A wise business owner leverages all of his available resources to grow his business in the lean years and in the gravy days. When it comes to the Internet, however, we've seen businesses throw buckets of money towards a website that didn't produce sales.
Businesses "waste" their web marketing dollars for two primary reasons:
Reason Number 1: They don't understand the technologies involved - so the first search engine snake oil salesman or the owner's brother's friend who knows how to develop websites is entrusted with mission critical tasks.
Honestly, it should come as no surprise when the snakeoil salesman who promised the business listings in Google for only $39.95 has now found ways to force you to buy more services and still has delivered nothing. And if the business is lucky enough to get "listings," you can be sure it doesn't produce business.
Neither should it surprise anyone that the owner's brother's friend is late on delivery of the website, holds the domain hostage, and, when finally ordered to turn over what he has created, there is little to nothing of any value for anyone else to move forward.
Reason Number 2: Businesses forget who they are and what makes them special or important to their customers.
We are surrounded with buzzwords and technology trend news that convinces us that our way of doing business must change at lightning speed to keep up with technology. We say, "That's a lot of bunk."
Technology is a tool to be utlized strategically. If you don't know how to apply the tools used then simply having the tool is worthless. What's worse, opportunity is being lost as weeks and months of missed sales slip past while waiting for something to happen.
The truth is that businesses operated and grew before the Internet. What makes a business special is not a flashy website or tweets or facebook posts. Sure, businesses have used these tools to increase their businesses. But the increase has come through the business's voice and the message delivered through the particular medium. These tools are helping to promote what the business has to say or offer to people.
So, here's an exercise for business owners as you sip your morning coffee. Think about one of your best customers and what he says to others about why he buys from you. Now look at your website. Does it tell the tale? If not, now you know your first step to getting more from your website dollars.
If your business has no website, that's great! You haven't wasted any money yet. Make the time to write the story that must be told on your website, and THEN proceed to step two.
