It is really difficult to be competitive when everyone who imagines himself a “promising businessman” goes online. But statistics are irrefutable – 90% of startups out of 100 are doomed to failure even in the first year of their existence.
The Reasons Why Online Business Is Not as Successful as You Would like It to Be
Lack of Control over Financial Performance
Many amateur entrepreneurs make the mistake of going in unprepared. They believe that “counting money” is not that hard and they will figure it out later. However, running an online business is not just about profit but also about expenses.
Ask yourself: do I really know what I am doing? These are the questions that you should have the answers for before you actually launch your online business:
- What are the costs of the promotion?
- What is the net profit?
- What percentage of this amount should I invest in further promotion?
At first, you will mostly be making assumptions, but the clearer the picture you have the better. Keep in mind that there will be unexpected expenses as well, so try to make your budget prepared such a blow too.
Once you do launch your business, you will need to track all the financial transactions going on, even the smallest ones. You want to know which aspect of your business is costing you the most and what is performing better than you thought it would.
Technical Errors When Creating a Site
Another huge problem online businesses and their owners may come across is the bad quality of your site. And this doesn’t just mean its overall strange and misguiding design but also the more technical errors you may be encountering that could have started way back at the development stage.
Here are some aspects of your website to look into more closely:
- Intrusive Design: The way your site looks is crucial to its performance. If it seems to be outdated, not many people will experience immediate trust towards you and your business. Make it look modern, but simple at the same time. No need for going over the top.
- Incomprehensible Navigation: Your site visitors should be able to find their way around your site. If they need to get to your contact page, they need to be able to get to your contact page. The best solution is to have a sidebar or menu with all the pages listed.
- The Three-Check Rule Is Not Met: Directly related to navigation, the three-check rule is about the user being able to find any information with the help of three clicks. If this rule is not met, it is likely that your site visitors may get lost.
- The Site Is Teeming With Bugs: Always remember to test your website before actually launching it. There may be too many bugs to deal with. If you launched your website and discovered the bugs only now, you have nothing else to do but get rid of them now.
- Lame Usability: Lastly, your website may simply be unusable. This is more of a summation of all its downsides that make a website unusable. Think of what can be improved and always strive for a better version of what you currently have.
You Do Not Know the Pain Points of the Target Audience, and as a result, You Cannot Solve Its Problems
Everything is obvious here. It is necessary to analyze the audience again, segment it, identify problems, adapt a product or service to solve them. It may seem like a long process and it actually may turn out to be such, but it’s absolutely necessary.
Imagine such a situation: you are trying to target a foreign audience. Alright, that looks easy. However, you only have your website available in English while targeting a Spanish-speaking market. It’s actually extremely easy to translate your website with the help of a service like The Word Point yet online business owners seem to completely ignore such a solution.
The point is to adapt to what your audience is looking for and to give them exactly what they want. If you want to sell products to teenage Spanish girls (as well as your main audience), then you need to have content available in Spanish too including all the general information and product descriptions.
Unfortunately, You Lack the Uniqueness
You do not know the answer to the key question of potential clients – how do you, in fact, differ from all other Internet marketing services of the same kind? And fairy tales in the style of “excellent service” and “fast delivery” will not work here.
Ask yourself: what is special about my online business? What is this minor (or major) detail that sets me apart from everyone else and makes me stand out of the crowd? The answer may not be as obvious as you expect it to be, so don’t worry if you can’t answer that question right away. Think it through and come up with something truly authentic.
Your Advertising Campaign Was Developed with Mistakes
For some reason, online business owners go as far as to advertise something completely unrelated to what they are actually offering. If you are selling a non-slip cell phone grip, then you should be advertising a non-slip cell phone grip.
Consider such things when reviewing your advertising campaign and shaping it into something better:
- Advertising is shown to people not interested in the product.
- Time difference not taken into account.
- Advertising is shown in a foreign language.
- Advertising is too annoying.
If you have made any of these mistakes, make sure you correct your strategy and take a different route. It’s essential for you to establish what your tactic will be. Otherwise, you may spend thousands on an unsuccessful campaign.
Inability to Work with Existing Business Clients
According to the Pareto principle, 20% of customers give 80% of profits. According to the laws of business, retaining existing customers is cheaper than attracting new ones. To improve the situation, you need to improve customer service, personalize offers, analyze needs and meet expectations.
If you can’t retain your current customers, you won’t be able to keep anyone else you acquire. Make sure that you provide your customers with the best opportunities and offers. You want them coming back for more. There will be different reasons for each separate group to come back, so you will need to keep that in mind too when improving your business.
Your Expectations Are Unrealistic
It is impossible to earn a million in one day. But it is quite possible that in fact, your business is operating at full capacity, but the reality is that at this point in time, that’s all you can get. Therefore, it is necessary to enter new markets.
Expanding your online business is just part of growing it and making sure that it functions properly. As mentioned earlier, this will require additional actions such as translating your website for instance. You will need to do research about who needs what and how you can give this “what” to them.
Despite everything, be patient and stay true to your goals. Work towards achieving them, but understand that not everything will come into your hands right away. It’s just not how business works.