7 Digital Marketing Sins Of Small Business

Small businesses bring a personal touch to every project and activities, including but not limited to digital marketing. Indeed, when the team is limited or non-existent, such as for solo entrepreneurs, you need to tackle a variety of tasks by yourself. As a result, it’s not uncommon for the business owner in small companies run all marketing campaigns until the company can afford to hire a dedicated team. Whether you’re a freelancer who’s decided to launch her company or whether you are at the head of a startup, you might find yourself working extra hours every day to manage your marketing activities. After all, it can’t be that hard? Everyone has access to the Internet; all you need is to find a handful of tutorials, and you’re ready to crack on with SEO, AdWords, and social media activities.

Or at least that’s what almost 80% of all entrepreneurs believe. ‘Digital marketing?’ they say with a wave of the hand ‘I can do it myself! ’And you would be right to think so. You can indeed sit down at your laptop and try your hand at core digital activities. But you won’t be reaching the results you hope if you commit any of the 7 beginners’ sins of digital marketing.

#1. I can do SEO by myself

SEO is the art of optimising your online presence to be found, indexed and listed positively by search engines for the most relevant search terms. For many, hiring a professional comes as an afterthought. Indeed, if you’ve spent a day reading on the principles of SEO, you can come to the decision that you can do it yourself. But don’t be tempted into pursuing in this direction! While it’s one thing to understand the type of keywords you need and where to get valuable backlinks, it’s another to master the complexity of the ever-moving SEO game. That’s precisely why you want an expert like Brad Russell, who’s got several years of SEO experience to help you. You need a long experience to go through major algorithm updates such as Hummingbird, Penguin, and Panda – these are from Google. Even if you’ve been practising white hat SEO, you will need to adjust your strategy to the new rules. And this is where you can recognise the newbie from the trained SEO expert: the expert rapidly changes their plan with minimal slowdown.

#2. GDPR? It doesn’t matter

For anyone who doesn’t live in the EU, the GDPR regulations don’t matter, right? IN reality, maintaining absolute compliance with the GDPR obligations is essential if you’re trading in the EU, or even if some of your web visitors are based in the EU. You might face legal repercussions without mentioning a fine if you fail to oblige when an EU-based user request their data to be deleted. For small businesses, keeping track of data and managing access and deletion can seem like an expensive investment at first. However, it would be foolish to merely block all EU-based users from accessing your site in an attempt to save yourself the trouble. Not only are you potentially losing leads, but there’s no indication that GDPR principles won’t extend to other countries.

#3. Social media is to promote my brand

Hello, let me tell you more about myself.
These days, brands try to promote their content on social media. However, the communication rapidly takes a sour turn. Self-centred posts tend to be lack engagement. Users feel that you’re not trying to create an exchange. And the truth is, you can’t monologue about your brand all the time. You need to give your users something valuable to read. While it’s not a new concept – brands such as Guinness started to create native content as early as in the 1950s –, it’s a common mistake for newcomers.

#4. I’ll go by with a DIY website

Platforms such as WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace offer a tempting approach to web design for inexperienced users. However, while you can create decent-looking websites by yourself and without any technical knowledge, you should refrain from launching a DIY site. Indeed, if you are running a business, you need to invest in y our online presence to ensure it is professional, compliant and secure. Besides, using fits-all templates make your site look amateurish and identical to every other. You will also lack assistance if you’re tried to customise your site or improve its performance.

#5. I don’t need to review content

There’s a common belief that once you’ve produced the content for your static pages – aka everything that isn’t blog-related – you can keep it ad vitam æternam. In reality, it’s a common mistake for small businesses to accidentally leave outdated content on their sites, such as information about products that doesn’t reflect changes or old postal addresses. As a rule of the thumb, you should review your static content at least once a year to ensure that it is updated where and when required.

#6. Tell me all about you

Ah, lead forms. How much do you need to know about your leads? While it might be tempting to ask for as much info as you need, studies have proven that less is more when it comes to conversion. Keeping your form with only a few fields encourages users to sign up. Besides, you need to engage with your visitors actively. Why should they fill the form? The secret is to sell the idea of signing up with a discount voucher or a gift.

#7. How many conversions do I have?

Conversion tracking can seem confusing if you’ve never set up an Analytics or an AdWords account in the past. This will allow you to monitor your performance. If you’re using monetised conversions – from e-commerce to service booking –, it can be easy to track each purchase. However, not all interactions end in immediate order. Being able to track positive actions on the site that leads to a future conversion – aka to identify the converting flow – can be helpful to improve your strategy. Unfortunately, too many small businesses only focus on passed orders.

From lacking SEO know-how to boring your followers with the tales of your brand on social media, the digital marketing mistakes you commit can break your company in the long term. It’s therefore essential to surround yourself from the very start by expert contractors to guide you safely through the troubled waters of maintaining a digital presence.