Online presence is mandatory in the actual business environment. Surely, you've heard the phrase "If you aren't online, you don't exist at all".
A well thought out site, social media pages, close communication with the public - all this contributes to the success of a business, or its failure.
Sometimes, entrepreneurs or people they delegate to manage online accounts make mistakes, which can do more harm to the business. Of course, this does not mean that you have to not be present online. Your business must be there. Knowing the following mistakes will lead you to their avoidance and, directly, to success.
Here are the most common mistakes made online:
1. Creating a website / account is immediately followed by magnificent results
Did you know that there are up to 5 billion websites online? The vast majority of them sell something and need to attract their target audience with special offers. How would your potential customer find out about your business website if it was just created and not promoted at all?
The content on the site can be exceptional, the design - also great. But what good is it if no one but you sees it? This is just the first step that must be followed by many others, in order to reach success. The next steps are up to you, but it is certain that they must follow, so that the world finds out about your site.
Any promotion channel - website, social media account, etc. - needs time to demonstrate its effectiveness. The fact that customers did not start knocking on your door during the first 5 minutes is absolutely normal. The important thing is that you continue to promote your business in the right direction.
2. Ignoring Contacts and About Us pages
Many serious companies with equally serious sites do not qualitatively complete these two pages. However, studies show that they are the most visited ones, on any website. People want to know the story behind the business, and an About Us page with quality content inspires trust and humanizes the relationship.
The Contact us page is just as important - customers need to know that they can contact you whenever they need and reach you via phone, email address, office address, etc.
3. Using false reviews
Online reviews from real consumers are proof for your potential customers. They demonstrate your product is good, people use it and are satisfied. Respectively, they understand that they can trust and buy what you offer them.
The key word in this whole process is "real" - real reviews, real people. Although it may be tempting to use false reviews, you may want to refrain from doing so. This is despite the fact that many other entrepreneurs have done so for various reasons and apparently, many have managed to improve the business's reputation and attract new customers. Others went further and wrote false negative reviews to their competitors.
We strongly recommend that you do not resort to this practice, because:
• It is unethical;
• It is kind of illegal to write false negative reviews to competitors;
• Customers may be disappointed, having high expectations for your products following false reviews that do not coincide with reality;
• Your products may look too good to be true;
• This can be discovered by special anti-fraud programs.
Sites like TripAdvisor or Yelp have already implemented such applications that identify fake reviews, and other platforms are developing even better programs.
4. The business logo is not displayed
The logo of the business should be the first thing that visitors see. If it is a website, the logo must be placed in the upper left corner. In the case of social networks, the logo must be on the profile picture, which is also placed in the upper left corner.
This is where the visitors of the page look from the start, and this is how you help them understand what is the identity of your business and memorize your logo.
Creating a business has never been easy. Promoting it - even less. The existence of the online environment somehow eases this task.
Still, it requires the involvement and action of the entrepreneur and his employees.
