About This Column
This monthly column on Online Business Canada is intended to inspire action. You know digital transformation is critical to growing your business, but there are so many moving parts and so much to learn! It’s easier to navigate if someone points you in the right direction so you can take the first steps. You don’t have to master anything right now, you only need to move forward and learn as you go.
If one growth tip doesn’t work for your business, pick another one and try that. If you do that over the course of a year, you may be surprised at how much your business has grown and how clear your path is to further growth. A custom strategy will naturally emerge from your efforts, all from trying something new every month.
Content for this column will vary from month to month. We’ll cover what’s trending, motivation, tools, diversification, funding, actionable Canadian data, expert quotes, and how & where to grow your business online over the following month. New posts will be announced in our newsletter, so sign up to ensure you don’t miss a single month of growth.
Grow Your Canadian Small Business Online in January
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TIP 1: Grow With 2025 Data & Benchmark Reports
We find reports and research throughout the year, but more so as the year wraps up and the next one begins. This data is invaluable for ideas, setting 2026 goals, competitive analysis, and optimum growth.
Following are a few recent reports but you can find plenty more online, often refined by specific niches, demographics, or intent.
Ipsos Canada 2025 Review & 2026 Outlook – From ‘Elbows Up’ to ‘Elbow Grease’ (English or French available).
Canadian Small Business Digital Presence Report – Navigating Opportunities & Obstacles
Affiliate Marketing Reflections 2025 and What’s Next for 2026 – A look back on 2025’s most impactful performance drivers, uncovering the strategies that will influence the affiliate landscape in 2026.
Ecommerce in 2026 – Experts Share 5 Multichannel Predictions
Or you can dig into the research yourself using one of the many available online tools.
For example:
Statistics Canada has a dedicated portal for digital economy and society statistics.
Social Media Research Toolkit (Toronto Metropolitan University) shares 50+ social media research tools used in peer-reviewed academic studies. Most are free to use and require little or no programming.
Year in Search 2025 Canada – This search tool tells us what Canadians searched for and how we did it. You can select other countries as well.
TIP 2: Grow with Domain Investing
Buying & selling domains has been an online business model since the beginning, but over the years it has matured into a reliable business opportunity. Now, domains are considered to be tangible assets that can be bought, leased, or sold as a primary or secondary source of revenue.
“Behind the jokes and outdated stories, domain investing has grown into one of the most interesting and legitimate asset classes on the internet,” says Forbes. “It’s a market built on something simple but powerful: meaning. The belief that words shape how we discover, remember, and trust online.
This is no longer a niche corner of the internet. Marketplaces handle hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions each year. Names are being financed, leased, and treated like any other premium digital asset.
Domain marketplaces, escrow platforms, and transparent pricing have brought structure to a once-fragmented market. It has evolved into a professional, data-driven ecosystem built on transparency and trust.”
~ Domain Investing – The Internet’s Most Misunderstood Asset Class
Flippa is a huge marketplace for both domain and website sales and they offer lots of free tools to help. Check out over 1 million premium domains at Buy Domains or list your own domain for sale.
TIP 3: Trust = Sales Growth
Trust is built in layers.
Recent research from BrandSpark indicates trust is a key predictor of purchase frequency, word-of-mouth advocacy, and long-term loyalty in Canada. What’s more, 79% of Canadian consumers said they would rather pay more for a brand they trust than a less-trusted alternative.
“…most shopper connections to a brand and product remain based on the fundamentals – quality, value, reliability, efficacy, and customer service. The study identified three core forms of emotional connection driving brand trust – Community & Belonging (feeling local, “for people like me”), Love & Joy (active enjoyment and advocacy), and Memory & Nostalgia (associations with family, rituals, and meaningful life moments).
‘Leading brands in Canada increasingly win by authentically layering these connection types on top of a strong functional base'”
~ 2026 BrandSpark Most Trusted® Awards Reveal the Brands Canadians Trust Most
One of the most effective and far-reaching ways to build trust online is through reviews and review websites. Learn more in Top Review/Rating Websites For Your Canadian Business.
TIP 4: Grow Your Business with Free Tools
New year, new tools! Free business tools can be fabulously functional or be rendered largely useless by limitations. Small businesses can use the best ones to save money and grow their business. Following are a few of our favourites. You’re welcome to share your free favourites in the comments.
Ecwid – Ecommerce platform for retail, dropshipping, wholesale, and more. Ecwid is free forever, upgrade only if you need to.
Synthesia AI Video Production – Easily create studio-quality videos with AI avatars and voiceovers in 140+ languages.
Open Broadcaster Studio – Video recording and live streaming at no cost.
World Winning Products – Select a country and unlock access to trending, high-demand products for your ecommerce/dropshipping business.
HubSpot’s Starter Customer Platform – Includes the Starter edition of HubSpot’s six core products for marketing, sales, and customer service, designed for startups & small businesses.
Suite CRM – Free alternative to Salesforce customer relationship management (CRM) software (downloaded version only).
Calendly Scheduling Tool – Easily book meetings with this popular scheduling tool.
Freedcamp Project Management – Helps to streamline projects, processes, workflows, and track time & issues.
Consensus AI Search Engine for Research – Search through over 200M research papers in every domain of science & academia.
AI Search Impact Analysis – Free Chrome extension that analyzes multiple queries on Google AI Overviews. Use Brand Check to analyze mentions of your business or competitors. It also generates a Citation Report with all page sources cited.
Shortstack – Build viral contests & giveaways in minutes using 100+ easy templates. Up to 20 stored entries at the free level.
Omnisend Email Marketing Platform – Free level includes 250 contacts, 500 emails / month, 60 SMS, and 500 web push notifications / month.
Barracuda – A free SEO tool to help you investigate whether you’ve been impacted by Google’s algorithm updates.
TIP 5: January Content
Grow your traffic, grow your business! Timely content can differentiate your business while generating traffic that converts.
January is the perfect time to build and organize your marketing calendars. For example, you can use Hubspot’s free Social Media Content Calendar Templates to plan, manage, and optimize your brand’s social efforts on any platform.
Note: We post a list of holidays & observances (monthly, weekly and daily) for marketers in the Online Business Canada Facebook group. There’s a lot of them! You’re bound to find some that are a perfect fit for you business.
- Bath Safety Month
- Candy Month
- Eye Care Month
- Family Fit Lifestyle Month
- Financial Wellness Month
- Get Organized Month
- Hobby Month
- International Creativity Month
- Train Your Dog Month
- Veganuary
January content themes and slants can include cold, Winter sports, self-improvement, new beginnings, and goals. January holidays and observances include New Year’s Day on January 1st, and Orthodox Christmas Day on January 7th.
TIP 6: Business Books Worth Reading
Here we share quick quotes from business books we’re reading to help your knowledge grow with your business, and your business grow with your knowledge.
“Growth is difficult to achieve without all facets of a company working together with a common goal in mind. As such, not only the founder but every member of the team needs to understand the answer to this question: Where does the growth for our product come from and how am I contributing to that growth?” ~ The Growth Equation: How Early Stage Startups Can Build a Powerful Engine for Growth, by Andy Budd
Incremental Change
Changes spread out over the year will combine into powerful results. When growth based on technology overwhelms us, we can make small changes to continue growing and develop further as we feel our way through it.
How will you grow your online business in January? Please share your ideas or questions in the comments below, or join us in the Online Business Canada Facebook group.
WE WISH YOU A PEACEFUL & PROFITABLE 2026!
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Last Updated on January 2, 2026 by Melody McKinnon, Online Business & Marketing Manager
