Online success for small businesses

Ask ten business owners what does it mean to have success online, and you will get ten different answers. Despite compelling evidence and many success stories many small business owners still don't give the Internet the respect it deserves. Having a successful online presence can mean growing at a double-digit rate or spending more than 30% of your revenue on advertising. Having a successful online presence is not black magic, as a matter of fact, more often than not, common sense prevails when it comes to a successful website.

In the same way that they are many ways to succeed online, there are also many ways to fail. Here are three major blunders small-business owners are known for doing when it comes to marketing themselves online and deploying a website representative of their business.

1. The do-it-yourself approach

Yes, it is true and relatively easy to build a website nowadays. Online tools are available to make this process easy and cost-effective. However, studies have shown that about 98% of all DIY websites fail. The primary reason is that the lack that components search engines use to grade and rank a website.

2. The cheap website design approach

Today there are millions of active websites online. Nevertheless, about 1% of them garnish 98% of the Internet. Designing a professional website requires experience and skill in a wide range of disciplines. Many friends and families who identified themselves as web designers, this includes freelancers don't work as full-time web designers, like the experience and skill set to deliver a professional product.

3. The lure of advertising approach

As you start a new business, you are going to get approach by many online and off-line marketers offering services such as social media marketing, web design, and incredibly cheap website hosting services. These offers may come from well-known a large, established companies. Well known or large does not make them any more valuable. Companies such as GoDaddy.com, Web.com, and others are known for spending millions to lure inexperienced, small business owners, into retaining their services. When it comes to marketing is often best to deal with either a local company or one that specializes in your trade and has a substantial track record of success. Anyone who fails to provide a substantial portfolio of websites on the first page of Google is not the right web design firm for you!