Online Marketing: Making These 3 Mistakes will Cost Your Business

Are you making these key online marketing mistakes without realising it? We all know about the importance of online marketing for business, but equally important is approaching it in the right way. In this article, we review three factors that you may wish to consider in terms of your own online marketing efforts.

Online Marketing Mistake no.1: Not putting the ‘Marketing’ in your Social Media Marketing

Social media is one of those marketing channels where the line can be so easily blurred between personal and professional usage. While you won’t find business owners working on their AdWords accounts or SEO campaigns as part of their leisure time. This isn’t the case when it comes to Facebook or Twitter where you may be wearing your business hat one minute, and conversing and joking with friends the next. As such, it may be easy to forget that if you are using social media as a marketing channel.

You must have a focused and targeted approach that is structured to help you achieve your objectives. In other words, should you just ‘chat’ with people on Twitter who may be interested in your products or services and ‘see what happens’, or should you have objectives in mind before doing so?

This does not mean having a cynical approach towards social media, where you see every person as a potential customer, but it does mean asking yourself what you are actually looking to achieve by spending time on social media.

• You should have a clear idea of what your goals are for each particular network, and of which network is best suited to allowing you to achieve these goals.
• For example, are you trying to market your B2B offering by spending lots of time on Facebook? Would that time not be better spent networking on Twitter, using hashtags and joining discussions to get your brand name out there?

I recently heard of a company spending a considerable sum of money on Facebook advertising, attempting to sell packaging products to a vague audience, some of whom may or may not have been business people - and then concluding that the medium was flawed when it didn’t work out. If their efforts had been directed towards strong prospects and highly targeted groups on Twitter or LinkedIn, they may have seen great results just through networking - and not having to spend a cent!

Key takeaway - know your goals, know your audience and know your medium

Online Marketing Mistake no.2: Neglecting to optimise your website to drive more business

This is a topic clearly deserving of its own post, but in a nutshell:-

If you think of your website as a static entity that is just ‘there’, rather than a living breathing entity that requires regular attention as a key driver of business for your company, then you may be making a key online marketing mistake!

Most business owners are now aware of the importance of having a website, and this is something that has only come about after years of various groups flagging the importance of having one. Now that this awareness has been broadly achieved, the next phase is flagging how critical it is that your website is optimised for search engines (such as Google), as well as ensuring that your social media presence is highlighted via your website.

 

[Image: Toprankblog.com]

• Social media integration can be achieved through adding Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn buttons to prominent locations on your site, but also through adding highly visual elements such as a Facebook like box or a Twitter feed. This helps with ‘social proof’, as well as drawing attention to your highest-priority content.
• When it comes to getting found on search engines, if you aren’t optimising your website with fresh new content on a regular basis, and seeking to increase the number of links pointing to your website from quality sources, then you are effectively ‘leaving money on the table’ - simply because your website is not getting found in search results as often as it should be.

The answer to this is an SEO strategy that takes into account your business objectives and incorporates a consistent level of focus on making your website and overall online presence the best it can be. Plus, there are some excellent SEO resources online which are available for free, meaning the only cost to you is the time required to absorb the advice and put it into action. A good starting point is our two-part beginners guide to SEO, as well as the fantastic resources offered by companies like SEOmoz.

Key takeaway - can you afford to leave money on the table by not focusing on making your website perform for your business?

Online marketing Mistake no.3: Neglecting to track, review, tweak

If you’re not assessing, you really are guessing! If you are running online marketing campaigns, then you will automatically have an extensive amount of data at your disposal, which will help you to judge how you are doing and inform the changes and new directions you may wish to take.

• If you have a website, you should have Google Analytics installed, and you should be monitoring your reports on a regular basis. Google Analytics will show you where your visitors are coming from, which keyword searches are bringing visits to your site, which pages they are viewing, how long they spend on your site, and much more.
• If you are using Google AdWords, then you will have a wealth of data on click activity, impression share, conversion rates (ensure you enable Conversion Tracking), and more.
• With Facebook, you have your own dedicated insights panel.
• If you are running email marketing campaigns, then you will have access to all of the associated statistics via your campaign provider’s platform.

[Image: Risesocialmedia.com]

What all of this means is that there is no excuse for ignoring or forgetting to consult all of this invaluable data, and using it to strategise and figure out which actions you should be taking to drive your online presence and generate more sales and leads online.

• For example, if your website’s bounce rate is high, it is highly likely that you need to look at your home page in particular, and ask whether it is providing a quality user experience and giving potential customers the information they are looking for.
• Or, If the average visit duration looks good, but you are not seeing as many websites sales as you would hope, then perhaps your checkout process needs refining or tweaking.

The data that you have at your fingertips is your own intelligence arsenal to use as you see fit to turbocharge your online efforts, so take advantage! You can be sure that many, or most, of your competitors are neglecting to do so; use this fact as a competitive advantage.

Key takeaway - track the data, review the data, and use it to tweak your approach, in line with your business objectives.

Conclusion

It is all too easy to fall into the trap of focusing on activities for their own sake, rather than looking at how well you are carrying them out, or what you wish to achieve by doing them.

• Recognise that social media should come with its own set of objectives, and demands its own strategy
• Your website is a sales and lead-generator for your business, so treat it that way.
• You have a wealth of data waiting to be explored; use it to drive your online presence and steal a march on the competition.

What are your top tips for turbocharging your online presence? Do you make the most of the data at your fingertips?

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