SMBs: Watch Out for These Online Marketing Mistakes

 

Interest in and use of online marketing continues to grow. According to the Ad-ology Small Business Marketing Forecast, 71 percent of small businesses surveyed plan to increase online advertising spending in 2010. Many of these businesses are new to online advertising, and may make online mistakes. In “Local Online Advertising For Dummies” (yes, there really is a Dummies book for everything), Court Cunningham  lists ten local online marketing mistakes. Here are three:

• Assuming Your Customers Behave Like You: This is a biggie. Just because you check things out online before you do anything, don’t assume your customers do the same. Coming from the other direction, if you don’t use something like social networks, don’t assume you’re customer AREN’T. Thirty one percent of small businesses in that  Ad-ology survey said they don’t do any social media marketing because their customers do not use social media. Is that based on facts, or just what those business owners think from their own usage?

• Making It Difficult for Potential Customers to Contact You: Another biggie. If you’ve spent any time online you’ve probably spent time digging for contact information buried deep in a Web site. Prospects may see your marketing online, but still want to pick up the phone and call you. Or send an e-mail. To an actual person. Make sure your contact information is prominent on your site.

• Assuming Web site Aesthetics Equals Web site Success: A great looking Web site is exciting. Maybe you put a lot of time and effort into designing what you think the perfect site should look like, but a great looking site doesn’t help you at all with the search engines. And the search engines are the ones sending people to your site to see your wonderful video or slick flash content. Make sure you – or your web designer – understands how search engines think. Things to help you in search include a site map, keyword-rich copy, and contact information on every page.

If you’re selling online ads to small businesses, help them be successful by helping them understand how effective online advertising works and which common mistakes to avoid. Read all ten marketing mistakes at Information Week SMB.