Many small businesses initially believe that having an online presence is a simple matter of just slapping up a website at some do it yourself template site. They soon begin to discover that is not what it is all about these days, and far too many, make this discovery far too late. The challenge is, though, that it is the world wide web that is the great leveler with regard to a small business being able to compete with the giant national and international brands.
Despite all of this, however, a huge amount of small businesses are failing every year because they are not grasping the importance of an all out online presence. These are just a few areas where they are coming up far short.
- The first mistake they generally make is not taking on a full time professional firm or creating a full time team within the company. Too many small business owners believe that they can do everything themselves. They think they understand the fine points of SEO and how their customers act online but they generally don’t. Certainly not at the beginning. They don’t understand how to diversify their platforms and the huge importance content marketing plays. They also have no clue with regard to site layout, the concept of calls to action and mostly fail those that give up far too soon. SEO and a social media marketing strategy takes time to create, deploy and enjoy a ROI. It needs to adapt and play out for at least six to ten months before you can begin to see any manner of measurable results.
- SEO and social media marketing is an ever shifting sand where tactics and strategies can shift almost daily. Two other factors that small business owners simply don’t account for are the differing philosophies among professional marketers and SEO firms as well as whims of the search god Google. You will have to understand who your customers are and you must find the professionals that will best integrate all of the SEO factors so as to create what you need to drive your specific customers to your site or location. With everything to consider; with everything to know; it is hardly surprising that those small business owners that try and take on their online presence all by themselves are, most assuredly, guaranteeing their doom.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer