 Over the past few years I’ve noticed an alarming trend among many small business owners and their websites. It may be because they feel their site has never done anything. Or it’s possible they just don’t understand the current technology and trends. Either way many will fall into the “apathy trap”.
Here is the interesting yet disappointing observation I’ve made.
Many small and mid-sized companies will spend thousands of dollars in print advertising each month. This includes classified and yellow page ads, business cards, brochures, post cards and fliers. In a lot of cases these methods will fail to provide stellar results and not even return the cost of printing. Who doesn’t have shelves full of unused printed materials from failed marketing campaigns? But, will they scrap those methods? No! They go back to the drawing board and do the same method again and again even hiring expensive marketing experts in hopes of different results.
So why haven’t they applied that same energy to their website?
I can only narrow it down to expectations.
As business owners we’ve grown to expect little or even no results from print advertising. We are rarely disappointed. But when it comes to the Internet many got caught up in the hype and promises of get rich quick schemes. But, the boatloads of cash never arrive. Google didn’t offer to buy the business for billions of dollars. So they just conclude that the Internet doesn’t work.
“BUT”, they yell,” I wasn’t expecting billions, my website did nothing!” Instead of making adjustments (as they do in print) or trying to understand why it didn’t work, their website gets thrown out with the bathwater. They run back to the comfortable and familiar expense and failures of their more traditional advertising methods.
How do you avoid the apathy trap?
The first step is simply to realize a few unmistakable facts.
1) The Internet is here to stay and an important part of how we do life. Avoiding it is a huge mistake.
2) The commercial benefits of the Internet are growing by leaps and bounds every year.
3) The process of using the Internet for business is comparatively inexpensive and not very complicated at all.
4) Every business activity online is very similar to what you do offline. They both require creative adjustments and effort. The Internet is no magic potion.
Once your expectations are grounded and realistic you will be well on your way to realizing the exciting potential of building and maintaining an effective and profitable online presence.
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