The Top 20 Online Marketing Mistakes Small Business Owners Make

20- T O P -

MistakesOnline Marketing

01Excessive Humility

Being humble is fine if you are a monk or a teacher, but is a no-no if you are in sales.

02Having no Vision nor Mission

Your vision sets the right foundation to build around,

without it you will have a very hard time fixing the

next 18 mistakes.

03The Pay WallYou are probably not the VP

of Marketing for the Container Store*. You run a small business, how much

to charge? Is it too much, or too little?

*If you are, please let me know, my girlfriend is looking for a job. Obviously very smart, she’s dating a marketing genius.

04Not Understanding

SEOSEO is search engine optimization

a crazy arms race between the website owner -you- and the search engine algorithms -

Google-.

Googling something is almost second nature and your customer will only

take a look at the first couple of links.

05Not Blogging About Your Business

Your blog is your voice and perfect vehicle to spread your ideas and

values online. Blogs can make or break products.

06Lack of Personal Touch

Personal touch builds trust and loyalty. Be your best

self and be real.

07Not Being Social

If you still think social media is a waste of time, think again. That’s where consumers are spending

their time.

08Not Cross Promoting

Your reputation is a resource and cross

pollinating ideas is a good way to grow your

network.

09Not Creating Customer Advocates

There are happy customers and there are customer advocates. Can you make a customer so happy that they will be

an advocate for your brand?

10Not Paying Attention to “Newbies”

Properly groomed “newbies” can become a

movement for your brand.

11Ignoring the Offline World

Even simple flier with your website can

generate traffic. There is life out side of Facebook.

12Not Using AffiliatesAffiliates get paid on

performance. They take on part of the risk and provide

a great opportunity for growth.

13Not Making Friends in the Right Places

Events give you the opportunity to meet the right people in your industry and build on relationships that might have been started

online.

14Not Spreading Your Opinion

People often think that your opinion isn’t worth

much. Whatever industry you are in, you are in... an

insider.

15Ignoring Message Boards

People really use message boards and they can be surprisingly robust and

large communities.

16Not Having a Referral Program

Give your happy customers tools and resources that

make easy for them to talk about your business.

17Not Using YouTubeYouTube means business. Is

the second largest search engine and the third most visited site in the world.

18Not Going On Sale

Excitement and time constraints are powerful buying incentives. Think

Black Friday in the US.

19Ignoring Customer Service

Good enough is not good enough any more. Your

customer service has to be excellent.

20Not Getting Enough Publicity

Media attention equals influence. Even an

interview with a local newspaper can take you a

long way.

Felipe HuicocheaInternet Marketing Expert, Consultant, Software developer, speaker and Small Business Coach.@FelipeHuicochea

Credits and resources

Cover: Marem via PhotoXPress.com

Slides: Via PhotoXpress.comexcept when noted.

1. Dron2. Andrey Kiselev3. Vita Vanaga4. Dmitri

Mikitenko5. Aliaksandr

Zabudzko6. Gina Smith7. Marem8. Galina Barskaya9. Starush10. Celeste Clochard11. Marem

12. Ignatius Wooster

13. JoLin14. Arkady

Chubykin15. Jolina via Flickr16. Jaimie Duplass17. Sundikova18. Kaleb Fulgham

via Flickr19. Domen Colja20. Angelika Bentin 21. Nathalie P.

SEOEntrepreneurshipYouTube

Social Media Happiness :)