All companies try hard to run a successful online business. No one create a website with a hope of its failure. However, too many companies have failed and have made the same mistakes. So, what makes your website fail? Keep reading and figure out how to avoid making these mistakes.
#1. Field of Dreams" Marketing Strategy"
If you build it, they won't come -- until they hear about it. A new business, especially, will need to devote at roughly half of it's resources -- be it time, labor, or dollars -- to building a customer base. It is still all too common for new online initiatives to spend all their resources on building the product -- leading to a collapse at the "second-round funding" stage.
#2. Segmentation and Targeting
The online world is all about targeting well-defined, niche audiences. However, some niches are easier to target than others. Companies need to know how to define their potential customers with precision.
#3. Weak Offer
What benefits will a customer receive from your business? Are they unique benefits? Do the benefits of doing business with you justify the risk of trying your products or services? It is a amazing how many companies have difficulty articulating the reasons why anyone should become a customer. Give your customers an "offer they can't refuse"#4. Complicated Offer
Just as common a mistake as the Weak Offer is the Complicated Offer. Many companies go overboard in creating a virtual "courtroom brief" as to why customers should do business with their company. Offers need to be as simple as they are strong.
#5. Pricing & Packaging
Most often, pricing and packaging are two sides of the same coin. Companies often ask buyers to buy too much, or too comprehensive a package. Less often, but also quite common, many companies actually undersell themselves. Successful companies identify their sweet spot.
#6. No Metrics
There are more ways to measure the dynamics and performance of an online business than any other kind. Yet, it is still amazing how many companies do not collect and track this data -- and even more common is a lack of proper interpretation.
#7. Metrics Run-Amok
The flip side of the the metrics issue, is that many companies base all their decisions on the numbers. In nearly every case, this leads to "analysis paralysis". Creativity, imagination, contrarian thinking are all necessary for success.
#8. Speed Kills
Online businesses love to proclaim how fast they move, especially compared to landed businesses. However, speed is not a virtue unto itself, but part of an interrelated set of business dynamics. Best described by the sign on the wall of the mechanic's shop:
"Good, Fast, Cheap -- Pick Any Two".
#9. Inside-Out Thinking
The big trap common to all businesses is the failure to understand and listen to customers. The most important voice at any company meeting is the voice of the people not present -- your customers.
#10. Fear of Testing
Many companies equate testing with weakness. People like to believe that strong, successful companies know all the answers in advance. The truth is that every successful company continually tests itself and its assumptions. In marketing, this means that at least 10-20% of the budget should be continuously spent on testing.
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