It amazes me how many small (or even large!) companies these days do so poorly managing their Internet marketing. It’s about to be 2017. There is no excuse for not using the Internet to build your business, especially if you spend money on other forms of traditional marketing. Here are seven DEADLY mistakes businesses are making that will kill their online marketing results.
1. Creating website content without considering search keywords
If it is your intention to drive traffic to your website from people searching for the product or service that you sell, then you must write content for your website that makes use of the keywords that people typically use to search for what it is you’re selling. The best way to find this out is with Google’s keyword research tool. If you don’t do this, maybe you’ll get some traffic, maybe you won’t.
2. Not optimizing your website
If you have done step one above, then you already have target keywords for your website and should take things a step further by optimizing your site for those keywords. In addition to the copy, this means using the keywords in page titles, meta descriptions, headers, and in external links from one page to another.
3. Not having a mobile friendly website
More and more search is now done online, and if your website is not mobile friendly then you have a little chance of capturing any of that traffic. Google has recently begun emphasizing the importance of websites that load quickly and are easy to read on mobile devices. If your website does not meet the qualifications, it will not appear in mobile searches.
4. Not using specific landing pages for paid search
Paid search ads, or pay per click, or a great way to drive traffic to your website. The downside is that you have to pay for those clicks. if you don’t create landing pages, or have pages on your website already, that correspond closely to the keywords that are used in your campaigns and ad groups, then you will be wasting your money. Many businesses make the mistake of just sending all their paid traffic to their home page. This is wrong.
5. Not using social media
Social media serves two very important functions. First off, it creates awareness about your business. Second, it can help improve your search engine visibility. Some people really hate social media, so if this is the case with you, you need to find someone to do it for you. Social media requires activity and involvement.
6. Not updating your website
Search engines like Google love websites that update often. Frequent updating of your website in the form of blog posts and articles also gives you material to feed through your social media accounts. An active website that is updated often will do much better than a site that remains static. Creating new content on a regular basis allows you to create more optimized pages and capture more search traffic.
7. Not doing anything!
The worst thing of all you can do is nothing. Consider how someone in your local area might search for your product or service. It is very unlikely these days that the person is going to open up Yellow Pages. Much more likely is that they’re just going to go to Google or Bing and search. That person will either find you or your competitors. So having a website, even if you don’t do anything else, is way better than not having one at all. But if you take that a step further, you can create a competitive advantage and actually use the Internet to build your business.
So there you have it! These 7 sins will kill you from an online marketing standpoint. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss how Work Media can help your business use the Internet to grow and generate more revenue.