A Company's Online Demise.

The Internet is the great causeway of the world these days and everyone wants a vibrant successful business or a community buzzing with ideas. If you think about it for a moment, the many that become successful there will be thousands falling by the wayside.  So what makes a successful website or forum or online business?

Glossy pictures as bold as they can be winking a hint of temptation,  and then there is the neatly typed out words dancing off the page eager for you to read them,  however is there any substance behind the shop window to the world. 

All graphics are in place and the topics that are allowed to be discussed are drawn up like soldiers on a battlefield ready for action. All of a sudden it dawns on someone that they may need to tell the world and there mates that the website is there waiting for those all-important visitors. 

So all of a sudden there is a gasp, and someone has realised they didn’t send out those all-important newsletters,  so there is a big rush to get out over 2000 emails out,  but no one has thought that there was an application for that so some  poor person is burning the midnight oil. Then person is on the winning stretch and they have finished the emails from the database that was sent them, if only they knew about mail merge or did they think about Mail Chimp?

Another week goes by everyone keeps peeking at the website, and they look at the counter of visitors, and you know over 50 people have turned up.  They don’t realise that when they visit the site, it is counted by Alexia or another site counter. However those 50 people who did turn up were themselves or employees or friends, but there were no prospective customers, because no one could find the website.

A person takes the initiative and starts to read up of how to get your website noticed, and then reads an interesting article all about marketing and registering with a directory,  and thinks ‘Oh My God’ I didn’t think I would have to do that?  

What advertise on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+ etc.?  or they start to panic, because the person who has found these social networks suddenly finds themselves with not enough time in the day to sort other things out because they are trying to listen for keywords that could be a link to a prospective sale, they don’t know about Hoot Suite or other programs that can make life easier, that could be a life line in such a situation.  However,  the basic thought should have been how to drive customers to your website, how would anyone know where to look for the services or goods you offer, if no one gave them the path in which to reach them.

A sad tale of the online business forum

There is this forum that was made up of a business man, his family and friends, even his goldfish Percy ended up involved in the business man's sales and promotion department. 

Now the business man was busy making his product and inventing things to sell. He thought everything was under control; he had bought his premises, was hiring his staff, and spending a lot of money trying to get his business off the ground.

However, he trusted his family and friends to help him with his social media, setting up his forum etc. As time went by he was wondering why he wasn't getting clients from his online sources and it wasn't long before he was running out of money.  

One day went to his office and found total chaos. With all his good intentions of trying to involve all his family and friends,  the admin staff and moderators, too numerous to mention were going around in circles, not wanting to make any decisions because no one wanted to upset his Aunty Ivy or Percy ‘the goldfish’, that they hadn’t been chosen for their chosen position in the company.  When someone gently approached Aunty Ivy understood and stepped aside. However, when they tried to approach Percy, "The Goldfish", well he hired the hit man, Dellboy "The Shark".

When the owner gets down to his last penny decides to get his act together and realises he has no staff left because Percy took out contracts for the rest of the staff that disagreed with him.  Percy is now the only fish left in the sea, so he is the admin, moderator and he feels invincible. Percy is just strutting around in his newly furnished goldfish bowl, and any member of staff, client or member of the forum. Now anyone who didn’t give Percy the praise for being such a clever goldfish and how well he was doing things would be history.

Remember the other staff; well he only has to have words with Dellboy who will rip the staff or clients heads off. They just have to line up, because most people forgot Percy ‘The Goldfish’ and how important he was to the company.

The people who narrowly escaped Dellboy, vowed never to go back again, and they told their friends all about the company’s online forum and then everyone started to avoid the website like a plague, and you guess what happened to the business after that, it certainly became history because no one wanted to buy anything from the company in case they ended up dealing with Percy and Dellboy.

So the moral of this story is, make sure you plan your website before you and if you don’t know what you are doing, in regards to social media and online marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) then my advice is to hire an expert or do your homework and do it yourself but whatever you do, try not to give Percy too much power over your business. Keep an eye on your staff to make sure that they are giving your customers the customer service they deserve. Remember a happy customer will always return.

If you are employing staff to run any part or your business or a website, or your social media, never let them get a ‘Godlike complex’ with your staff, forum members or clients, as this will only hurt your reputation and people will not want to come back to you.  Remember your online presence is your new shop window and it is up to you whether you want to make it inviting or drive people away.

Try not to take things personally if things haven’t gone right for a customer, try your best to put it right if you can, remember with most businesses being online these days, it is so easy for your reputation to get hurt.  If you are getting a lot of negative feedback about one individual, try having a look at their methods of treating people around them. Then the alternatives are, give them more training or you show them the door.  

Each year millions of people stake everything they have on that one chance to make it big especially if they are put up their brand new website advertising their business. However, if they don’t take social media seriously and they don’t engage properly with past, present or future customers, then I am afraid that they have wasted both their time and money on a very expensive group of pictures and words. 

A static website, blog or forum are very good tools, but without the tools or the right people looking after your online presence, to give prospective customers a reason to visit your website and browse what they have to offer then I am  afraid in these days, that business is doomed to fail.

One very important moral is to make sure you do your homework regarding your website and online presence; after all it is your money that you are wasting away and ask yourself can you really afford to let your business fail?