The Essentials of Building an Online Printing Business: A Personal Experience

Starting an online printing business is a fascinating journey filled with lessons and opportunities. One key realization I’ve had is that good marketing and traffic generation are not enough on their own. Two crucial elements are absolutely essential:

1. A Strong Call to Action (CTA): In our case, this is where PriceCal comes in—a complete solution that seamlessly handles everything from pricing calculations to order management.
2. Investment in Marketing: Building traffic and brand recognition requires financial commitment.

Let me share my journey with our printing website, www.expressprint.com.my, which launched in July 2023 (after registering the domain in May 2022). My goal was to use this site as a living example of how to start a printing website without owning production facilities.

Setting Up the Foundation

For production, I collaborated with Excard, Expressprint (Singapore), S&Y Printing, and E-print. With PriceCal, we linked Excard’s offerings via API, while for S&Y and E-print, we leveraged tools like CSV, SC-Sheet, and SC-Area to dynamically generate costs. Then, using the Profit Margin component, we marked up these costs into competitive selling prices.

Within days, we populated the site with 70+ products, making it look robust and capable of catering to diverse customer needs.

Investing in Marketing

Marketing is vital for visibility, and I believe in paid marketing to generate predictable traffic quickly. However, for this website, the aim wasn’t just to rely on paid traffic; it was to demonstrate the power of organic SEO for sustained growth.

After months of focused keyword optimization, here’s an example of the results: after the sponsored ads, our website ranks second, just behind S&Y Printing. This is a significant achievement because this position is earned organically and comes at no ongoing cost, unlike the paid visibility of companies like Oprint Sdn Bhd and e-Banner.

These competitors rely on sponsored ads, which require continuous payment to maintain their presence. Once their ad budgets are depleted, their visibility disappears. In contrast, our organic ranking remains consistent, offering sustainable, cost-effective exposure that continues to drive traffic and conversions over the long term.

Why Focus on SEO?

SEO offers long-term benefits:

• Sustainability: SEO-driven traffic doesn’t disappear when your ad budget runs out.
• Better ROI: When someone searches for “hand-up poster” and your website appears first, your chances of conversion skyrocket.

But here’s the reality: SEO doesn’t happen overnight. It requires consistent effort over months to yield results.

How to Get Started with SEO

For beginners, SEO can seem overwhelming, but it’s essential if you want your online business to thrive. We’ve made our platform SEO-friendly, with tools integrated into your dashboard for optimization. However, success in SEO ultimately depends on your efforts.

While I won’t dive into the details of my SEO strategies (to avoid conflicts), I highly recommend seeking professional help. A great place to start is Fiverr, where you can find services for:

• On-page SEO
• Backlinks
• SEO optimization

Allocate USD 200–300/month initially to work with a professional and track your progress. SEO is an investment, and the sooner you begin, the better.

My Final Advice

If you’re planning to go online, learning and implementing SEO is non-negotiable. Start now, be consistent, and don’t shy away from seeking expert help. Your efforts today will set the stage for your business’s success tomorrow.

Here are 5 free tools you can use to check your website’s SEO performance:

1. Google Search Console https://search.google.com/search-console

• Features: Monitors your website’s performance in search results, identifies crawling issues, and provides keyword data.
• Why Use It: Essential for understanding how Google views your site and improving your organic traffic.

2. Ubersuggest https://app.neilpatel.com/

• Features: Provides SEO audit reports, keyword suggestions, and competitor analysis.
• Why Use It: Offers a user-friendly interface and actionable insights for better rankings.

3. SEOptimer https://www.seoptimer.com/

• Features: Analyzes your website’s on-page SEO, mobile usability, and performance.
• Why Use It: Offers a comprehensive SEO health check with clear suggestions for improvement.

4. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools https://ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools

• Features: Provides backlink analysis, search traffic insights, and performance tracking.
• Why Use It: Excellent for uncovering link-building opportunities and improving domain authority.

5. Moz Free SEO Tools https://moz.com/free-seo-tools

• Features: Offers keyword research, link explorer, and basic site audits.
• Why Use It: Helps identify technical SEO issues and track your keyword rankings.

Each of these tools offers unique features, so you can combine them to get a comprehensive view of your website’s SEO health.

Take action today—it’s your business’s future!