When it comes to running an online business, everyone starts off thinking they know how to do it. But, the truth is, there are several online business mistakes that are made by both new and experienced entrepreneurs.
Regardless of whether your business is online, offline or both, the basic rules of business still apply. You need to know who your audience is, what your product or service is and know how to explain to your audience why it will solve their problems and why you are the one to buy it from.
If you’re looking to start an online business or trying to grow one that you’ve already established, avoid these common mistakes.
FREE Checklist: Common Business Mistakes You MUST Avoid
10 Online Business Mistakes You Need To Avoid
1. Not Updating SEO Regularly
Whether you like it or not, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a big part of all successful online businesses. It will make a huge difference in the growth and success of your business. Ensure that the right keywords, headlines, sub-headers and information are in each page. Learn the ins-and-outs of tagging your images correctly, coming up with descriptive titles plus provide enough information off your page to help get links back to your page.
The better you become at SEO and the more you learn, the more traffic your website will receive for free via the search engines.
2. Not Sticking To One Brand
Don’t try to be someone different online than you are offline. Don’t try to recreate your brand for every social media network. Keep the same brand image, slightly changed up for each network platform and features, but keeping the same colors, values, and ideals as you have on your website. You want your customers to know who you are, no matter where they connect with you.
3. Poor Organization
Whether you’ve got a big catalog or a small catalog of products and services, you need to make sure that everything you sell online is organized appropriately and displayed with high-quality images.
Your website might start with a one-page layout but, no matter what, you have to ensure that visitors land on your home page they know exactly how your products and services can help them. Remember that people tend to read websites differently to printed matter. When they read paper, it’s left to right, but websites are read vertically and sometimes in an ‘F pattern’. If you can understand that, you can put the important information where they’re most likely to view it.
4. Slow Design
No one is going to stick around and browse on a website that takes forever to load, but that’s often the case with eCommerce stores. You will be uploading a lot large, high-quality images for the products you put on display, so you need to use the appropriate image crunching and hosting service to keep your site speedy. A website-wide cache will also help keep things loading quickly so that your customers aren’t waiting around for your products to show up on their screen.
5. Mobile Unfriendly
Did you know that 70% of mobile searches convert within an hour? That means, if a mobile user comes to your website and your site isn’t ready for mobile users, they’re simply going to leave and try a competitor’s website instead. Don’t think they’re going to go through the trouble of getting onto a desktop that might work with your site. You have to be ready when your customers are, and that takes having a mobile-friendly website to help increase conversions. This is one of the most important online business mistakes to avoid so make sure to test your website on all sorts of devices to help stop bounces resulting from a poor website design.
6. Not Watching Your Competitors
You don’t want to copy your competitors, but watching them will help you stay one step ahead of them. It might even alert you to a major change in the marketplace if you’re paying attention. Be aware of what type of products and/or services your competition provides and be ready to do them one better.
7. Not Having a Goal
It’s imperative that for each element of marketing you do for your online business, you have a goal in mind. Whether it’s content marketing, pay-per-click marketing, or social media marketing, having a goal to reach will help you know whether or not you’ve accomplished your mission. Plus it will help you know how to move forward.
8. Not Having Diverse and Regular Content
It’s no longer enough to simply put up 500-word blog posts and expect to get a loyal following. Today you need longer blog posts, video, podcasts, infographics, memes and more to ensure that you are reaching all parts of your audience. Everyone learns differently and it’s your job to educate them in the way they learn best.
9. Not Having an Email List
This is a key element to online business success. It’s surprising how many business owners there are who don’t realize the importance of building an email list. But it’s true; some people don’t build an email list, and they should. Having a list of customers that like your products or services and routinely buy from you is the lifeblood of an online business.
10. Not Having Well-Written Content
You can’t just slap anything up and expect it to be successful when it comes to content marketing. You need original, unique content that speaks directly to your audience. It’s tempting to discuss all the features of your product or service instead of the benefits. All marketing messages, even on your ‘About Page’, need to be focused on your client and how your products or services benefit them. That can be difficult to wrap your brain around sometimes, but it’s imperative in order to get more conversions. In addition, don’t forget to use curated content from other experts which you comment on.
Free Checklist: The Online Business Mistakes To Avoid
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 The Top 10 Mistakes in Online Business, and avoid the false moves and slipups that even veteran online entrepreneurs and bloggers make.