Digital marketing has been around long enough that we have developed best practices. But everyone makes mistakes and these digital marketing mistakes can literally break your business.
If you want to have a successful business in today’s market, you must understand more about digital marketing and not insist on reinventing the wheel. Here’s a quick guide to help you follow best practices for digital marketing, avoid the common mistakes, and be more successful.
FREE Checklist: Common Business Mistakes You MUST Avoid
Digital Marketing Mistakes (That Even The Pros Have Made)
1.Not Optimizing for Mobile
Most people use mobile devices for the internet today. They listen to books on their phone. They check their email on their phone. These days, search engines want to direct their users to a mobile-friendly website. So, when you optimize your website for mobile you can generate more traffic and boost your conversions. Use Google’s mobile-friendly tool to check if you have a mobile-optimized website
2. Not Having Your Own Website
Over 70% of potential customers choose whether to consider buying from a business depending on the information they find online. So, your website is your biggest first-impression maker.
It’s the center of your business and you need to make your website stand out. Your website is where all your content and offers originate.
3. Not Blogging on Your Website
One of the best ways to get more traffic is to provide access to relevant and useful content. The best way to distribute that content is via your blog on your website. Creating high-quality content has a lot to do with the perception your audience has of the content, as well as the quality of the information you are providing. If you want to be known as the authority on your topic within your niche, putting out amazing high-value blog content on a regular and consistent basis will get you there.
4. Not Using Social Media
You need to use social media as a tool for promotion. When you want your audience to read your new blog post, tell everyone on social media about it. When you do anything, blog about it, then promote it using social media.
5. Not Using Multiple Forms of Content
Your audience likes to learn in various ways, so by including content in the form of video, text, images, audio, and more, you will allow your audience to learn in their favorite way.
6. Not Knowing Who Your Target Customer Is
If you’re going to do any digital marketing at all, it’s imperative to understand why you’re doing it and who you’re doing it for. You can’t create the right content or the right products or services if you don’t know who your customer really is. Figuring that out before you create a single thing is a digital marketing imperative.
7. Not Paying Enough Attention to Customer Delight
Your business wouldn’t be here without someone to buy your products, services or recommendations. Once you convert a prospect into a customer, it’s not over. Making your customers feel important so they feel super-special is part of your digital marketing strategy and should be a major goal going forward. In fact, if you really want to build your business, you want to delight your customers so that they keep buying and become strong brand advocates.
8. Not Paying for Advertising
While you can get far using free and organic methods of marketing, the truth is, you’ll succeed faster if you invest in advertising. When you develop effective ads that correspond to your goals, you end up earning money, not spending money. Yes, you had to spend money to run the ads, but if you didn’t run the ad, you wouldn’t be making money. Advertising is just as much an investment as the plastic to create your widget is.
9. Not Learning about SEO
If you improve your website search engine optimization (SEO) you can get more traffic sent to your website from the search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Learn all you can about on-page and off-page SEO, because search engine optimization is a true art that will help you build your business.
10. Not Paying Attention to Data
As you engage in digital marketing, you will generate data. Make sure you track all the data you produce so that you can learn more about your audience, and learn what works and what doesn’t for attracting them.
11. Not Building Your Email List
It seems trite sometimes to say it, but the truth is the truth: The money is in the list. Period. You need to build a strong and targeted email list if you really want to build a strong online or offline business today.
12. Not Focusing on Remarketing and Retargeting
The more times you contact a potential customer, the more likely they are to become customers. Create more entry points, focusing on increasing the number of contacts. Using remarketing and retargeting technology is a powerful way to plug leaks in your funnel.
13. Not Developing a Content Marketing Strategy and Plan
As you build your digital marketing strategy, you’ll start to realize that most of it involves content marketing. Content marketing works best when it’s planned, organized, and implemented over time.
14. Not Using the Right Tools and Technology
Don’t be cheap when implementing digital marketing techniques. Use the right tools such as autoresponders, chatbots, and other features for engagement.
Free Checklist: How To Avoid Digital Marketing Mistakes
We all make mistakes. We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t. In the world of online business, you’re going to make some minor boo-boos and some cataclysmic mistakes. It’s all part of the learning process. Although mistakes are going to happen, you can avoid the common online business mistakes as listed above and other pitfalls that are lurking around the corner.
Download my free checklist, A Guide To Online Business Mistakes, and avoid the false moves and slipups that even veteran online entrepreneurs and bloggers make.