‘See more’, you will be taken to a complete set of articles in this category.

Learn how you learn best

We don’t all learn in the same way. Some of us like to scan through articles, while others prefer more visual-based learning. Our Guru Guides cater to both. You can easily see whether something is a video (Masterclass), or written article (Guide), with a quick glance at the thumbnail.

Guru Guides 101 Series

Definitely worth a mention is our newly-launched 101 series. One-hundred-and-one articles that give you the ‘101’ on almost every web-based topic you can think of. They’re perfect quick reads for when you want to sate your curiosity on a subject and get some practical knowledge without going too deep.

Don’t wait — dive in today!

Our Guru Guides are short and concise, to make learning easy and manageable for even the busiest small business owner. Its design is intuitive, and you’ll find the articles you want in no time. Whether you want 101 basics, to filter by your business experience, or simply want to find the most popular content that everyone else is enjoying.

We’re currently celebrating #MSMEDay23 with our Small Business Week Sale. Check out incredible offers, not only great for small businesses, but for anyone who wants incredibly-priced domains, hosting, security, and Business DIY Tools.

Looking through our Guru Guides to find we’ve missed out something important, or didn’t go deep enough to answer your questions? Leave us a comment on the guides, and we can look into creating new ones to meet your needs!

Source: namecheap.com

Cc: James Long