3 Mistakes to Avoid
1. Continuing your business without a website.
Running a business without a website and hoping to make waves in the Internet economy is like sending out leaky canoes in a race against powerboats. You wont get far from your local status and cant compete against your competitors that do have a website. Continuing your business without a website will continue the disconnect between your business and the growing number of consumers who are constantly online searching for your services. The lack of online presence could be keeping entrepreneurs from millions of customers which results in millions of dollars.
The number of people in the United States who shop online is around 75 million. If a company or a small business doesn’t have an online presence, they are missing a huge percentage of the population that could be shopping at their store or choosing them for their services. Its doesn’t matter what type of business you have, a website is extremely beneficial to put you on the map. 9 times out of 10 your competitors have one and by you not having a website, you might as well hand them over your potential clientele. This not only cuts you off from consumers but from great opportunities to hire great employees, gaining investors/sponsorship, selling products/services online and increasing revenue, which is all needed to grow. 96% of people research a product or service online before they buy. The Score survey found that 91 percent of consumers who have a positive experience on a company’s website end up visiting the business. So Lets Get Started Today!
2. Using Printed ads only and not using videos to market.
Lets face it, a flyer, poster or business card will not be enough to engage your audience to just immediately do business with you. It helps and it definitely is needed but that alone will only do so much. You need to cover all areas of marketing and one powerful tool that seems to captivate any audience is video. Online video is one the most effective ways to engage your audience to explain your message to increase sales, improve your ranking in search results and overall bringing awareness of your brand.
I want to share with you 12 benefits on video marketing and how important they are. Click here to see how each of these steps are important.
1. Video is where your customers spend their time.
2. Video is already helping your competition.
3. Video is easily searchable.
4. Video is shared easily and frequently.
5. Video levels the playing field.
6. Video entertains, educates, and inspires.
7. Video allows for real-time feedback and interaction.
8. Video is measurable.
9. Video lives forever, making it more cost-effective over time.
10. Video is one click away from the ‘buy’ button.
11. Video is about selling, not just playing around.
12. Video is mobile.
Video sharing is a huge part of social media, and social media is a huge part of our lives. Get your product or service message out there in a fun and shareable way.
3. Not using SEO and Not marketing enough.
SEO is an acronym for “search engine optimization” or “search engine optimizer.”
The majority of web traffic is driven by the major commercial search engines – Google, Bing and Yahoo!.
Although social media and other types of traffic can generate visits to your website, search engines are the primary method of navigation for most Internet users. This is true whether your site provides content, services, products, information or just about anything else.
Search engines are unique in that they provided targeted traffic – people looking for what you offer. Search engines are the roadways that makes this happen.
If your site cannot be found by search engines or your content cannot be put into their databases, you miss out on incredible opportunities available to websites provided via search.
Search queries, the words that users type into the search box, carry extraordinary value. Experience has shown that search engine traffic can make (or break) an organization’s success.
Targeted visitors to a website can provide publicity, revenue, and exposure like no other channel of marketing. Investing in SEO, whether through time or finances, can have an exceptional rate of return compared to other types of marketing and promotion. Learn more about SEO here.
Survey Conducted
While it’s easier than ever for a small business to set up and benefit from a website, a new survey commissioned by the marketing software company Clutch.com reveals that nearly half of small business do not have a website. Why? The majority of the no-websiters say it is not relevant to their business or because it’s too expensive. If you are one of the no-websiters, come up with a better excuse. If a customer is trying to find you via Google, a website is very relevant to your business. The majority of the small businesses covered in the survey had ten or less employees and annual revenues less than $1 million. Here are some key findings:
Small businesses with/without websites
54% | (Percentage of…) Small businesses that HAVE a website
46% | Small businesses that DO NOT HAVE a website
24% | Plan to build a website in the near future
12% | Are unlikely to build a website in the future
10% | Unsure whether or not they will build a website in the future
Reasons small businesses don’t have a website
32% | Not relelvant of business or industry
30% | Cost
12% | Use of social media profiles instead of website
11% | Need for ongoing maintenance
10% | Lack of technical knowledge
5% | Don’t know or other
The most anticipated website changes or improvements during 2016
40% | SEO
40% | Social media marketing
39% | Content development
38% | Design
36% | More website features
32% | Mobile friendliness
31% | Security
21% | Improved user experience
21% | Improved site performance
19% | Marketing automation
7% | No changes or imprements planned
For small businesses with websites, percentage that have mobile friendly websites
68% | Have a mobile friendly website
32% | Don’t have a mobile friendly website, or don’t know
Observations and recommendations
- All small businesses can benefit from a website. Whether a one-page site or a comprehensive interactive tool, every business in every industry can benefit from having some type of website.
- The cost of not having a website is much higher than the cost of building a website, especially in this day and age.
- For those small businesses with a website, there are always areas to improve on a site to maximize its visibility, credibility, and usability.
- Small businesses need to make their websites mobile friendly and further optimize these sites for mobile engagement.
- Both usability and site performance should become a priority for small business website improvements in 2016.
- Small businesses that have a website will continue to benefit and further, those that have a mobile-friendly, user-friendly, optimized site will beat out competitors as they offer users a higher quality website experience.
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