About This Column
This monthly column 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 a 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: Do They Know You’re Canadian?
For years, we’ve been telling Canadian businesses if they want to grow in Canada, they should let website visitors know they’re Canadian! Study after study has shown it increases trust and sales conversions. Case (study) in point, this Canadian custom clothing company increased purchases 20% with a small website tweak that reduced anxiety.
In addition to showing your website visitors your Canadian roots, you can also proudly declare you’re a Canadian in online advertising (which also helps to catch their eye), communications, and on your social media accounts. Work with Canadian influencers who target your ideal customer to grow your reach in this country.
TIP 2: Affiliate Program Maintenance
Affiliate Marketers/Publishers are constantly evaluating partnerships, but there are some annual tasks that can maximize commissions. For example, you should check affiliate programs to make sure the terms haven’t changed, even temporarily.
I recently encountered that situation when a popular big box store stopped paying commissions from the middle of December until January, without notice. They’ve pulled this little stunt for several years in a row. They wait until all affiliates have their holiday links in place, then don’t pay them for the sales they bring during their busiest time of year. It’s intentional and it’s highly unethical, so we had to drop the program entirely.
Keep an eye out for missed correspondence or notifications that may impact commissions, such as closed programs, program removal, or link updates. Most affiliate networks allow easy access to messages.
If you don’t have a link management tool like Pretty Links, I highly recommend you check them out. Link management tools have saved us an enormous amount of maintenance time in affiliate marketing. Use them to create, manage, and track custom links with automation, redirection, QR code generation, and product displays.
On the Advertiser side of things, Affiliate Program Managers should schedule an audit to detect fraud. They can also look at sales data to determine which affiliates are outperforming the rest so they can pay special attention to them (increased commission rate, unique content, samples, etc.)
Underperforming affiliates can also be trimmed, but do so very carefully. An affiliate marketer can go from no sales to super-affiliate in the blink of an eye. Take the time to evaluate some of them and extend an offer to help them increase commissions. NEVER threaten them with program removal. It usually backfires and it’s a sure sign of an amateur affiliate manager.
TIP 3: Optimize Your Website for Growth
It isn’t necessary to do a wellness check on your website in the month of January, but it’s important to choose a month to do so each year. I like January for the task because the fourth quarter often reveals issues that should be rectified ASAP. Fixing issues isn’t the only part of website optimization that should be checked annually, however.
For example:
– Replace any product images that are looking tired or outdated. Check out the Product Photography Guide with 8 chapters of functional solutions, practical advice, and tips learned from hands-on research.
– Update website tools and plugins to ensure you’re still using the best one for the job, or to determine if additional tools are required. For example, if your WordPress website is falling short on core web vitals and tanking your Google Page Speed, you may consider WPRocket. We use it because it’s the easiest, most complete way to boost our Google Page Speed score (including Core Web Vitals) on WordPress.
– Ecommerce businesses and other online sellers can take this opportunity to secure backup suppliers and check for available dropshipping options that integrate with your ecommerce platform. Dropshipped order fulfillment has become mainstream for small and large ecommerce companies. It’s used by the smallest businesses and the biggest brands as a solo business model, or as a hybrid model that uses both traditional and dropshipped fulfillment.
“The dropshipping industry has experienced remarkable growth, soaring from $111.28 billion in 2018 to a projected $557.9 billion by 2025. High-ticket dropshipping is particularly well-positioned to benefit from this growth due to its increased profitability and scalability,” reveals the High-Ticket Dropshipping Guide.
– Is it time to switch website hosts or upgrade your hosting package? Find a new website host in 2025 if you answer “yes” to the following questions:
- Are you losing traffic due to your hosting package’s traffic & file limits?
- Is your site loading too slowly?
- Do you want to move your site to Canadian servers to avoid legal issues?
All of these scenarios (and more) could mean it’s time to move to a better website host. We use GreenGeeks‘ Canadian servers to host all of our websites.
TIP 4: Free Growth
While it’s more challenging than it used to be, it’s still possible to bootstrap growth organically online, even on a small budget. Some still manage to build large companies that way. Check out the free ebook, Marketing Strategies We Used to Bootstrap Visme to Over 4 Million Users, which is based on 450 hours documenting every single tactic they’ve implemented to reach over 1.4M monthly organic traffic and 100% YoY growth, with little to no advertising budget.
TIP 5: Grow With 2024 Canadian Data & Benchmarks
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 2025 goals, competitive analysis, and optimum growth.
Following are a few recent reports:
Leger Report: Canadian Social Media Behaviour Insights 2025
Deloitte Tech Trends 2025: Details six AI-fueled trends shaping business operations, growth and transformation
Canadian Content Marketing in 2025: Tips and Trends
Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, Fourth Quarter 2024
Or you can dig into the research yourself using available 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.
TIP 6: January Content
Grow your traffic, grow your business! Timely content can differentiate your business while generating traffic that converts.
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.
Here are just a few January holidays & observances with promotion potential:
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 in Canada include Orthodox Christmas Day on January 7th, and the Lunar New Year on January 29th.
TIP 7: Business Books Worth Reading
Here we share quick quotes from business books we’re reading to help your knowledge grow with your business.
“Many companies miss out on retention, referrals and repeat business because they offer services that precisely meet the customer’s needs, leading to a satisfying purchase. However, they often fail to reengage these customers for future needs. The issue isn’t a lack of customer interest in repurchasing; it’s that the company successfully attracts the customer but then releases them too easily after the sale. They close the sales loop so completely that it becomes easy for customers to move on.” ~ Behind the Click: How to Use the Hidden Psychological Forces That Shape Online Behavior to Craft Digital Journeys That Delight, Engage, and Convert, by R. Jon MacDonald
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 and throughout 2025? Please share your ideas or questions in the comments below, or join us in the Online Business Canada Facebook group.
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025!
Stay motivated in 2025 with weekly inspiration, insights, tips, and resources, in the Online Business Canada newsletter.
7 Recession Proof Online Businesses To Start From Home
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Melody McKinnon is an internet entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in a wide range of online business models, backed by a formal business/marketing education and enhanced by training and mentorship. She has owned or managed both educational and ecommerce websites. Her book, 7 Recession Proof Online Businesses to Start From Home, is available from all major ebook retailers.
Melody has worked with many businesses in a multitude of capacities. She can often be found on CanadianDigitalMedia.com, CanadiansInternet.com, CanadianFamily.net, and AllNaturalPetCare.com, as well as other quality digital publications. Her content has earned reference links from highly-respected websites, magazines and university textbooks.
I have so many things to accomplish this year that I don’t know where to start but January seems to be as good of a time as any is. Thanks for the inspiring marketing ideas they’re really motivating and give me some direction to my scatterbrain haha.
New year | New opportunities!
I’m going to:
Launch a new site
Hire a content writer or 2
Marketing manager by the end of 2025
World domination! haha
Listing for accountability 🙂
I’ll add these to my big plans for 2025! Happy New Year!