There is no doubt that those who learn from these mistakes and take care not to repeat them in their own situations will be at an advantage when it comes to marketing success. The five biggest marketing errors are as follows: lack of a marketing plan, failure to effectively utilize SEO tactics, poor navigation and aesthetics, old and outdated content, and not having networking strategies.
Lack of a Marketing Plan
First things first: you must have a plan in order to efficiently and effectively market your website. Once you have taken the time to create your own website, your next step should be to outline your dreams and goals so that you have a clear picture of where you want to go. Without this vision, you will simply be grasping at whatever marketing ideas seem good in the moment, without stopping to really consider if those ideas align with what is best for you and your site. It is important to note that your marketing plan does not need to be a huge document filled with technical verbiage and specific, step-by-step procedures (although if this is your style, then by all means – stay true to yourself and your thought process). The most important thing is to get your ideas and dreams out of your head and onto paper where they have the freedom and structure to guide your marketing ventures.
Failure to Effectively Utilize SEO Tactics
So you have created a fabulous website and you have even taken the time to set up a stellar marketing plan – while this is all well and good, if no one can find your website via searches, al your hard work has been for naught. Given the way that search engines like Google work, if your website does not show up in the top several results, it is – for all practical purposes - virtually non-existent to those using the internet. Instead of just flying by the wind and thinking that people will miraculously and mysteriously rin across your website, it is best to consider integrating SEO (or “search engine optimization”) tools into your website to help direct users to you. There are a number of ways that this can be accomplished; the most common of which involves the use of keywords and indexing. These are best utilized both in the back-end code (if you know how to do so) as well as in the actual web content itself.
Poor Navigation and Aesthetics
Even the easiest-to-find websites will be ignored by users if the site is either hard to look at aesthetically or hard to use via the navigation system. There is nothing worse than clicking in a link only to find that it leads somewhere other than where you were hoping to go. Likewise, it is a huge frustration to users who would like to access a certain part of your site but are unable to find the link or button that will help them get there. The best thing to do to combat this problem is to first simplify, and then to look at your site through the eyes of a first-time user. In simplifying you will be removing the excess ornamentation and verbiage so all that remains are the bare bones of the site. While embellishments can (and should) be added in later, this is a good way for you to visualize what the absolute most important features of your site are so that they can be properly featured. The next step would be to ask the opinion of others who are not tied to the website; this way you will generate honest feedback and will be able to fix any potential problems before they arise.
Outdated Content
What is worse: visiting a site to find that it has minimal content, or finding that the site’s content is no longer applicable? The answer is the latter – there is nothing worse than discovering that a phone number, address, or (Heaven forbid) a name is either incorrect or outdated. What this lack of attention to detail tells users is that the actual meat and potatoes of your site is unimportant to you. And – this begs the question – if it is not important to you, why should it be important to them? The best way to avoid making this costly mistake is to consistently evaluate your website content and take care that everything is current and applicable. There is no excuse for old data to show up on a respectable website.
Lack of Networking Strategies
When creating your own website, it is important to understand that the more you network with users and other online web presences, the more your own website is legitimized. The internet is, essentially, an interconnected web of people and relationships; failure to tap into that powerhouse of potential site visitors and promoters is a huge mistake. If you are able to cultivate a network of loyal friends and followers online, they will – in essence – market for you by telling others about how great they think your site is. That is the power of relationships and the beauty of online networking.
