Digital marketing can produce exceptional ROI for businesses, which is particularly good news for smaller businesses where budgets are generally tighter and every penny counts. Read on for 8 Digital Marketing Mistakes that your Small Business Might be making (and how to fix them).
1. No Blog
Blogs really are an integral part of any digital marketing strategy these days as they are not just a way to further ‘market’ your business, but they exist so that you can represent your business as a trusted and credible leader within your industry.
Additionally, each blog post that you create is another chance for search engines to index new and relevant content on your website – a BIG plus for Google search engine rankings.
Plus, the more valuable your blog content is, the more likely it will be shared around the internet!
2. No SEO Keyphrase Research
If SEO hasn’t been a part of your small business’ digital marketing strategy, then now’s the time to start! SEO is how users find you in Google – and that’s mighty important!
While you’ll always get the best results by hiring a reputable and affordable SEO company, at a bare minimum you should identify a few important and relevant keyphrases for your business that you would like to rank for.
Then, be sure to optimise your website’s on-page SEO as well as implementing a relevant off-page strategy to get the most out of your keyphrases.
3. Poor Web Design
It doesn’t matter if you have the best business in the world, or even the greatest SEO Strategy bringing loads of users to your website each day – if your website is poorly designed, then your business will be no doubt ‘losing business’
Users expect a lot for their digital experiences these days. And that means a visually enticing (but relevant) website that loads fast and is easy for users to find what they are looking for.
4. Ignoring Mobile Users
Even with Google’s Mobile first indexing well and truly in place, and mobile usage continuing to grow by the day, businesses still tend to put their focus into the Desktop version of their website.
While this is important, it’s equally important not to ignore Mobile. That means fast load times, easy navigation, positive UX and mobile responsive!
5. Ignoring the Competition
It doesn’t matter how niche your business is, there is always somebody out there offering similar products and services – and you need to be aware just who they are!
If you’re not sure who these competitors are, just do a Google search for some of your key offerings and see which competitors come up in the results. Then, keep a close eye on their website and other digital marketing tactics they might be using. No matter how big or small your business is, you need to remain competitive and stand out above the rest!
6. Ignoring Social Media
While it can be difficult to record the ROI of social media, one thing is for sure – it certainly helps in spreading the word! Even just signing up to a couple of social media platforms (ideally where your target customers ‘hang out’), and upload a new post twice a week (at a minimum). If your content is good, then your followers will help spread the word to others.
7. Not Converting Web Traffic into Customers
Be sure to maximise your online efforts by tracking your conversions. A high performing SEO Strategy that drives hundreds of visitors to your site everyday is great, but it’s even better to convert this traffic into customers.
You can get started with Google Analytics to help with this, or you can get a bit more serious with Behavioural Analytics tracking – it’s actually more affordable than you might think, and it could be costing your business more by not having the right tactics in place.
8. Not Having a Clear Strategy
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, your business needs to have a solid strategy in place. If you don’t know what your goals are, then you’ll never achieve them and you’ll waste a lot of time, money and resources in the process.
Building a clear and concise strategy doesn’t have to take up loads of time either. Just get to the point on defining your:
- target market
- goals & objectives
- digital marketing tactics to achieve the goals
- track your progress
- refine
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