To ask how to make my business take off?

[MissHopscotch]

I work in the paed healthcare sector and I want to make a website that specialises in my field. I want to have everything for parents on one website, should they be unsure how to help their kids or on the waiting list for treatment.
I’d make some documents for them all in one place - some detailed booklets and some basic sheets.

I know my stuff so I think they’d be good, but I have no idea where to start - how to promote it or how to make people interested. I’ve never done anything remotely businessy. Where should I start?

I have an online business and instagram is my biggest platform, you can get an awful lot of interest from it but the one I just don’t have time to join but wish I did is TikTok. I’d set up a website then do TikTok’s to attract people to it

How are you funding this? How will you make money from it? Is there a market for this that you can make income from?

Market research first. Work out if there is a market. Who’s your target audience. Write a business plan (don’t underestimate costs. A 6 page website optimised for SEO just cost me £1500. Worth every penny. What you are describing will cost a lot more)

Ahhhh, I have made some instagram templates but I have no idea how to get people to see them. Because you can’t share on instagram can you?

Wow, I didn’t realise SEO cost that much! It’ll be a fairly small website selling documents and then when I get some interest I will make some personalised ones too

How are you making money -
From selling the documents? It's pretty niche, do you have a business plan? How much do you need to generate in income
to make it viable?

You don't need to pay for SEO, you can stay on top of it yourself.

I’m more just doing it to help people, I’m still working full time but managed to do most of it already. I’ve only really paid for the website domain and some design website subscriptions
How would I keep on top of SEO myself?

You're a business. Pay for advice, It'll be much better than randoms on the web.

Is there anything in the documents that an educated parent wouldn't be able to find elsewhere online?

I have 3 chronically sick and sen children, I don't think I'd ever pay for documents relating to helping my child through it, I research all their needs via the nhs websites and the various charity organisations to do with each condition, whilst having lots of information in one place is helpful I would absolutely be resentful and untrusting of someone trying to get money from me when our lives are hard enough and financially tight as it is. The emotional and physical toll of having unwell children is horrific, I have ptsd from hospital stays and the trauma of nearly losing my child or having repeated tests done with a child that's unable to understand and is terrified. We value caring health care workers that take the time to make the child feel safe and to discuss tactfully what would help us manage conditions and hospital stays better but making money from it kinda sucks.

People won't pay for advice they can get for free, as PPs have said. It's not just about SEO. You need a proper marketing plan otherwise no one will ever know you exist. In fact you need a business plan to make this work.

I disagree, surely it's helpful to have a service that streamlines advice.

Many people may feel overwhelmed gathering info online, to have an option there is positive.

Are your documents informational or do they also contain advice? Providing medical advice is a different type of activity so please make sure you have the right types of professional and medical indemnity insurance

When it comes to documents, think about how you'll protect them from being widely shared without paying, watermarking, tracking, passwords etc etc are some options.

People aren't going to pay for a leaflet they can get info free online

It's free to sort your own passport and visa applications (except the cost of them) but plenty of people use paid services to do those, I don't see any difference.

But why would OP be a credible source worth paying for? No disrespect to OP but it's not just as simple as creating something and expecting it to gain traction.

I wouldn't pay for a leaflet...how long before that information is out of date or inaccurate, surely would be better to pay for an online platform containing this information. As above it seems very very niche, realistically what do you expect the take-up to be?

I'm a website designer and just whacking documents up online is a huge no no in terms of accessibility. It sounds like you need to do a LOT more research.

I run my own business and would recommend a wix website. It has an SEO guide that goes through your website page by page telling you what you need to add in (included in the cost of hosting the site so no extra charge). Google is consistently my number 1 traffic source so it definitely works. I wouldn't be paying £1500 for SEO optimisation

For Instagram marketing it's all about the hashtags you use, that's how you generate views

As others have said though I think this needs a hell of a lot more thought and research. I can't see many parents paying for this info. Also as pp says documents will quickly get out of date. You might be better to look into a website membership scheme where customers pay to be a member and then get access to the pages on your site which you can then keep updated

Set it up as a charity, look for grants or LA funding opportunities. Pay self small expenses /time spent related costs.

Example includes IPSEA

You need to offer something unique and valuable that people can't get elsewhere. You can have the best website and social media presence in the world but people need to want what you're selling or else it will never work.

Parents won't pay for information they can get for free from the NHS or from other websites - you need to offer more than that.

I’m a bit unclear as to what the business element of this is. Is it consultancy? Or publishing, like a news/information site?
Paid advertising is an option but it’s time consuming and a different skill set to get the clients. You could look at setting up as a CIC and paying yourself a wage, but you’d have to demonstrate what you were doing was of value to the community.

Is this the sort of business that involves charging a fee to do something people can do cheaper themselves? The idea being that it enables lazy people to have all the forms they need on one site rather than finding the official sources for themselves. You know, like people who offer to do your passport application for £500 or whatever.

You need to look into the IP (intellectual property) clauses in your employment contract. It's very possible that your employer owns this documents, not you as an individual.

I've worked in NHS innovation and Trusts do not like their staff setting up separate companies.

I'd also be worried about insurance etc if you're offering medical advice to parents.

To answer your actual question, Probably the best place to start is via your innovation team at work. They will help you assess if this is a good idea (is there a true clinical need, return on investment etc) and if it is then you can access funding and other support.

I would do it as an Instagram account. Much more engagement. If it takes off then you could end up doing paid promotions for children’s related products. There are sooo many NHS children’s nurses / dieticians / nutritionists etc on there doing really well with kkkkks of followers