When it comes to online marketing success, business owners tend to focus on the most visible parts of the project. They are interested in things like high-impact copywriting, attention-grabbing design, and the latest search engine optimization or social media marketing secrets.
These are all important parts of the formula when it comes to attracting customers over the internet. One thing we don’t want you to forget, however, is that there are other skills and responsibilities involved. In fact, we have seen from experience that there are three “boring” jobs that can actually make or break your profitability over time.
What are these online marketing skills that no one is excited about? Let’s take a quick look at each one.
1. File Management
Managing online marketing files is simple at first. You might have a few documents for the text on your site, a handful of images and head shots, and a smattering of social media posts. Keep going, though, and you’ll eventually accumulate blog posts, revised employee bios, email marketing messages, and so much more.
If you aren’t careful, these files can become intermingled or lost altogether. Then, at some point when you need to update, restore, or migrate your website to a new home, you could find yourself starting from scratch.
To avoid that nightmare scenario, we advise you to develop an organization system for your files so they’re separated by date and version number (at a minimum). Then you’ll always be able to find what you need when it’s time to make some changes to your website or social profiles.
2. Data Backup and Security
Speaking of the data on your website, is it backed up and protected? Most business owners don’t pay a lot of attention to data security. That’s understandable, but it can leave a company vulnerable to all kinds of accidents and mishaps.
Your website could be lost at a moment’s notice if you don’t have your design and content files stored somewhere. If that sounds far-fetched, think again. Hackers could target your site. Your hosting company can have an issue. You could even forget to update account settings after changing a company credit card. Any of these everyday scenarios could cause huge disruptions to your business.
Naturally, a good web design team will keep your website backed up for you. But if you don’t have a vendor handling it for you, then it’s time to either find one or put a good website data security plan in place.
3. Website Maintenance
Your business website doesn’t require a lot of upkeep, but there are some things you should do regularly. For instance, you should periodically look through your pages to see if any content, photos, or prices are outdated. You should also check for broken links and outdated plugins.
By taking these steps you make it easier for Google to crawl your site, and for live users to find what they’re looking for. In other words, you can help your search engine positioning and make your web presence more customer-friendly. Conversely, when you neglect these tasks you hurt your own marketing power.
This is another area of your business where a good web design vendor can pitch in with regular website audits. If you don’t have that kind of help in place, though, it’s crucial that you at least keep your pages and content up to date.
Need Online Marketing Help You Can Actually Use?
The internet is full of advice on building a website and promoting your business. The only problem is that a lot of it isn’t actually relevant to your company or situation. It’s either abstract, outdated, or geared toward Fortune 500 firms with enormous budgets.
If you’re looking for real, practical tools and tips you can use today, then you have a couple of choices. Either visit our blog again soon for more insightful updates or contact our team today to schedule a free consultation. You might be amazed at what you can learn in just an hour spent with us… and what it could mean for the future of your business!