If there’s one thing that holds true about digital marketing, it’s that there is no shortage of people, pages and blogs with advice about how you should handle your digital marketing. On one hand, this is a good thing. There’s a constant flow of new ideas and places to look for inspiration when you’re not sure about what your next step should be. But on the other hand, there’s also a lot of misleading, or just plain wrong, information that you have to sift through if you want to find the true golden nuggets.
There are many reasons you’ll find incorrect information floating around. Some bad ideas continue to spread out of ignorance. Others might come from an old site full of outdated information that was never updated or removed.
In the end, it doesn’t really matter where most of these marketing myths come from. What matters is that you don’t make the mistake of believing them, or correct your mistakes as quickly as possible if you’re already following any of them.
Below are three of the biggest myths that often cause problems for new or small businesses that are just getting started with their first digital marketing efforts.
A Static Web Page Is Enough
Some business owners think that just paying someone to put together a website and getting it online is enough. The truth is, to make a website work for your business, it needs consistent updates with new content that appeals to your target audience.
Not only does consistently publishing new content bring in a steady stream of new and return visitors, it helps significantly with search engine optimization. Search engines give more weight to sites that update regularly. Just make sure that when you do publish new content, you’re not publishing crap. Neil Patel said it best when he said,” If you crank out a lot of crap content, your traffic won’t go up. Instead, you’ll get hit with a Google penalty.” And that’s NEVER good for business.
Big Success Requires Big Traffic
It’s easy to get intimidated when you see big names boasting hundreds of thousands, or even millions of visitors to their sites every month. Big traffic numbers are not a prerequisite for success, though.
The quality of the site and the traffic it receives will determine if it is successful. A site designed to appeal to a specific audience can put up impressive numbers with very little traffic. The key is to know your audience and make sure incoming traffic is made up of as many members of that audience as possible.
Negative Comments Are Bad For Business
Nobody likes to hear bad things about themselves or their business, but these situations CAN be used to your advantage… if you know how.
The first rule of thumb is to not take them personally. According to Len Markidan over at Groove, “as your business grows, you’re going to see more and more of them.” We know that this is easier said than done, however. If you’re letting negative comments get the best of you, you might want to check out his post on how you can reframe your thinking.
The second rule regarding how to properly address negative comments is to not ignore them. Responding well to negative comments or reviews can boost your company’s image immensely. Conversely, ignoring or trying to cover them up can send things into a downward spiral quickly.
By taking a bad situation and turning it around, you show that you respect and care about your customers. You show potential customers what they can expect if they encounter a problem. Most of all, you show everyone that you stand behind what you’re doing and that you’re not going to run and hide when things aren’t going your way.
Make Sure You Do Your Homework
When your business is small or just starting out, every move you make has to count. With marketing being such a big part of getting a small business growing, it’s important to research your strategies well and make sure you’re following solid advice. You can’t afford to waste your time or energy on anything less.
If you need a little guidance or help planning your next steps, we’d be happy to discuss and demonstrate exactly how we can help shape your marketing strategies. Contact us today!
