The Modern And The Modem: Why Small Businesses Struggle In The Internet Age

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The amounts of businesses that don’t reach their potential are many.

There are so many startup companies that have to stop before they start for so many reasons. Lack of time, lack of money, staff shortages.

These are the usual things that crop up, and these things cannot be helped, but what about the internet being a reason? It sounds absurd. After all, the internet is where we can all thrive.

The vast majority of people are in possession of social media accounts, and we know the value of getting “likes” and “shares” nowadays. We live in an age where we are constantly promoting when we’ve eaten a meal, so surely some of this knowledge applies to promoting a business?

Well, unfortunately not. There are thousands upon thousands of businesses that trade online, and we only have to look at the trend of buying goods and services.

Ecommerce is cleaning up in that department and is leaving the high street out to dry. Getting your business online and promoted properly is the goal, but why do so many online companies struggle in the age of the internet?

 

A Lack Of Understanding…

This is a good place to start. A lot of startups try to succeed at something that they have minimal experience in.

Even companies that are small in staff numbers will demonstrate that they are trying their best to keep abreast of online trends and technology.

But the only way they can actually keep up to speed without it causing a detriment to the company is to acquire a dedicated member of staff or team to keep ahead of the curve, like a digital strategy expert.

The bigger companies can do it because they can afford it; small companies need to learn by making a habit out of it within their framework.

They can also lack in their knowledge of content strategy.

When you propose an online marketing campaign or you are promoting your website or company without a detailed plan of what your online content will consist of.

Content must be in keeping with your business image, your business brand, and your business story. These are all three aspects of your marketing strategy. A content strategy is akin to building a personality for what your company is.

In order to thoroughly complete a proper strategy, either employ a content marketing expert or begin your own research into the matter. The approaches to content will always come back to one thing, your business brand and the story you tell with that brand.

 

The Cost…

This is a big one. A lot of companies of all sizes drastically underestimate the amount of money it takes to get up and running online.

It is a common misconception that building a website is cheap, thanks to sites like WordPress. We can all build a cheap site, but is this going to be beneficial to our business in any way at all?

Are you going to generate enough traffic to your site? Or are you even going to be able to configure everything in order to accommodate a wealthy amount of traffic?

Or is the traffic even from the desired sources? All these things require a detailed amount of research to finalize a strategy so that the traffic you get will convert into sales and profit.

The mistake in scaling an online business is that it is less expensive than a physical one. They can cost around the same.

To prepare your business for online trading, make sure to overestimate your costs. In fact, you should be prepared to spend double what you think it will amount to!

 

Not Having A Traffic Acquisition Strategy…

Following on from that thread, if you are without a traffic acquisition strategy that is scalable, it can make your life very difficult.

The goal of traffic is profit, and traffic can be broken down into six prominent traffic channels, which are social, email, referral, direct, organic, and paid.

Options to get profitable traffic includes paying for more search traffic, but this can have a negative effect on your company.

A healthier approach is to work on one of the traffic channels and build that one channel into a profitable one. You can also enlist the help of a local SEO marketing company to work with you on tactics that can increase your web traffic.

Local SEO techniques are an important tool for web traffic because of the amount of potential customers that search for a local business is increasing.

A lot of business can be generated from local traffic, not just global, and when working on your chosen traffic channel, it is worth bearing this in mind.

Once you feel you have created content that is making your traffic channel profitable, you can then go onto the next channel you think will be the most effective.

Working on each channel one by one is a sensible process, and it will not run the risk of spreading yourself too thinly if you attempt to work on all key channels simultaneously.

 

A Distinct Lack Of Preparation And Vision…

Plan ahead for everything. You may think that you need to get online yesterday in order to get ahead of the pack. However, this is all just conjecture.

You need to build from the ground up. You may have set a deadline for a few weeks to get a site set up, but the site will comprise of so many different aspects, like the content, images, the sitemap, features, and so forth.

It will take a lot longer if you fly blindly instead of planning ahead. Impatience is not a good virtue, and it needs to be said now, it takes time to build a successful platform for your content, to build up SEO value, and to build a quality name.

It is not a negative statement; it just means that you need to stick to your vision and remain committed to the cause.

These things take time, and as long as you know this, you can work away at the online end of your business with confidence and assurance that it will be worth it.

Is your small business struggling on the internet?  What are you doing to use the internet to help you grow your business?  Share your thoughts and comments below.

Cheers!

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