5 Mistakes I Made When Starting My Business (So You Don’t Have To)

It is daunting to start your own business—very daunting. There are a hundred and one things that can go wrong, and inevitably it will the thing that you’re least expecting.

To be honest, it doesn’t matter if you are starting up a business for the first time, or kicking off your latest venture; it doesn’t get less challenging. This is why advice from people who have gone through something similar can be both hugely helpful and crucially important.

I should know: I have started a few online ventures, the most recent of which has grown into a market-leading VPN site. But the road has not always been a smooth and straightforward one, and I am the first to admit that I have made a few mistakes along the way.

But if reading this helps you to avoid these five simple—yet costly—mistakes, then it will be a few minutes very well spent. So here is my run-down of the five biggest mistakes I made when starting my business (so you don’t have to make them too).

Free SEO Tools for Small Business Owners

Small business owners have a million things to do. They may understand the value of SEO, but often assume it is too expensive or too time-consuming to learn and implement.

The fact is, SEO can be done fairly simply through the use of online tools and reading online discussion boards, articles, and YouTube videos. While you may find the practice of SEO very difficult to begin with, eventually the concepts will begin to make sense and you will be that much closer to ranking your website on Google’s first page.

It’s true that keeping up with Google’s hundreds of algorithm updates throughout the year requires resources, but you don’t have to bend over backward—or break the bank—to understand SEO.

I know what you’re thinking: SEO tools are way too expensive! Well, many certainly are, but here are some that are not only affordable to a small business’s budget, but they are free!

In no particular order, here is a list of great free tools and resources that will help you understand SEO and create an SEO strategy for your business.