When we build a business, we never think that some of the things we are doing might just be hurting us and our ability to succeed. This is even more important when we frequently move our business and need it to be on point and ready to go before we ever arrive at our new location. Sometimes they are the simplest things that can lead to client confusion or even a fellow vendor wanting to refer you but they can’t. Here are five quick things that you can fix today that are hurting your business and I have been guilty of them all in the past!
Contact Information
With as much as we move, there are often things that slip through the cracks that should get fixed but don’t because we think they are minor until they actually become a major issue. The biggest issue that could be hurting your business is the inability for a client to contact you. I recently went to contact a local wedding vendor about a styled shoot that she needed help with but I couldn’t find her contact information anywhere. There was no way to e-mail her and there was no phone number anywhere to be found on her social media. The best I could do was message her through social media and hope that she got it. This got me thinking, what if that had been a bride or client wanting to contact her. The first thing to do is make sure you have contact information clearly findable on your website and across your social media accounts. If someone can’t contact you the way that they want, they won’t hire you.
Correct Information
This may sound redundant compared to the last point but I can’t tell you how many times I or someone I know has searched for a small business for something they needed, only to find that they no longer live in the area that they have listed on their website and social media. Unless you are willing to travel back to that location make sure you remove it from your information. In addition to correctly listing your business location, make sure that it is consistent across all social media and web information. If you listed your business on Yelp, Google, Bing, or Wedding Wire and you have moved then you need to go in to all of those accounts and change them so that your information is accurate.
SEO
I know I harp on this a lot but if you aren’t actively (and correctly) trying to use SEO then your business will end up on page 50 of Google and you will be left wondering why no one ever contacts you with inquiries. I say this as someone who has tried to do my own SEO for years with some success with it. However, I learned the hard way this year when I rebranded that the age of my website URL had been really helping me in the past. My brand new baby URL was of no interest to Google and I have had to work really hard to get it to where it was. It still wasn’t enough and the more I dug into SEO the less I realized that I actually knew. My suggestion is to hire an expert. Someone who does SEO for a living and knows what they are doing. I have done my research and I can tell you that not all SEO experts are created equal. Some are good and some are REALLY REALLY good.
Using Social Media as a Business Tool
Social media really started just as I was leaving college. I have seen it grow into the behemoth that it is today and I can only imagine where it will be in just a few short years from now. As someone who moves and has clients who now live all over the world, this has been an amazing tool in some ways. A very wise mentor of mine taught me to see it as just that. It is a tool and it should be treated as such. I see a lot of creatives who over share personal stuff on their business page or who post controversial things on their personal page. While it is a personal page, clients can see that and that could be hurting you. Consider changing the security settings of who can see what you post but ultimately, once you become a business owner, even your personal page becomes an extension of your business.
For more tips on how to grow and move your business, check back here every Monday for our Move It Monday series or dive deeper and purchase my e-book on how to move your business effectively. Want to dive deeper into success? I now offer mentoring sessions face-to-face or over an internet call.
