Many companies lose thousands of dollars trying to fix their website or upgrade their design or chase after the next big thing for their site. Yes, it’s true your website is the first impression of your company so your design better convey that point, but just having a pretty site is not going to cut it if you want to really dominate your industry online.
The reason why is that it’s not a strategy. It’s merely one channel in a series of tactics you need to play with the big boys. 10 years ago that wasn’t true. Today, it’s part of a much larger conversation.
Don’t get me wrong, your site is critical to your overall success online, but you cannot think of just having a site in the same way as you think of having an actual strategy online. There are many potential touch points future and current customers have and so your over-arching strategy needs to meet them at those crossings.
Maybe your customer base is not very Facebook savvy…great! Where are they hanging out online then? Go play there. Dominate there.
Be online. Be strategic about where you go online. As a small business owner you don’t have the luxury of chasing shiny objects all because you sat through a lunch-n-learn or a webinar that scared you. If it works with your strategy, do it. If it doesn’t, don’t worry about it. Some other big, shiny thing will appear that you “have to do” and you’re off the hook of the last thing you didn’t do. Stay true to your business culture, your brand, and your customers.
Go where your current and future customers are and you will succeed online. Keep that focus and in the end you will win. The Internet is a fickle place and usually for not very good reasons. The beauty of internet marketing today is that you can look at real numbers and make real decisions that will directly affect the growth and success of your business online.
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