The questions most business owners face in today’s changing landscape is:

How do I innovate my business in the 21st century and the world of disappearing snapchats, instagram hashtags and dog ear filters?

The problem is, most businesses are using old school, outdated marketing tactics that aren’t very effective to scale their business.

They are relying on referrals….

Listen, word of mouth is very powerful but thriving businesses are not built from word of mouth marketing alone.

Have you operated your business for the past 5, 10, 20 years? If so, then you’ve probably experienced first hand the vast changes happening in your industry right now and the internet trend following it. These statistics show you why having a good website strategy is important:

1. Google says 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing and 40% visit a competitor’s site instead. (MicKinsey & Company)Is your company “phoning in” the mobile experience of your website? Not only are you turning away potential customers, but you’re sending them straight to your competitors that provide a better mobile experience.

2. 88% of consumers who search for a type of local business on a mobile device call or go to that business within 24 hours. (Nectafy) Just like your mother told you as a kid, first impressions really do count. People use their mobile device to find a local business when they’re ready to buy and a great mobile website makes the decision even easier for them.

3. 39% of people will stop engaging with a website if images won’t load or take too long to load. (Source: Adobe)
4. 38% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content/layout is unattractive. (Source: Adobe)
5. 94% of people cited web design as the reason they mistrusted or rejected a website.
6. 62% of companies which designed their website(s) for mobile platforms increased their sales and 64% of companies that designed their website for tablets increased sales.

Technology has infinitely changed the way we do business and reduced barriers to entry in the business world, making it exceedingly difficult to get your branding message heard in this crowded space.

So, the million-dollar question is, how do you compete in the modern world where more businesses are popping out everyday, but thousands more are closing down because they cannot keep up with the times.

What we find with most businesses is they don’t maximise the most powerful resource that they have in their business: their website.

Many companies simply have a website and leave it as an online brochure that just sits there getting 12 visitors a month. They set up an instagram and post 8 pictures garnering a massive 11 followers that don’t bring any traffic to their business and then complain how social media doesn’t work for them. You don’t need to be supremely tech savvy or need to know what SEO, PPC, CRO and EDM stand for, to be able to have a solid strategy of how your website can dramatically increase business for you.

When you start out, everyone tells you to set up a website and you’ll automatically bring in business. All you need to do is set up a homepage, about us page, services page and contact page and expect to make money. Then you hit the launch button, months will go by and nothing much will happen. Building your online presence is a very long term game, you will need to lay out strong foundations whilst not expecting to see results overnight, but when the results come, you will see dramatic changes. Tactics don’t mean anything if you don’t have a good strategy, that is the most crucial business decision you’ll make.

If you’re sick and tired of your business website sitting on the internet collecting dust, then you should really think about these 5 mistakes that most businesses are guilty of. We’ve worked with many businesses, focusing on targeting these 5 mistakes and have seen them explode their business through having a solid online strategy.

MISTAKE NUMBER 1: You Do Not Have A Clear System of How to Do Business Online

You need to have a solid system that works together so you can do business with customers online. Don’t you want your business to be attracting people from different parts of your city? With the right system all of this can be automated leaving you to worry about handing the product or service side of your business. Your marketing will be on autopilot!

That’s why it’s important to have a system that it made up of 3 parts:

1. 1. A System for attracting customers online. This can be through advertising, word of mouth, sharing your articles on popular websites or through partnerships with other businesses.
   2. A System for building relationships with customers. Don’t you want to maintain a relationship with your customers even after they’ve finished purchasing from you? You want to continue the relationship through different channels, such as email, social media, SMS or Mail. Ask yourself how are you collecting their contact details so you can keep the relationship once they’ve walked out your door?
   3. Systems for Selling. If I have bought tea from your business 3 times in the last year and you have a new range coming in don’t you want to alert me straight away so I can come see your selection. You want to tell people about the relevant products or services that are suitable for them. Imagine, as a dentist you could automatically send out emails to customers alerting them their 6 month checkup is due. Isn’t this much better than relying them to magically remember that they are due for a clean?

Get proactive. Take your sales to the next level. Get a return on your website investment by incorporating a solid system and turn your we­­bsite browsers into buyers.

MISTAKE NUMBER 2: YOU MIGHT BE THINKING THAT MORE TRAFFIC EQUALS MORE SALES

Search engine optimisation (SEO) and advertising are important. Getting traffic to your site is one of three critical factors to being successful online.

But many people think that getting more traffic on its own is the trick to getting more sales. But website traffic will move on if you don’t have a solid website strategy in place to convert potential leads into clients.

DON’T… keep on spending more and more money on just Google Adwords, SEO, advertising in the local newspaper, etc. without measuring your conversion rates. There’s no point driving traffic to a leaky bucket. It’s much better to have a website that brings in 100 people and 20 people ringing you, than having 2000 people come and 25 people ring you.

DO… make your search engine strategy and advertising-spend part of your overall website strategy. Take the time to plan and implement a solid sales funnel that’ll get your website visitors calling you once they are on your website. Don’t allocate all your budget on advertising if it makes sense to build a better website with a solid funnel.

MISTAKE NUMBER 3:  YOU’RE NOT GIVING YOUR WEB VISITORS A REASON TO GET IN CONTACT WITH YOU

Your website is nothing more than a pretty online brochure if you haven’t factored in ways to get a web visitor’s email address and then provide them an incentive to call you.

You need to be providing amazing value, such as tutorials, videos and content to show your expertise and then engaging customers with offers. When you start coming up with great content and good offers, you are building trust and offering customers a strong incentive to pick up the phone and ring you.

DON’T… waste your time and money on a website that lets visitors come and go without any potential sales interaction.

DO… Targeted information resources and discounts are a great way to get web visitors to hand over their contact details. Think checklists, cheatsheets or a free tool. Then it’s the job of a conversion tool – a strategy session for services or discount codes for products – to get them talking to you.

MISTAKE NUMBER 4: YOU’RE FORGETTING TO INVEST TIME INTO BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

Sometimes people won’t buy on the first contact with your business, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t interested. They may need a bit more time, a bit more convincing, to know more about you and what you do.

This is where ‘nurturing’ comes into play. Often done in the form of a series of automated emails.

DON’T… don’t be too aggressive or salesy, because it will repel people away from your business. Don’t just tell them what you do and they should buy, show them how you will make a difference in their life. What problems do you solve for the customers.

DO… spend time getting the content (e.g. success stories, testimonials, case study, video demonstrations, common questions, blog links) and  tone of voice (ToV) right to leverage your web visitor’s initial interest in your business.

MISTAKE NUMBER 5: YOU NEED PROVIDE SOCIAL PROOF

Social proof is one of the most powerful tools for getting leads. It tells people visiting your website that other people have used your products and services, whilst providing honest feedback on how it helped them and how it wasn’t the right fit for them. Social proof is like having a family member give you an honest review of a movie they saw or restaurant they tried, so you are much more likely to trust it.

DON’T…. Add only good reviews about your business that says how amazing it is and you are the greatest thing on earth. If you’re not adding case studies or credible testimonials from influential people, then you are doing your business a disservice.

DO….. Show some that are genuine and thorough, like saying how these people were at first hesitant to use you because they thought you were too expensive or some of the features didn’t seem to cover what they want. After using you, they realised how much convenience you bring to their life and they are so glad for making an investment with you.