When you’re a starting business, it is easy to get over-excited and to jump into trends that promise great results fast. But you don’t have to join the bandwagon just because everyone is doing it.
As a small business, you have to be cautious every step of the way, especially when your budget is not that stretchable. You need to make sure that everything you are doing is calculated, steering away from risks that can be costly to your brand and finances.
What are the most common mistakes small companies are making when launching online? And how can they avoid these pitfalls?
Here are some of the biggest mistakes and their solutions:
- Leaving all the technical work to your staff
It is beneficial for any company to delegate tasks that other people are better at accomplishing. But if you are launching online and you don’t even know basic HTML codes and what SEO does, you should rethink why you are moving your business online in the first place. It will be weird to say you are a “digital entrepreneur” when you are not even the slightest adept at anything technical.
So, before launching online, it is best if you learn, enroll in classes, and get an experience with running an e-commerce website, and with doing online marketing. You may have the best products and services, but if you don’t have a consistent marketing campaign, then you are not giving justice to your company.
It is okay to trust and delegate tasks, only if you already know this ins and outs of tasks you are giving away for your staff to do. You will not only be blind-sighted with how you are going to grow the company; you will also lose your integrity as a business owner.
- Publishing anything under the sun
Having a blog on your e-commerce website is a great addition to your marketing campaign. However, if your posts are far in between, not coherent, and inconsistent, then you may want to plan out a publishing scheme for your site. You should not only focus on having an article published once a week. More than anything, you should concentrate on producing relevant content that your current and potential customers will be happy to read and share with friends.
The best thing you can do is first to know the goal that you want to achieve with your blog section. Once you’ve laid out your goal, you can write down the specifics of how you want to achieve this aim. Make sure that all your future posts are geared toward achieving that goal.
- Forgetting about social media
Social media is what drives your business online because it is seen as the most transparent way by which people can give reviews and insights about your company. If a happy customer drops you a good review and you forget to thank him/her, that will be rude for it shows that you do not care about your after-sales. Ignoring questions placed on comment boxes is also a big no-no because it shows you don’t have the kind of customer service that people can reach to should they need anything.
Do not belittle the power of social media. It is the most affordable and most effective form of online marketing that you can do so make sure you get the most out of it.
These are some of the common mistakes that small entrepreneurs make when launching their business online. These errors can be avoided, so if you find yourself doing any of these, do not waste time and solve the problem right away. You can also ask for assistance from SEO professionals who can guide you throughout the process.