6 Things Your Business Might Be Doing Wrong Online
Your business’s online presence is more important than ever. 36% of shoppers say they find new businesses using internet searches.
So here are some things you want to make sure you’re NOT doing so you, your revenue, and happy repeat customer base can continue to grow!
Not claiming your digital properties
When you start a business, there are certain legal steps you take to set it up. With the internet, you should now do the same with various platforms that customers use as a way to build trust with a new company/brand.
Not only this, if you have competitors with similar names, they can easily claim these for themselves so they will pop up when people search for you. This may lead to confusion and a loss of potential customers.
First steps: claim your business’s domain name, and your business name on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Snapchat. Obviously you may not have an immediate use for all of these, but you can place the profiles as private so they don’t sit unused, and pull them out when you have some ideas for them.
Lots of typos and bad grammar
While not everyone notices or cares about typos and grammar errors, it looks incredibly unprofessional especially to consumers who do notice. Especially on your website, this will reflect on the value of your business and ultimately hurt you to some degree. Another set of eyes before you publish content, or even using a professional copywriter can do wonders for maintaining a positive brand image.
Never responding to comments (esp. bad reviews)
One of the main purposes for social media is to interact with customers and create a real community if you want to improve brand loyalty.
As well, many people now look at reviews and comments to gauge whom they should give their business to. Besides collecting great reviews from people and encouraging customers to create content with your brand, if you have a few bad reviews coming in, you need to address those immediately, positively, and publicly if the reviews are public. Everyone and every business makes mistakes. It’s those companies who admit to their mistakes and do their best to fix them that become loved by their customers and stay in business for years to come.
Having unused social media accounts
Social media is a fantastic way for B2B and B2C companies alike to enjoy free marketing and networking with relevant digital audiences. Search engines like Google also look favorably on brands that interact on a regular basis on these channels.
However, when customers come across unused profiles, or out-of-date posts at the top, they may think you’re no longer in business, or look for a competitor that looks more favorable.
Your website is not mobile-optimized
Besides that Google itself now looks at this as a pretty major factor for search results ranking, many people are very mobile now. If you have a terrible mobile website that is frustrating and slow, people will leave within seconds to look for a competitor who has a website that is functional and will give their business to them, even if you have a better service or product.
Make sure you test your site on your phone, ensure photos are the right size, everything loads the way you’d like, contact or buying buttons are very clear and easy to use, etc.
Lots of poor quality photos
While having compressed photos is important for fast website loading speed, having grainy, distorted photos looks unprofessional. Make sure you’re using a decent camera (most smartphones these days are just fine). Our brains process images 60,000x faster than text, so if people see bad photos first, you might lose their attention more quickly than you’d like.
For social media channels, make sure your photos are the recommended dimension for the space they will be placed (profile picture, cover photo, etc).
Avoid these easy-to-fix mistakes, and your business and brand name will continue to thrive!