Learn Small Business

The Internet is a vast place of infinite resources, which can be used to your advantage when promoting your online business. But there a lots of mistakes to be made as well – and when you’re eager to get started, it’s easy to fall victim to these and other marketing mishaps.
Not having a target market – This is perhaps the biggest mistake a new business owner can make. You absolutely must know who your market is before you can successfully build your business. If you go into it thinking that you can serve everyone, you will be sadly mistaken, as many owners of failed businesses can tell you. Narrowing down your niche and finding out who can really benefit from your services will make it much easier to create content to meet his or her needs, advertising that speaks to your audience, and other tools to attract visitors to your site.
Following the “Next Big Thing” – There are always going to be new products that promise overnight success, a million dollars in your bank account, and a lifetime of success. Your bank account will suffer if you fall for this, and it won’t do your site any good either. Everything sounds great, but if you allow yourself to get distracted with a new site or hot new product, your traffic will suffer.
Customer overkill – Marketing to your audience is one thing. When you are sending out 10 emails a day each with a different offer or call to action it will most likely turn them off and send them searching for the unsubscribe button. Interacting with your customers is important, but make sure you’re doing more than just making offers.
Poor website design – Your website is your storefront. If it looks bad when customers arrive, they will most likely write you off as someone they don’t want to do business with. You will be projecting an image that you don’t want. Remember, your website design is the first thing people see when they arrive. If you aren’t skilled in design yourself, it would be well worth the money to have someone do it for you, or simply choose one of the hundreds of professionally designed templates available. Many of them are low-cost or even free, so you don’t have to settle for a poorly designed website.
Relying on a single type of marketing – You need to keep an open mind when marketing your business. You may have found one technique – such as blogging – that you like and plan to use over and over again. However, it’s not a good idea to focus all your time and energy on one area. Things change, and what once worked well may stop performing, so it’s a good idea to always be testing out new marketing plans.