According to statistics, the vast majority of businesses go bankrupt within the first 18 months. And only 50 percent of all small companies make it to the five-year mark.
Does it sound scary?
No worries! If you avoid common mistakes that other companies make, you will keep your online business afloat. Even more, you will take your business to the next level.
Let’s consider the top nine mistakes to avoid while promoting your products online.
Not having a blog
Today consumers tend to make more informed buying decisions. Before making a purchase, they conduct online research to learn more about the company.
And now be honest and answer the question: what information related to your business is available online? Is the link to your website is the only thing that buyers can find on Google?
If you want to convince prospective customers that they can trust your business, you should grow your online presence. You should start blogging and produce new content on a regular basis. The more high-quality content you publish, the better the customer relationship you build. You can use online editing services reviews to help you create engaging content for your audience.
Not accepting guest posts
If you run a small online business, it’s unlikely that you can afford to hire a team of professional content creators. And guess what? It’s not a big problem. You can get fresh, high-quality content for free!
All you need to do is to inform your website visitors that you accept guest posts. Create “Write for us” page, and outline the basic requirements for contributors. For instance, you can mention that you accept only articles longer than 800 words and that self-promotional links are not allowed.
Screenshot source: https://www.thedailypositive.com/write-for-us/
Not using SEO
Whether you write an article for your blog or guest post for another site, you should do it with SEO in mind. Why it’s so important? Because if you ignore SEO optimization, your content will never get to the top of the Google search results page.
If you can’t hire an SEO specialist, you can create SEO content by yourself. You just need to follow these simple rules:
Write everything in simple words. Don’t use sophisticated and rarely-used words that are not familiar to the general audience.
- Keep your sentences shorter than 20 words
- Start a new paragraph every 2-4 sentences
- Add bulleted lists
- Use active voice
- Stuff keywords naturally
- Write meta description and title tags for every new page you add to your site
Not growing social media presence
A few years ago, social media platforms worked well for online businesses that sold visually appealing products such as jewelry, clothes, and cosmetics. But times have changed. Today literally, every company can use social media to its advantage.
Whether you sell washing bags or laminate, pillows, or plaster, you can promote your products on social media. You just need to choose a suitable platform and create content that will add value to your customers.
Screenshot source: https://www.instagram.com/p/B1mBmbeJKah/
Collaborating with the wrong influencers
Statistics say that the ROI of influencer marketing is 11X higher than the ROI of traditional marketing. And if you have decided to collaborate with influencers to promote your online business, you have made the right decision!
Just keep in mind that you should conduct in-depth research before choosing the influencer for your marketing campaign.
First of all, find an influencer who works in your specific niche. For instance, if you sell grilling equipment, find a food blogger who is known as a “grilling guru”.
Secondly, focus your attention on reach and engagement, not on the number of followers.
Thirdly, make sure that the chosen influencer has a good reputation. Don’t start a partnership with influencers who collaborate with dozens of different brands and publish too many paid posts.
Not creating video content
Video is king of content marketing. And if you do not produce video content, you are losing great business opportunities.
Do you want to engage, educate, and entertain your target audience? Start shooting videos:
- How-to videos that explain how to use, install, clean, or unpack your products
- Product reviews to show how your products look like in real life
- Unboxing videos to generate high view counts
- Humorous videos to get your brand noticed online
- “Meet the Team” videos to introduce your employees
- “Behind the scenes” videos to show how your online business works
- Announcement videos to create buzz around an upcoming event
- Shopping guides to help your customers to make the right choice
Screenshot source: https://www.youtube.com/user/dswshoewarehouse
Ignoring negative reviews
Negative reviews are important, and you can’t ignore them. You should reply to all the negative comments you get on social media and review sites.
You should say sorry to your customers and promise to fix the mistake in the future. It will allow you to minimize the negative impact of bad reviews and save your brand.
Being afraid to spend money on tests
No matter how well you analyzed your market and how well you researched the preferences of your target audience. If you do not run A/B testing, you will never know for sure what works the best for your company.
If you want to optimize your marketing strategy and achieve the highest results possible, you should test the following elements:
- Article headlines (e.g., short VS. long headlines)
- CTA buttons (e.g., color, fonts, size, placement)
- Email subject lines (e.g., personalizes VS. non-personalized)
- Names of the videos (e.g., intriguing VS. descriptive)
- Facebook and Instagram ads (e.g., the text of the ad, CTA)
Trying to do everything on your own
Let’s face it. You are not a superhero. You can’t be a guru in SEO writing, master in video production, and specialist in social media marketing.
If you feel that you need help with this or that task, don’t hesitate to ask for help. Today, you can hire freelancers for one-time projects. Or, you can use various tools and services to facilitate your working process.
Wrapping up
Avoid the mistakes mentioned in this article, and you will take your online business to the next level. Take advantage of digital marketing and be one step ahead of the competition.
