Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make Online

The web is maybe the biggest tool and advantage we’ve ever been able to use as businessmen and women in the history of the world. Never before have we had the power to advertise to a market on a 24/7 365 basis with a minimal investment as often as we’d like. And while some might disagree with me, I think it’s the biggest difference between businesses that make it and ones that don’t – especially in our current economy.

That being said, the overwhelming majority of people I see online are doing things wrong and only killing their business. That’s bad enough, but when you combine that with the fact that they don’t even know they are doing it and you just feel for these guys. Hopefully these couple of tips will help you avoid the big mistakes in online marketing and help you grow your business the way you would expect.

While there is anything but a set in stone wrong way or right way of marketing your contracting business online, there are a lot of different things you need to avoid in an effort to make sure you don’t shoot yourself in your foot.

AN EFFECTIVE WEBSITE

A lot of people look for the different tools and technologies first when they are marketing online, and while these bright and shiny things are the easiest to take notice of they are also the least powerful. Sure, you should have a website that is attractive and easy to run but it would be much more important to pack it with content that sells and a design that is geared towards converting visitors to clients than a color scheme or super-duper logo you think is attractive, wouldn’t you agree?

TARGETED KEYWORDS

The other thing that I notice a lot of people doing is something that drives me wild – major pushes for global keywords. I know that SEO work is critical to boosting business, but think of it this way – would you rather have 40 billboards in your own town talking about your contracting business or 40 of them all over the globe? Make sure you are targeting local traffic with your efforts. Not only will it be easier to rank but it will also be easier to get customers from your efforts.

The most important thing you can do – far more important than any tool, tactic, technique, or technology – is to focus with a laser like precision on EXACTLY the kind of person you are looking to do business with and then only market towards them.

LASER LIKE FOCUS

This is something that almost always gets ignored and cripples business from the very outset. Remember that your visitor has zero interest in you at all until they know you can help them and actually care. Most people think that their website is a chance to tell visitors their business life story, when very few could give a hoot. Most of them need help for a problem right now and are looking for someone that “gets it” – jump right in and outline the problem and the solution and you’ll get a lot more business than telling them you’ve been around for 25 years and offer “world class service”.

So remember focus, focus, and focus. Don’t become distracted by the latest and great marketing fads. Identify your target market and go after them.