5 Digital Marketing Mistakes that Ruin Your Online Presence
Reading Time: 5 minutes Digital marketing can do a lot to help businesses achieve their goals, but it can also hurt if you don’t do it right. Digital marketing failures scatter the globe, testifying to the fact that success in digital channels is neither automatic nor guaranteed.
When developing a digital marketing strategy, companies should pay as much attention to what doesn’t work as they do to what works. To start creating the best possible online presence for your business, learn about the following digital marketing mistakes to avoid.
Table of Contents
#1. Aimless Content Marketing
Some businesses fail with their content because they publish information that lacks value. As a result, they have difficulty getting noticed by relevant search engine users. Similarly, companies that fail to publish valuable information on social media often have trouble maintaining an engaged following.
When you understand your target market and your ideal customers, you also understand the questions they have and the challenges they face. You also can gain insights into their desires, needs, and expectations. In other words, you have the information you need to launch an effective content management strategy.
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Even when businesses understand their audience and publish valuable content, their content marketing strategy can fall flat if they don’t have the right tools. Most importantly, having a content marketing system (CMS) helps in setting your business apart because it provides a structured interface for managing users and creating and uploading content.
Your CMS should also have SEO tools that ensure that you have the right keywords placed in the right places on your site to get noticed by search engines and their users. If you have multiple people working on your website, your CMS can also provide user-level access permissions as well as editorial workflows, helping everyone to work efficiently together.
#2. Skimping on Web Hosting
Some companies have failed online because they chose the wrong web hosting provider. Problems such as server outages and slowly loading web pages begin at the hosting level and can ruin an otherwise solid online presence. Shoppers want fast access to the information they need and lack the patience to wait for pages to load.
Similarly, when a website fails to load, visitors may never return to try it again. Search engines respond by burying slow-loading pages in search results while prioritizing content that loads quickly. Your page load time is too important for you to put up with mediocre service. So, make your choice of a web host a top priority for your company.
Page speed and uninterrupted service become especially important if you operate an e-commerce website. Your site must keep up with demand as shoppers browse your products and navigate your checkout process. If your site hangs, people will abandon their card and try buying from your competitor.
Monitor the performance of your website and pay attention to any user feedback that you receive. You may need to switch providers to gain access to the fast, stable servers your company needs to thrive. Additionally, to get the performance you deserve, you may need to upgrade your service plan to a virtual private server (VPS) or dedicated hosting plan.
#3. DIY Web Development
Have you tried the built-in web builder tools that come with your web hosting plan? Other companies have and, as a result, they have ruined their online presence. Avoid this mistake. Your brand deserves a website that provides an experience that reflects well on the quality and professionalism of your brand. For this reason, you should avoid the temptation to cut corners.
If you and your team lack web development credentials, consider hiring outside help. A professional web developer can create websites that are both visually appealing and functional. They also understand the latest security threats and best practices and use that knowledge to build sites that resist cyber attacks.
You can expand your options by looking for freelance or contract developers who can work with you to create an online presence that meets the needs of your firm. Regardless of your choice, be sure to spend ample time planning your website before starting work. If you don’t you repeat a mistake made by many companies that can lead to wasted time and money.
No website project is complete without thorough testing. Before putting your site online, go through the entire customer experience. Navigate through all the pages and links and test checking out and paying for an order. Publishing a flawed site can lead to embarrassment, liability, and lost opportunities.
#4. Ignoring Mobile
More than half of online traffic comes from users with mobile devices. For this reason, everything you publish on the web, including on social media platforms, must work well on smartphones and tablets. So, even if you do most of your work on a desktop or laptop computer, remember that you are in the minority.
In addition to understanding the need for mobile-first content, you should master other mobile marketing tactics. Start by optimizing your content for mobile SEO. People tend to use different search terms while using mobile devices than they do with a computer. If you have a physical store, remember to include location-based cues that can attract nearby shoppers.
Mobile marketing also can involve SMS messaging. For example, you can announce special promotions, send order confirmations, or send personalized notes. Similarly, your email marketing campaigns should center on mobile. Keep your subject lines short so they can display in full on small screens. Also, keep your messages short and to the point.
#5. Neglecting Voice Search
Voice search increasingly is becoming a factor in mobile marketing. Increasingly, people are finding that voice assistants are easier and faster to use than on-screen keyboards. Also, when you consider the new wave of smart home devices from Google and Amazon, you will understand that optimizing for voice is vital for your ongoing marketing success.
In summary, digital marketing provides many opportunities for growing your business, but it also presents challenges that can lead to failure. Get started now by using the above tips. As you work, always remember that help is never far away.
Author Bio: Riya is an inspired writer, passionate about traveling, lifestyle and encouraging startups. She understands the importance of productivity at work and never stopped finding new ways to create her work productivity. Riya is also a content marketing strategist for Digital8, a fast-growing website development and digital marketing services firm in Brisbane. Connect with her on twitter, @sanderriya.
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