The cost to keep up with technology and on-line consumer behavior is increasing to the point that many small early E-Commerce adopters are struggling to stay in the game. We share the lessons learned by one small business that lost a lot of money as a result of Goggle’s Penguin Update coupled with the wrong digital marketing strategy.
A North Carolina furniture-related business did quite well in the early 2000s with a simple E-commerce platform. The secret included a select number of American made products people need to fix problems, great customer service, and a hotshot independent SEO guy.
In 2012, the SEO guy went to work for a firm. The firm convinced the company to spend over $4K to build a new, better website on a jazzed up platform (Magento).
By late 2013, their sales had dropped from an average $5K a month to barely above zero.
Problem = New website investment. No sales.
Four Factors that Contributed to Sales Tanking
- The new site was taken live without care for moving the great web indexing the old site had accumulated or redirects.
- Changes to Google algorithms caught them, but they didn’t realize this.
- The Magento platform was created with no training for the company staff on how to effectively use this powerful tool or how to manage it.
- The firm failed to work out the bugs associated with shopping carts, product descriptions, images, and a host of factors that added up to poor consumer experience and bad search engine technique.
Steps That Should Have Been Taken to Get Revenue Back
- Bring in a local, recommended digital firm to diagnose the problem and develop a strategy
- Hire a part-time, yet digital savvy dedicated person to run a content, site management, SEO, and PPC strategy
- Add meaningful content – low budget video, blogs, product descriptions – and new products on a predictable schedule
- Create a MailChimp email campaign and reach out to customers in the database created by the Magento platform using coupon codes available in Magento
The Bottom Line
Every business needs a website or at least a Facebook page and Twitter account. But to market your products or services via the web, you must be prepared to invest. Depending on your skill level and time, some of the tasks can be done in-house.
Rarely will one individual possess all the skills and talent needed to manage all aspects of digital marketing. Get help from a reputable expert or firm to assess your situation and needs. Then be honest about what you can do yourself.
Finally, don’t focus all your marketing efforts on a website. Digital is powerful, but you must continue to deploy traditional sales and marketing methods.
Is your website paying for itself in sales?
West 65 Inc. is designed to help small businesses and organizations identify and implement the best approach to marketing for the situation. Consultations are free. Call (336) 596-7514