I hope you got lots of useful information and tips from 27 Common Internet Marketing Mistakes – Part 1. As promised, here’s 27 Common Internet Marketing Mistakes – Part 2.
15. Don’t use “black hat” techniques.
You’ll regret doing things like keyword stuffing and buying links as Google will eventually catch you out, and if your site gets penalised then you can pretty much forget about getting any organic traffic forever. “Organic” means traffic that comes via a search engine search rather than traffic you’ve paid for.
16. Improperly designed sales material.
The “would you buy a used car from this man” rule applies here. Your sales copy MUST look professional. There are many experienced outsourcers who can help with this. Try sites like Upwork and FreeUp.
17. Make use of video.
Always use video. People are well accustomed to watching videos as most of today’s web traffic IS video. It’s been proven that most would rather watch a video than read copy and that conversion rates are higher.
18. Always provide an unconditional money-back guarantee.
You are of course legally obliged to refund someone’s money up to a certain time period. However, it provides reassurance for someone when they see an iron-clad guarantee. Always honour your guarantees as not doing so can lead to a lot of bad feeling and loss of credibility. You may also find yourself on the wrong end of actions like PayPal disputes.
19. Give a clear call-to-action.
Have you told someone how to buy your product? You may think it’s obvious, but you should never just assume this. Tell them! “Click the button below to order NOW”, “keep watching to the end for your special discount code.” People NEED to be told.
20. Incorrect use of email marketing.
It’s important to get your email marketing right as less and less emails are getting opened all the time. Yours need to stand out. Don’t continually push products. This happens so often. We once had someone email us 4 new offers while we were trying to get their support team to fix their original product! Would you stay on that company’s email list? Offer value to your subscribers and build up and trust and you’ll get more opens and sales.
21. Always provide value.
You can stand out by giving value via your messages. It’s so rare these days to get useful information in an email. There’s nothing wrong with every 3rd or 4th email being an offer, but not every single one. Our own record is seeing 12 in a single day – another list to quickly unsubscribe from. Sheer greed will soon get you a reputation you don’t want.
22. Personalise your messages.
Do you like it when someone uses your name? Most people do so be sure to personalise your messages. Make sure you collect your prospect’s first name when you get their email address and structure your emails accordingly. This should result in a much higher open rate than generic ones.
23. Focus on customer retention.
Retaining your customers is more important than just growing a list. As already stated, but it’s so important that it bears repeating – remember your customers are NOT a cash cow. Give them VALUE, don’t just bombard them with the latest product that you think you’ll make a quick few pounds from. This way you’ll set yourself apart from the other 99% of marketers out there.
24. Failure to retarget.
You shouldn’t get disheartened by a prospect’s failure to purchase as soon as they see your offer as there’s technology available to redress this. It’s called “retargeting” and is the act of advertising to consumers based on their previous actions or behaviour.
Not everyone purchases on first view. People sometimes need up to 7 looks at an offer before they make a buying decision. That’s just the way things are. Think about your own buying habits and behaviours. Life gets in the way.
25. Use “social”, “site”, “email” and “dynamic” retargeting.
There are numerous methods available to you to drop your offer back in front of a prospect as they browse, and you should make use of them all. They’re mainly done by the placement of pixels on your website which cookie a visitor’s browser and allow you to follow them with ads all around the web.
26. Don’t just ignore an abandoned shopping cart.
If someone has got as far as your checkout page, then in the vast majority of cases they intended to buy but decided not to at the last minute. Maybe they just needed more time to think things over or perhaps they got distracted by something else. Whatever the reason, such people should be at the top of your retargeting list as they’ll be 150% more likely to return to checkout.
27. Be aware of GDPR.
If you’re selling to customers in the EU you should be aware of the GDPR requirements and ensure that you’re complying with all legislation when collecting prospects’ details, especially when retargeting as this is more subtle than an in-your-face contact form.
You must explain to prospects what they need to do here and then they must explicitly give their consent. We encourage you to do your own research here to ensure that your cookie and privacy policies are up-to-date and compliant.
Please feel free to share other common internet marketing mistakes that I’ve missed that you’ve either made or managed to avoid in the comments box below.
To Your Success!
